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Charlevoix, QC – Not intent on resting on their laurels after earning 2015 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year accolades with the F-150, Ford invited a flight of journalists to test their trucks in conditions more extreme than anything anyone—save Ford’s engineering team—had seen before.
Review Overview
Interior Space - 80%
Styling - 85%
Comfort - 90%
Performance - 85%
Pleasure - 80%
Fuel Economy - 80%
Winter - 100%
86%
It was central Quebec, it was snowy, and it was -15 degrees outside. Up to this point, we’d really only driven them in the sub-Saharan heat (OK, that’s a bit of a stretch…) around San Antonio, TX and during testing for the Canadian Car of the Year Awards in October of ’14. Hardly challenging conditions for a truck that has reportedly been through a lot worse, including a race on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico and ensuing cross-country drive back to Dearborn, MI.
So we found ourselves driving from Quebec City, to Charlevoix, QC, through the white hills of the Laurentian Mountains to the Charlevoix region. There, we’d put the trucks through their paces on a snow-covered track and an off-road course, with some towing and trailering tests on the surrounding roads for good measure. We’d be at the helm of 4 x 4 trucks, powered by either the 2.7-litre EcoBoost V6 (325 hp, 375 lb.-ft. of torque), 3.5L EcoBoost V6 (365, 420) and 5L V8 (385, 387). There is a fourth engine available–a naturally-aspirated V6—but Ford maintains that fleet operators tend to be the bigger buying group of these, while the other three engines have been more successful with your average consumer.
But I digress.
The first test we performed was the payload test, where we took a V8 truck laden with 408 kilos worth of paving equipment out on to the open road, down an eight per cent grade into the sleepy (in the dead of winter, anyway) town of La Malbaie, on the banks of what looks like the surface of the moon, but is actually a nearly completely-frozen St. Lawrence river. The way the chop itself appears to have frozen into thousands of small ice peaks is a little eerie, let me tell you.
The F-150 performed admirably on the test, hardly revealing that there was any load back there at all. The way back up the steep grade was the truly impressive bit, as we even found ourselves passing slower cars at some points. With the V8, you get a seemingly endless wave of torque that only begins to abate once you’ve already crossed the speed limit threshold and need to back off regardless. Impressive stuff.
Yes, the V8 exists and there’s little doubt that it will always have its followers, but even the most hardened of these would likely be taken aback by the combination of light-weight manufacturing (the F-150’s body shed 350 kilos for 2015 thanks to aluminum construction) and turbocharged grunt provided by the EcoBoost V6. That light weight means higher payload and towing ratings, and the 3.5L truck we tested made short work of hauling a trailer and pair of ski doos behind us, with a weight rating of around 3,850 kilos. Would have liked a set of tow mirrors, however; you can get them, but they’ll cost you.
The test track was next; picture an airfield so snowed in that the planes parked thereupon were quite literally up to their wings in the white stuff, and you pretty much get the idea of what we were up against. To make matters even more challenging, while most of the track was groomed, the first section wasn’t, meaning we had to not only deal with the deep snow, but the tracks that had been left behind by vehicles previous.
No matter; the trucks, shod with all-new BFGoodrich KO2 winter tires plowed on with reckless abandon, gainfully bouncing over the bumps and berms and through the grooves, a properly high ride height making it feel like you were driving on little more than a beat up old b-road with nasty cracks and lumps on it. Of course, the faster you go, the more smooth it feels, so we’d delve ever deeper into the throttle, always emerging from the other side unscathed. It’s fantastic, and it makes you wonder how a vehicle aimed squarely at off-roaders—a Jeep Wrangler, say—could be any more confidence-inspiring than these trucks.
And if the snow test wasn’t enough to convince us of that fact, we took to the off-road course.
There are entire stages of the Acropolis Rally in Greece, whereby competitors in off-road modified hatchbacks are asked to tackle a wicked concoction of loose, jagged rocks. Normally, these rally cars tackle stages at breakneck speeds, but not here; here, slow and steady is the order of the day, lest you get too over-zealous and slash your tires—tough, specially-modified off road tires, that is—to ribbons.
I never thought I’d experience this myself, but the razor-like stones that did make up Ford’s off-road course (see gallery below) are mighty enough. No matter; in addition to being specially-suited for traction in snow, the KO2s are also strengthened for off-road use and we plowed through the rubble—which is really what it amounted too—with nary a puncture.
The tires can be thanked for the durability, but the F-150’s proper 4 x 4 system can be thanked for the traction. The system includes hill-descent control, 2H, 4H and 4L transfer case settings, plus a locking central diff. Serious stuff.
Like the rutty snow, it’s actually smarter to press harder on the throttle while conquering the 12% grades we had to deal with. You’d be seeing nothing but sky above as you did so, but once again, not a single truck was stuck, hardly a wheel spun as we made use of the electronic two-speed transfer case that comes standard with the FX4 off-road package.
A pickup truck may not be the vehicle that comes to mind when you consider off-road capability, but as more and more people are using their trucks for more and more things, they need to be that. The winter stuff? Well, in Canada, with its frozen rivers and deep snowpack, the script pretty much writes itself.
