If you wanted to quantify the pickup truck with a common ambiguous statement, you'd say it's a "jack of all trades". These days, the pickup truck has grown far past its simple roots, where its only worry was how much hay it could fit in its bed and how much weight it can tow. Of course, those two jobs are still common for the pickup truck. These days, though, it also needs to be a family hauler, a commuter vehicle, and a weekend toy. In some cases, it also needs to fill the job of a luxury vehicle.
If we peel back those new job titles to what the pickup truck's core responsibilities have always been, a truck needs to be powerful. On top of that, many folks who actually use a pickup truck for its original purposes need a truck that has enough power to haul and tow without costing an arm and a leg. In terms of power for money, the truck that boasts the most amount of power for less than $40k is the 2025 Ford F-150 XL Regular Cab with the 6.5-foot box, specifically the one equipped with Ford's famous 5.0-liter Coyote V8.
As a pickup truck, the Ford F-150 needs to be pretty explosion-proof...
All vehicle MSRPs outlined below are shown before any destination or acquisition fees have been added.
The Ford F-150 didn't wind up as America's best-selling truck overnight, it took a few decades to achieve. Once it achieved this iconic status, Ford has worked hard to retain it, as there aren't many other milestones a vehicle can reach that proves its mettle as well as being the best-selling one. Not to mention, the F-150 has spent the last 42 years as America's best-selling passenger vehicle, full-stop.
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For 2025, the F-150 formula hasn't changed too much since its mid-cycle refresh in 2024. While the Ford's base price is nearly $2,000 more than its main competitor, the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado, you get quite a lot more bang for your buck. According to Ford's official F-150 configurator, the 2025 Ford F-150 XL comes standard with Ford's 5.0-liter Coyote V8 which, as many Ford fans will already know, produces 400 horsepower.
Because of the popularity that pickup trucks enjoy, their prices have steadily risen over the past couple of decades. Of course, there are a few factors other than popularity that bleed into this phenomenon, such as a broader use of in-vehicle technology and, everyone's favorite, inflation. Full-size trucks are a bit more unattainable in today's market and economy, but as we've already made clear, Ford is the current champion for cheap pickup power.
Ford has thrown a bunch of goodies at the F-150 Platinum Plus, and the price increase isn't unreasonable.
The 2025 F-150 XL comes standard with a few features you wouldn't expect to see in a base model pickup. These include things like LED reflector headlamps, which do some good by making the base F-150's front end look a bit more upscale. Buyers will also receive a 12-inch touchscreen infotainment system, along with something Ford calls the "Productivity Screen" programmed into the instrument cluster, which is basically a detail screen that outlines things like engine temperature, tire pressure, and fuel economy info. Below, we take a look at some of the 2025 F-150's other standard accouterments:
At its core, the 2025 Ford F-150 XL uses the widely-utilized 5.0-liter Coyote V8 as its base engine. Alternatively, 2025 F-150 XL customers can opt for a 2.7-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost Nano V6, but that drops the F-150's horsepower rating from 400 down to 325 hp. So, if it's power you're after, you'll have to go for the good old V8 and sacrifice some miles per gallon along the way.
2025 Ford F-150 XL Regular Cab 4x2 6.5-ft Box Specifications | |
Engine Details | 5.0-Liter Coyote Ti-VCT V8 |
Horsepower | 400 hp @ 6,000 rpm |
---|---|
Torque | 410 lb-ft @ 4,250 rpm |
Bore x Stroke | 3.63 x 3.65 inches |
Compression Ratio | 11.0:1 |
Max Towing Capacity | 9,000 lbs |
Max Payload Capacity | 1,810 lbs |
Combined EPA Fuel Economy | 19 mpg |
Along with the venerable Coyote V8, the base-level 2025 Ford F-150 comes standard with a ten-speed automatic transmission featuring a tow/haul mode which reduces gear hunting and holds gears further into the rev range to help stay in the meat of the torque curve. Rear-wheel drive is standard, and while you can opt for a part-time four-wheel drive system, it would push the F-150's price above our article's $40k limit.
For the sake of competition, we'll keep the 2025 Ford F-150 XL's adversaries restricted to models made by US-based companies. Of course, the two that are best positioned to do battle with the F-150 XL are the 2025 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Work Truck and the 2025 Ram 1500 Tradesman. Things aren't completely equal across these three titans of the pickup industry, as the Ram 1500 is no longer offered with a standard cab configuration. It's also over $40k to start, much like the '25 Toyota Tundra. Nonetheless, all three are still close brothers in the American pickup market.
2025 Ford F-150 XL 4x2 Short Bed | 2025 Chevrolet Silverado W/T 4x2 Standard Bed | 2025 Ram 1500 Tradesman 4x2 | |
---|---|---|---|
Engine | 5.0L NA V8 | 2.7L turbo I4 | 3.6L NA MHEV V6 |
Horsepower | 400 hp | 310 hp | 305 hp |
Torque | 410 lb-ft | 430 lb-ft | 269 lb-ft |
Max Towing Capacity | 9,000 lbs | 9,100 lbs | 8,110 lbs |
Max Payload Capacity | 1,810 lbs | 2,250 lbs | 2,370 lbs |
Starting Price | $38,710 | $37,000 | $40,275 |
Horsepower-Per-Dollar (HPPD) | 0.0104 HPPD | 0.0084 HPPD | 0.0076 HPPD |
There's no getting around it; the Ford beats the other two regarding power, and the amount of kit you get for your money. According to the last row in our handy table above, the F-150 boasts a horsepower-per-dollar ratio of 0.0104, which is how much horsepower each dollar of its starting price buys. The Silverado and especially the Ram are nowhere near the Ford's bang-for-your-buck. While those two do put up better payloads, the Ford can beat them in every other category we went through, meaning if you want the most power from a pickup under $40k, the 2025 Ford F-150 XL has to be your pick.
2025-01-16T15:14:55ZSources: Ford, Chevrolet, Ram, US EPA