How We’d Spec It: The Oh-So-Aluminum 2015 Ford F-150 Pickup

A significant event has heralded the imminent arrival of Ford’s groundbreaking, aluminum-bodied 2015 F-150 pickup at dealerships: The truck’s on-line configurator is reside. That indicates you can now go to Ford’s web site and begin mixing and matching cabs, bed lengths, engines, and drive configurations. Most important, you can do all of this and see how considerably all that configuring will expense you. Getting fans of trucks ourselves—we might be called Auto and Driver, but how else are we gonna get our track automobiles to the racetrack? Or carry 650 pounds of anything?—we instantly began fixing up the 2015 Ford F-150 of our aluminum-laced dreams.

MODEL: 

Ford F-150 XLT SuperCrew 4×4 3.5L EcoBoost (base price: $ 42,615)

Let’s get this out of the way up front, people: Complete-size pickup trucks are anything but low-cost these days. Positive, the F-150′s $ 26,615 base price sounds good (full lineup pricing right here), but that buys you a regular-cab XL model with vinyl flooring, steel wheels, and black-plastic every thing. (It does look sweet, although.) When you genuinely start off ticking the boxes for stuff wanted by men and women not becoming paid to drive a pickup, nicely, factors get out of hand quite speedily. Which brings us to our F-150. Ford gives 5 trim levels—XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum—that span from the aforementioned work truck to leather-lined luxury rigs. Whilst we’d entirely dig a King Ranch or a Platinum, we decided to stay somewhat sensible and grab the nicest midrange F-150, the XLT.

Offered that several C/D staffers have kids, and as a result a require for a correct back seat, we went ahead and made our XLT a 4-door SuperCrew model. Specifying the short, 5.5-foot bed keeps the F-150 slightly city-friendly, and 4-wheel drive guarantees we’re prepared for winter and unpaved roads. Right off the bat, selecting the SuperCrew physique style calls for buyers to step up from the base 3.5-liter V-6 (the transmission remains a 6-speed automatic). We skipped over the F-150′s new 2.7-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V-6 engine and went for the tried-and-true 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, since the outgoing—and surely heavier—truck with that engine was fairly sprightly. 4-wheel drive adds a pretty penny, too, at $ 3495. All of this adds up to a base value for an un-optioned XLT SuperCrew 4×4 of $ 41,415.

For that sum, Ford swaps the base XL’s black-plastic bumpers and grille and such for chrome pieces, tosses in some aluminum 17-inch wheels, power windows, power door and tailgate locks, fog lights, SYNC voice-recognition, cruise handle, full carpeting, map lights, and much more.

Possibilities:

Magnetic gray paint ($ )
302A Equipment Group ($ 3245 after $ 2000 package discount)
Navigation ($ 795)
Trailer tow package ($ 495)
Spray-in bedliner ($ 475)

Ford’s F-150 pricing, as large and in charge as it may be, is hardly outside of the complete-size-pickup norm. GM and Ram are both guilty of equivalent sins (our lately departed lengthy-term 2013 Ram 1500, a midlevel SLT model with the base V-6, rang in with an as-tested price tag of $ 47,050), but even still, the XLT’s proud base value left us disinterested in driving the final tally a lot larger. After choosing the F-150′s color—we went with the wonderfully ironic Magnetic gray colour, primarily because the truck’s aluminum physique isn’t magnetic—we checked just 4 for-price choice boxes.

The initial was for a spray-in bedliner ($ 475), followed by navigation for $ 795 and a towing package for $ 495. The privilege of in-vehicle mapping required we initial select a single of 2 gigantic alternative groups, the sexily named 301A or 302A packages. Opting for 301A brings F-150 buyers heated side mirrors, a backup camera, power-adjustable pedals, an 8-way energy driver’s seat, rear under-seat storage, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, SiriusXM satellite radio, and a Class IV trailer hitch. We decided to upgrade 1 step further to the 302A kit, which gets every little thing from 301A plus remote engine beginning, parking sensors, 18-inch chrome wheels, LED box lighting, 10-way energy driver and passenger seats, a 110-volt energy outlet, heated front seats, a energy sliding rear window, and Ford’s MyFord Touch infotainment show.

In Ford’s bizarre alternatives structure, massive packages like 302A bring a built-in “discount” for ordering them. Essentially, as an alternative of giving the bundle a single price tag that’s slightly reduce than the cumulative value of its contents, Ford seemingly slaps the complete value of all the content onto the package. Upon ordering the package, the purchaser is then presented with an desirable discount off of that total. In the case of the 302A package, purchasers face down a steep $ 5245 price tag just before a $ 2000 discount knocks that sum down to $ 3245. It is silly, but combined with our selection restraint, it outcomes in our truck’s general MSRP staying relatively low, at $ 47,625.

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Definitely, that is a ton of dough for a truck that still rocks cloth seats (leather is not even available on the XLT), but for a properly-equipped workhorse that can tackle suburban sprawl as well as it can handle a week’s worth of camping gear in the bed and a totally loaded trailer at the exact same time, take into account it a value in today’s truck industry. And preserve in mind, the F-150 must be drastically lighter than its competition thanks to its aluminum body—which Ford doesn’t appear to be charging its consumers further for—and as a result should consume less fuel and perhaps even manage much better. Let’s just say we can not wait to drive it and see if the latter is correct.

How We’d Spec It: The Oh-So-Aluminum 2015 Ford F-150 Pickup

How We’d Spec It, Modest Executive Express–Style: 2015 Audi S3 Sedan

Audi’s online configurator for its new A3 sedan has at extended final gone live. As we do in such circumstances of a hotly anticipated car’s develop-your-personal function firing up, work quickly commenced on the virtual assembly of our dream A3. A huge part of the A3’s appeal, of course, is its affordability, not to mention its fine driving manners. Also, it looks like a miniature A8, creating it the perfect starter executive express. This is the version we’d get:

MODEL:

Audi S3 Sedan (base cost: $ 41,995)

Obtaining tested the normal A3 sedan and driven its hotter S3 sibling, we can say they’re wonderful machines. But the S3’s energy and handling advantage over the A3 can’;t be ignored, and we’re a energy-hungry bunch, so we’re skipping the normal version and going straight for the S. This, of course, calls for substantial further investment the S3 retails for $ 11,200 far more than the entry-level, front-drive A3 sedan.

Still, for $ 41,995, the S3 gives a 292-hp turbocharged 2.-liter 4-cylinder engine, Quattro all-wheel drive, a standard 6-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, and a claimed 155-mph prime speed. It’s a shame that Audi hasn’t however decided whether it is bringing the European-industry S3’s obtainable manual transmission option right here, but the dual-clutch unit is snappy adequate. The base value covers the Premium Plus trim level the upmarket Prestige version commands $ 47,895. All of the Prestige content can be bought as person alternatives or packages on the Premium Plus—although doing so brings the price tag to parity with the Prestige’s base cost. Because we want every thing the Prestige has to offer, we just chosen that trim level for its bundled goodness.

Normal equipment on the Prestige is generous and consists of Audi’s MMI infotainment program with navigation, a bangin’ Bang & Olufsen audio technique, energy-folding heated side mirrors, adaptive complete-LED headlights, a backup camera and parking assist, and leather seats. Each S3 models come with a sweet quad-exhaust setup, 18-inch split-5-spoke wheels with summer tires, LED taillights, dual-zone automatic climate control, a flat-bottom steering wheel, and a panoramic sunroof. BMW will gleefully charge far, far far more for a similarly contented M235i for instance, the new-for-2015 all-wheel-drive M235i xDrive model starts at $ 45,850. Equipping it with leather, heated seats, navigation, and other stuff that is common on the S3 Prestige punts its MSRP over $ 52K—and don’;t forget, the BMW is down 2 doors to the S3.

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Options:

Brilliant Black ($ )

Magma Red and Black Interior ($ )

19-inch Functionality Package ($ 1500)

There aren’t several choices the S3 Prestige doesn’t already have, meaning our list of extras is commendably short. In keeping with the S3’s junior-executive-saloon vibe, we spec’d Brilliant Black paint for a low profile. For the inside, we opted for the sporty Magma Red and Black interior scheme, which brings a dash of color to the S3’s otherwise dark cabin plus, the splashes of red nicely complement the S3’s standard aluminum trim. The only other goody we sprung for was the 19-inch Overall performance package, a deal that involves beautiful 19-inch aluminum wheels and Audi’s adaptive suspension dampers. We passed on the $ 1400 Advance Technology package, which includes a bunch of nanny driver-assistance gear mother please, we’d rather drive it ourselves.

So there you have it, for $ 49,395, you can appear like you run the company—and have way more entertaining than the guys who in fact do.

How We’d Spec It, Modest Executive Express–Style: 2015 Audi S3 Sedan

How We’d Spec It: The Classiest Jeep Grand Cherokee Ever

Summer time road-trip season is in full swing, and there are several vehicles properly certified to carry you and yours on just such an excursion. But whilst you could always get a minivan and call it a day, what’s a family members to do if, say, their location is a tiny much less . . . paved? That’s exactly where the Jeep Grand Cherokee comes in. We’ve tested every single powertrain obtainable in Jeep’s classy SUV, but the greatest a single at combining all round worth and driving pleasure has to be the Hemi-powered, 4-wheel-drive version. If we had to hit the road toward a wild location tomorrow, this is the Grand Cherokee we’d take.

MODEL:

Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4×4 (base cost: $ 47,190)

Jeep gives a Grand Cherokee for any spending budget, supplied that spending budget begins at $ 30,490. But provided that it was split at birth from the present Mercedes-Benz M-class crossover, we consider splurging a tiny and heading for the upper finish of the lineup tends to make sense. There, you’ll locate way far more luxury for far less funds than it takes to bring house a comparably equipped Benz.

Of the Grand Cherokee’s 3 highest trim levels—Limited, Overland, and Summit—we’d take the Overland. It comes common with fairly much all of the luxe gear one particular may well require, which includes leather seats with piping (heated front and rear, cooled in front), a heated steering wheel, proximity crucial with push-button starting, dual-zone automatic climate manage, a backup camera and sensors, a panoramic sunroof, Chrysler’s superb Uconnect infotainment system with an 74-inch touch screen, an 8-speed automatic transmission, HID headlights, Jeep’s Quadra-Lift air suspension, and a lot more.

Choices:

Black Forest Green Pearl paint: $

Nepal Jeep Brown Light Frost interior: $

5.7-liter Hemi V-8 engine: $ 3195

Off-Road Adventure II package: $ 1095

Sophisticated Technologies group: $ 1995

There’s nothing wrong with the standard 3.6-liter V-6, unless you’re in a hurry, which is why we’d spec the optional 5.7-liter Hemi and its 360 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque. (Jeep also provides a torquey 3.-liter diesel V-6, but we discovered it to be too unrefined for a luxury SUV in a current comparison test and also slow to boot.) Even though the V-8 imparts a fuel-economy penalty—the EPA prices it at 14 mpg city, 20 highway 3 and 4 mpg fewer than the V-6—our testing showed the gap to be significantly closer, with the V-6 returning 17 mpg and the V-8 16 mpg. The added power is worth the minor efficiency penalty.

Beyond the Hemi, we’d add only the $ 1095 Off-Road Adventure II package, which brings a bevy of skid plates, hill-descent manage, and Quadra-Drive II (Jeep-speak for complete-time 4-wheel drive with a restricted-slip rear differential). The kit also swaps the Overland’s handsome 20-inch wheels for smaller sized-diameter 18-inchers wearing much more off-road-friendly tires that return a cushier ride. Households seeking for an additional dose of safety can look forward to coughing up $ 1995 for the Sophisticated Technology group, which adds adaptive cruise manage, forward-collision warning and crash mitigation, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and a brake-assist function. We have it on ours mostly because the set-it-and-neglect-it cruise manage makes lengthy highway slogs more tolerable, though the package’s inclusion right here was far from a unanimous choice.

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Our soft spot for green-colored cars implies Jeep’s snazzy Black Forest Green Pearl paint is a no-brainer, and the Nepal Jeep Brown Light Frost interior scheme (a dark chocolate brown over tan) is the excellent complement to each the exterior color and the Overland’s standard matte-finish wood trim.

Total price? A healthful $ 53,475, but that’s nevertheless some $ 16,000 much less than a base 8-cylinder BMW X5 xDrive50i and about 6 grand less expensive than a base V-8 Mercedes-Benz ML550. And neither of these luxury SUVs is practically as capable off-road.

How We’d Spec It: The Classiest Jeep Grand Cherokee Ever