Rent Ford F-Series 2023 in Dubai

The Ford F-150 2023 is the one genuine pickup truck in our Dubai fleet, and that's worth saying plainly before anything else. This isn't a rugged-looking SUV wearing truck styling, it's a bed-and-cab work truck built around a 5.0-litre V8. We bring it to your door within one to two hours, same as everything else we rent, but the reason to book this one is specific: you need to actually haul something, tow something, or you want the experience of driving a full-size American truck through Dubai traffic. If that's not your week, almost anything else in the fleet suits you better and costs less to run.

The engine, and how it drives

Under the hood sits a naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 making 400 hp and 556 Nm, paired with a 10-speed automatic and four-wheel drive. Ford also sells a 3.5-litre turbo V6 with similar horsepower on paper, but the V8 is the engine most GCC-spec F-150s actually carry, and it's the one described here. Zero to 100 km/h takes around 6 seconds, quick for something this size, and it explains why the truck feels eager off the line despite weighing over two tonnes.

On Sheikh Zayed Road that weight settles down at a cruise. The truck tracks straight, shrugs off crosswind, and the ten gears keep the V8 quiet at 120. Where its character changes is anywhere tight. At 5.89 metres nose to tail and just over two metres wide, this is closer to a small bus than a car, and every roundabout, valet ramp and multi-storey bay reminds you of it. Four-wheel drive helps traction on a sandy shoulder or a wet ramp, but it isn't the whole point here the way it is on a Patrol or a Fortuner. Mostly it's there to put 556 Nm down without spinning a rear tyre.

The bed, the cabin and what actually fits

The bed is the reason to book this truck, not an afterthought bolted onto a passenger cabin. With roughly 1,233 litres of open load space, it swallows what actually needs a pickup: a moving day's worth of boxes, flat-pack furniture, camping and dune-recovery kit, a motorbike on a ramp, or building materials a hatchback's boot will never touch. It's open to the sky, so if you're loading anything that minds a shower or a curious eye, bring your own cover. We don't fit a tonneau as standard.

Inside, the cabin seats five across four doors and rides tall and upright, with a driving position that looks down on most of the traffic around it. Four adults are genuinely comfortable, with decent rear legroom for the class. What it isn't built for is a stack of hard-shell airport suitcases. There's no enclosed boot, so cases either ride exposed in the bed or crowd the back seat. For a family flying in with the usual luggage, that's the wrong setup. For a job with actual cargo, this is the only vehicle in the fleet built for it.

Running cost, heat and the cabin

Running a V8 this size costs more than any SUV we rent. Expect somewhere around 12 to 13 litres per 100 km in real Dubai driving, worse if you're towing or loading the bed heavy, better on a steady highway run. The 87-litre tank still gives a comfortable 650 to 700 km between fills, so you're not stopping constantly, just paying more each time you do. Salik tolls and any RTA fines during the rental are yours to settle, same as on every car we hand over.

The cabin is large, but the air conditioning handles it well. Give a parked truck in July sun a few minutes with the engine running before you expect real cold, and after that the front vents pull the temperature down fast. There's no third row to feed air to, just four seats, so the cabin cools evenly. Ground clearance of 216 mm means speed bumps and rutted Hatta-road tracks don't demand the caution they would in a sedan, but the length works against you the moment you're threading a Marina tower ramp or a tight mall bay. Take the wide stalls, use the reversing camera, and expect a three-point turn where a smaller car would just swing round.

Who should rent it, and who should look elsewhere

Rent the F-150 if you actually need the bed: a house move, dune-trip gear, a motorbike, building supplies, or you simply want the specific experience of a full-size American truck on UAE roads for a week. Nothing else in the fleet tows close to 5,900 kg or carries an open load the way this one does.

Look elsewhere if your week is airport runs, mall parking and city errands with a family's luggage. A mid-size SUV rides softer, parks easier and burns noticeably less fuel for the same passenger count, and none of the F-150's real strengths, the bed, the torque, the towing, get used. This truck earns its rental when the job actually needs a truck. You'll need to be 25 to take the keys, and the mileage allowance is 250 km a day, with extra kilometres billed at AED 0.5 each. A supply run out to Hatta and back is worth checking against that limit before you set off.