Haoleguy
Platinum Member
My 1998 F150 is starting to tell me the end is near. I've had this since new and I'm up to 146K miles with it. Most recently I discovered a small leak in the coolant system, the column gear selector is off by one place.....drive is when I select 2nd, and it feels like I'm losing coolness in the ac system. Previously noticed is the rust is starting to hit the door panels, the headliner is coming down, the rear window seal is leaking, and there is a rattling underneath that's taking place. Also my 4.6L V8 is sooo under powered for towing and we need to do 10K trailering periodically during the year.
So yesterday we took a day off to test drive 2 Fords as the incentives are hard to pass on at this point. First up was an 2016 F350 crew with 6.5ft bed and the 6.2L gas engine. Both my spouse and I needed a ladder to get in it. This is a very nice truck and drives well and is comfortable with the split bench front seats. It is a bit snappy on bumps but nothing I would consider harsh. Getting onto the freeway at 65mph with a relatively short onramp was okay but not as quick as I would expect. Maybe I should not have expected more as this is a heavy truck. The only other thing I noticed is that my long torso placed my road view up towards the top of the windshield. The electric seat platform elevates the seats a bit and contributes to the view. The second drive was a 2016 F150 supercrew with the 6.5ft bed and 3.5 ecoboost. Much easier to get in and the back was very roomy. This is one comfortable truck but I felt like the driving was a bit soft with much less road feel than I was expecting. When getting onto the freeway and up to 65mph the ecoboost delivered nicely. In comparison of the 2 trucks I felt the F150 was a real nice overall performer. We did not tow anything with either truck but from this forum and others I sense both would handle a 10K load with the F150 probably squatting a bit.
For comparison to other manufacturers we will visit a local GMC dealer later today to test drive their 2500HD with the 6.0L. At the moment GMC does not have similar incentives to Ford's but it's just a matter of time when they do. Hopefully, my current F150 hangs in there long enough so that my hand is not forced.
So yesterday we took a day off to test drive 2 Fords as the incentives are hard to pass on at this point. First up was an 2016 F350 crew with 6.5ft bed and the 6.2L gas engine. Both my spouse and I needed a ladder to get in it. This is a very nice truck and drives well and is comfortable with the split bench front seats. It is a bit snappy on bumps but nothing I would consider harsh. Getting onto the freeway at 65mph with a relatively short onramp was okay but not as quick as I would expect. Maybe I should not have expected more as this is a heavy truck. The only other thing I noticed is that my long torso placed my road view up towards the top of the windshield. The electric seat platform elevates the seats a bit and contributes to the view. The second drive was a 2016 F150 supercrew with the 6.5ft bed and 3.5 ecoboost. Much easier to get in and the back was very roomy. This is one comfortable truck but I felt like the driving was a bit soft with much less road feel than I was expecting. When getting onto the freeway and up to 65mph the ecoboost delivered nicely. In comparison of the 2 trucks I felt the F150 was a real nice overall performer. We did not tow anything with either truck but from this forum and others I sense both would handle a 10K load with the F150 probably squatting a bit.
For comparison to other manufacturers we will visit a local GMC dealer later today to test drive their 2500HD with the 6.0L. At the moment GMC does not have similar incentives to Ford's but it's just a matter of time when they do. Hopefully, my current F150 hangs in there long enough so that my hand is not forced.