Since I had to turn the Maxima in last week, I wound up driving my wife's blown S197 all weekend but that is not why we're here. Monday morning, I picked up my next victim. This time they gave me a 2019 Ford F-150 Lariat. This particular truck is configured as a Super Crew, is four wheel drive and is powered by the third generation 5.0. You know, the one that drinks oil? After I turn it back in on the 24th, I'll tell you what I thought about it.
In 2018, Ford did a face lift redesign of their venerable F-150 lineup. Most notable differences were the headlights, grille, front bumper, tail lights and tail gate. The mechanical differences included the use of the "joint venture" 10R80, 10 speed transmission across the entire line. Previously, it was only available with the 2.7 ecoboost. The 5.0 now features direct injection, more compression and a revised intake manifold. More on the mechanical aspects later.
The ride is typical of a four wheel drive and it feels heavy on the road even though it weighed in at 4,859 lbs. The steering is effortless and very quick without a hint of vagueness. It holds the road very well for a truck but don't expect to push it too far with it's high center of gravity. Nevertheless, I found myself taking curves at speeds matching or besting my lowered 2015 F-150. Guess it's time for new tires on my truck. The steering wheel is leather wrapped and has large thumb rests offering a comfortable way to control the beast. The four wheel drive system is actuated by a large knob on the dash board underneath one of the AC vent and can be shifted on the fly by simply raising your foot off the accelerator. I didn't test the truck's off-road capabilities because it seemed like a recipe for disaster.
The third generation Coyote 5.0 puts out 395 horsepower and 400 lb ft of torque which is an increase from the Gen 2's 385 HP and 387 lb ft of torque. The compression ratio has been raised from 10.5:1 to 12:1 and engine displacement has slightly risen from 4948 cc to 5030 cc. The intake manifold has larger runners and provides emphasis on low end torque. This truck is very light on it's feet when provoked and will surprise a lot of vehicles at the red light drag races. Speaking of, this truck is decidedly faster than my personal F-150, even with it's bolt on upgrades and tuning. In fact, my buddy has an identical setup in his 2015 F-150 so we lined the two trucks up for an impromptu drag race. You know, for science. We set both trucks to "Sport Mode" and launched from a dig. From the first time the 10R80 shifted gears, it was all over for the 2015. The 2019 started to distance itself from him with every successive shift until we gave up around 80 mph. I can only imagine the results has the 2019 has the same level of modification. Another fun way to hurt the environment is to switch the truck into sport mode, shift the transfer case into 4HI and let her rip. It doesn't spin at all but throws you back into the leather seat while accelerating madly.
The interior is quite nice, as it should be in a $53,000 truck. Copious amounts of leather trim the seats and every surface you touch with a nice white stitching to break up the black interior. The ventilated seat functions a "metric shit ton" better than mine and has prompted me to look into updating mine. Seems the earlier version has a highly inefficient blower motor that heats up the seat while it vainly tries to cool it down. The view from the driver's seat is excellent with very little in the way of blind spots. This truck doesn't have the BLIS [Blind Spot Information System] but offers built in blind spot mirrors which aid in backing. It does, however, have an excellent back up camera with an 8" display on the center of the dash. This also is the control panel for the Sync 3 system that controls entertainment, HVAC, hands free dialing, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and other various user definable settings. Below the display are more controls for the radio, should you want to use buttons instead of the touchscreen to change the track, adjust the volume without switching from say, the navigation screen. You can also do all of this from the steering wheel and it is much more intuitive than the Maxima.
This brings us to the bonus content!! I was given another 2019 F150 but this is the peasant, stripped down XLT version. It has cloth seats, a column mounted shifter and thats about it. It smells like sweat and generally shows it had been used as a rental vehicle. So, in honor of its former life, I give you a smoky burnout!!
In 2018, Ford did a face lift redesign of their venerable F-150 lineup. Most notable differences were the headlights, grille, front bumper, tail lights and tail gate. The mechanical differences included the use of the "joint venture" 10R80, 10 speed transmission across the entire line. Previously, it was only available with the 2.7 ecoboost. The 5.0 now features direct injection, more compression and a revised intake manifold. More on the mechanical aspects later.
The ride is typical of a four wheel drive and it feels heavy on the road even though it weighed in at 4,859 lbs. The steering is effortless and very quick without a hint of vagueness. It holds the road very well for a truck but don't expect to push it too far with it's high center of gravity. Nevertheless, I found myself taking curves at speeds matching or besting my lowered 2015 F-150. Guess it's time for new tires on my truck. The steering wheel is leather wrapped and has large thumb rests offering a comfortable way to control the beast. The four wheel drive system is actuated by a large knob on the dash board underneath one of the AC vent and can be shifted on the fly by simply raising your foot off the accelerator. I didn't test the truck's off-road capabilities because it seemed like a recipe for disaster.
The third generation Coyote 5.0 puts out 395 horsepower and 400 lb ft of torque which is an increase from the Gen 2's 385 HP and 387 lb ft of torque. The compression ratio has been raised from 10.5:1 to 12:1 and engine displacement has slightly risen from 4948 cc to 5030 cc. The intake manifold has larger runners and provides emphasis on low end torque. This truck is very light on it's feet when provoked and will surprise a lot of vehicles at the red light drag races. Speaking of, this truck is decidedly faster than my personal F-150, even with it's bolt on upgrades and tuning. In fact, my buddy has an identical setup in his 2015 F-150 so we lined the two trucks up for an impromptu drag race. You know, for science. We set both trucks to "Sport Mode" and launched from a dig. From the first time the 10R80 shifted gears, it was all over for the 2015. The 2019 started to distance itself from him with every successive shift until we gave up around 80 mph. I can only imagine the results has the 2019 has the same level of modification. Another fun way to hurt the environment is to switch the truck into sport mode, shift the transfer case into 4HI and let her rip. It doesn't spin at all but throws you back into the leather seat while accelerating madly.
The interior is quite nice, as it should be in a $53,000 truck. Copious amounts of leather trim the seats and every surface you touch with a nice white stitching to break up the black interior. The ventilated seat functions a "metric shit ton" better than mine and has prompted me to look into updating mine. Seems the earlier version has a highly inefficient blower motor that heats up the seat while it vainly tries to cool it down. The view from the driver's seat is excellent with very little in the way of blind spots. This truck doesn't have the BLIS [Blind Spot Information System] but offers built in blind spot mirrors which aid in backing. It does, however, have an excellent back up camera with an 8" display on the center of the dash. This also is the control panel for the Sync 3 system that controls entertainment, HVAC, hands free dialing, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and other various user definable settings. Below the display are more controls for the radio, should you want to use buttons instead of the touchscreen to change the track, adjust the volume without switching from say, the navigation screen. You can also do all of this from the steering wheel and it is much more intuitive than the Maxima.
This brings us to the bonus content!! I was given another 2019 F150 but this is the peasant, stripped down XLT version. It has cloth seats, a column mounted shifter and thats about it. It smells like sweat and generally shows it had been used as a rental vehicle. So, in honor of its former life, I give you a smoky burnout!!
