The Sporty Street F-150 Is Back
With its model lines filled to bursting with off-road variants, Ford is finally turning its attention to street-oriented pickup trucks. It started testing the waters with its littlest pickup, the Maverick Lobo, and now it’s applying the idea to Ford’s and America’s best-selling model line, the F-150. It also adopts the Lobo name, which does leave us wondering about what it will be called in Mexico, where the F-150 is already simply called Lobo. We doubt that Lobo Lobo would work well, but elsewhere, F-150 Lobo sounds pretty cool, and Ford has done plenty of things to make it look cool, too.
It Packs A Lot Of Style
The same person that designed the Maverick Lobo also did the F-150 Lobo. Just like the smaller truck, the big Lobo has many small exterior changes that come together for a subtle but distinct appearance. It features new side skirts and bumper extensions, plus unique black grille inserts and an LED light bar. The truck has been lowered by 2 inches at the rear. The hood is a beefier-looking example with a big cowl. It sits on 22-inch gloss black wheels, and it’s finished with black badges, vents, and dual exhaust tips.
It’s V8-Only
While the styling seems spot-on, the rest of the truck seems a bit lacking. One odd decision is only offering one engine option, the 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8. It’s no slouch with 400 horsepower and 410 pound-feet of torque, but the output is the same as any other V8 F-150. It’s also strange that the sporty street version of the F-150 wouldn’t get one of the more potent twin-turbo V6s from, say, the Raptor. Also, besides the lowered suspension, Ford hasn’t announced any other upgrades to the way it drives. It says the Lobo has an “upgraded” two-speed four-wheel drive system, but didn’t go into detail about what that entails. For what it’s worth, it also gets a 3.73:1 final drive ratio with an electric locking rear differential, but those aren’t special to the Lobo.
Ford has also restricted the package to a single body style. You can only get an F-150 Lobo with the four-door cab and 5.5-foot bed. This is despite the fact that Ford offers both extended and regular cab two-door pickups, both with the V8.
When You Can Get It And For How Much
The Lobo will go on sale this fall. It’s technically a package only available on the F-150 STX, and only in the aforementioned powertrain and cab configuration. The package itself is $4,675, and the base price for the truck with the Lobo package is $57,800. Add the $2,195 destination charge, and it totals $59,995.
