The rumor mill has been rife with news of an upcoming restyled F-150 and it was generally assumed – but not confirmed – that truck would appear for the 2021 model year. Now, thanks to a peek at owner’s manual documents for the 2020 F-150, we can confirm that timeline.
For 2020, there won’t be a whole host of changes to America’s best-selling vehicle. Styling, interior, and powertrain options are all the same as they were in 2019. A glance at the interior shows little change there as well, with familiar dashboard geometry and gauge sets staring back at us from the pages of this digital owner’s manual.
Off-road gearheads that we are, digging into the Raptor’s specs bore out much of the same. Its approach and departure angles are identical to last year, as are its ground clearance and shock setup. Of course, there were big changes for 2019, so we shouldn’t have expected the Blue Oval to sink too many development dollars into a truck with a single year left in its lifespan.
Also of interest are the Raptor engine details, devoid of any mention of the mighty GT500’s engine. There is hawt speculation that the Raptor will eventually offer that mill as a powertrain option but there is no indication of such in this 2020 manual. Presumably, we’ll have to wait until 2021 or beyond to once again hear a hairy-chested rumble being emitted from a F-150 Raptor.
Your author does expect Ford to have some sort of volley into the so-called Tailgate Wars, a skirmish currently being waged by GMC with their MultiPro ‘gate and Ram with their Multifunction barn door unit. No evidence of anything new in this department is shown so, again, expect to see something in 2021.
Will the pickup pros at Ford drop something new at next month’s State Fair of Texas? Set for about a month from now, we won’t have long to wait.