Ford Wants You to Believe the New F-150 Lobo Is a Street Truck
The latest car news, reviews, and features.
I had high hopes for the Ford F-150 Lobo, but it's not enough. My expectations were set by the Maverick Lobo, which not only rocks a distinctive bodykit and lowered suspension but also improved cooling and a trick rear differential that makes it pretty agile on an autocross course. But the full-size F-150 variant feels like little more than an appearance package, and even then, it's not immediately clear that it's supposed to be a street truck with all that wheel gap.
At least it has a V8.
The F-150 Lobo isn't a trim but rather an add-on available for the STX trim. It does feature lowered suspension, but only in the back, where there's a two-inch drop. That tweak eliminates the regular F-150's rake, and that's likely what reduces the max payload to 1,450 pounds, with tow capacity dropping as well to 7,900 pounds. That may not seem like much of a loss until you realize that the most capable 4×4 F-150 with the 5.0-liter can tow 12,900 pounds. Ford
Ford's Coyote engine makes the same power in this application as it does in other F-150s: 400 horsepower and 410 lb-ft of torque. That's not weak at all, and if you want more power, the aftermarket parts catalog is endless; I can see customers adding a Roush supercharger to these, for sure. Every Lobo comes with a dual exhaust, a 3.73 rear axle with an electronic locking diff, plus an upgraded two-speed automatic 4WD system.
The biggest visual differences are the cowl hood and wide-mouth lower grille. Its upper grille design is unique, too, along with the LED signature and taillights. Ford notes the truck's 'ground appearance package' and 22-inch wheels in its press release, but the all-black Lobo featured in these photos seems to hide these details or, at the very least, obscure them. I'm curious to see what it looks like in the other available colors: Atlas Blue Metallic, Carbonized Gray, Oxford White, and Rapid Red Metallic Tinted Clearcoat. Here's a rendering that shows more of the bodywork's detailing. It isn't ugly by any means; I just don't feel like it's enough to be considered a full-on street truck. Ford Design sketches like this are always more extreme than the actual production models, but these pencil drawings show a caricature I can get behind. Ford
Tuners like Roush have already built legit street trucks on the current-gen F-150 platform. Heck, so have Ford dealers. I wouldn't expect the Blue Oval to go all out and give the Lobo 700 hp or anything, but when you already know what could be, it's tough to put this pickup in the same category.
The Lobo package adds $4,695 to the F-150 STX, with total pricing clocking in at $59,995 after destination and delivery charges. It'll be available this fall.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
33 minutes ago
- CBS News
$4.3 million resurfacing project to begin on Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills
If you're fed up with the construction on Orchard Lake Road, it's not expected to end anytime soon. Starting Monday, June 23, a major resurfacing project breaks ground. "We've been doing the entire Orchard Lake corridor for a number of years now, trying to update each segment," said Craig Bryson, Oakland County Road Commission senior communications manager. CBS Detroit A major $4.3 million resurfacing project kicks off on Monday from Interstate 696 to 13 Mile Road. "It includes milling off the existing road surface paving with new asphalt, improvements to curbs and gutters where needed. One of the big things we're doing to improve traffic flow in the area is we're adding a dual left turn to westbound 12 Mile onto southbound Orchard Lake. That should help alleviate some of the congestion at that intersection," Bryson said. Bryson says the road will remain open with traffic reduced to one lane in each direction. Drivers will also have access to all businesses along the corridor. CBS Detroit "There is no detour route because we're not closing the road," said Bryson. The project is expected to be complete by fall. Although delays are expected, Bryson says crews appreciate everyone's patience as this work gets done. "Ultimately, this will make a much better, smoother road, better functioning road, so we just gotta get through short-term pain for long-term gain," Bryson said. Bryson says throughout this project, there will be two weekends when the intersection of 12 Mile at Orchard Lake roads will close so crews can add the additional turn lane. Those dates will be announced soon.
Washington Post
35 minutes ago
- Washington Post
As Musk's 'robotaxi' rollout approaches, Democratic lawmakers in Texas try to throw up a roadblock
NEW YORK — A group of Democratic lawmakers in Texas is asking Elon Musk to delay the planned rollout of driverless 'robotaxis' in the state this weekend to assure that the vehicles are safe. In a letter, seven state legislators asked Tesla to wait until September when a new law takes effect that will require several checks before autonomous vehicles can be deployed without a human in the driver's seat. Tesla is slated to begin testing a dozen of what it calls robotaxis for paying customers on Sunday in a limited area of Austin, Texas.
The Drive
2 hours ago
- The Drive
Formula D Car Taken Out by New Jersey Storm
The latest car news, reviews, and features. A nasty storm tore through parts of New Jersey Thursday afternoon, causing chaos at the Formula Drift event at Englishtown. It was particularly gnarly for Jeff Jones, who returned to the paddock to find a tree had fallen on his Z, puncturing the windshield and crushing the roof. Nobody was hurt in the incident, but the damage to the car was enough for Jones to rule out its participation in this weekend's event. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Formula DRIFT (@formulad) Jones shared photos and videos of the damage on Instagram, and even took over the official Formula D live stream to let fans know he was unharmed ( Warning: the clip above contains some colorful language ). He even jokingly asks if anybody has a spare drift car that he can enter into the event on Saturday. From the up-close pics, it appears that the culprit was a mature but diseased oak tree. It crushed much of the roof over the Z's passenger compartment and blew out the windshield entirely. Enough of it was resting on the car to completely bottom out its suspension. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeff Jones (@jeffjonesracing) The good news is that the entire front clip of the car appears relatively undamaged, so everything under hood should have survived relatively unscathed. Even the driver-side door still opens. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeff Jones (@jeffjonesracing) According to local weather forecasters have ruled out the likelihood that the damage was caused by a tornado, suggesting instead that it was caused by simple (but no less dangerous) straight-line winds. Local observers reported gusts exceeding 60 mph between 4:00 and 4:30 PM Thursday as the system moved through. Got flora crashing through your drift car's windshield? Let us know at tips@ .article-sidebar]:pt-0>
