I Drove The Basic Ford F-150 With A 700 Horsepower Supercharged V8 And A Warranty. It Rules.

Last weekend, I drove what might now be the dumbest, best vehicle I’ve ever driven. Don’t worry, that’s a compliment because the truck was so powerful and so absurd that you just couldn’t wipe the ear-to-ear smile off of my face. I’m talking about the Ford F-150 FP700. This is a truck with a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 wearing a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger as a hat. It’s a 700 horsepower, 590 lb-ft torque middle finger to sanity, sensibility, tires, and your wallet and you won’t even care because you’ll be having so much fun.

I got to spend the weekend in Detroit with a Ford F-150 equipped with Ford Performance’s FP700 package. While there, I more or less used the truck how I would if it were mine. I took it on a scenic drive, ventured over to my favorite places in Detroit and, along the way, the accelerator pedal randomly and mysteriously found itself embedded into the floor while the driver of the truck laughed like a Bond villain. Over the weekend, I managed to put over 500 miles on the F-150 with about $160 going into the tank to keep the beast fed. My only disappointment was not being able to take it home with me.

What Is It?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CukHXTEPZrF/

Before I continue, I should probably explain what this truck even is. Officially, it started life as a 2022 Ford F-150 XLT 4×2 with a short bed, a 122-inch wheelbase, and a regular cab. Out of the factory, this was already a pretty cool truck. Despite the photos you’ve seen thus far, the truck isn’t black, but Ford’s extremely dark Antimatter Blue. Inside is cloth upholstery featuring a bench and just enough technology for a modern truck. There’s an infotainment system, but it isn’t huge. Only a portion of the instrument cluster is digital, and the truck isn’t loaded down with a ton of features.

In fact, in order to get the FP700 kit, you can’t even have features like an eight-foot bed or Ford’s ProPower Onboard generator setup. This truck is a middle finger to sensibility, after all. I love the fact that Ford Performance started this particular build off with an XLT. Ford says that the Ford Performance FP700 package can be applied to 2021 and newer F-150 XL, XLT, Lariat, and Platinum trim levels, in either 4×2 or 4×4 configurations.

The package can also be applied to Regular cab, SuperCab, or SuperCrew setups. I adore the fact that this press truck is an XLT and not the most luxurious truck Ford Performance could find.

The FP700 package itself is pretty subtle. For $12,350, you get:

• 3.0L Whipple Supercharger
• Producing 700 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque
• 22″ x 9.5″ Black Machined Wheels
• Unique Ford Performance Bedside Graphics
• Black F-150 Tailgate Lettering
• Ford Performance Fender Vents
• Gloss Black Front Grille
• Black Lug Nuts
• Rear Lowering Kit
• Rocker Panel Aero Delete Kit
• Ford Performance Front Floor Mats

As we said before, the FP700 package comes in a Black Edition and a Bronze Edition. Both packages are the same price and the difference between the two is in the color of the accessories. Bronze Edition trucks get bronze wheels, bronze badging, and a bronze stripe. Since the FP700 package is a kit that’s applied to an existing truck, you can have it installed by an ASE-certified technician or by Ford. Assuming it’s installed by either of those two parties, you get a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty. Oh, and it’s CARB-compliant, 50-state legal, and Canada-legal, which is impressive because at idle, this truck darn near violates noise laws.

The most important part of the FP700 package is the top item, that beautiful 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger. It’s applied to a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 (a requirement), which normally makes a healthy 400 HP and 410 lb-ft torque. That supercharger kicks the power up to a monstrous 700 HP and 590 lb-ft torque.

Now, you’ll notice that the list of mods is pretty short there. You’re not getting bigger brakes, a sporty suspension, or grippy tires. It’s basically all power with some subtle styling changes. To my eye, the FP700 looks like a work truck that someone took to their local truck customizer and blacked out. A Ram 1500 TRX looks like it wants to rip your face off when it’s just sitting still. This looks like the vehicle your handyman might drive.

Again, that’s not a diss, but a compliment. I took the truck down Woodward Ave, where it blended with traffic right until I opened the taps on that glorious engine. If it weren’t for the thunderous sound of the exhaust I might have heard the sounds of necks snapping. Nobody expected the work truck to sound like that, or to take off with the same kind of alacrity as a literbike. Many people complimented the truck and a few individuals seemed impressed enough to ask for my phone number.

I Am Speed

My journey with this truck started the moment I left Qwik Park next to Detroit Metro Airport.

Now, I will readily admit that this is the most powerful vehicle I’ve ever driven. Prior to this truck, the most superlatively-powered vehicle I’d piloted was a 2022 Acura NSX Type S, a 600 HP swan song to a famed supercar. The Acura, despite the power figure, drove like a regular car. If you never worked the pedal past its first bit of travel, you would never know the power harnessed within. And even when I did stomp on the NSX’s accelerator, the power came hard and quick, with enough force to take my breath away. Yet, it all felt super controllable.

On the other hand, the F-150 FP700 is the exact opposite. If the truck is in Sport mode, even a light jab at the throttle results in an angered grunt from the engine and perhaps a squeal from already overwhelmed rear tires. In Sport mode, the accelerator pedal also works somewhat like a toggle switch. Either you’re accelerating or you’re soon about to be. Unlike the Acura, the FP700 is uncivilized, like your in-laws after a few too many White Claws.

Oh yeah, my test truck was equipped with General Grabber HTS all-season tires. It should be noted that tires are not a part of the package, so these were the tires Ford chose for this press vehicle. At least to me, they have no more grip than regular all-season tires, which means they’re totally unprepared to have so much power sent through them. Pulling out of Qwik Park, that meant the FP700 roared down the road with the tires letting off a squeek, and I wasn’t even trying to peel out! This pretty much set the tone for the whole weekend.

Once I got moving, I pointed the truck toward Detroit, which required merging onto I-94. Now, I like to do highway ramp acceleration tests. I need to get to 70 mph anyway, so I might as well make it fun. So, I did what I normally would do and welded my size 10 shoe into the floor. First, the truck lit up the tires, shifting from first, to second, to third gear while doing it. Then I backed off just enough for the Grabbers to live up to their name, resulting in my head ramming into the headrest, the front end lifting, and the digital speedometer rising so fast that it had to skip numbers to keep up.

Zero mph to 60 mph? Yeah, I have no idea, but the truck is stupid, silly, and profoundly absurdly fast. Do you know how I said riding my Triumph Rocket III feels like being strapped to a Saturn V? The FP700 is that experience but cranked up to 11 and oh yeah, it’s a freaking truck. It even drives like it wants to take off like a Cessna. Drop the hammer and the suspension immediately submits. Suddenly, your hood is pointed toward the sky and you’re just holding on. Meanwhile, the truck is putting out a soundtrack reminiscent of a NASCAR stock car. There’s certainly supercharger whine and I love it, but once you get to about 2,000 RPM or so all you hear is a pissed-off V8 and tires screaming in pain.

Adding to the experience is what you feel through the seat. I’m not entirely sure what was going on behind my head, but the vibrations and kicks felt by the butt dyno were epic. It felt almost as if the suspension or maybe the tires struggled to keep composure under the onslaught of power.

Speaking of power, it’s ferocious at any speed. This truck has a ten-speed automatic transmission and, in the FP700, it gets a good workout. Punch it and it’ll drop a few gears as the engine does its best impression of the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. No matter what speed you start out at, you’re going to find yourself at the end of the speedometer before you even catch your breath. On Saturday, I took a day trip to the Tawas Point Lighthouse and found myself behind a camper doing 65 mph in a 75 mph zone.

I toggled the truck into Sport mode then gave it hell. I’m not sure what I expected, but the speedometer needle basically just warped past 75 mph. It’s as if the truck entered a wormhole and emerged on the other side of an old Terry travel trailer.

Oops, All Horsepower!

I’m not sure in how many other ways I could describe the brutal speed of this truck. I have no idea if it’s faster than the Acura NSX is, but I don’t care, because the fun factor is off the charts. Though, based on my experience, the FP700 would blow the doors off of most of the muscle cars and tuner cars I saw on Woodward last Friday night. And it’ll do it without your neighbor whining to the HOA about how you own a garish truck.

One thing I can tell you is that the truck stops accelerating at around a limited 120 mph. It’s not like you’d want it to go much faster, because as I said before, the package does not include better brakes, a sporty suspension, or sticky tires.

In fact, the Generals wrapped around those tall wheels are only T-rated tires, which means they’re good to about 118 mph. If you were crazy enough to take this truck to a track (and please do) you will probably be all over the place as the engine overpowers everything else.

Now, I want to clarify that those comments aren’t meant to denigrate the truck. In fact, the fact that it’s basically all power is part of its character. It’s an old-school hot rod build where the tuner dumps everything into power. It’s like a Kawasaki H2 Mach IV where all it does is speed. And if you turn off traction control and try to leave a car meet in this truck, you may make TikTok, so don’t do that. I can tell you that if you want it to, this truck will scream out of a parking lot, taking up multiple lanes in a huge drift with smoke and making enough rumble to set off sensitive car alarms.

Not Totally Uncivilized

Based on what I’ve said thus far, I wouldn’t blame you for assuming this truck is so uncivilized to the point of being undrivable. I’m happy to say that’s not the case. Put it in Normal mode or Eco mode and the truck will drive like any other F-150 you’re used to. In the 200 miles one-way I drove to the Tawas Point Lighthouse, I kept it around the speed limit and averaged 25 mpg. I got 21 mpg on the way back down, where I played with the throttle a bit more. Compare that to the 11 mpg I got when I was testing the truck’s acceleration.

Aside from the short list of changes, the rest of the truck is a bone-stock F-150. In fact, there’s nothing on the truck that even screams 700 HP or the addition of a supercharger. The best you get is badging that says “Ford Performance,” but that doesn’t really tell you anything. The integration of the supercharger is remarkable in how little else it changes about the vehicle. The gauges are the same, the interior badging is largely the same. Heck, the sticker on the fuel door is exactly the same as stock.

Normally, here’s where I’d prattle on about features, but that’s less important here because the FP700 package can be applied to either a base stripped-out XL with rubber floors or a luxurious Lariat. That said, the XLT did have neat features like adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and a 360-camera system. None of the electronics were impacted by the supercharging. The cruise control even accelerated gradually.

Of course, I had to test out the stereo. I imagine for most people, the engine is all of the soundtrack you’ll need, but I tried it out, anyway. Well? It’s a stereo with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Honestly, it’s not the worst factory stereo and not the best either. I would rate it as one of the car stereos of all time. Using my favorite test track, the theme to Star Trek: Voyager, quieter instruments were heard, but not as clearly as I would hear on a higher-end system. But, lower-end systems drown out those instruments entirely. So, yeah, it has a stereo and it does stereo things.

Final Thoughts

This truck wasn’t just the most powerful vehicle I’ve ever driven, but some of the most fun I’ve ever had on four wheels. Silly vehicles make me laugh and cry tears of joy and this was no exception. But, more than that, this truck made my heart flutter, not unlike the feeling many of us probably felt when we had a crush in high school. Wait, do I have a crush on a truck?

Further, I’ve been driving big four-door trucks for so long that I’ve forgotten the honest simplicity of a regular cab truck. I don’t even care that it has a short bed. I love the look and the compact size (compared to how large these Fords can get) is something you don’t really see anymore.

As Thomas said in the article we introduced this truck with, the Ford F-150 FP700 is basically a rebirth of the old Ford F-150 SVT Lightning, only subtle and not able to be called a Lightning. Like the old Lightning, this truck has few, if any, practical reasons to exist. The 5.0 Coyote by itself is a fine engine and a regular F-150 is a great truck on its own. In this era where EVs are readying themselves for world domination, a thirsty supercharged V8 also seems a bit like an anachronism.

Part of what makes the FP700 so great to me is that it’s a colossal middle finger to logic and sensibilities. If you use the throttle hard enough, your wallet will hate you, too. That said, this power does come with an affordable price tag. You can pick up a new Ford F-150 XL for $37,925. Tack on the FP700 package and you’re in for $50,275. That’s quite a lot cheaper than the least expensive Dodge Challenger Hellcat, which is the $72,290 Hellcat Jailbreak.

I hope our story with this monster doesn’t end here. For some reason, I’d love to see how this stacks up against a Tesla Plaid and a Ram 1500 TRX. Maybe one day. I’m so happy this truck exists. It’s all about fun, power, and speed, everything else be damned. The Ford F-150 FP700 is a proper hot rod, a land-based cruise missile, and probably the most American thing you’ll drive for a very long time.

(Photography by Andi Hedrick unless otherwise noted.)

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