Can You Have a 600 Horsepower Ford F-150 For Less Than $40,000?

According to Roush Performance and Ford pricing, that combo may be more of a reality than you think.

byMax Goldberg|
Ford News photo
Share

0

If you're not careful, the 2017 Ford F-150 MSRP can quickly climb well above $50,000. With dual climate control, Sync 3 infotainment, and heated and cooled seats, the Ford F-150 is equal parts work truck and luxury vehicle. Still, there are ways to get stupid amounts of power with little luxuries if you so desire. The base Ford F-150 XL with a 5.0-liter V8 starts at $28,525, and aftermarket tuners offer endless opportunities to squeeze out more power.

Right off the bat, the 5.0-liter V8 makes 385 horsepower and 387 pound-feet of torque—but according to parts manufacturers like Roush Performance, there are plenty more ponies in the beloved Coyote V8. Roush currently offers two different supercharger packages, one producing 600 horsepower and the other producing 650 horsepower. But there's even more; it isn't unheard of for tuners like 5 Star Tuning to find ways to hit the coveted 700 horsepower mark.

Video thumbnail

In the video below, we see a 2017 Ford F-150 XL Regular Cab blasting down an industrial road. According to the video title, this particular F-150 is making 700 hp (probably at the crank). After listening to the audio several times, you can safely assume the F-150 has also received an exhaust treatment along with numerous other modifications. It also raises a bigger question: can you build a 600-horsepower F-150 for less than the cost of a Dodge Challenger Scat Pack ($38,995) or Ford F-150 Raptor ($50,155)? Let's do some quick back-of-the-napkin calculations.

The Roush Performance website quotes their Phase 1 Ford F-150 Supercharger, which nets you 600 hp and 557 lb-ft, at $7,209.99, and they estimate an installation time of 14 hours for the advanced mechanic. Assuming you don’t trust your own skills and take the truck to a nice tuning garage for the build, you can expect to be hit with an hourly labor somewhere in the range of $150. This brings the final labor cost to approximately $2,100—plus tax and tip, let's clock it at $2,500.00.  So if we estimate parts and labor at $9,709.99, then add the base price of the F-150, we get a final build cost of $38,234.99, or $760.01 less than the base price of a Dodge Challenger Scat Pack. (Of course, there may be some unexpected costs, but we padded a fairly generous hourly rate for your fancy mechanic.) And regardless of small inaccuracies, we're still $11,920.01 short of the base Ford F-150 Raptor.

Do you think modifying a base Ford F-150 is the way to go, or do you think saving your money for a factory-built monster is the safer and more practical path? Keep in mind, Roush Performance offers a warranty good for three years or 36,000 miles.

stripe
Ford NewsNews by Brand