It's a tough year to roll out a new truck. Gas prices peaked at over $4 over the summer. A recession drove many Americans away from the large vehicles they'd been buying for years. And the competition was fierce, with an excellent Chevy Silverado redesigned just last year, a brand new Dodge Ram that vastly improves on that model, and an all-new Ford F-150. But a king has been crowned nonetheless.

The 2009 Ford F-150 is Motor Trend's Truck of the Year.

Motor Trend writes, "Coming into the final discussion, the Dodge and Ford were running close in the superiority category. In this price-sensitive market, neither truck held a tie-breaking advantage in the value category." So what gave the nod to Ford? According to MT, it's the better work truck.

"Ford claims it sells more of its half-ton pickups to work and commercial customers than its competitors do, and Ford predicts this segment will grow to 45 percent of F-150 sales," they write. "Toward that end, the truck's fully boxed chassis is further fortified to provide best-in-class rigidity, payload capacity (up to 3030 pounds), and tow ratings (up to 11,300 pounds). As such, the new F-150 is well positioned to capture contractors migrating down-market out of Super-Dutys to save money and gas (did we mention that a new six-speed automatic, a lighter, more aerodynamic cab, and other tweaks boost fuel economy by 12 percent with the 5.4-liter?)."

Dodge claims it revolutionized the truck market with a new coil-spring suspension system in the 2009 Ram, and Motor Trend was impressed with the ride quality, saying the F-150's "ride doesn't quite match Dodge's." But Ford claims better payload and towing numbers, and that, in the end, gave the title to the F-150.

PickupTrucks.com notes that there were a few other contenders. "The other rigs were the Dodge Ram 1500, Suzuki Equator and the Hummer H3T. To be eligible, a vehicle had to be totally new or redesigned, and released in the 12 months before Jan. 1, 2009."

Autoblog comments, "Ford's redesigned F-150 has been the best seller in America for, well... decades, and offers tireless capabilities and hundreds of possible configurations at an affordable price. It's never been better."

All three of the major full-size trucks are now available at significant discounts. Research the best car deals available in this market.