We’re sticking to our story: The Ford F-150’s PowerBoost hybrid powertrain remains best in class.
It’s not easy in the current era of the Wards 10 Best Engines and Propulsion Systems Awards to lock up a back-to-back win. Powertrain improvements and new model launches — driven in part by the shift toward electrification — have come fast and furious, causing the 10 Best list largely to turn over from year to year.
But the F-150’s 3.5L V-6 PowerBoost hybrid manages to do just that for 2025. Simply put, the Ford powertrain outshines all others in the fullsize pickup segment. It’s powerful, smooth and quiet, and it is stunningly efficient for a vehicle its size.
The raw numbers don’t tell the complete story, but they do say a lot. As we noted for its 2024 win, the hybrid propulsion system stacks up well against all but the most performance-oriented powertrains in the F-Series lineup and outruns all others.
Combined, the 3.5L V-6 and 44-hp electric motor deliver 430 hp and 570 lb.-ft. (773 Nm) of torque, trailing only the high-output V-6 and supercharged V-8 in horsepower in Ford’s F-150 gasoline lineup and out-torquing all but the supercharged Raptor R’s V-8.
“This deserves a back-to-back trophy,” reasons judge Bob Gritzinger on his PowerBoost scoresheet. “Not only is there ample power at all speeds, it’s powerful enough to outdo a V-8.”
The hybrid powertrain also provides enough oomph to tow up to 11,000 lbs. (4,990 kg) in regular-cab configurations, putting it at the top of the F-150 propulsion-system lineup in that metric. In a pinch, thanks to the truck’s 1.5-kWh lithium-ion battery, the F-150 hybrid’s onboard generator can be used to power your household appliances.
With that as its CV, it’s no wonder the PowerBoost is the powertrain of choice for an estimated one in five F-150 buyers.
More importantly, driving proves the F-150 hybrid lives up to the hype. Our $82,000 4x4 SuperCrew Lariat tester ($63,200 base) returned more than 22 mpg (10.7 L/100 km) in our longer mixed and not-so-gentle driving runabouts. And it’s no exaggeration to say the torque delivery closely rivals the battery electrics, getting the F-150 off the line quickly and pumping out the power to pass during freeway maneuvers.
“The PowerBoost hybrid system is packed with incredible power,” notes 10 Best judge Christie Schweinsberg. “Forget about any perception of hybrids being weak or slow – and you will in this when rocketing away from slower-moving traffic.”
Maybe more impressive is the propulsion system’s noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels – already amazing a year ago but benefitting further from additional software tweaks made for 2025. The motor and gasoline engine perform a perfectly harmonized duet, making the on-and-off operation of the electrics seamless and nearly imperceptible. Topping it all off is the rewarding baritone grunt from the V-6 that’s befitting of a fullsize pickup.
Wards 10 Best Engines & Propulsion Systems juror Gary Vasilash sums it up this way: “The nice thing about the hybrid system in the F-150 is that you don’t know it is there except at two times: when you need power and when you visit the gas station. The abundance of the first and the infrequency of the second are both impressive.”
All that adds up to our unwavering conclusion: PowerBoost is a perfect – and unrivaled – match for the fullsize F-150 pickup.
