4x4 pickup achieves 21 m.p.g. on the highway (although I never saw more than 18 in combined driving). Still, that's not even the problem.

The craziness of Ford engineers becomes clear when you sit behind the wheel and drive this truck. For some unknown reason, Ford engineers figured out how to make all of the interior controls EASY TO USE! I've been thoroughly confused at simple tasks in certain mainstream cars, but everything in the F-150 worked the way you would expect it to work!

Start the truck, and the dashboard animates the "Ford Tough" logo as seen in commercials for a quarter century. After that, easy-to-read information is displayed. Whether it's fuel economy or trip information, the data is simple to understand. Even more outrageous, toggling between screens couldn't be easier! Press down on the arrow, and you can select from six groups of data. Click right and that information appears. Want to reset the trip odometer? The screen tells you to hold down the "OK" button and, voilá, it's reset!

Imagine... Complicated menus easy enough for a child to use. It's insanity! The most difficult screen to figure out was the vehicle attitude gauge, which tells the position of the truck: from lateral leaning to what grade you're ascending or descending to what angle the steering wheels are facing. Very important information if you're off-roading, and fun to read when you're climbing a six-degree hill on the interstate.

Even the manual selector of the automatic transmission is easy to use. Place the six-speed transmission in "D," and it's a normal automatic. Press the "+" button on the selector, and the dashboard shows all available ratios with the one currently running highlighted. Want to stop the truck from shifting into high gear? Select "-" and sixth gear has been removed from the pattern. Want to shift the truck yourself? Select the "M" position and press "+" or "-" to change gears. Didn't these guys know that shifting is supposed to be complicated?

And one of the most astounding developments is one of the most overlooked. That stalk on the left side of the steering column... You know, the one that controls the turn signal and high beams? It's electronic, which is usually a problem. Go to turn off the left-turn signal in a typical electronic set up, and you invariably turn on the right turn signal, and vice versa. Not here. As with the high beams, just tap the stalk (either direction is fine) and the signal cancels. Are you kidding me? Why didn't someone come up with this 25 years ago?

Such details are what puts one