It is very impressive that a 2015 Ford F-150 Lariat four-door, one of the model's heavier setups, will only weigh 4,942 pounds. But it's important you know part of that "732 pound weight savings" came from the 2014 having a V8, while the 2015 had Ford's new 2.7 V6.
Granted, the difference in weight between the 2015 2.7 EcoBoost V6 and the 2015 5.0 V8 is 25 pounds, according to Ford. And 25 pounds is pretty much negligible; I mean, you'll feel that difference as your fuel level drops. But it's the principal of not doing a same-to-same comparison, man!
In case you don't feel like mathing, I guess we're left to assume that a '15 Lariat SuperCrew V8 would be 707 pounds lighter than a comparably-equipped '14 V8. Still one heck of a good diet.
I wasn't at Ford's "Biggest-Loser" style weigh-off press conference. But while the Blue Oval reps promise they made it clear which engine was in which truck, I hadn't heard anybody mention it and I'm pretty sure that's something you should have seen in "non-partisan" coverage of the event.
In fact, I'm a little embarrassed to admit it might not even have occurred to me, had I not happened to be off-roading with Fox News' car & lifestyle guy Gary Gastelu yesterday. Gary had been smart enough to actually ask about the engines and mentioned Ford's admission that they were different between the trucks.
Last night I confirmed from Ford that the 2014 Lariat indeed had a 5.0 V8 and was measured against a 2015 Lariat with a 2.7 V6. Their defense; the new 2.7 is meant to be comparable to a "mid-range V8," which the 5.0 is (the 2.7 is just 5 lb-ft of torque shy of the 5.0's output, but the V8 makes 35 more horsepower). They've also been suggesting that the 2015 V8 (and 3.5 EcoBoost) may get a power bump, for what it's worth.
But the fact remains; a 2015 F-150 5.0 Lariat SuperCrew V8 exists, and that would have been a more direct comparison against the outgoing truck.
As many of you have stated, and I'll emphasize once again, 25 pounds is a pretty piddling difference. That said I think many people would assume the trucks compared in this little exercise would have had the same engines. But they didn't, and you should have access to that information... so here you go!
Image: Andrew P. Collins (graphic devices from Ford)