Which F-Series is right for you?

Do you know what the most popular car on the road is today? It’s not the Camry, the Sonata, the Fit, or any of the other cars you see all the time on the highway. It’s the Ford F-Series of pick-up trucks, specifically the Ford F-150 model. Here’s a deeper look at Ford’s best-selling vehicle, and the most popular vehicle in America.

What Is The F-Series?

All of Ford’s pickups are technically under the same category, starting at F-150 and going all the way up to F-750. Generally, the higher the number, the heavier the workload the truck can handle. Any number above 150 is generally considered a “Super Duty” truck by Ford, a vehicle designed more for hard work than for driving around the neighborhood. The F-650 and F-750 are medium duty commercial trucks that you simply won’t find on your average used car lot; generally those are “chassis-cab” trucks, like flatbeds.

How Do I Spot A “Super Duty” Truck?

First introduced in 1999, Super Duty trucks have a few key differences from the light duty trucks you often see in driveways. To start with, the Super Duty has a different chassis, specially reinforced to take higher weight loads, and also has a different suspension for the same purpose. They also have Ford’s PowerStroke diesels available as engine options, which offer more horsepower.

How Are F-Series Classed?

Generally, a series is classed by its overall weight carrying capacity, or gross vehicle weight rating. As a rule, above 150, the first number of the name is also the truck’s class. For example, because the F-150 can haul between three and five tons, it’s technically a Class 2a truck, along side the Dodge Ram 1500, the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, and, surprisingly enough, several SUVs on the market, like the Ford Excursion, which uses several elements of the F-Series Super Duty trucks in its design. The F-250 would be a 2b truck, the 350 a Class 3, and so on.

The F-Series has a lot of power, but is it right for you?

Which Is Right For Me?

As a general rule, which F-Series you get depends heavily on your needs. The F-Series comes in two-door and four-door configurations with up to four seats, making it relatively people friendly if you’re helping friends more or do a lot of camping, fishing, or other outdoor pursuits that need a lot of stuff hauled along on the weekend, but it may not be the most family friendly vehicle depending on how many people you need to carry around. If you need a car that can handle light construction work, or is ruggedly outdoorsy, the F-150 will fit the bill, but if you’re only camping for movie tickets, an SUV or minivan might be a better choice.

As for the other trucks, most of us simply won’t need the hauling power of the upper ranges of the F-Series, and may not be able to afford the fuel to use it unless we can write it off as a business expense. They also may simply be more truck than most of us can handle: For a while, the F-Series was under investigation by the NHTSA over allegations of steering problems, but it quickly turned out that the drivers were simply unable to control the powerful trucks.

The right truck can make all the difference. If you’re ready for the F-150, subscribe to get alerts on vehicles in your area.