When you think of a luxury vehicle, the words pickup truck might not be the first that pop[ into your head – but you might need to rethink that. Pickup trucks have come a long way in since they first surged in popularity after WWII. They are not just a powerful and practical vehicle, at the top of the line they are also luxurious as well – offering everything that a more traditional luxury vehicle does, and a whole lot more at the same time.
10 All the Mod Cons
If you picture a pickup truck in your mind, you might also add in a couple of builders – splashes of plaster and paint everywhere, with a barely working cassette radio and a couple of uncomfortable seats. You couldn’t be more wrong. It has all the modern technology you could want.
There are also heated and cooled seats with a massage function. They don’t just move backwards and forwards – they have a 10 way powered seat control. The steering wheel is heated too. There’s also a SONY sound system with 10 speakers and a subwoofer. Want DVD players for the kids in the back – you can have that optional extra too. Want a USB charger – how about a 110 volt power outlet? Or wireless charging so you don’t even have to plug in your phone.
9 Connectivity
At the heart of the central console is the SYNC 3 display. It has Sat Nav, it has bluetooth. It has seamless Siri integration with Apple Carplay, and can link to the Google Assistant with Android Auto. You can answer calls, set destinations and play music – all with just your voice.
If you include the SYNC Connect in your package, you can also locate your truck, auto-start and unlock the car so it’s ready to go when you are. YOu can also have an 8” productivity screen providing useful information from fuel economy to towing data right in front of you on the instrument cluster.
8 Luxury Interior
The Ford F150 range is not a cramped cab. It’s a full four door cab with room for up to six people. It’s not cheap either. There are 7 distinct trim levels. The Platinum Ford F150 comes with multi-contour leather trimmed seats in luxury level. The console lid is leather wrapped, with aluminum applique on the center stack and console, with ambient lighting. It’s also available in 7 different hues.
Even the passengers in the back get the same luxurious treatment – and a lot of legroom – with 43.6 inches. If you want to see more of the outdoors, then you can look out through the twin panel moonroof, which lets the outside in – and then closes it off if it’s raining.
7 Ready for Off Road
A luxury car may look great on the road – but you can’t really take that many luxury vehicles off-road. With a Ford F-150, that’s something you can do with the simple flick of a switch. The electronic-shift-on-the-fly (ESOF) system lets you choose between 4×4 low, 4×4 high and two wheel drive.
Certain models also include an automatic four wheel drive mode – and the Ford F-150 Raptor has a two-speed automatic all wheel drive with mechanical locking four wheel drive. It also comes with 3.0-inch FOX Racing Shox. The off-road package includes electronic-locking rear differential, Hill Descent Control™, off-road tuned shock absorbers and skid plates. That’s a lot of features other luxury vehicles simply don’t offer.
A beautiful vehicle is a luxury. A luxury vehicle that lets you go literally anywhere you want to go is an entire different type of luxury.
6 Military Grade Safety
If you go for the Ford F-150 Raptor, then you’ll find that it’s 500-700 pounds lighter than the previous generation. That’s thanks to a high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloy body plus a fully-boxed steel frame. It’s the same high-strength 5000/6000 series high strength grade used in the aerospace industry.
Not may luxury cars can claim to be made of aircraft grade materials. The aluminium alloy is also much more resistant to dents and corrosion. Testing the F-150 – it survived in deserts, at high altitudes and between temperatures of -20 to 120 degrees fahrenheit – all while towing a trailer. Humvee gained a reputation as a luxury vehicle – and now you can get that same toughness in a pick-up. As a result, it has the highest safety rating from the US government.
5 Moving and Towing
The Ford F-150 has the luxury interior and modern devices that you could want – but it also has modern technology helping with the way it feels to drive. You get the real feel of power and solidness in a pickup that is hard to replicate in other luxury vehicles, but you also get a whole lot more.
If you do tow a trailer, then the trailer sway control system notices if the trailer is swaying behind you and selectively brakes as needed to help the truck maintain control of whatever it is towing. The Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) also lets you know with a light in either sideview mirror if it detects a vehicle in your blind spot – it can be reconfigured with the camera system to pick up a blind spot behind the trailer as well as just the blind spot behind the car. You can also release the tailgate of the truck with the key-fob or inside door switch.
Even without a trailer, the Curve Control can sense when you’re taking a turn too fast – and in case you have something heavy in the back, the AdvanceTrac with roll stability control means that all four wheels will remain firmly planted, and you won’t have to worry about the truck tipping with your load. Electric power assisted steering also means that the truck is easy to manoeuvre whatever you have in the back.
4 Driver Assist Technology
You might think that a pickup might be harder to handle than a luxury vehicle – but there’s a lot of technology to help you. There is a 360 degree camera with split view display built into the Sync 3 display. It uses four cameras, one under each of the sideview mirrors, one in the grille and one in the tailgate. The system stitches all the images together and displays them so you get a top down view of your truck, and you can see how far away you are from any surrounding obstacles.
If you want to fix a trailer to the back of your truck (something to put the yacht on), then Pro Trailer Backup Assist is a way for you alter the direction of the trailer at the simple touch of a knob. Combined with the rear view camera technology, it makes making up with a heavy load a much easier proposition.
The forward facing camera can also detect lane markings, and apply torque to the wheel if it senses that the truck is unintentionally drifting out of the lane. It also has adaptive cruise control, which will alert you to a potential collision. Not on is the Ford F-150 tough enough to protect your family, it’s smart enough to protect other families as well.
3 Better Engine
One of things you might worry about with a big vehicle that has as much to offer as the Ford F-150 line is fuel efficiency. The lighter military grade aluminium body helps with that – but the 2.7L EcoBoost V6 with Auto Start-Stop Technology offers 8,500 lbs. of maximum towing and 2,210 lbs. of maximum payload wIt also includes Auto Start-Stop Technology, which shuts off the engine when you come to a stop to save fuel.
The 3.5L Ti-VCT V6 has a tow rating of 7,600 lbs with unsurpassed standard V6 EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings for a light-duty pickup. It has the best ever fuel efficiency in the seven decade history of the Ford F-150 line.
If that’s not enough power, the The 3.5L EcoBoost has a 2,200-lb. maximum tow rating, and a 6 percent higher city and 11 percent higher combined EPA-estimated fuel economy ratings than the previous generation’s 3.5L EcoBoost. If you need it, the 5.0L Ti-VCT V8 is the best in class at hauling – and can even run on compressed natural gas. That’s really a work vehicle option – but it’s an option that no other luxury vehicle can boast.
It’s also coupled with an all-new 10-speed transmission improved acceleration and performance compared with previous six-speed automatic transmissions, thanks to optimized wide-span gear spacing and with drag-reduction actions. That means 510 lbs per foot torque, and 450 horsepower.
2 Extra space
There’s a load of extra space. Not only in the flat bed at the back of the pick up – inside you can have the cab configured for 40/20/40 front seating – which allows up to 6 people to ride comfortably inside the cab. There’s plenty of space to put things in the door-trim panel bins and underseat rear storage area. If you go go for the flow-through center console option – there’s space for a laptop inside. In the SuperCab and SuperCrew Ford F-150 models there’s even a fully flat rear load floor with under-seat storage.
1 Stunning design
It doesn’t matter how good the inside of the Ford F-150 range is, what’s the point in having a luxury vehicle if other people are going to think that it’s just a work vehicle. The bold and beautiful design of the F-150 Raptor makes it stand out from all the other trucks in the market – as well as as the rest of the Ford F-150 line. Any other truck in the range (except the XL and XLT entry level models) looks like a statement luxury vehicle, with an exterior to match the polished interior.
The F-150 Raptor takes the design language up another step to create a distinctive vehicle that will certainly draw attention and respect when stacked next to other luxury vehicles. The F-150 has been the best selling truck in the USA for nearly 4 decades, and the Ford F-150 Raptor is the best luxurious representation of that legacy.
The Ford F-150 Raptor is the most luxurious representation of the F-150 line. It is a practical vehicle that can handle anything you throw at it, with the latest of technology to make it easy to control and stay safe – with the coupled power that means it can run through ice fields and deserts while still towing up to 12,200 lbs. It makes a statement, but also fits into a family lifestyle. It’s a luxury vehicle that’s great to drive, and can still fulfil any function you need it too.
Whether you’re a CEO who finds himself needing to move some key promotional equipment at the last moment – or a manager who wants a vehicle he can use to help with work, but also throw a canoe in the back to go hiking on the weekends – the Ford F-150 range is the answer to your problem.
This article was written by Eric White. He is part of the team at 51st State Autos, the UK’s largest importer of American Pickup Trucks in the UK.
