There was a time when all I wanted to drive was a stylish, German sports-sedan. Then I had kids, moved to the suburbs and needed something with a bit more utility. The choice was simple – I leased a Ford F-150. What was seemingly a big departure from my past vehicle history, the F-150 checks all the boxes. It’s comfortable. It can easily swallow up my two children, all their associated junk, and still have room to spare. Furthermore, it’s easy to drive. It’s really two trucks in one: it serves as my daily driver hauling myself and family around during the week, then when the weekend rolls around, my Ford F-150 becomes a fun hauler.
Daily Driver
Regardless of your commute, be it long and traffic littered or a shorter jaunt, you want a car that’s comfortable. If you had told me a couple years ago that a pickup truck checked that box, I wouldn’t believe you. That’s the thing though, the F-150 is comfortable. It has great sight lines. It’s a solid commuter vehicle that can deliver greater than 20 miles per gallon. Your mileage of course depends on how heavy your right foot is. Mine is very heavy.
It helps that it has a suite of easy to use technology that complements my commute. The Sync3 infotainment system seamlessly integrates my phone, music and other technology. Just the other day my Mom marveled at how easy it was for me to make a phone call from within my car, and she owns a modern car from another make that shall remain unnamed. The same goes for playing music from your phone. And adjusting the heated seats. And backing into tight parking spaces with the rear-view camera. The list goes on and on.
Even the most biased critics, my six-year-old son and four-year old daughter, give the F-150 two thumbs up. They’re always disappointed when we take Mom’s car somewhere instead. They’ve found ways to squirrel a plethora of kid things into the backseat. Honestly, you’d be surprised at how many toys, books and various kids junk I find hidden in the backseat.
Fun Hauler
When it comes to getting work done and hauling fun the F-150 is like a multi-tool. That’s one of the big things that drew me to it.
When shopping for a pickup, one of my big requirements was finding one with the ability to tow heavy loads. One of my hobbies requires me to regularly tow a large, enclosed car trailer weighing up to 8-10k pounds. There was a time when a half-ton truck couldn’t get the job done. That was before the F-150 came to town.
The 3.5-liter Ecoboost V6 provides more than enough oomph to get even the heaviest loads moving down the road, and as the name suggests, does so with relatively strong fuel economy. Historically when towing my trailer, I used big V8 powered trucks. The fuel economy was horrible, and the acceleration wasn’t event that great. That’s not the case with the Ecoboost V6.
Of course, braking and suspension are big parts about safe and comfortable towing. The integrated brake controller that came as part of the max-tow package connects to my trailer perfectly and makes easy work of stopping. Never once have I worried about safely coming to a stop. Admittedly my trailer weighs in at the upper limits of the F-150s weight rating and this weight impacts suspension performance. When equipped with a proper weight-distribution hitch, however, bumps and winds in the road are not a problem.
Towing a trailer isn’t the only work I throw at my F-150. It’s served as our family shuttle on a handful of road trips. I’ve also recently started using it to haul around my new pickup camper. In fact, this past weekend my son and I hauled it all the way across Wisconsin and back for a camping trip. The truck served as a perfect basecamp for our camping activities.
There are countless ways to put a pickup bed to use. Just ask anyone who’s owned a pickup and they’ll tell you. On more occasions than I can count the F-150 has come in handy for trips to Home Depot, the Garden Center, the recycling center, and hauling big retail purchases home.
In Summary
All told I can’t imagine living without my F-150. It’s everything I need in a truck. Frankly, it’s no surprise I continue to see more and more of them in my neck of the woods. Multiple friends have made the switch to a pickup and like me, they don’t see themselves deviating from driving F-150s anytime soon. If you don’t believe me, you should check out a new F-150 for yourself.
Visit morries.com to check out our current F-150 inventory or schedule a test-drive.
