Buying a Ford F-150

[mizterwizard]

I would never pay $1800 for a particular color. But then I'm color blind. Happy wife, happy life.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by grantpallen

Congratulations Ron on your decision to buy a lighting blue Lariat. My wife doesn’t care about the mirrors, and she does most of the driving. Maybe go with the blind spot indicators!

Hi Grant, long time no-see. Hope you're enjoying the 5.0.
Yes, one by one we're narrowing down the options. Blind spot indicators are a yes.

Originally Posted by barry

it seems the Supercab isn't as popular as the SuperCrew so this made it easier to make a deal. I was surprised to find that the dash mounted brake controller is not part of the towing package (duh) and made it part of the deal, just something to note.

On the Ranger I had to add mirror extensions to to "kinda see" what was behind me. The F150 has just the regular mirrors and I find I have a superb view behind,
Barry

Yes, we've found that. We go to a dealership and there's a sea of SuperCrew but very few SuperCab, which is what we want. Throw in the 4 x 2 and there's even less selection. Looks like a custom order for sure.

I think that the regular mirrors would be fine but the packages are adding up so I think that I'm going to end up with power folding and extending mirrors. So much for my base truck.

Ron

[John in Santa Cruz]

me, I picked up a 2002 F250 XLT supercab longbed 4x4 7.3L turbo-diesel for $13000. white. great shape. had to fix a couple of the glow plugs to stop it from throwing codes, and adjust the parking brake, otherwise its been flawless. hauls my escape 21 fully loaded with everything I could possibly want to haul in the bed, over hill, over dale, averaging about 13-14 MPG without trying to go slow... most highway grades in the mountains, it stays in overdrive at 60 MPH, doing around 1500 rpm. 38 gallon tank means a 500 mile range.

[dfandrews]

Nice looking rig, there, John. Perfect in front of the evergreen background.

[gbaglo]

Saggy butt?

[Sgonyo]

I have a 2016 and my one regret is I didn’t get the 6.5’ bed. Other than that I love the truck. I would highly recommend getting the 32 gallon fuel tank.

[Hilola]

I've done very little looking to date but what I'm seeing so far is that it's difficult to find a SuperCrew with a 6.5' bed on the dealer lots, at least in my area. Has anyone else noticed that?

[padlin]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

me, I picked up a 2002 F250 XLT supercab longbed 4x4 7.3L turbo-diesel for $13000. white. great shape. had to fix a couple of the glow plugs to stop it from throwing codes, and adjust the parking brake, otherwise its been flawless. hauls my escape 21 fully loaded with everything I could possibly want to haul in the bed, over hill, over dale, averaging about 13-14 MPG without trying to go slow... most highway grades in the mountains, it stays in overdrive at 60 MPH, doing around 1500 rpm. 38 gallon tank means a 500 mile range.

Sounds just like my 2012 F150 3.5 Ecoboost, except I paid triple what you did.

Nice truck.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by padlin

Sounds just like my 2012 F150 3.5 Ecoboost, except I paid triple what you did.

Nice truck.

you probably get better gas mileage. but $26000 will buy a lot of diesel :-p

[John in Santa Cruz]

downside of a crew cab with a standard or long bed is, HUGE wheelbase == lousy turning circle. that can really hurt when you're trying to U turn in a tight space. my F250 supercab 8' bed has a 158" wheelbase, and a 62 foot turning circle. eeek.


yesterday I took a wrong turn and found myself on a cul-de-sac what had a couple cars parked on it, I had to do a 5 point U turn with the 21' Escape hitched to my 21' long truck. oh, that was fun, NOT.


also, a 21 foot long truck is NOT much fun to parallel park in a 'regular' car space, or maneuver around a tight parking lot, even without a trailer.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

Nice looking rig, there, John. Perfect in front of the evergreen background.

that was in the morning of July 9th, after spending the night on the side of state highway 32 south of Lassen NP, east of Chico en route to Golden State Star Party ...

[algonquin50]

I bought a 2013 standard F150 STX, 4wd, cloth seats, 5.0 V8. Never bought a Ford product, but this has been a joy for towing. The seats are super comfortable and haven't found the need for anything special. I do like the bluetooth, radio, phone,music stuff. The bonus iis that I get 17 mpg towing all day long. Ford got it right with this truck. I hope this helps
Oh, and the space behinf the seats is fantastic for a regular cab. I need that space to carry acoustic guitars.

[emers382]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: thiggins... My 98L. std. tank on the Eco D. almost requires a second mortgage to fill here in Canada. After a 690 Km tow home the pump shut off at exactly $100.00 Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Alf, yesterday I had to put in $142 worth of 1.44.9 gas (98 L) here in very expensive NW ON. My tank takes 135 L, good thing it wasn't nearly empty. We usually always fill up in the US but since we went from home to Winnipeg then two NW ON provincial parks then on to Thunder Bay I was forced to fill here. At least I should be good until we hit MN on the way home.

[Ron in BC]

Oh man, I just read Jim's comment on another post regarding checking that the spare tire was full size.

I went through that with my Ranger. I asked if the spare was "full size". Yes, I was told. Well, even though I got the tow package it did indeed have a full size spare. Only it was a Continental with a low speed limit and a sticker that said "do not use for towing". I ended up buying a rim and tire from an auto wrecker. The original has been in my garden shed ever since.

So, for anyone who's bought a F150 lately, is the spare usable at highway speeds for towing?

Ron

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Oh man, I just read Jim's comment on another post regarding checking that the spare tire was full size.



I went through that with my Ranger. I asked if the spare was "full size". Yes, I was told. Well, even though I got the tow package it did indeed have a full size spare. Only it was a Continental with a low speed limit and a sticker that said "do not use for towing". I ended up buying a rim and tire from an auto wrecker. The original has been in my garden shed ever since.



So, for anyone who's bought a F150 lately, is the spare usable at highway speeds for towing?



Ron

Our 2016 XLT came with a full size spare, same tire as the other OEM’s. Only difference is that it’s mounted on a steel rim instead of the snazzy aluminum ones on the other four. And yes, it is suitable for towing, we unwelcomely found out on the first day of a year-long trip when we picked up a screw in a parking lot. It was so hot that June day in that part of Cali that the innards of my portable air pump melted while trying to get the tire up to towing pressure, but that’s another story. But also a reminder to check your spare pressure when you check the rest of your tires.

[Ron in BC]

Thanks that's the answer I was looking for. I certainly wasn't impressed with the Ranger "full size spare" that was only suitable for limping to a tire shop without the trailer. Maybe they got a bit of feedback from other folks who weren't impressed either.

The steel wheel I can live with although it would be nice if there was an option to get a matching alloy so you could do a 5 wheel rotation.

Option, did I actually say that? Like I need more options to choose from. My head is already spinning.

Ron

[olddawgsrule]

Highest I went on my Nor'East run was 1.39L.. that was plenty enough for me! Stopped in a Reservation station that listed 1.07L.. but it was closed at the time.. bummer..

Did get beer though! Another store was open!

[Jill]

Originally Posted by titanizer

I have a Lariat, 2.7, 4wd, crew cab, 5.5' bed with regular mirrors. I tow a 21' without any problems. I haven't found any reason to pay $500-$600 for tow mirrors.

Us too.

[algonquin50]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Oh man, I just read Jim's comment on another post regarding checking that the spare tire was full size.

I went through that with my Ranger. I asked if the spare was "full size". Yes, I was told. Well, even though I got the tow package it did indeed have a full size spare. Only it was a Continental with a low speed limit and a sticker that said "do not use for towing". I ended up buying a rim and tire from an auto wrecker. The original has been in my garden shed ever since.

So, for anyone who's bought a F150 lately, is the spare usable at highway speeds for towing?

My 2013 came with the exact tires the truck was equipped with...so yes.
I did have to use it as the truck was equipped with Goodyears and two them
had sidewall failures. Neither Ford nor Goodyear would honor any warranty.
Ford said, "you must have hit something" and Goodyear said, "Take it back to the dealer as they should cover this because you only have 19,000 miles".
After the 2nd tire failure I just replaced the tires with Firestone's. No problem with them but I will never buy Goodyear tires again.

[John in Santa Cruz]

both my 2008 Tacoma and 2002 F250 have standard sized and rated spares stowed in a hoist under the back of the truck, but on steel rims instead of the factory alloys, so its kinda ugly to rotate them, so they just sit there til they age out.

IMHO, best highway truck tire is the Michelin LTX all season, and best A/T truck tire is the BF Goodrich All-Terrain KO2. both of these cost a premium, but last a long time *AND* still have good ride and wet/dry traction even when 50% or more worn, while many cheaper tires ride awful once they have some miles on them.