Smaller Ford Trucks

Or so I thought.

Driving by my Ford dealer the other day, I spotted 3 what appeared to be smaller pickups in a separate group.

Piqued my curiosity and to my surprise they were F 150's. Standard cab, short box and wheel base. 2wd

After getting used to seeing all of the 4x4 crew cabs, these looked really small.

iceracer wrote: Piqued my curiosity and to my surprise they were everything you need in a truck and nothing more. Standard cab, short box and wheel base. 2wd

FTFY

Pretty certain I saw a similar spec Ford outside a worksite last year. Looked sooooo skinny without all the Pontiac-esque plastic that it got me more gaga than any hyper car ever could.

EvanR wrote:

iceracer wrote: Piqued my curiosity and to my surprise they were everything you need in a truck and nothing more. Standard cab, short box and wheel base. 2wd

FTFY

You don't live where it snows. A 2wd pickup on snow and ice is like a dog on ice skates.

Um, I somehow managed to survive 5 Wisconsin winters with a 2wd Ranger .... snow tires plus a couple bags of sand in the bed were good enough.

In reply to einy:

I drove through a blizzard that produced over 48"s of snow with a 2wd comanche. Tires are critical.

iceracer wrote: Piqued my curiosity and to my surprise they were F 150's. Standard cab, short box and wheel base. 2wd

I almost have to chuckle. These were our standard work trucks for many years. With a manual transmission, an AM radio and no AC. No sound deadening in the roof. They were brutal to drive in the summer. I still feel like they are part of the cause for my hearing loss.

EvanR wrote:

iceracer wrote: Piqued my curiosity and to my surprise they were everything you need in a truck and nothing more. Standard cab, short box and wheel base. 2wd

FTFY

A short box fits 'everything you need in a truck and nothing more'? If we are going to play this game again at least say you want a long box.

I for one loved my 4 door, short box, 4x4 pickup. Why did I get rid of it? Because gas mileage was usually low teens, and my short wife was about to be pregnant. And after the trouble she had I'm glad we got rid of it before it got bad.

EvanR wrote:

iceracer wrote: Piqued my curiosity and to my surprise they were everything you need in a truck and nothing more. Standard cab, short box and wheel base. 2wd

FTFY

IMO, the ideal truck is a crew cab, long bed 4wd dually that's not a DD. You'll never have "not enough truck". And being huge and impractical doesn't matter because it's parked unless it's doing truck stuff.

Okay, I'll give in on the long bed. Some folks need to haul sheet goods.

Point is, if you use a truck for actual truck things, you're better off with a regular cab F-350XL than with a crew cab F-350 Platinum. Why? The lighter the truck (smaller cab & fewer options) the more room you have in the GCVW for the stuff you're towing and hauling.

4WD may be mandatory for some folks who go off-road or on to muddy construction sites, etc. But like several other posters, I drove 2WD trucks in Michigan for years without ever winding up in the ditch. Proper snow tires and a couple hundred pounds in the bed, and you're good to go.

I had a Jeep Liberty with selective 4wd for 8 years.

Here in upstate NY we get a fair amount of snow.

With proper tires I found that I seldom needed to pull that lever.

I even pulled my trailer with ice race car off a lake before I realized that it had been in 2wd.

Standard cab long bed 2wd is my truck of choice. Ive survived 13 ohio winters without 4x4. My next truck will be another 2wd.

A standard cab 2wd short box f150 with the 2.7 should be pretty quick. I was at the Amsterdam airport chatting with a guy who did engine cal for ford. The 3.0 in the mkz puts out 450 horse. No reason the 2.7 with some minor work can't be in the same ballpark.