This is the Only F-150 You’ll Ever Really Need

By Chad Kirchner - March 3, 2016

Many of you lament that the price of pickup trucks are through the roof. That hasn’t stopped people from buying them, and it hasn’t stopped Ford from building them with tons of options, but what if you’re someone looking for a good, solid truck with none of the extra frills? You can still get one, even though you might have to order it straight from Ford instead of just finding it on a dealership lot. We have a configuration here that we believe would be everything you need, with nothing you don’t.

For starters, it’s a 2016 F-150 XL short bed but the SuperCrew cab. We’re assuming you’re going to use this truck every single day, and you’ll use it to haul your family around. The $6,831 option is a pricey one, so if you don’t need the space you can save a ton of money by optioning a smaller cab size.

The truck is only a two-wheel drive configuration, because in many parts of the country we’d argue that you don’t need four-wheel drive to survive. If you do live somewhere where it does snow, a good set of snow tires is still significantly cheaper than ordering your truck with four-wheel drive. Remember, we’re trying to be reasonable and do it all on a budget here.

Because America, and the possible need to actually tow stuff, we sprung for the 5.0L “Coyote” V8 engine. We know that you’d all do the same, as well. It’s pricier than the 2.7L EcoBoost that we are also huge fans of, but the idea of an inexpensive-ish truck with a big V8 is appealing to us.

We’re a big fan of the LED side mirrors, and for $175 consider them a no-brainer option. We’ve included them on this configuration.

Because it’s a truck and you might actually have to tow something, we’ve included the $895 trailer tow package. That includes the ability to tow up to 9,100 lbs, and includes Ford’s Pro Trailer Backup Assist as well as an auxiliary transmission cooler. The $275 integrated trailer brake controller also seems like a smart option box to check.

For additional options, we like the $200 400w AC plug in the dash and the $495 spray-in bed liner. Many people go to the aftermarket for their bed liner, so it’s an option you can definitely skip. However, we like the simplicity of just having it ready to go when we order the truck.

While not the cheapest truck in the world, we’re looking at a MSRP of $37,899 based on current incentives. We have a payload capacity of 2,910 lbs and the ability to tow 9,100 lbs. We can haul our entire family with ease. We even have SYNC so we can Bluetooth our phone to the truck so we can use our own navigation app on our phone, or play whatever music or audio from our phone.