Detroit Auto Show: 2015 Ford F-150 Loses Some Weight

Not pretty by any means, but there's certainly some innovation going on.

The ideal truck would be an F-150 with the Ram 1500's powertrain (EcoDiesel and eight-speed) and the Sierra's exterior and interior.

A jaw-dropper. Looks awesome, especially without the Platinum model's tasteless bling. I'll take an XLT regular cab 4X4 with the 3.5L in Green Gem.

Dislike the exterior, but I like the interior...

The exterior looks like a blend of the tired cliches of the current truck and the hideous Super Duty (the front end). But it is impressive to hear they've taken 700lbs out...pickups have been so obese for so long..

"Mulally, who grew up driving an F-150 on his family's farm in Kansas, particularly likes the new truck's front windows, which dip down 2 inches for better visibility.

"That's just an unbelievable innovation. You're sitting up there and you need to know where you are," he says. "I think that is absolutely a laser focus on what the customer wants and values."

He hasn't noticed that the Super Duty has done this for almost 20 years?

The exterior looks like the current truck with a new front clip. A mid cycle refresh. Yet the writer gushes about the daring new body? Please.

"He hasn't noticed that the Super Duty has done this for almost 20 years?"

Right, but it's MUCH older than even that. The 'Innovation Bucket' is just about empty these days.

I am a fan of Ford trucks historically, I've had 4 to date. The first pics of the Platinum I thought looked pretty nice from the front, a bit garish from the rear. But not liking the blacked out look much at all (I assume thats the XL). Same physical shapes, highlighted in a much different way. Need more real world pics, esp of intermediate trims.

"Mulally, who grew up driving an F-150 on his family's farm in Kansas, particularly likes the new truck's front windows, which dip down 2 inches for better visibility.

"That's just an unbelievable innovation. You're sitting up there and you need to know where you are," he says. "I think that is absolutely a laser focus on what the customer wants and values."

He hasn't noticed that the Super Duty has done this for almost 20 years?

And the F150 has had that detail for 10 years now.. the Super Duty has had it for 15 years.

We'll this is going to be a love it or hate it truck and so Ford has probably hit it on the nose to compete against dodge and gm.

For me, it is ugly and I do not like the exterior at all. The interior is even worse as it comes across as over done big blocks and looks plasticky from the pictures. There just seems to be a cheapness about the interior that I cannot put my finger on other than the plasticky look.

700lbs reduced weight is awesome. Yet with all the problems they have been having on the quality of the aluminum panels, I would not touch this truck for a few years and let them figure out how to truly make it solid.

We'll this is going to be a love it or hate it truck and so Ford has probably hit it on the nose to compete against dodge and gm.

For me, it is ugly and I do not like the exterior at all. The interior is even worse as it comes across as over done big blocks and looks plasticky from the pictures. There just seems to be a cheapness about the interior that I cannot put my finger on other than the plasticky look.

The current F150 is known for it's cheap and nasty interior, this looks a bit better. The exterior is just the same old F150 theme they have had since 2004 with an ugly '08+ style Super Duty front end.

As a "truck guy", initially I am not impressed with the new 2015 Ford F150. I will need to see it in person to make the final judgement but I guess I'm too much of a GM Truck Guy to really like the new Ford. I agree with many of the posts above, especially where it's mentioned that a new Super Duty-inspired front clip has been added to a rehashed current F150 body. The interior is trying to hard to be "different" and "unique", but I wouldn't say it's horrible overall. Ford will continue to do well with the F150 I'm sure.

Clearly, Ford is quite successful overall WRT their truck lines, so design elements for those that purchase them obviously works well.

F-150 is a very capable & contemporary vehicle you can build a thousand different ways & punish with hard usage for decades, that's what it's known for.

For all those griping about the GM trucks looking the same as the outgoing models well so does the new F-150. From the side it looks nearly identical with the same front window droop that that debuted back in 2004. The front end look very Super Duty and overall this is a let down. Will reserve judgement on the interior until I see in person but I'm not looking forward to more Ecofire engines in yet smaller sizes.

It looks like a toyota tundra. A small diesel would be nice too.

There is only so much you can do with styling, it looks like an F150 so the loyalists should like that. I think it looks fine, nothing great, but not bad in any way. The weight savings is great, I wouldn't be surprised if the 2.7L ecoboost out runs some of the competitions V8s. If they can get 300 hp from a 2.3 liter four in the Mustang, you have to think the Ecoboost 2.7 could be in the 330 hp and torque range. The fuel economy of the 2.7L should be quite an advantage over the other guys V8s also. Hard to believe a F150 with a sub 3 liter engine.

I read rumor of a 3.2 liter turbo diesel being developed for the Transit, that engine would be perfect for the F150, I think with a diesel the F150 could hit 30 mpg.

The exterior definitely has kept an evolutionary look. I think it looks great. The interior still has that "in a million pieces" look of the current truck. I prefer GM's clean and simple truck interior to Ford's.

Well they finally gave the F-150 a totally new exterior. Not big on the chrome-tastic front end but models like he FX4 it looks good, better designed than the current model and I like it better than the "draw 3 rectangles, one of them really big, and call it a day" Silverado's nose.

Interior looks nicer, again better than GM's offerings but at the same time its like a throwback to the `04 model.

if i were truck shopping I would skip over the GM stuff and get this as I most often like the Fords better, but i have to admit the aluminum thing in a truck scares me a bit.

What i would do is lease one probably if that were the case. I am not a typical truck buyer. So the lighter weight for handling and tossability would appeal to me. The 2.7 Ecoboost I would check into.

Lots of roughneck truck lovers though like the fact that trucks are heavy and huge. The lower weight may turn them off.

The melted ford trucks of the late 90's were light weight and there was a backlash to that. Now though, the engineering is more solid.

>>"Lots of roughneck truck lovers though like the fact that trucks are heavy and huge. The lower weight may turn them off.

The melted ford trucks of the late 90's were light weight and there was a backlash to that."<<

No; there wasn't any backlash to the weight, and the '97s I'm sure didn't lose any weight vs. the '96s (loss of the inline 6 not withstanding).

And no one champions their truck's weight as a reason they bought, either. Nonsense.

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Severely disappointed to see the shifter on the console. Just so faddish in a truck. Next up- a rear spoiler for downforce.

The technology behind this truck is certainly impressive. In fact, it's what I hoped GM would do with their new generation big pickups, but alas, GM stuck with traditionalism and conservatism. While I would like to see GM (or even Ram) edge Ford out of the top spot for truck sales, the likelihood of that happening is going to be slim. Wishy-washy truck buyers (yes, there are a few of them) are going to flock to this thing because Ford is going to really push the technology behind it. I can just hear them now, bragging to their Silverado-driving buddy that their truck "is made from the same alu-min-em as one of them there military Humvees."

I'm also impressed that Ford pretty much kept the styling from the Atlas concept intact, including the double-domed roof and that funky top cut on the windshield. Granted, that big cow-catcher grille looks pretty ... well, tacky in top level trims, but then again vulgarity is sort of the name of the game with a luxury pickup. It's fine in other trims that don't make an excessive use of chrome. There's also a certain quality about the design that harkens back to the old boxy F-Series trucks of the '70s, '80s, and early '90s.

I wasn't that impressed with the interior when sitting in it. It's fine for a truck, but if your looking for "nice" then GM and Ram do it better at all levels above work truck level.

Balthy there are plenty of folks in these parts that like heavier iron in winter and in my time selling I encountered buyers first hand who dissed the weak build of the 97 + era trucks Even if they were the same weight as the pre 97, I always heard from the buyer that the pre 97 and post melted trucks were the ones they wanted because of how solid they felt in comparison.

Show them crash test videos of the older trucks vs the newer ones. that'll shut them up. Love the ignorance of people "ITS BIG AND HEAVY SO ITS GOTTA BE MORE SAFER!"

Balthy there are plenty of folks in these parts that like heavier iron in winter and in my time selling I encountered buyers first hand who dissed the weak build of the 97 + era trucks Even if they were the same weight as the pre 97, I always heard from the buyer that the pre 97 and post melted trucks were the ones they wanted because of how solid they felt in comparison.

Chalk that up to the piss poor build quality of the '97 to '03 F-Series trucks where everything feels like its made out of paper mache glued together with old dog turds. The interior plastics certainly felt emaciated. "Chintzy" would be one way to put it, "cheap" would be another. I'm going to say to hell with politeness and mildness and say "&#036;h&#33;ty."

Balthy there are plenty of folks in these parts that like heavier iron in winter and in my time selling I encountered buyers first hand who dissed the weak build of the 97 + era trucks Even if they were the same weight as the pre 97, I always heard from the buyer that the pre 97 and post melted trucks were the ones they wanted because of how solid they felt in comparison.

Chalk that up to the piss poor build quality of the '97 to '03 F-Series trucks where everything feels like its made out of paper mache glued together with old dog turds. The interior plastics certainly felt emaciated. "Chintzy" would be one way to put it, "cheap" would be another. I'm going to say to hell with politeness and mildness and say "&#036;h&#33;ty."

The Taurus-look pickups were also notorious for their weak structures--poor crash test results and collapsible roof..inside, they went from cheap plastics and rounded on that era to blocky and cheap for the '04-09 and '10-14 generations...

This new truck looks too much like the '10-14 with a Super Duty style nose tacked on, it doesn't really go anywhere new stylistically..same old boring ugly blocky truck. GM and Ram have much better styling, IMO.

Show them crash test videos of the older trucks vs the newer ones. that'll shut them up. Love the ignorance of people "ITS BIG AND HEAVY SO ITS GOTTA BE MORE SAFER!"

The newer ones ARE (in general) the heavier ones tho. Pickups used to be around 4000 lbs, now they cluster around 6000. IOW; it's not the weight either way that has anything to do with crash results.

Show them crash test videos of the older trucks vs the newer ones. that'll shut them up. Love the ignorance of people "ITS BIG AND HEAVY SO ITS GOTTA BE MORE SAFER!"

weight is not always the determining factor in safety, but its also an actual real world example of stereotypes in the market. Let me give you other examples, 'oh, it's a toyota, it's reliable'

Weight is not really entirely about safety either. Another example. Something like a new Altima feels lighter and less solid on the road than the oft maligned for being heavier Malibu, because it is. But i know which one I would want to spend road miles in.

Balthy there are plenty of folks in these parts that like heavier iron in winter and in my time selling I encountered buyers first hand who dissed the weak build of the 97 + era trucks Even if they were the same weight as the pre 97, I always heard from the buyer that the pre 97 and post melted trucks were the ones they wanted because of how solid they felt in comparison.

Chalk that up to the piss poor build quality of the '97 to '03 F-Series trucks where everything feels like its made out of paper mache glued together with old dog turds. The interior plastics certainly felt emaciated. "Chintzy" would be one way to put it, "cheap" would be another. I'm going to say to hell with politeness and mildness and say "&#036;h&#33;ty."

The Taurus-look pickups were also notorious for their weak structures--poor crash test results and collapsible roof..inside, they went from cheap plastics and rounded on that era to blocky and cheap for the '04-09 and '10-14 generations...

This new truck looks too much like the '10-14 with a Super Duty style nose tacked on, it doesn't really go anywhere new stylistically..same old boring ugly blocky truck. GM and Ram have much better styling, IMO.

Ford purposely now changes the look little to little each year. Its as if they would take 25 years of the F150, a picture from each year, and make a cartoon book out of it. When you flip each page, you would notice little but subtle change. And there would be some change over time but it would be not much and even then the trucks would look similar. I think this new F150 reminds me of the early 90's ones actually.

Show them crash test videos of the older trucks vs the newer ones. that'll shut them up. Love the ignorance of people "ITS BIG AND HEAVY SO ITS GOTTA BE MORE SAFER!"

The newer ones ARE (in general) the heavier ones tho. Pickups used to be around 4000 lbs, now they cluster around 6000. IOW; it's not the weight either way that has anything to do with crash results.

trucks being body on frame behave so much differently in a crash. It's to say exactly how best to assign and use weight on trucks. unitbody vehicles are using more of the vehicles materials more efficiently so of course they will be lighter. Trucks have added so much stuff but since they are body on frame, it is tough to optimize them for crash when their structure is not the best for dealing with crashes to begin with.

First of the reports to come out on the new F150 say that due to the Aluminum panels and that less than 10% of body shops can deal with Aluminum that the insurance cost will be at least 10% higher!

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/post--2015-ford-f-150-repairs-will-cost-more-at-body-shop

Interesting, I wonder if this figure will higher as they head to the body shop.

Aren't many Audis aluminum bodied? The previous generation of BMW 5 series had a lot of aluminum but they abandoned that and went back to mostly steel w/ the current generation, IIRC...