Cars are rated one (forget it) to four ('bout as good as it gets) James Deans

 GOOD STUFF

     Outstanding room and comfort
     Easy to drive
     Crew cab costs little in overall load-lugging capacity
     Strong engine and smooth transmission
     Standard 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS



 BAD STUFF

     Too easy to forget that when the you-know-what hits the fan,

     it still handles like a truck

• Style: Crew-cab pickup truck
• Engine: 5.4 liter V8
• Transmission: four-speed automatic
• Drivetrain: rear-wheel-drive
• Horsepower: 260 hp @ 4,500 rpm
• Torque: 350 ft-lbs. @ 2,500 rpm
• EPA mileage: 15 city/19 highway
• Weight: 4,581 lb.
• Base price: $26,250
• As tested: $30,000

At first glance, the F150 SuperCrew looks like another step in making the less-than-practical pickup truck a bit more practical - and that it does, with ease. But there's more. For many pickup buyers, the F150 SuperCrew is a dream come true. You folks know who you are, and you're probably nodding as you read this. For those who are not nodding, allow me to give a little background. The crew cab pickup truck, with four forward-hinged doors and a full-size back seat, has traditionally been offered only on heavier duty (3/4 ton and 1-ton) pickups. This meant a stiffer suspension, longer wheelbase, and bigger engine, which translates to a harsh ride, reduced maneuverability, and lower gas mileage. Plus a higher price.

Things got more complicated when Ford moved their high-capacity pickups to the new Super Duty platform. The Super Duty is a hell of a workhorse, but it's also very big, even by full-size pickup standards. It's a handful to drive, and its industrial strength suspension gives it an industrial-strength ride.

Several compact crew cabs, including the Dodge Dakota and the Nissan Frontier, have recently hit the market, and several more will arrive shortly. But they are still compact pickups, and limits on their hauling and towing capacity, plus cramped back seats, mean they are not a suitable replacement for a full-size truck.

Now do you see where we're going? The F-150 SuperCrew is the only crew cab to offer the brawn of a full size plus the easy handling of a half-ton truck. For those who find a ¾ ton truck too big and an extended cab too small, the F150 SuperCrew will be "juuuuuuust right."

Everything is relative. (Just ask Albert Einstein. I bet if he were alive today, he'd drive a pickup.) Full-size pickups have the advantage of pure size, which means they will fare better in a collision with a smaller vehicle. But their heavy weight and ponderous handling make them less able to avoid a collision in the first place.

With rear-wheel drive, lots of torque, and little weight on the back end, pickups are skittish by nature. They are at their worst on slippery roads and during panic stops. A limited-slip rear axle (a $285 option on our test truck) helps the pickup get traction to go. As for stopping, most pickups, the F150 included, come standard with rear-wheel anti-lock brakes, which can keep the back end from coming around in a panic stop. But with the front wheels locked, the driver can't steer - and when you're at the wheel of a two-and-a-half ton truck, isn't steering a nice thing to have? SuperCrews come standard with four-wheel ABS. It's optional on lesser F150s, and I would not recommend buying a pickup without it. The F150 also gets disc brakes all around, instead of the more common front-disc rear-drum setup. Disc brakes are more tolerant of heat and moisture than drums, and while the four-wheel disc setup is most commonly associated with sports cars, it's a valuable feature when one is towing or hauling a very heavy load.

Inside, the F150 gets dual depowered airbags for driver and passenger. Since the SuperCrew has a full-size back seat, there's no airbag disable switch on the passenger side; kids have to go in back. I was pleased to see that the rear seat belts are height-adjustable - a feature even most cars lack.

The F150 feels pretty steady - for a full-size pickup, that is. The two-wheel-drive version responds well to steering inputs, and the suspension keeps body lean to a comfortable level. In the corners, it actually hangs on pretty well.

Don't let that fool you.

Hit a bump while cornering, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket. During that momentary interruption in traction, the F150 reveals it's true nature: Lots of metal, poor balance, and a thorough understanding of Sir Issac Newton's theories. Even at moderate speeds, the truck will jump towards the outside of the curve, leading with the back end. At higher cornering speeds, I imagine some rather frightening things could happen. Same if the driver panics and overcorrects.

Pickup owners know this. But the F150 will likely lure a lot of first-time pickup owners. Not that there's any great mystique to driving a big pickup - 25 years ago, we drove cars that were bigger - but if you've gotten used to the predictable handling of a front-drive car or minivan, or even an SUV, you need to be prepared - the F150's comfortable interior and smooth ride make it easy to forget.

Hustling in the F150 is possible, it's rather like swinging a battle axe - better make sure there's lots of room around you should things go awry.

Base power for the SuperCrew is the overhead cam 4.6 liter V8, with power upped to 231 horsepower and 293 ft-lbs of torque for 2001. Our test truck had the optional 5.4 liter Triton V8, churning out 260 horsepower and 350 ft-lbs. Both engines come exclusively with a 4-speed automatic transmission.

With all that torque on tap, the 5.4 liter SuperCrew gets out of its own way in a hurry. Normally, I'd recommend sticking with the base V8, but according to the EPA, the mileage penalty is almost nil - the big motor gives up around 2mpg to the small one. Granted, 15 mpg city/19 mpg highway for the 5.4 liter 4x2 I tested is nothing to write home about, but hey - that's life in the truck lane. Bottom line is, if you're buying the SuperCrew, you might as well go for the larger motor.

All SuperCrews get a four-speed automatic transmission that shifts with the best - smooth up, smooth down. I'm a stick-shift fanatic, but if I must have an automatic, I want it to be one this good. It's completely unobtrusive and really lets you get at (and enjoy!) the grunt of that big ol' V8 engine.

Hauling

The big problem with small crew-cabs is the bed space - or lack thereof. But the short-wheelbase (139") SuperCrew gives up just one foot in bed length compared to the extended-cab version of the F150. Most bed-mounted lock boxes eat more space than that, and with the SuperCrew, you won't need one. (The rear seats split 60/40 and fold down, so there's plenty of lockable storage in the cab.)

The F150 SuperCrew offers a metal bed extender ($195), a U-shaped device which flips over the open tailgate to expand the bed space even further.

Complete load-lugging data has not yet been released, but the preliminary numbers Ford has given us show that the SuperCrew gives up only 200-300 lbs of maximum towing or hauling capacity compared to an extended cab F150 with the same motor. For the SuperCrew with the 5.4 liter engine a 3.55 rear axle, that translates to 8,000 pounds of towing capacity. A class III trailer towing package is available, along with heavy-duty electrical and cooling systems.

This is where the SuperCrew really comes into its own. The key feature is the full-size back seat. We're talking real stretch-out sedan-like comfort - a far cry from the skinny padded park bench that passes for a rear seat in the extended-cab F-150. If you don't look back, you could be sitting in an Expedition, Ford's full-size SUV.

The F150's front end rides on an independent front suspension, with coil springs for two-wheel-drive models and torsion bars for the four-wheel-drive version. And while it still rides like a truck - after all, it is a truck - the ride is smoother and much more comfortable than that of the larger Super Duty and it's commercial-strength suspension.

Ford offers their pickups with just about every comfort and convenience option you can think of. My test truck sported goodies like cruise control, a powerful CD stereo, power seats, and a handsome two-tone paint job. Naturally, the goodies add to the price - the SuperCrew XLT's base price of $26,090 swelled to $29,310 on the test car. With the destination charge, the bottom line was 30 large on the button.

Pickup truck with the comfort and practicality of a sedan? Check.

Crew-cab pickup that doesn't skimp on bed size or towing capacity, but doesn't drive like a Mack truck, either? Check.

My favorite pickup to date? Check.

A truck that drives like a car, even in emergency situations?

Uh, Houston, we have a problem.

'Nuff said.

Home, James