40 & Fabulous

Fancy injection, a 10-speed tranny, and tons o’ tech freshen america’s best-seller.

- Frank Markus

2017 marked the 40th year that Ford’s iconic F-150 has ranked as the best-selling truck in the U.S., outselling the Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, and Toyota Tundra combined as of midyear. But as many people do when confronting a midlife-ish milestone, the Ford F-150 is pumping up and getting a little work done so that by this fall it’ll look as fresh and perform as well as (OK, way better than) it did when it had only been outselling everybody for 20 years. It’ll even take on the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel with a new V-6 turbodiesel.

The truck’s entire face has gone under the knife. The lamps, fascia panel, bumper, and grille are all new. Make that grilles; the F-150 has always offered more factory optional grilles than the entire aftermarket provides for Chrysler 300s. Seven new tools will produce 26 part numbers differentiated by myriad finishes. Most switch from three narrow bars to two fatter ones that extend into the taller “C-clamp” headlamps (LED-powered on top trims). Six new wheel designs measure 17, 18, 20, and 22 inches. At the rear, new taillamps echo the twin C-clamp look, and the tailgate either gets F-150 stamped into the sheet metal or, on top trims, a new brushed-metal applique.

Inside there are new color combos, Sync 3 upgrades (a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hot spot and Apple Car Play and Android Auto capabilities), and new audio offerings from B&O Play, a subbrand of Bang and Olufsen. Pre-collision braking with pedestrian detection is new, and the adaptive cruise control now handles stop-and-go traffic.