Motor Trend honors Ford's F-150

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DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Motor Trend bestowed its Truck of the Year honors on Ford Motor Co.'s F-150 pickup Monday in a ceremony at the company's Dearborn, Mich., headquarters.

In winning the award for the fourth time, the F-150 won with a 3.5 liter V-6 EcoBoost engine, rather than the 5.0 liter V-8, which was also tested by the magazine, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.

Although truck buyers traditionally favor the V-8 engine, the sluggish economy has turned many consumers to the more fuel-efficient V-6 EcoBoost. Ford says 45 percent of the F-150 series trucks are now sold with the smaller engine.

Also in the running for the Truck of the Year award were the Nissan NV commercial van, the Ram HD Laramie Longhorn and the Toyota Tacoma truck, the newspaper said.

The F-150 "mastered every task we subjected it to, acing our instrumented tests at the proving grounds and swaying opinions during our real-world road evaluations," Motor Trend editor in chief Ed Loh said in a statement.

The magazine puts the top models in the segment through a series of performance tests, empty and while carrying loads, in various road conditions.