2021 F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Liter Powerboost Hybrid

F-150 King Ranch 3.5 Liter Powerboost Hybrid

Repeat after me, evolution is a good thing in life or technology. Don’t fight evolution, embrace it like Ford Motor Company has, and they produced, in my opinion, the best Ford F-150 to date.

For years I’ve wondered out loud why no one has embraced the Hybrid technology in pick-ups. Think of all the cool options you could put in and, on the truck, think of the additional torque. I can usually tell when Jimmy delivers my Ford products how cool they are by what he looks like after the ride from Dallas to Tyler. Safe to say when he got out of the F-150 Hybrid he was beaming.

First, let’s talk about the difference between grown ups and kids. Kids do what they want to do, grown-ups what they need to do. The all-new F-150 Hybrid is a truck for grown-ups. It doesn’t stand up and scream, look at me, it just quietly gets the job done.

As stated above when the driver stepped out of the truck he was beaming, almost refreshed from the long drive. When he pulled up and I got my first look at the Kodiak brown F-150 with the Java interior with Kingsville leather, I was immediately intrigued. The look is purposeful and warm, almost inviting you to open the drivers side door. I was glad I did. I stepped into the palatial SUPERCREW cabin and took a minute to study the layout. I pushed the start button and the 3.5L Eco-Boost screamed to life. Just kidding, there was no sound, I was in electric mode. The silence was amazing as I pulled out of the drive- way enroute to my job selling conservative radio to the fine folks of East Texas. I managed to drive the three miles to work engaging the fossil burner for only one third of a mile. The rest of the trip was all battery, baby. I fell in love right then and there.

I’ll talk about the 500-plus lbft of torque later. Right now, I just want to focus on the silent lucidity of moving around town, at a relaxed pace, in electric mode. Look if you floor it, and you can, this thing will flat get it. But what grown-up floors their pick-up at lights? The review truck was a pre-production model so, no mileage was listed. Reviewing cars for years I’ve always looked less at stated mileage and more at how much fuel I consumed over the week. I returned the F-150 with over a half a tank of gas after driving it ALL over Tyler for a week. I purposely drove it easy because I wanted to see how much I could rely on the battery versus the fuel fed power-plant. My answer was, most of the time, in city driving, at lights, during easy starts, moving at 35mph. There were plenty of opportunities to enjoy the quiet. I mean really, can’t we all use a little less noise in our lives?

I know many of you reading this don’t care about Hybrids and think trucks don’t need to add to that category of vehicles, but listen up. The all-new F-150 Hybrid has something, actually many things for you guys and girls who work the truck or use it as a tow vehicle.

Let’s start with the ability to tow damn near thirteen thousand pounds. This is an F-150, not an F-250. That’s copious amounts of towing ability. Making towing seem easy is the total torque numbers displaced when both the internal- combustion motor and electric motor team up. There is literally nothing on the good side of reason, you can’t tow, even “Bubba reason”. Miss you Irwin!
Putting this power to the ground is an incredibly smooth 10-speed Hybrid Electric transmission, that seems to find the perfect gear every time. This truck is the smoothest truck or, car for that matter that I’ve reviewed in a very long time.

I’m no electrician and it wasn’t listed on the paperwork, but you can lower the tailgate and literally plug in your arch welder. With plugs offering 110 and 220 volt plug ins. Seriously??? That’s cool. Think of the times it would be great to plug in your electronics, in the middle of nowhere, and never worry about running out of juice.

The tech on the F-150 Hybrid is almost too vast to list in totality here, but feel free to visit ford.com to see for yourself. I’ll just mention a few like the dreaded lane departure and accident-avoidance technology that is tuned in a way not to completely overtake the drivers input, but to enhance it. 360-degree cameras that allow you to easily park what has become an increasingly larger and larger truck. Something called “Post collision braking”, I’ll have to look that one up!

The F-150 wore King Ranch trim, which means leather-soaked luxury and a fantastic sound system. As well as heated and cooled seats in front and rear.

In conclusion, if you need a new truck, you need to give the 2021-22 Ford F-150 Powerboost Full Hybrid serious consideration. Ford has hit a game winning walk off home run with the truck.
Now it’s time for you to step up to the plate and swing the bat, and in this case, bat stands for battery. Here’s to a quiet and more peaceful year ahead, thanks to Ford Motor Company.