{"id":28845,"date":"2022-03-03T18:27:17","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T22:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28845"},"modified":"2022-03-03T18:27:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T22:27:17","slug":"payne-ford-f-150-tremor-a-lean-mean-blizzard-fighting-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/payne-ford-f-150-tremor-a-lean-mean-blizzard-fighting-machine","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Ford F-150 Tremor \u2014 a lean, mean, blizzard-fighting machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 The Ford F-150 Tremor is at home off-road in mud. Or on-road in a blizzard.<\/p>\n

Snow quickly overwhelmed Metro Detroit Feb.\u00a017, canceling events, closing businesses\u00a0and huddling families at home around their big-screen TVs. Not me. I couldn\u2019t wait to hit the streets. My die-hard pals were determined to hold a long-planned dinner downtown \u2014 and happily, I had Tremor to get there.<\/p>\n

The last time I was in the Ford was at Holly Oaks ORV park \u2014 the big rig\u2019s natural habitat with muddy trails, sandy pits\u00a0and steep hills. A competitor to the Chevy Silverado ZR2, Ram Rebel\u00a0and Toyota Tundra TRD, Ford\u2019s $51,200 off-roader was pleased as a pig in slop with 33-inch General Grabber A\/TX off-road tires, 11-inch ground clearance, 400 horsepower\u00a0and all-wheel drive. Turns out blizzards offer a similar playpen.<\/p>\n

I kissed Mrs. Payne goodbye and headed into the gloaming at 6:30 p.m. Destination: a Detroit waterfront establishment. With the wind howling, snow blowing\u00a0and cold biting, Tremor lit up as I approached it like a sci-fi craft in a Tatooine sandstorm.<\/p>\n

\"Under<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

At 6\u20196\u201d, the beast is as tall as a Pistons forward. I got out my Super Extender Snowbroom and cleared the windshield, windows and body panels. Covered up, Tremor looks like any other full-sized truck (well, OK,\u00a0those knobby\u00a033s are giveaway), but as the flakes fell away, the truck\u2019s signature features emerged: Tremor bed decal, orange grille accent, powder-coated running boards, silver bumper bash plate, vented hood.<\/p>\n

The latter feeds the caged animal under the hood: a 400-horsepower, twin-turbo V-6 \u2014 the same mill as in the ferocious F-150 Raptor supertruck. Though 50 horses shy of Big Brother, Tremor\u2019s six-holer has Raptor-like characteristics with 500 pound-feet of low-end torque and a 0-60 mph time of 5.3 seconds (just 0.1 second shy of Raptor, thanks to the Tremor\u2019s 385-pound-lighter figure).<\/p>\n

Combined with the Grabber tires and near-foot of ground clearance (my purpose-built Lola race car has an inch of ground clearance and gets stuck in tall grass), the engine gives the truck a feeling of invincibility. I jabbed the 4-HIGH button for all-the-time\u00a0four-wheel drive. Oakland County secondary roads were abandoned, unplowed. Like a kid in a sandbox, I slewed Tremor this way and that, the four Grabbers grabbing, the fronts pulling the rears out of lurid slides, the V-6 roaring like a T-Rex at mealtime.<\/p>\n

This being the digital age, Tremor is more than a mechanical bull.<\/p>\n

Just as the Ford had detected my key upon approach, Ford\u2019s SYNC 4 infotainment system recognized my phone on entry. It automatically hooked up Android Auto, my phone\u2019s navigation system taking over the horizontal 12-inch console screen. I held down the steering-wheel-mounted voice command button and barked my destination. I assumed road blockages, and trusted Google to navigate me around them.<\/p>\n

\"With<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

SYNC 4\u2019s radio menu is also one of the best in autodom, and I had already configured my favorite radio stations. Tonight, I would be glued to WWJ-AM (950) weather reports as a complement to Google\u2019s guidance.<\/p>\n

The deep powder was a bit like Holly Oaks\u2019 sandbox, and Tremor took to it like a whale to water. But with a vehicle this capable, the concern is less the environment than the threat my behemoth poses to other vehicles. I kept a perimeter around me lest the nearly three-ton truck become a runaway bowling ball on a roadway full of pins.<\/p>\n

During Metro Detroit\u2019s last blizzard a few weeks back (ahem, more global warming, please), I piloted a similarly-sized Toyota Sequoia (a Tundra pickup with an SUV body on top). The 6,000-pounder had the stopping distance of an ocean liner. I maintained a big cocoon and regularly brake-checked the SUV for distance when I changed roads.<\/p>\n

Tremor, on the other hand, was more confident. Credit those General Grabber off-road tires, which gripped the snow like claws compared to the Sequoia\u2019s slippy all-seasons. Like arming a sports car with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R gummies for the track, off-road treads are on another level from standard street rubber.<\/p>\n

\"Got<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Sure enough, as I approached main\u00a0four-lane arteries, things got dicier.<\/p>\n

On Telegraph Road, three cars had spun out trying to avoid one another. A tow truck was at their rescue. Other cars had slid off the road at lurid angles. Along the six-lane Lodge freeway headed downtown, cars tended to clump together behind tentative slowpokes inching along in the middle of the road.<\/p>\n

I tentatively picked my way through these packs. Once clear, Tremor plowed merrily along to the next pack, a whale swimming from one krill swarm to the next.<\/p>\n

The Tremor has off-road peers like the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Ford Bronco Sasquatch, Toyota 4Runner TRD, Chevrolet Colorado ZR2\u00a0and so on. But this night, I saw only Wranglers \u2014 and the odd Subaru Outback \u2014 moving along with similar confidence, no doubt with experience off-road.<\/p>\n

I made it downtown in an hour \u2014 about 30 minutes longer than usual. Parking a full-size truck in the city can be a nightmare, but on this night, there were plenty of curb spots. When I re-emerged after dinner at 11 p.m.\u00a0to a buried truck, I repeated my snow-removal ritual and made it home in 45 minutes \u2014 the streets sparse with cars, if not snow.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Off-road tires, of course, are noisy on bare asphalt and concrete surfaces once the snow melts. But they still come in handy given the deteriorating state of Detroit roads in the winter months.<\/p>\n

Two days later I took 5\u20195\u201d Mrs. Payne to the airport \u2014 she needed a ladder to get into the right seat \u2014 where the Grabbers came in handy along the cleared, pocked roads. Potholes the size of Cass Lake had opened up on Merriman, and the 33s giant sidewalls on 18-inch rims gave me confidence for the ones I couldn\u2019t avoid.<\/p>\n

My all-wheel-drive Tesla Model 3 on all-seasons ain\u2019t bad in snow with its precise electric motors \u2014 but unseen potholes lurk to swallow up its low-profile\u00a019-inch wheels.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

At $68,005, my Tremor Swiss Army knife doesn\u2019t come cheap and is loaded with goodies beyond its snow-eating capacities: roomy SuperCrew cab, 10,900-pound towing capability, fold-down console workspace, 5.5-foot bed, enormous back seats.<\/p>\n

Maybe the next blizzard, I\u2019ll load up my pals, throw their gear \u2018n\u2019 coolers in the bed, tow a snowmobile, and head Up North for a relaxing weekend.<\/p>\n

2021\u00a0Ford F-150 Tremor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vehicle type: Front-engine, four-wheel drive\u00a0five-passenger pickup<\/p>\n

Price: $51,200, including $1,695\u00a0destination charge ($68,005 as tested)<\/p>\n

Powerplant: 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6<\/p>\n

Power:\u00a0400 horsepower, 500 pound-feet of torque<\/p>\n

Transmission: 10-speed automatic<\/p>\n

Performance: 0-60 mph, 5.3 seconds (Car and Driver); towing, 10,900 lbs.<\/p>\n

Weight: 5,562 pounds<\/p>\n

Fuel economy: EPA:\u00a016 mpg city\/20 highway\/18\u00a0combined; 13 mpg observed in blizzard<\/p>\n

Report card<\/p>\n

Highs: Do-it-all truck; first class electronics<\/p>\n

Lows: Hard to park in town; gets pricey<\/p>\n

Overall: 4\u00a0stars<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit\u00a0\u2014 The Ford F-150 Tremor is at home off-road in mud. Or on-road in a blizzard. Snow quickly overwhelmed Metro Detroit Feb.\u00a017, canceling events, closing businesses\u00a0and huddling families at home around their big-screen TVs. Not me. I couldn\u2019t wait to hit the streets. My die-hard pals were determined to hold a long-planned dinner downtown \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28846,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28845\/revisions\/28846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}