2004 4x4 Truck Of The Year Vehicles

Ford F-150 SuperCab FX4Highs*Rear-side windows that roll down*Best Ford interior yet*Long-travel IFSLows*Stepside bed*Cramped rear seats*Doesn't feel like 300 hp

VerdictFord's put all its eggs in this F-150 basket

Sorry, Ford loyalists, but even with the new three-valves-per-cylinder 5.4L engine rated at 300 hp and 365 lb-ft of torque, you can still plan on losing every onramp race to a Nissan Titan. Granted the Nissan has the advantage of a five-speed automatic transmission where the Ford's only got a four-speed. But we wonder whether Ford is overrating the power of its engine or Nissan's underrating the Titan's.

But fear not-your ego will be redeemed the minute you open the door and sit inside because the all-new F-150 trounces the Nissan competition in the interior department. The new look, material choice, and layout of the FX4 package truck is simply Ford's best truck interior yet. Couple that with larger brakes, incredible feel and performance from the new rack-and-pinion steering, and a ride superior to any pickup Ford has built, and F-150 customers will be happy with this new truck. Just save some money for an aftermarket supercharger!

Our judges have always been fans of the F-150's uncanny ability to prerun with the best of them on the fast, bump-strewn washes that we test on every year. The new F-150 does not disappoint either. The substantial and fully boxed frame is a rigid foundation for the new coilover shocks and forms a great backbone for the pickup. We had some initial concerns about the cast-aluminum lower control arms' durability, but it turns out we were worrying about nothing. In the slow off-road section of our test the Ford was OK, but not a standout. It was hard for it to compete with the more aggressive Nissan-spec BFGoodrich tires and rear locker, but the suspension travel and well tuned rear leaf packs at least made crawling a smooth affair.

Sadly Ford's FX4 option group that has real substance on the Ranger is still mostly an appearance package on the F-150. The 18-inch wheels should tip you off to that. Along the same lines, we didn't pull the differential cover to check, but we have a hard time believing our test vehicle really had a limited-slip differential, even though the option sheet listed it. That's one option we'd skip when buying an F-150!