Or is it the muscle car that thinks it's a truck? A few minutes behind the wheel of Ford's latest Lightning will have you convinced of one thing: It performs like no truck has a right to.
Those crazy guys at Ford's Special Vehicle Team thought it would be cute to stick an Eaton supercharger on a 5.4-liter Triton truck block and throw the whole thing in an F-150 FlareSide pickup. What they've created is the most performance-intensive cargo-hauler ever to roll out of a Ford dealership. With a healthy 360 horsepower and hefty 440 foot-pounds of torque, the Lightning boasts a 40 percent increase in power over a standard-issue 5.4-liter equipped F-150.
Horsepower wasn't the only thing on SVT's agenda when it created the new Lightning. A set of 18 x 9.5-inch wheels and 295/45R-18 tires complement a performance suspension that utilizes front and rear antiroll bars, staggered rear shocks, upgraded front shocks, and a lowered ride height. Additional hardware modifications include a 9.75-inch rear axle, four-wheel vented disc brakes, an oil cooler and an auxiliary transmission cooler.
Inside, a host of luxury items differentiate the Lightning from regular F-150s. A black-and-gray high-back bench seat, covered in supple cloth with leather inserts and power adjustments, is the most obvious SVT upgrade. Another welcome sight are the impressive white-faced gauges, including a boost gauge to tell you just how much atmosphere is being forced into the combustion chamber. Premium sound components are standard in every Lightning, and our test vehicle was equipped with the optional six-disc CD changer.
Exterior appearance items, like an aggressive front grille and large fog lights, immediately identify this truck as something special. There's also some lower body cladding and a mean-looking set of exhaust pipes poking out of the passenger side, just ahead of the rear tire. It all adds up to a clean, comprehensive look that sends a clear performance message without hitting you over the head (unlike the Firebird).
But the question remains: Is it a true muscle car? In the strictest sense, no. It can't be a muscle car when it's not a car at all. However, if you forget about that one minor detail and look at the performance numbers, you'll see that the Lightning scored a 6.2-second zero-to-60 time, well within muscle-car territory. It also managed to stop in 132.3 feet from 60 mph, less than a foot behind the Firebird and damn good for a 4,700-pound vehicle! A skidpad figure of 0.83g proves that those 18-inch Goodyear Eagles are doing their job, putting the big Ford on almost equal footing with the Pontiac's 0.84g's.
What these figures don't tell, however, is what the truck feels like when circumventing a racetrack like The Streets of Willow. Probably its most amazing trait is the instantaneous forward thrust that occurs when hitting the throttle. There's almost no supercharger lag from low speeds, and at medium to high speeds -- with the supercharger at full song -- the Lighting simply, well, bolts when you press on the throttle. This made for tricky corner exits when the combination of immediate power, lightened rear end and slight body roll would combine to spin the inside-rear tire during hard-throttle runs.
These same traits were ideal for highway passing maneuvers, however. The supercharger's wide power band simply launched the truck around slow-moving traffic and left more than one California driver staring in disbelief. Our test drivers were equally impressed, with all of them noting the powerful engine, responsive transmission, and audible supercharger whine. One of our testers felt the amount of engine and exhaust noise, especially at highway speeds, might get old during a road trip, but no one tired of the sound during our week-long test period. Comments like, "Loud but good, because it's supercharged," and "Wow! Superpower punch!" made it apparent that forced induction has real appeal.
Handling and ride quality was similarly impressive. At the track, the Lightning managed to stay upright, with minimal roll around Willow's tight course, including the right-left transitions that could have easily made the tall, heavy Lightning sway like a nervous child. Quick turn-in and a willingness to hold a line had our more brazen editors flinging the Lightning through apexes like they were Kenny Brown in one of his race-prepped Mustangs. Steering feedback was on the light side, and more than one editor noted too much power-assist, but overall the Ford scored solid points for handling. "Probably the best road feel I've experienced in a truck," noted our managing editor, and everyone agreed that it did amazingly well, especially "for a truck."
About the only performance aspect that didn't meet or surpass our expectations was the Lightning's behavior under maximum braking. As mentioned earlier, the actual distance required to stop the truck from 60 mph was impressively short. However, the behavior of the brake pedal when pressing hard on it was less than comforting. In addition to a massive amount of vibration, the pedal actually sank toward the floor. This sinking continued the entire time ABS was engaged and while it never completely ran out of travel, it seemed awfully close to the floor by the time the truck had stopped during our 60-to-zero brake tests. We're not sure what would have happened in a panic stop that began at 80 or 90 mph, but we're glad we never found out. This was the one obvious flaw in an otherwise stellar track performance from the Lightning.
Real-world driving was equally rewarding, with the Lightning showing up the Firebird in most areas. On smaller bumps that would have sent the Firebird jarring up and down, the Lightning's longer suspension travel would simply swallow them whole, sending only a minor undulation through to the driver. On bigger bumps, the Ford's truck nature would show through in a semi-violent rocking motion, especially from the rear of the vehicle. High-speed stability only added to the confidence in using the supercharger's wide torque band for passing maneuvers. On long sweepers such as highway entrance/exit ramps, the truck's reduced body roll made for confident and seamless merging.
If the SVT Lightning just performed well and looked cool, it would still be worth the price of admission. The bonus is its attractive and functional interior that, like the truck's road performance, takes the Lightning to a whole new level. The supportive and supple bench seat, the powerful and clean stereo sound, the thick steering wheel with easy-to-reach cruise-control buttons -- this is where the Lightning douses the Firebird. It also doesn't bode well for the Firebird that, even with the Lightning's higher price tag, the truck still won our value equation because of its long list of features like power windows, 18-inch wheels, a CD player and a power seat with lumbar support.
Improvements we'd like to see include a dead pedal for a place to plant your left foot when performance driving, automatic locks that unlock when you put the truck in park, an illuminated windshield wiper stalk, and larger storage compartment areas. The biggest fix, however, would be to offer this exact SVT package on an extended-cab pickup. Every driver noted the lack of a rear seat and indicated his disappointment that one isn't available. With Ford selling only a few thousand SVT Lightnings a year, they probably aren't worried too much about widening the truck's market appeal. But there are going to be thousands of family men who wish they could justify one of these vehicles, but they can't because of the limitations of its three-passenger cab.
In our final points tally, the Lightning beat the Firebird in three out of four categories to take the overall win. Only on a pure performance basis does the Firebird win, and with the exception of zero-to-60 acceleration, it wins by a very small margin. It was this level of performance that had so many testers claiming the Lightning kicked butt . . . "for a truck."
However, the final score indicates that the Lightning just plain kicks butt.
