impromptu pickup comparos

So my T-bird's tranny broke a while back. I finally got around to getting it to a shop that I felt was moderately trustworthy, all the way down in southeast South Dakota, 200 miles from me. Since my parents and grandparents live between there and my residence in southeast North Dakota, we decided things would work out the easiest if I just drove the car down there with what transmission functionality remained (everything but automatic 2nd gear), got someone to pick me up at the shop, and then borrowed a vehicle to get back north.

So what I borrowed was my grandpa's 1995 Ford F-150. It's a "Northland Edition" Super Cab XLT model, an odd mystic red in color, with 4-wheel-drive, a 351ci "Windsor" V8, E4OD transmission, and something close to 3.55 gears in the axles. This model year was one of the last with the "Twin Traction Beam" front suspension. (Incidentally, if you get a chance, watch the front wheels of a heavily-loaded, TTB-equipped Ford pickup going down a bumpy road sometime -- it's quite amusing, or perhaps more accurately, "frightening", watching how the tires angle.) Since many of the specifications of this pickup line up well with my Club Cab, 2005 model Dodge Dakota with 4-wheel-drive and a 4.7L V8 I thought I'd compare the two.

As soon as I got it into my garage I realized how big my 10-years-newer "midsize" Dodge Dakota is -- it's the same length as what was "full size" 10 years ago. The Ford is about a half foot wider and several inches taller for more interior space and cargo bed room -- it's actually roomy enough that I have a tough time reaching over to the HVAC controls and radio, and I think I could be comfortable in the back seat for a lengthy trip where the Club Cab Dakota's rear seat would be like a torture chamber. But the F-150 didn't have a size advantage everywhere. The Dakota's tires at 265/70R16 dwarf the Ford's 235/75R15's. The Dakota also has something like 30 more horsepower, 5 forward gears instead of the Ford's 4, and gets far better fuel mileage. I've seen up to 20 mpg in the Dakota while the Ford only managed to get 12.6 mpg getting me back up here. The Dakota is also much nicer inside, but that's to be expected with the Dakota having the "Laramie" package of leather seats, Infinity stereo, and other fun gadgets.

In driving dynamics there's no comparison. The Dakota has impressive road feel, body roll control, and damping compared the Ford, which wallows around corners, leans oddly when the steering wheel is cranked while the truck sits, and yet for all its suspension softness rides about the same. The difference is about the same magnitude as the handling gap between my 1996 Ford Thunderbird and my beloved 1973 Mercury Cougar XR-7 that got me to high school.

Just for fun I then drove the old F-150 to a Ford dealer where I could find both a '97-'03 model and a '04+ model F-150 to compare to it. The first thing I noticed about both new F-150's is that the box side walls were far higher, especially the newest truck. Why?!? The chassis ride height isn't that much higher. I think Ford sacrificed utility for cargo volume in a realm where taller is not always better. I'm a fairly tall guy and I can't get an arm over an '04 F-150's box wall and touch the box floor, a task that's very easy on the old F-150 or on my Dakota.