Our Northern Manitoba Adventure with the Ford F-350

Being from northern Manitoba, I know that travel between communities can sometimes be an adventure. So like any good boy scout, you need to Be Prepared. And thanks to Ford, on our last trip to northern Manitoba we were more than prepared for anything.

Here are the special features and specifications of the Ford vehicle that we had for our week long northern Manitoba adventure:

A 2015 F-350 Super Duty FX4 King Ranch with a 6.7 liter diesel power plant. For some people, this might be a little bit of an overkill for a typical trip, but when you are traveling on isolated roads with literally nothing but water, rocks and trees for hours you might not see anyone…. and you want something that is dependable and will get you where you need to be with piece of mind. Having my family in this truck, I had great piece of mind.

To start with, this truck is very comfortable. With superb handling it almost seemed like this truck hugged the road; everything from pavement, to gravel, to rocks. This is a sure footed vehicle. Even in the wide open with the strong wind, this truck did not move. The interior of the truck was great as well! All four of us has tons of leg room (even with booster seats) and I did not hear one complaint of being uncomfortable…even after 9 hours of driving.

When people think diesel trucks, the first thing they think of is a loud, smelly engine that is slow. As for this truck I can say that every old school thought is 100% wrong. There is no smell coming from this diesel Ford F-350 truck and definitely no loud noises either! In fact, I would say that this truck is no louder than my mini van. As for diesels being slow, there is nothing slow about this truck. When I went to pull out to pass a vehicle on the single lane highway, I was put back in my seat when that turbo opened up. This is one powerful truck. With a 400 horsepower and 800 lbs-ft of torque, this truck has got plenty of get-up-and-go.

When sitting back in your seat enjoying the ride, there is a central command screen in the center of the dashboard that controls all things good in your truck. A phone connect, GPS, entertainment hub and climate control (with heated AND air-conditioned seats) are all controlled with a cool touch screen that makes everything convenient and right at your finger tips. To assist you with all your electronic devices, there are several 110 volt outlets in this truck with AV jacks, USB ports and many traditional power ports that you can use to charge and connect in many ways.

Driving a truck this large can pose some problems, however, the good folks at Ford thought of everything. There is a back up camera that has 2 angles built right in and the giant touch screen becomes a back up screen. With guided lines and sensors covering the front and rear bumpers, you will be able to get out of any predicament you may find yourself in.

The other issue you can sometimes find with larger vehicles is mileage. Once again I was blown out of the water at the amazing performance this truck gave us. Considering this truck is over 14000 lbs, our entire average fuel consumption for this trip was 14.4 liters per 100 km’s. This is the same performance some cars get, but this truck gave milage that surpassed my expectations.

Look at all the bugs we picked up on our drive home. Score: Bugs 0 – Ford 1000 😉

The 2015 F-350 Super Duty FX4 King Ranch is one slick looking truck. With chrome, a Sony sound system, a Microsoft SYNC system and the ability to check many of the vital health signs of your truck at the push of a button, you will be looked after in this truck. I have not even scratched the surface of all the features that this truck has. Check it out for yourself at your local Ford dealer. And no matter what you do, this Ford truck will make sure you are always prepared.