2027 Ford F-150 First Look: Hands-Free Towing Tech and a New Carhartt Collab

• What's new: Ford is offering the 2027 F-150 with better engine options, more affordable off-roaders, BlueCruise hands-free towing and a new Carhartt trim. The 2027 model is priced from $40,585 including destination.
• Why it matters: Ford is catching up to GM on hands-free towing the same year Chevy is introducing a new Silverado, and in a market where everything is getting more expensive, Ford is making efforts to offer cheaper Tremors and Raptors.
• Edmunds says: These are incremental updates, but who doesn't like improved base engines and cheaper off-roaders?

Engine talk: Bigger EcoBoost, more V8s

Ford is phasing out the F-150's 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6, replacing it with a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 as the new base engine. It's a less powerful version of the same engine buyers get in the Bronco Raptor, Bronco Filson, Ranger Raptor, Explorer ST and Lincoln Aviator.

The 3.0-liter's 325 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque are the exact same numbers buyers got from the smaller V6, and the towing and payload capacities — 8,400 pounds and 1,775 pounds, respectively — are unchanged. Ford says the new engine delivers peak torque sooner than the old V6, which should make entry-level F-150s feel a little more lively pulling away from a stop or making a pass on the highway; we'll let you know if our finely tuned rear ends can feel that difference once we get behind the wheel.

Ford's more interesting engine update is that its 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 is once again available under the hood of the F-150 King Ranch and Platinum models. Now that the V8 is back in these range-topping trims, this engine is available across the full F-150 lineup. For maximum towing, however, you'll need the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6, which can pull as much as 13,500 pounds.

The F-150 will continue to be offered with Ford's optional PowerBoost hybrid V6 engine. In our testing, the hybrid powertrain makes the truck 0.5 second quicker to 60 mph and we've praised that engine's bountiful low-end grunt. Still, the V8 sounds killer and some buyers prefer its old-school simplicity.

Tremor and Raptor, now cheaper

There's good news for folks who want the hardware of an off-roader without all the luxury and convenience features that fluff up the price. Ford has new Tremor and Raptor variants for 2027 that give buyers just that.

The lower-cost Tremor is based on the F-150 STX, one step lower than the standard Tremor, which is based on XLT, and that means a lot less feature content. The Tremor has a standard rubbery plastic steering wheel instead of a leather-wrapped wheel, manual climate control instead of dual-zone auto climate control, and manual fabric seats instead of a heated 10-way power driver's seat and a heated manual passenger seat. It also loses the Tremor's power-sliding rear window and Bang & Olufsen premium audio. The only feature related to off-road capability the base Tremor lacks is the standard truck's running boards. Ford prices the new Tremor $5,400 less than the standard Tremor.

Ford takes a similar approach with the Raptor. The biggest losses you'll notice are the foglights — there are now two huge holes in the front bumper — and the underseat rear storage, but the rest of the omissions are easy to swallow. The base Raptor does without a head-up display, power passenger seat and power steering column, and you'll drop down from a 14-speaker B&O audio to an eight-speaker B&O system. Skip this setup if you regularly plug into the bed for tailgating or camping, though; the outlet's power drops the output from 2 kW to 400 watts. Removing those features lightens the starting price by around $4,000.

Hands-free towing (with guardrails)

Ford is also debuting towing compatibility for its BlueCruise hands-free driving feature. Towing capability is available as a no-cost extra on all BlueCruise-equipped models, and seeing as 75% of F-150 owners tow and that there are more F-150s with BlueCruise than any other Ford, people are going to love it. Notably, it comes several years after GM introduced hands-free towing with Super Cruise.

Ford tested the new feature extensively, from the steep winding hills of Appalachia to long, gusty stretches of the Great Plains and thousands of miles in an advanced driving simulator. The engineers tested with a variety of tow loads, including uneven loads. 

There are a number of safety features integrated to keep the BlueCruise towing experience free of drama. Owners will have to make a trailer profile for what they're towing in the infotainment system, and if the tech detects sway at the rear, the 75-mph maximum towing speed (down 5 mph from BlueCruise sans trailer) will be reduced. Unfortunately, the system cannot execute hands-free lane changes like standard BlueCruise.

Ford set the towing capacity with BlueCruise at 10,000 pounds, down from the F-150's maximum towing capacity of 13,500 pounds. You get the 10,000-pound capacity in F-150s fitted with a Max Tow package, heavy rear axle and different tires; without that package, you're limited to just 5,000 pounds when using BlueCruise. Kevin Wegienka, BlueCruise engineering manager, told me the limitations were part of an effort to minimize BlueCruise interruptions and that only a small proportion of F-150 drivers tow trailers beyond that 10,000-pound upper limit.

I had the chance to take a 15-minute demo behind the wheel of the classroom-sized simulator at Ford's Driving Dynamics Lab. Towing a 10,000-pound simulated trailer without BlueCruise, it took constant focus to manage minor clench-inducing wobbles and keep me centered in the lane. With BlueCruise activated, the experience was entirely drama-free. For long hauls, it'd be a godsend, and since BlueCruise can be purchased as a monthly subscription (in addition to annual and one-time options), if you don't typically use it but you know you have a long road trip ahead, the pricing is flexible.

F-150 Carhartt: Detroit details

The most stylish update this year is the F-150 Carhartt, which starts at $65,455 including destination. The collaboration makes sense; these are both old Detroit companies and they actually worked together in the 1920s when Carhartt built factory uniforms for Ford workers. 

The highlight here is the upholstery. Ford couldn't use actual Carhartt fabric — the same traits that have put unique fades in my duck canvas double-knee work pants over the years mean the fabric wouldn't pass automotive durability standards. Instead, Ford uses a water-resistant two-tone material in gray and Carhartt-inspired brown, which looks emblematic of the brand. 

Ford color and material design specialist Bhavna Mistry told me the fabric is not just typical F-150 upholstery in a different color. They brush the surface of the fabric to soften it compared to the upholstery in other F-150s. The upholstery in the Carhartt feels more durable than soft, and when I felt it back-to-back with the seats in the Tremor, I couldn't tell the difference.

Naturally, you get Carhartt logos everywhere. My favorite is the word "Carhartt" debossed in bedliner in huge font across the front interior wall. The floormats are a nice touch; they use the same pattern Carhartt is employing as the non-slip base of its new tool bag. 

The Carhartt package is only available on the F-150 XLT 4x4 with the 5.5-foot bed. It's a $4,195 option, with the starting price landing at $65,455. That's not outrageous among the F-150 lineup, but it's a whole lot for a Carhartt fan that doesn't need a new truck. I'm more interested in the sweet blue Ford-branded Carhartt coveralls that launched as part of the collaboration.