One of America’s favorite trucks is now entering the year 2013. It’s the latest Ford F-150 range now with an EcoBoost engine as well. Aside from that, the design has been moderately revised and a few pickup-friendly features have been added. For the high rollers, there are also F-150 special editions that peak in luxury and equipment.
The engine variety within the Ford F-150 is now bigger than ever. Right next to the baseline 3.7-liter V6, the 5.0-liter V8 and top of the line 411 hp, 6.2liter V8 Ti-VCT engines, now sits a 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine which has approximately the economy of the of the baseline model (16 mpg city and 22 mpg highway) but the power (and more) of the 5.0-liter one and the towing capacity of the 6.2-liter one. In other words – 365 hp, 420 lb-ft. of torque as soon as 2,500 rpm and 11,300 pounds of maximum trailer tow. You also get electroincally locking diff on it and Hill Descent Control. Whichever you choose though, you’ll always end up with the same efficient six-speed automatic transmission.
The base model is called the XLT. On its outside, the grill is new and so are the headlights which now use HID technology – superior and better looking we’ve been told. Depending on your trim choice, you may get newly designed 18- or 20-inch wheels. Three new body colors are now also available. That is Blue Jeans Metallic, Kodiak Brown Metallic and Ruby Red Clearcoat Metallic.
Something particularly neat is the electronic telescoping function on the side-mirrors which can come in handy when towing a big caravan for example and from the inside you also get the SYNC voice-activated communications and entertainment system with 911 Assist and Vehicle Health Report as standard on the XLT. As options you can also add-on to this other software such as Traffic Information, Turn-by-Turn Directions, Business Search, Send to SYNC from Google Maps and MapQuest, News, Sports, Weather and Horoscopes. That’s a lot of information for the 4.2-inch LCD display to take but hey, if you go for one of the special versions, the Ford F-150 Lariat, King Ranch, Platinum or Limited, that screen becomes a MyFord Touch 8-inch display with a few USB and SD slots added for personal multimedia.
Source: Ford
Ford exhibits 2013 Escape at the Los Angeles Auto Show, this month. The vehicle is based on Vertrek Concept and it is practically the same.
