Why I sold my 2021 F-150 Limited Powerboost

[Azizo]

After thinking long and hard about my Limited 2021 Star White, having only had it for 3 months, I decided to sell it for the following reasons. I had a `lariat sport package 2015 5.0 V8 prior to this and it lasted me almost 6 years without having me despise one thing about it.

First of, let me start with the positive side of this thread and mention the great things about the car:

1- Technology is absolutely insane on these trucks. I mean the screen all the way to the active lane keeping assist to a lot of things were just amazing and really served their purpose beautifully.

2- Engine power is so great for a half ton truck. This thing is a bullet to the point where I feel very confident overtaking people and actually challenging some on traffic lights.

3- Beauty and elegance of the Start white limited was just amazing. I really loved the looks of this truck, especially the wheels on the Limited trim.

4- Interior in general was very well refined, especially for the limited trim. The contrasting blue and whiteish interior was no issue to me whatsover and i loved it, but of course having lived with it, I prefer black. That is just my preference


Now for the negative things that lead me to sell the car and drove me insane:

1- The powerboost engine/transmission. Oh my gad has it become extremely clunky. Actually unbearable and drove me insane! Especially accelerating from 0 mph. The very hard shift from 1st to 3rd gear was brutal. 6th to 7th as well. And do not get me started in the downshifting. Driving it just felt really annoying, irrespective of how it looks or how amazing and handy the interior is designed to be.
To add, the lag of power running through the vehicle upon acceleration due to the boost was very slow. It really takes a little while before it gets up. The battery is very small to keep the car going for a little longer so when you are just cruising on low speeds, the engine comes back on the wrong gear! That causes it to downshift for more power.

2- The brakes! I really pride myself in being the best driver in the family. I can adopt a very relaxing drive and a crazy one if need be. I just found it really hard to drive this car with confidence due to its really annoying braking system (regenerating power). It is extremely grabby and I would best describe it as normal brakes tend to be gradual as 1-2-3-4-5-6 if the pedal is well hit. The powerboost brakes are 1-5-10. they are not gradual and very risky in my opinion.

That is my rant. The previous two reasons are what drove me to sell it. A car is measured by how well it drives in my opinion, with technology, interior quality and comfort and other things being slightly secondary to the drive.

Hope this article helps set buyer's expectations!

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[Pedaldude]

A lot of people take some time getting used to driving hybrids and EVs. I was always a bit put off by a newer Civic I used to drive every once in a while that would freewheel instead of engine braking below a certain speed and every time, it felt like the brakes gave out.

One thing that I always need to remind myself and others test driving a new car is that their old cars would feel just as good as the old car if they rebuilt the suspension, something that isn't too expensive if you can do the work yourself and even if you pay a shop to do the work relatively cheap compared with buying a new car or getting into an accident because your shocks are bad and it takes 20 extra feet to stop your car.

I'm not that impressed with the technology Ford is putting in their trucks, the adaptive cruise is not smooth at all compared with the similar system that Acura has which is super smooth and nearly the same as if I were manipulating the throttle. My truck brakes too hard for vehicles slowing down and wants to maintain the set distance too rigidly, the lane centering is impressive but you have to yank the wheel over to one side or else the put hands on wheel warning constantly sounds and I am not comfortable with actively steering away from my desired path to keep the lane centering centered in the lane.

Just today my center screen went blank, pretty much making all the extra options unusable. I think that if I were to order a truck all over again, I would get the base XL or an F250 with the 6.2.

Hopefully you will enjoy your next vehicle more, good luck and thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[Htk084]

So what are you looking at getting instead?

 

[machz]

I love my powerboost but I honestly can see your point. Everything you said in true IMO but thankfully I don't see it as much of a negative as your. For me the clunky transmission shifts are the most annoying. I have hope that some day they will reflash and fix it but I can live with it if they don't. The brakes did annoy me for the first few thousand miles but almost a year later I hardly even notice them now.

I have had a truck from every brand over the last 10 years and I traded in my Dodge rebel for this and they all had things I loved and didn't like. So far this truck has been my favorite I'm sure because I love tech and this truck has a ton.

Good luck with whatever truck you decide on purchasing.

 

[Littlefield82]

After thinking long and hard about my Limited 2021 Star White, having only had it for 3 months, I decided to sell it for the following reasons. I had a `lariat sport package 2015 5.0 V8 prior to this and it lasted me almost 6 years without having me despise one thing about it.

First of, let me start with the positive side of this thread and mention the great things about the car:

1- Technology is absolutely insane on these trucks. I mean the screen all the way to the active lane keeping assist to a lot of things were just amazing and really served their purpose beautifully.

2- Engine power is so great for a half ton truck. This thing is a bullet to the point where I feel very confident overtaking people and actually challenging some on traffic lights.

3- Beauty and elegance of the Start white limited was just amazing. I really loved the looks of this truck, especially the wheels on the Limited trim.

4- Interior in general was very well refined, especially for the limited trim. The contrasting blue and whiteish interior was no issue to me whatsover and i loved it, but of course having lived with it, I prefer black. That is just my preference


Now for the negative things that lead me to sell the car and drove me insane:

1- The powerboost engine/transmission. Oh my gad has it become extremely clunky. Actually unbearable and drove me insane! Especially accelerating from 0 mph. The very hard shift from 1st to 3rd gear was brutal. 6th to 7th as well. And do not get me started in the downshifting. Driving it just felt really annoying, irrespective of how it looks or how amazing and handy the interior is designed to be.
To add, the lag of power running through the vehicle upon acceleration due to the boost was very slow. It really takes a little while before it gets up. The battery is very small to keep the car going for a little longer so when you are just cruising on low speeds, the engine comes back on the wrong gear! That causes it to downshift for more power.

2- The brakes! I really pride myself in being the best driver in the family. I can adopt a very relaxing drive and a crazy one if need be. I just found it really hard to drive this car with confidence due to its really annoying braking system (regenerating power). It is extremely grabby and I would best describe it as normal brakes tend to be gradual as 1-2-3-4-5-6 if the pedal is well hit. The powerboost brakes are 1-5-10. they are not gradual and very risky in my opinion.

That is my rant. The previous two reasons are what drove me to sell it. A car is measured by how well it drives in my opinion, with technology, interior quality and comfort and other things being slightly secondary to the drive.

Hope this article helps set buyer's expectations!

Thanks for sharing. What seems crazy to me is the number of people experiencing the clunky transmission but also the number of people who say they don't have issues. I'm wondering if every truck is clunky but some people don't see it as clunky, but I find that hard to believe as those who describe it say it's very noticeable and detracts from the driving experience. How can there be such a mix of trucks with and without the problem? There also seems to be a significant number of people who had the clunk but then their dealer was able to remap it. To counter that there seems to be a number of people who took theirs in to be looked at and the dealer was not able to make a difference. Really weird how it's all revealing itself.

 

[notabot]

Thanks for sharing. What seems crazy to me is the number of people experiencing the clunky transmission but also the number of people who say they don't have issues. I'm wondering if every truck is clunky but some people don't see it as clunky, but I find that hard to believe as those who describe it say it's very noticeable and detracts from the driving experience. How can there be such a mix of trucks with and without the problem?

Mine started off as very clunky shifting whilst driving my normal trips. A quick visit to forscan, reset the transmission adaptive tables and viola`, it is a brand new experience. Very smooth, even transitioning to electric when I hit the 20mph section near my humble abode. Transitioning from ICE to E and back again, when stopped and at idle is still an awakening experience, but I'll get used to that.

 

[Liquid-Todd_AZ]

You are probably a Toyota Tundra driveline engineer.....

 

[travekinman]

I too have not noticed much with my Platinum in terms of clunk shifting but don't discount the fact that it is happening. I can't help but wonder if this isn't part of the 'growing pains' for Ford, as the manufacturer and us as the customers, in terms of the transition of gas vehicles to Hybrid and eventually EV. In part I chose the hybrid because I expected a change in the driving experience and consequently my adjustment to it. Figured it's inevitable. Having said that my other vehicle is a JEEP Wrangler with six on the floor and a real clutch. Can't help but wonder what Ken Miles (Ford vs Ferrari - legendary race car driver) or Shelby would say to all this.

 

[psambrose]

I too have not noticed much with my Platinum in terms of clunk shifting but don't discount the fact that it is happening. I can't help but wonder if this isn't part of the 'growing pains' for Ford, as the manufacturer and us as the customers, in terms of the transition of gas vehicles to Hybrid and eventually EV. In part I chose the hybrid because I expected a change in the driving experience and consequently my adjustment to it. Figured it's inevitable. Having said that my other vehicle is a JEEP Wrangler with six on the floor and a real clutch. Can't help but wonder what Ken Miles (Ford vs Ferrari - legendary race car driver) or Shelby would say to all this.

While your point might apply to the braking issue, it doesn't explain the transmission complaints. I have a regular gas 5.0 2021 F-150 and it has the exact same annoying transmission shifts.

 

[Oxford_Powerboost]

While your point might apply to the braking issue, it doesn't explain the transmission complaints. I have a regular gas 5.0 2021 F-150 and it has the exact same annoying transmission shifts.

I don’t normally say this, but Ford really needs to call up GM and talk to them about how to program the 10 speed. The 6.2 Sierra I drove had buttery shifts, it was very out of the way. Did what I expected and didn’t really have to pay any attention. Auto reviewers have pointed this out too

 

[UGADawg96]

I don’t normally say this, but Ford really needs to call up GM and talk to them about how to program the 10 speed. The 6.2 Sierra I drove had buttery shifts, it was very out of the way. Did what I expected and didn’t really have to pay any attention. Auto reviewers have pointed this out too

It's funny, I used to have a 2019 5.3/8sp Silverado and on the gm-trucks forum, everyone would bitch about the 8sp that GM built and everyone loved the 10sp co-developed by Ford and the forum consensus was that the 10sp was better since it was Ford's design.

 

[JTmass]

I test drove a Powerboost and experienced the same problems with the transmission. Starting from a full stop, the truck would lurch forward like I didn't know how to drive. It was really unsettling. And then braking! Braking after the truck lurched forward, the brakes would hit hard so... again, looks like I don't know how to drive.

After the test drive I was so put off, I walked back to my car and left. I feel bad but the salesman didn't spend any time with me, sent me off with a kid to do the test drive.

After I was reading about people getting the tranny flashed and it improving the ride. I think I would have tried that before selling a brand new car. Guess I don't have to worry about it as I'm waiting on a Lightning but I really wanted to love the Powerboost.

 

[fooli-150]

Anyone have any insight if trucks being built here later in the year have the transmission improved? I did notice it some on the test drive months ago but not enough to keep me from ordering. I'm sure whatever it's like I will get used to.

 

[DANNER]

One user said a software update and resetting the transmission learning fixed the problems.

 

[Xhaxol]

I had the rough shifts between 1 and 3. Skipping 2nd. I told the service dept at ford while getting oil changed. They flashed it and set the transmission to learn. It has been way smoother since. So it’s a programing thing and not mechanical.

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