2024 Ford F-150 XLT SWB long-term review

With the popularity of full-size American pick-ups continuing to grow in Australia we wanted to take a closer look at what the attraction is, and what it would be like living with one in suburban Melbourne.

With that in mind we picked up this Ford F-150 which we’ll be driving over the next three months. This example is the base-spec XLT and we chose the short wheelbase variant thinking it would be a bit easier to park around town. The F-150 XLT SWB starts at around $107,000 plus ORC.

While the plan is to see what the Effie is like around town, we admit that these full-size trucks do their best work out on the open roads and highways, and that’s what we did first up, hitting the highway for an interstate road trip and weekend camp.

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This might be the SWB model but that only limits the length of the cargo tub, leaving plenty of space in the cabin. With rear-seat passengers and the seat squab folded up, there’s a ton of flat floor space to carry your gear inside the cabin where it is secure.

I was able to fit a 40-litre fridge and a power pack to keep it running in the rear-seat area as well as my swag and kit pack. I used the seat mounts to secure the heavier gear with tie-down straps and with a bit more planning I could have used an elasticised cargo net as well. Some specific tie-down points here would be handy and the Ram 1500 has them for just this reason.

With my gear in the cabin, all I had left to load into the massive cargo tub was a couple of bags of firewood and some car parts I needed to drop off. The bed has a spray-in liner, plenty of tie-down points, and a handy fold-out step that makes it easy for fat old blokes to climb into the tray when loading.

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There are a few features in the F-150 XLT that I actually prefer over the higher-spec Laramie; the cloth seat coverings feel hard wearing without feeling cheap and harsh, and I think they will stand the test of time longer than the leather pews in the Laramie, and XLT’s column-mounted transmission shifter is easy to use and frees up the the centre console for storage. The console is huge compared to what you get in any midsize ute, and it’s nice to be able to make the most of it without a T-bar shifter taking up space.

The XLT’s multimedia screen is not as big as the one in the Laramie but it is still big enough and easy to use. Everything about living with the F-50 is easy, except parking it in town.

Out on the highway the Effie tours with ease, eating up the highway miles with an average fuel use in the low 12L/100km range. The 678Nm twin-turbo V6 petrol engine has plenty of poke for overtaking and the 10-speed auto kicks back the ratios accurately when you put your foot down to overtake.

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These big trucks make interstate trips effortless, meaning less stress and fatigue for the driver, and the 136-litre fuel tank means that while you’re not stopping at every fuel station, you’ll be pulling up just enough to give yourself a break when you need it.

We did have one small niggle with the Effie from the start; each time we started the truck, the dash display would give a low battery voltage warning, and this continued after the road trip which should have well and truly had the battery charged. It wasn’t a problem and even after sitting in my driveway for a week the F-150 still started straight away when I hit the button. Ford chose to check it out and simply replaced the battery to avail any further problems.

We hope to put more miles on the F-150 over the coming months including the holiday break, loading it up and getting some dirt under the tyres. We’ll keep you posted.