157" 302A - Two weeks, 1300 mi - So far so good

[JumboJVT]

At the risk of being hoisted on my own pitard for posting about a $58k truck delvered in working order (what else should be expected?), I'm going to. After Ford gave me 7 months to ponder what to expect, I seem to have recieved what I'd anticipated, generally in line with the experiences of many others here, with few of the potential issues:

• Apparent build quailty: Its OK, if not stellar. Door seams are uniform, paint is good (Rapid Red), no undo wind noise or rattles at this point. Actually, the cabin is quieter than I'd anticipated. The only issues I've found while investigating uneven rear seat cusions are some scratches on the two adjacent seat mounts between the 70/30 seats. Looks like they used a pry bar to get things to align for bolt in. Can't see it but for lying on the rear floor, so nothing I'm concerned about.
• Transmission: Seems to shift fine, if not the same everytime. Most of the time, it will use all the gears in Normal. Always does if pointed upslope; sometimes does the 1-3 skip shift if headed downgrade. Loves to hold a higher gear in normal longer than I think it should, resulting in a 2 gear downshifts when it does, which combined with the throttle necessary to get the shift is a little more abrupt than a 1 gear shift. Sport mode does what is supposed to, but is a little too agressive for most of my daily use. Tow/Haul pretty much shifts as I would if I could stir my own, but the rev match it does to grab a lower gear when it thinks you need more comp braking (rollover knoll shading the brake over the crest) is a little startling the first couple times is does it and pretty abrupt. I'm sure with an actual load on it would seem less so. Eco? What's Eco? Slippery: Not sure why it needs to engage 4WD. Are drivers really not competent to engage 4WD themselves? I guess I'd anticipate choosing 4WD in Normal when necessary, then maybe going to Slippery if things got real nasty. But I'm a VT native: I've driven on a bad road before. One question: why does it tke so long to get from D to R?
• Engine: 3.5 EB, love it so far. It just goes so effortlessly with none of the drama I experienced on my test drive of the 5.0 (and what I'm used to with my '16 Tundra 5.7). Averaging about 18 MPG running my normal mix of 50-60 MPH State roads, 20-40 MPH dirt roads with lots of topography. About 20% better than the Tundra, with alot more go. Have experienced a little of the rough idle, but only just after it goes from closed loop to open with a barely warm engine. Once its been driven a bit, the idle is as smooth as any V6. Did I say I like hearing the wastegate whistle?
• Ride & handling: A bit floaty as most have experienced. And turn-in on the pavement leaves a little to be desired. A swaybay cured similar compliants on the Tundra at the expense of some ride quailty. But this truck seems pretty well balanced when going faster than prudent on a loose gravel road. More rebound damping would be welcomed, but not necessarily on the comp side to impact ride quality. That's has been my experience with Bilsein's in the past: stiffer ride for the price of more rebound. I think I'll run it for the winter stock, and decide what if anything to change in the spring. I'll put on the winter HDPP 18" wheels with new Blizzaks this afternoon. That will certainly change the dynamics...not necessarily for the better.
• Electronic do-dads: While not thrilled about paying for and owning these systems for the long run, I guess I can live with most of them. Everything seems to funtion as intended, even if I don't understand why anyone intended to do it that way. No lane minder, driver alert, rear brake assit or adaptive cruise for me. And a backup camera is almost useless when covered in road grime all the time.
• Ergonomics: Well, after 200K in a Toyota following some 600K in Fords, I can say Toyota's layout is better. Their short stalk for the cruise control at 4:30 behind the wheel (mounted to it) is a perfect example: on/off button on the end, bump down to set/reduce speed, bump up to reset/increase speed, pull to disengage. Once you did it twice, you never need to look again, just dangle your digits behind the wheel in that quadrant and there it is. Simple. No fumbling around to figure out just which of the buttons that all feel the same you're actually pressing. Yes I can learn, but Ford just doesn't do ergo as well. Who put the highbeam indicator light in the top right croner behind the wheel?

All in all, I'm happy with the purchase. But as has been the case with every truck I've owned, when peope ask "How do you like that truck", I tell 'em "ask me in 10 years". So far, so good, fingers crossed. Now, time to go hunting....for a month.

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[js312]

I put Bilstein 4600s on the rear of my last two F150s and it helped the floatiness quite a bit. I haven't done that on this one yet. It doesn't seem as bad as the last two. Maybe the PowerBoost having the extra battery weight is a factor - not sure if they use the same shocks as the non-hybrid trucks or not.

 

[Haulinday]

Congratulations and thanks for the review. My anticipation period now at 5 months

 

[Eighthtry]

At the risk of being hoisted on my own pitard for posting about a $58k truck delvered in working order (what else should be expected?), I'm going to. After Ford gave me 7 months to ponder what to expect, I seem to have recieved what I'd anticipated, generally in line with the experiences of many others here, with few of the potential issues:

• Apparent build quailty: Its OK, if not stellar. Door seams are uniform, paint is good (Rapid Red), no undo wind noise or rattles at this point. Actually, the cabin is quieter than I'd anticipated. The only issues I've found while investigating uneven rear seat cusions are some scratches on the two adjacent seat mounts between the 70/30 seats. Looks like they used a pry bar to get things to align for bolt in. Can't see it but for lying on the rear floor, so nothing I'm concerned about.
• Transmission: Seems to shift fine, if not the same everytime. Most of the time, it will use all the gears in Normal. Always does if pointed upslope; sometimes does the 1-3 skip shift if headed downgrade. Loves to hold a higher gear in normal longer than I think it should, resulting in a 2 gear downshifts when it does, which combined with the throttle necessary to get the shift is a little more abrupt than a 1 gear shift. Sport mode does what is supposed to, but is a little too agressive for most of my daily use. Tow/Haul pretty much shifts as I would if I could stir my own, but the rev match it does to grab a lower gear when it thinks you need more comp braking (rollover knoll shading the brake over the crest) is a little startling the first couple times is does it and pretty abrupt. I'm sure with an actual load on it would seem less so. Eco? What's Eco? Slippery: Not sure why it needs to engage 4WD. Are drivers really not competent to engage 4WD themselves? I guess I'd anticipate choosing 4WD in Normal when necessary, then maybe going to Slippery if things got real nasty. But I'm a VT native: I've driven on a bad road before. One question: why does it tke so long to get from D to R?
• Engine: 3.5 EB, love it so far. It just goes so effortlessly with none of the drama I experienced on my test drive of the 5.0 (and what I'm used to with my '16 Tundra 5.7). Averaging about 18 MPG running my normal mix of 50-60 MPH State roads, 20-40 MPH dirt roads with lots of topography. About 20% better than the Tundra, with alot more go. Have experienced a little of the rough idle, but only just after it goes from closed loop to open with a barely warm engine. Once its been driven a bit, the idle is as smooth as any V6. Did I say I like hearing the wastegate whistle?
• Ride & handling: A bit floaty as most have experienced. And turn-in on the pavement leaves a little to be desired. A swaybay cured similar compliants on the Tundra at the expense of some ride quailty. But this truck seems pretty well balanced when going faster than prudent on a loose gravel road. More rebound damping would be welcomed, but not necessarily on the comp side to impact ride quality. That's has been my experience with Bilsein's in the past: stiffer ride for the price of more rebound. I think I'll run it for the winter stock, and decide what if anything to change in the spring. I'll put on the winter HDPP 18" wheels with new Blizzaks this afternoon. That will certainly change the dynamics...not necessarily for the better.
• Electronic do-dads: While not thrilled about paying for and owning these systems for the long run, I guess I can live with most of them. Everything seems to funtion as intended, even if I don't understand why anyone intended to do it that way. No lane minder, driver alert, rear brake assit or adaptive cruise for me. And a backup camera is almost useless when covered in road grime all the time.
• Ergonomics: Well, after 200K in a Toyota following some 600K in Fords, I can say Toyota's layout is better. Their short stalk for the cruise control at 4:30 behind the wheel (mounted to it) is a perfect example: on/off button on the end, bump down to set/reduce speed, bump up to reset/increase speed, pull to disengage. Once you did it twice, you never need to look again, just dangle your digits behind the wheel in that quadrant and there it is. Simple. No fumbling around to figure out just which of the buttons that all feel the same you're actually pressing. Yes I can learn, but Ford just doesn't do ergo as well. Who put the highbeam indicator light in the top right croner behind the wheel?

All in all, I'm happy with the purchase. But as has been the case with every truck I've owned, when peope ask "How do you like that truck", I tell 'em "ask me in 10 years". So far, so good, fingers crossed. Now, time to go hunting....for a month.

 

[Eighthtry]

I like the 10 year comment. Probably 100,000 plus miles by then. That would be very telling. This is a 200,000 mile truck easily.

 

[JumboJVT]

That's good, because 10 yrs for me IS 200+K. Assuming it does last, what will the resale value be at 10yr/200K? I just sold the Tundra for 35% of the original purchase price at 9-1/2 yrs and 197K. Skeptical the F-150 will be worth $20K at that point.

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