2024 Ford F-150 gets refreshed

For 2024, the Ford F-150 gets a nice facelift & a yuppie-but-cool swiss army knife tailgate option. Buuuut as you can expect, Ford is cramming even more nonsensical tech into the refreshed F-150 & calling it ‘progress’. Is it though? Or is it just more opportunities to beep at you and annoy you to death. And of course, more opportunities to bring your new F-150 back to the dealership because of eminent failures & glitches (Ford is number 1 in recalls).

F-150 STX

F-150 Tremor

F-150 Lariat

F-150 Platinum

F-150 Raptor

For example, the new 2024 F-150 will now alert you if a vehicle, cyclist, or pedestrian is approaching as you open your door.

Buddy – you have eyes for that. And side view mirrors. Eyes + mirrors is a tried & true winning formula. So put the pork chop down, and use your God-given senses you fat bastard. The new F-150 will also back itself up to your trailer AND THEN… even back-up your trailer for you. Convenient? Admittedly, hell yes! But you’ve gotta start asking yourself for the good of our species here, when is it too much tech? Too much nonsense? And a little embarrassing that your truck has to tie your shoes for you? When does tech become a dependency & create a helpless human that your grandpa & his F-150 would be ashamed of? (Watch 2nd half of video below)

Because it all comes at a cost…

A cost to your wallet, and a cost to your skillset as a driver. None of this stuff makes you a better driver, which is a learnable, transferrable skill throughout life. Nah on the contrary, it just makes you more incapable, helpless, tuned-out & dependent on tech & the ones to control it. There’s a difference between clever mechanical/engineering tech, like the new F-150’s tailgate… and annoying gimmicky sensor/chip-driven tech that overcomplicates vehicles with solutions to problems we never had.

Tailgate can be set to lock at either 37, 70, or 100º so it won’t hit trailer.

Easy step-in

F150 Pro Access tailgate

Ford is really pushing the Hybrid in the new 2024 F-150…

Ford even gave it a new name & badge to try and macho it up a little bit – the PowerBoost. Currently, hybrid F-150 sales only account for about 10% of total F-150 sales. But the take on the hybrid power plant in the smaller Ford Maverick has been high (about 60%), and that’s got Ford excited & optimistic. So with the 2024 model F-150, Ford is hoping to sell more hybrid F-150s (I’m sorry… ‘PowerBoosts’).

The theory behind it is: The full-electric F-150 Lightning isn’t really working. It’s as novelty, but it’s too expensive & not capable enough… and problematic. And, it’s costing Ford billions. So Ford hopes the hybrid will be a good middle ground solution for mainstream F-150 customers. Remember, Ford is trying to appease the regulatory overlords I mean politicians & EPA here under the current administration. So they have to come up with solutions that sound like they’re good for the agenda I mean environment. Therefore…

PowerBoost badge… and orange peel

The entry-level V6 is gone for 2024.

That means the popular 2.7 Ecoboost twin-turbo will now be the entry-level engine. The Coyote 5.0 V8 is still available (thank God). As is the upper-model 3.5 Ecoboost twin-turbo. And in an effort to make the F-150 hybrid more competitive, it will slide-in at the same price-point at the 3.5 Ecoboost. Pick your poison. The hybrid makes more power/torque & gets a few more miles-per-gallon, but the hybrid also has more complications & failure points. So I guess it depends on whether you buy a truck to last, or trade ‘em in every few years. I’m sure Ford would prefer the latter lol. However, the F-150’s reputation was built on the former.