Driven! The Ford F-Max, International Truck of the Year

Turkey’s pride

Now we know what you’re wondering: why Istanbul? To be frank, we never need a reason to travel to this glorious city (the only in the world to straddle two continents, namely Europe and Asia). It’s a magical melting pot of colours, flavours, foods and cultures. The people are also the best hosts on the planet.

However, we travelled to Turkey before lockdown for a business reason: it’s where the F-Max was conceived and is being built. The F-Max is produced by Ford Trucks, which forms part of a company called Ford Otosan that was established back in 1959. The company is owned by Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding, the largest industrial conglomerate in Turkey.

A major player within the world of commercial vehicles, Ford Otosan employs more than 11 000 people and produced 455 000 commercial vehicles, 70 000 engines and 140 000 powertrains last year. In addition to producing Ford trucks, it manufactures the Ford Transit, Courier and Custom.

The company’s facilities in Turkey sound hugely impressive. Its heavy-vehicle plant in Inonu, for instance, measures a whopping 1,1-million square metres!

Exports galore

While it dominates the Turkish market (Ford trucks are as much a part of Turkish life as Turkish Delight), the company also has ambitious plans for the rest of the world. Ford Otosan is already one of the three largest exporters within Turkey. Last year, it exported vehicles and spare parts worth USD 5.9 billion (about R111 billion) to 96 countries on five continents.

Now, it’s tackling Europe and taking on the so-called “Seven Sisters” (Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Iveco, Renault, Scania, DAF and Volvo) in their home markets. Last year, Ford Trucks concluded a distribution partnership in Portugal. Then we attended the signing of a new distribution partnership in Spain. The company’s Spanish distributor, F-Trucks Automotive Hispania, will be operating from nine different locations. This was followed by an announcement that Ford Trucks had selected F-Trucks Italia as its official distributor in Italy.

According to Ford Otosan CEO Haydar Yenigün, the company is breaking the mould in the heavy commercial industry. “The Ford F-Max brought us the coveted 2019 International Truck of the Year award, winning acclaim for its engineering, design and power among its heavy commercial industry competitors.

“We have already established our distributorship network across three continents (Asia, Europe and Africa), reaching 44 countries by the end of 2019. The high interest in F-Max led us to revise our global expansion plans, so we decided to shift gear and upgrade our goals, and now we aim to be present in at least 80 countries by the end of 2023,” he told us.

Sadly, South Africa isn’t a priority market for Ford Otosan right now; it’s concentrating on left-hand drive markets – which is a real pity because, as we’re about to reveal, the F-Max is a damn fine truck (well, it had to be in order to win the International Truck of the Year). Throughout our test drive, we were mighty impressed by this sophisticated and refined vehicle.

Behind the wheel

We spent a day travelling in and around Istanbul and the F-Max – available in 4x2, 6x2 or 8x2 guise – doesn’t put a tyre wrong. First and foremost, there is its exterior – which is extremely easy on the eyes. It looks decidedly European; the design is modern and daunting, and the truck looks strong and powerful. Lots of people have commented that it appears quite Scandinavian. Those people are spot-on right. It does look Nordic – both inside and out. This is not a coincidence. The designers at Ford Trucks wanted a clean look – and they most certainly achieved it.

I particularly like the headlights (their design is quite funky plus they boast LED daytime running lights), the mirrors (which offer a wide field of vision) and the functional exterior storage bins.

Similarly, the interior is easily as attractive and functional as any Ford passenger car. The dashboard curves around the driver, so you don’t need to stretch in order to reach any of the instrumentation or controls. I really like the walk-through cab and the 2 160 mm floor-to-ceiling height.

The storage areas are superb because they are really usable (you don’t have to be a contortionist to reach into any of the spaces). The designers have even included overhead bins (just like the storage bins you find on aircraft), and they hold a total of 225 litres. There’s also a 38-litre fridge that can easily be reached from both the driver’s seat and bed.

The instrumentation is clear and easy to navigate. There’s also an easy-to-use 7,2-inch LCD multimedia touchscreen, which displays anything and everything from tyre pressures and axle loads to monitoring the driver’s performance. The ergonomic seats provide good lumbar support while on the road; we drove the trucks for many hours and my back wasn’t in the least bit sore afterwards.

Sweet dreams guaranteed

The bed is super comfortable. It’s wide enough for even the amplest of drivers and the mattress has box springs for increased comfort. The fabric covering the mattress is washable and the lower bed can also fold up like a lounger (great for when you’re parking off and reading a magazine or fiddling on your tablet).

Equally impressive is the lack of cabin noise. The interior of the F-Max is surprisingly quiet. It feels much like a passenger car.

The engine is also much quieter than expected. The F-Max is equipped with an in-line six-cylinder, 12,7-litre, Ford Ecotorq Euro-6 engine rated at 373 kW (500 hp), which works in combination with the ZF 12-speed Traxon automatic gearbox. Ford is currently developing its own automatic transmission, which should be launched soon. However, the Traxon, which we know extremely well (it is widely used in the global commercial vehicle industry), does a perfect job.

There’s more than enough power and torque (2 500 Nm) on offer. I easily soared past lots and lots of trucks on steep gradients during my test drive (my F-Max was loaded to 40 t, just in case you’re wondering).

The chaps from Ford Trucks told me that, in testing, they’d achieved 27 litres per 100 km. I’m sure they did! Having said that, I didn’t even come close to that. (No, I won’t divulge my achievement or lack thereof.) However, as regular readers are well aware, I’m probably the least economical truck driver in the world (patience is not my strong point).

Like the trucks that we drive from the Seven Sisters, the F-Max is loaded with technology and safety features. It offers full connectivity as well as a lane-departure warning system, speed limiter, adaptive cruise control, Eco-Roll, GPS-based predictive cruise control functions, an electronic stability program and hill-launch assist.

During my test drive around Istanbul, I really appreciated the active emergency brake system. It measures the distance from the vehicle in front and brakes in an emergency. One such emergency did arise when a Kamikaze Turkish motorist jumped in front of me and then proceeded to slam on the brakes. Had it not been for the active emergency brake system, the aforementioned Kamikaze Turk and his little car may well have ended up as flat as a piece of Bazlama (a common type of Turkish bread).

The F-Max is a really good truck and it is most deserving of its Truck of the Year status. One day, when it does actually arrive in South Africa, it will do extremely well…