SPIED: 2017 Ford F-150 Diesel; Have Your Hybrid and Burn Oil, Too

There are a number of people that would like to see a six speed manual. Unfortunately, Ford wouldn't sell enough for it to be worth it.

@bball40dtw That's not the reason. Consider that there are about 2 million full sized pickups sold a year. Nobody is offering a manual, although the take rate for them would probably be at least 3%. Whoever takes the time to pair their best V8 with a manual would be looking at 60,000 sales, many of them conquests. How many Raptors will Ford sell? How many Ram Rebels? Certifying another engine/transmission combo wouldn't cost as much as launching a variant that needs to be advertised. They aren't doing it because of CAFE, or because of warranty claims, or because they don't want people to special order trucks. There's some reason, but it isn't because they wouldn't recoup their investment in six months.

@CJinSD I thought you could still get a Ram HD with manual. Of course, those are too big for CAFE.

@CJinSD Since 1997, there's also not been a manual transmission that can take the power of the top engine option (then the 5.4, now the 5.0) while also fitting into an F-150. Also since 1997, the automatic has been as good or better when it comes to towing.

@heavy handle And even then, only with the non-HO Cummins.

@CJinSD extraordinarily optimistic numbers there, sir.

@CJinSD They don't offer manuals in full size trucks because dealers don't want to have to stock yet another configuration, and especially one they can't reliably move in X number of weeks.

@CJinSD It's not worth it because the dealers want nothing to do with it.

@Drzhivago138 Automatics are usually rated to tow more. I towed with a stick for 11 years, give me an automatic all day long in a truck. For towing it's a much better tool for the job.

The EcoBoost engines are exactly why Ford is doing well in Truck CAFE. This is a test mule that means nothing. Ford has said they will bring a hybrid F150 to market and when it will reach market. They have said nothing about a diesel F150 nor a timeline for it. A six speed will never make it to market it just doesn't make sense unless they can convince people to pay at least the same if not more for it than they do for the auto box. Otherwise the they can't recoup the tooling and certification costs, which are high and then they have to fit it into the production line system and the stocking issues for something that would account for less than 2% or their sales. At this point not only would they have the costs associated with the transmission itself you have to think about the cab and interior modifications required. The current cab and all the under dash items were not designed with a clutch pedal in mind. The floor pan stamping is also not designed with a MT shifter in mind.

Drzhivago138, Ford does have the Getrag MT82, 6spd manual that is used in the Mustangs. I have one behind my diesel and I believe Land Rover uses them as well. The problem with a manual gearbox with these relatively new diesels is the ability of these boxes to handle the torque in top gear. An auto would tend to shift down, whereas the manual you just leave in top and the diesel will pull you up some ridiculously steep roads.

Scoutdude, The EcoBoost is the "legit" engine Ford has that VW couldn't emulate with their diesels. The EcoBoost is a fuel sponge in real life.

@Scoutdude "This is a test mule that means nothing". Your right, they're going to bring a "mule" to the US where diesel emissions are tighter than anywhere else in the world, iron out the technology on the back end and ship it overseas someplace where they could have gotten away with much less. Your theory makes even less sense if this is indeed an already existing platform that is already in production elsewhere in the world. Whether or not a diesel makes it into production in the US remains to be seen. But to think they are testing in America for any other country than America is short sighted at best.

I was shaking change out of thrift shop pants to pay for the ungodly costs of my Lincoln diesel. Diesel is only dead if you put it in the crusher.

@tresmonos "Diesel is only dead if you put it in the crusher." Even then its not dead. The crusher is without a doubt powered by diesel. No wimpy gas power gonna make it happen. I have come to the realization that the only people that "hate" on diesel are the ones that have never used them to their true potential. (And there's ALOT of keyboard warriors on this forum that fall into that category). Haters gonna hate but diesel WILL be around til the last ICE.

Just because Ford has a test mule on the street doesn't mean that it is going to make it to production or even if the engine in that truck is being tested for that application.

@Scoutdude What does it mean, then? If they wanted to test the engine in any old vehicle, it wouldn't have camo.

CTD or FTW!!!!!