Ace007

After picking up my truck on Thursday we took off on Saturday to do a break in trip from Denver down to the Great Sand Dunes National monument down in the south part of Colorado. The plan was to travel south down I-25 and then across to the part and come back up 285 through the mountains to return to Denver. This gave a mix of highway and some mountain driving. This also included a drive down a wash board road to check out a cool water fall which gave the suspension a good workout and got the truck really dirty. Round trip was about 550 miles and we averaged 19.9 mpg which was not too bad considering the altitude and hilly terrain.


After spending over 9 hours driving yesterday I think I can put out my first impressions


Loves:
1. Love the power of the truck - I was making my wife nervous every time I passed somebody and even at close to 9000' ASL we powered past like nothing. There may be a small amoount of turbo lag but its not bad and when it kicks in hold on.
2. Adaptive Cruise Control - I thought I would like this feature and I ended up loving it. It just makes using cruise even easier since there is no longer any adjusting it up and down to deal with slow traffic. Did not have any issues with unexpected emergency stops. I passed many semis but only one tanker truck and he was two lanes over but will still monitor this. It can be a little problamatic on curvy mountain roads since the car in front of you can get out of the radar cone long enough for the ACC to try and speed up and then it seems the car again and has to back off. Just shows the technology does have some minor limitations the driver needs to be aware of. Could be a little smoother with application of gas and brakes. Still love it.
3. Lane Following/Assist - Was curious how well this would work and how intrusive it would be. it did certainly take some getting used to since it really wants you to stay more certered. Any drifting and it will gently remind/push you to return back. Thought it was gentle enough to not be too intrusive. I did turn it off when driving on curvy roads since it fought back against taking the fastest route around the corners.
4. BLIS - Nice to have given the length of the truck and getting used to the new mirrows
5. Power Tow Mirrors - ok this may be a love and dislike. Love how much they can show you, they will work great when towing, and then fold in electricially so I can get in the garage. Taking a bit to get used to the right one not being one of those "Object appear smaller then they really are" of normal right side mirrors. This is just a observation of the rear view mirror. Objects do appear smaller in this one than with the side mirrors. Anybody else think this?
6. 36 Gallon Gas tank - We probably could have done the entire trip on one tank of gas but I did fill up half way just to make sure. I have family down south of Albuquerque and it was greta to know that I could easily drive from Denver to Albuquerque with no stops for gas. This will also be handy driving up in to the mountains where gas is more expensive since we can get back to town without refueling. This will obviously change when we are towing but we will see how that works out.
7. Air Conditioning - Was about 90 when we got back in to Denver - No issues with the A/C keeping up
8. LED headlights - I think they work really well compared to normal ones. There may be better after market replacements but I'm happy. Had one car flash at me like I had my brights on. I held back on flashing him back to prove I did not have them on since that really would have blinded him.

Dislikes - I wonder consider these as minor but work pointing outa
1. Still learning to park in small spaces - This is really a driver issue but also its a big truck. Had a hell of a time parking in a parkign garage the other day.
2. Cooled Seats - pretty much the same issues as others. Seat bottom cools well. Very little out of the back. Did not leave it on long enough to see if they got hot
3. Running boards - This is more a complaint from the short wife but I kinda agree with her. They don't stick out from the truck very far which can make it easy to miss them when steping out. Might replace them in the future with the 3rd party retracting boards which seem to extend out more.
4. Nav System - Not very responsive and stupid that they restrict functions while driving. Maybe tie in with the passenger seat sensor. If there is a passenger onboard then remove the restrictions.
5. Driver Alert - Is there anyway to turn this off? The truck alignment is create. If I'm on a straight road I don't have to move the steering wheel at all so the driver alert comes up and tells me to wake up and I have to wiggle the wheel. This is dumb
6. Bumpiness on some concrete roads - On some stretches of highway the truck setup a bouncing rhythm which was annoying. Maybe because of the firmer FX4 suspension components.
7. Reflection from shifter - Ok this is really nitpicky and will probably be better once I tint the front windows. When driving south in the morning the sun reflected off the chrome on the shifter right in to my eyes. Had to keep my hand on it to stop it.


Other observations -
We stopped along the way to check out this water fall which was about a mile up this wash board road. Started out in 2wd and as I sped up to go fast over the wash board it was a little squrilly so I swited to 4ws auto and watched the power distribution screen. It really stabalized the truck and was interesting watching the power screen as it looked like it was really pushing equal power up the front wheels. This result was expected of course but I was happy with how it pounded down this road leaving a big dust wake behind. Have to clean all the dirt and bugs off the truck today.


I got the Ford all weather floor mats which look nice. The coverage may not be as good as some of the third party ones but good for this trip since we got them a bit dirty coming in from the sand dunes. I think I will keep them in for the winter season but go back to the normal ones the rest of the year.


We hit a about 3 birds at different times driving in the mountains. Darn birds were suicidal. Don't see any damage from it. Tons of bugs to clean up though.


Went though a little bit of rain. I thought the automatic wipers did a decent job keeping a good wipe rate as the rain slowed and sped up. Again just one of those driver convenience things. One less thing to be tweaking while driving in bad weather.

I'm not going to be making any major modifications to the truck. Will be working this week to get the clear bra, front window tinting, and spray in bed liner done. Need to choose which bed cover to go with too and get that ordered. Again so far I love the truck but I'm still adapting to the larger size and need to get some accessories added on.


Dirty Truck below

Southpaw1227

Great write-up! The Great Sand Dunes are amazing.

earth

Thanks for the detailed write-up. We're taking a month-long trip starting in California and doing a Nevada/Utah/Idaho/Montana/Washington/Oregon loop, and I will write my impressions when we get back; forgot to mention we will be towing a #5000 Airstream!

1fifty

The birds' magnetic north tracking must not see the aluminum truck

Zissou

Ha! That made beer come out my nose!

Ace007

Unfortunately already have a tiny chip in the hood. Need to get the clear bra put on this week.

gwjohns82

Thanks for the info, I'll be taking a trip next month from Dallas to Roswell so now I know what to watch out for

btexan

Glad you like it. Wife and I always take the ford on our long road trips, leave her Infiniti home. Last big trip was from San Antonio to Ann Arbor Michigan last week of February. Drove through 2200 miles of frozen tundra, didn't get above zero for 5 of the days while there. No problems what so ever, love my platinum.

jcb206

Loves:

1. Love the power of the truck - I have not yet heard anyone complain about the 3.5EB's power!

2. Adaptive Cruise Control - Great feature. More relaxing drive. Very nice driver "assist" feature. It is there to help, not drive alone.

3. Lane Following/Assist - I really like this feature. Turned on most of the time.

4. BLIS - Pleasantly surprised that I like this.

5. Power Tow Mirrors - I miss mine.

6. 36 Gallon Gas tank - i have had the larger tank in all 4 of my F150's and love this feature. Dealerships would be better off to order 90% with the larger tank and have people order the smaller tank if that's what they really want. I all people complain if they have the 26 gallon tank but haven't seen one person complain that they had a larger one.

7. Air Conditioning - 2015 AC is a definite upgrade from previous model years.

Dislikes -

2. Cooled Seats - First time I had this option and was one of my main points for upgrading. Seats wise I wanted Memory Seats and AC. Total crap.

3. Running boards - I have a 4'11" wife and two kids under 3 yo, and the Amp Power Running Boards are by far the best money I spent. Not even a close second. I thought AC seats in Georgia would be up there, but not when they heat up. 😜

4. Nav System - Nav is not fantastic but the integration is what I love. I only touch the screen before leaving for destination or change at gas stations. Use presets. Voice activation works great after you learn to speak her language. And why do "I" go through all this when there are better nab units out there? I like how the turns and speed limit appear on my dash. My wife can do what she needs on the 8in screen and I still keep these two things where I need them.
Agree on the restrictions placed on the passenger. Not needed. The Government regulations will continue to get stricter because people really are that moronic.

5. Driver Alert - usually go off after so many corrections in a short amount of time. I didn't realize how much I move in my lane.

7. Reflection from shifter - Tinted windows do help.

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Ace007

Found another like. First trip to work with the truck today and I parked out towards the middle of the parking lot. Its go to be about 300-400' feet away. Just tried out the remote from the window inside the office and the truck still responds. Means I should be able to remote start it in the winter time. Very cool. Was concerned since some people reported very poor range on the remotes.


Dislike: I hope nobody saw me trying to back in to the parking spot this morning.