The 2017 Ford F-150 and F-150 Raptor are taking home three of five Gold Hitch awards from online truck enthusiast magazine The Fast Lane Truck. Along with F-150 winning Truck of the Year overall, both it and Raptor earned additional awards for towing and off-road performance.
Gold Hitch awards are based on high-altitude towing and performance testing in Colorado and Utah – the “world’s toughest towing contest” – and include midsize, half-ton, heavy-duty and off-road performance categories.
“The 2017 Ford F-150 is the best towing half-ton truck this year,” says Andre Smirnov, editor, TFLtruck.com. “The overall versatility, towing performance, and choice of available powertrains and technology features of the entire 2017 F-150 lineup elevated the F-150 above all others.”
F-150’s towing capabilities and technologies, along with its second-generation 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 and all-new 10-speed automatic transmission enabled the truck to outperform the competition in high-altitude towing across the Ike Gauntlet. Tow/haul mode and trailer braking aided in its descent.
Smirnov says F-150 competed against the 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 and 2017 Nissan Titan. “We performed acceleration tests, challenged the trucks on the Ike Gauntlet extreme towing test, and measured their efficiency towing a trailer on our 100-mile highway loop,” he says. “F-150 was the quickest mainstream pickup truck we have ever tested.”
The all-new F-150 Raptor outperformed four competitor trucks to win The Fast Lane Truck Gold Hitch award for off-road trucks. Raptor’s purpose-built performance chassis – including BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires complemented by FOX shocks (jointly engineered by Ford Performance and FOX) featuring 3-inch diameter canisters and nine-stage bypass damping for improved control – was no match for the competition.
Raptor bested a multitude of new entries to take the 2017 Gold Hitch best off-road truck award. “The 2017 Raptor is a complete package that combines a powerful engine, speed and off-road components to tackle nearly every kind of terrain, and do it in comfort,” says Smirnov.
The award is the latest in a series of accolades for the all-new Raptor, including recognition from FOUR WHEELER, Cars.com, AutoGuide.com Truck of the Year and the Autotrader Must Test Drive award. F-150 received the Kelley Blue Book Best Buy award for the third consecutive year and Autobytel Buyer’s Choice award, among numerous honors for overall value, performance and durability.
The recognition highlights Ford’s yearlong celebration of F-Series as best-selling truck in America for 40 consecutive years and best-selling vehicle in America for 35 consecutive years. Join the #40YearsTough celebration at www.40YearsTough.com.
