richharmer

Ordered on 3/18, Picked it up on 5/29. It has a long list of features..
SCrew, 502A, 5.0, SCrew, FX4, 3.73 Locking diff, Towing package, Extended Range Fuel Tank, Black Leather Bucket Seats, Trailer Brake controller, Chrome wheel protectant (easier to clean) and BFG K02 18" Tires (sold the factory tires to the dealer for $100/tire). Just 5 miles on it when I picked it up, and after 24 hours, it has nearly 700..




Picking up my 2015 F150 at Medford Motors in Wisconsin

I was coming from a 2002 Silverado Z71 LT with 185k miles on it. I was able to sell this on a consignment lot for just over 7k (pretty good for a 14 year old truck -- and Autonation Ford said trade in was around $4500). Between 130k-145k miles I replaced the rear dif, transfer case and transmission due to failure.. Front Wheel bearings went at 160 and 175, Fuel pump went at 170k. Other than those, solid truck other than the oil dumping into the exhaust pipe when I first bought it (6 trips to dealer to fix it).




I'm coming from 285HP and 325 lb ft of Torque to 385HP and 387lb ft of torque. If you measured it in smiles and giggles.. well, the 2002 seemed capable, but old and tired. The F150 makes me smile every time I put my foot down.. oh, sure I'm burning some extra fuel and screwing up my DTE.. but holy hell it's a blast.

I live in the Minneapolis/St Paul area and I spent maybe 60 hours researching and driving trucks before I decided on the F150. Some notable observations and requirements.

1) I wanted a super crew for the interior size.
2) I wanted a 6.5' Bed so my ATV would fit in there with the tailgate closed
3) I wanted it to be safe and reliable (maybe it will make it 14 years like the silverado)
4) I wanted some underbelly protection, hill descent control and 3.73 rear end to tow in the mountains where I like to ATV and snowmobile.

I started off by checking out the available options. I drove the 2015 Silverado, Tundra and F150. The Silverado seemed like a marginally upgraded version of my 2002 truck. I know there were a lot of components reworked, but that was the feel. It appeared to have pretty good acceleration and I knew the fuel economy was likely best in this vehicle. I later found that it was the most highly discounted, but also had a low build quality (more later). The Tundra is a good truck.. boring engine, poor fuel economy and I couldn't get it in crew cab w/ 6.5' bed. The stereo is strange to me with the brushed metal look. The F150 was very surprising to me. I was going to wait until "2.0" of the Aluminum body because I figured there were kinks to work out.. When i drove it, I pretty much knew that was what I was going to buy.. I started digging into forums, reviews, and crash test stats. Before I get too far, you might say -- where is the Dodge, Nissan, or something else? I couldn't get myself to check these vehicles out. Dodge has some great innovation going, but reliability is a serious issue.. The others just aren't on the radar.

So my many hours of using building tools, forums and reviews went on. I found it interesting the Consumer reports said they wouldn't even pick a truck for 2015 because they didn't have enough time with the F150 and nothing else was reliable enough, so they opted not to recommend anything. That's pretty telling to me.

Over the course of 4 weeks I went round and round changing my decision. The F150 and Tundra are too expensive, go with the Chevy... The crash stats show to go with the Tundra.. Well... the Ford won for a lot of reasons.

• Best in cab technology for me
• Good ergonomics for the driver in controls
• I like the look
• I like the engine (btw, I'm not a fan of Turbos in trucks, and diesels)
• I LOVE the flat floor in the back seat and how much space there is with the seats up
• The comparison reviews online/youtube/etc show F150 as innovative and clear leader

I've had about 36 hours with the truck now and I took it on two short road trips and had 4 and 5 people in the truck. My review is this... I love it, I love it and I love it. The Bronze Fire look is cool. Lots of different colors based upon if it is cloudy or sunny. A picture of it in full sun after road trips (now a little dirty).



It is very fun to drive.. Taking off from stopped makes me smile and giggle. The sound of the engine and the power is just plain fun. The Stereo is okay (Sony w/Sub), but I will enhance it sometime soon. Coming from a custom 600Watt system to this.. well.. it isn't quite good enough. I dislike Sirius satellite music because of how compressed it is.. I'll just plug in a 128 or 256gig USB with some music on it. The weather radar is pretty cool.. I think it's only $2 a month for this and some other features like Gas prices and movie listings.. I'm likely to keep that.




Only things I don't like --
I do have a little vibration at 80mph which I think is a wheel weight issue.. and my DTE is off.. I know I need some more tanks of gas through it. It said I had 24 miles left of gas on the freeway and I put in 34 gallons.. no big deal (yet). One additional thing might be a warranty issue. On the driver side, the back seat door has a window molding that it screwed up. I also think that I hear more than I should from the back right side door and I question the seal there.. we'll see..

More to come!

Texrep

Congrats!!! I to am a bronze fire fan. even when it is dirty it still looks great!. On the DTE. Try resetting it. I was a little disappointed when I pick mine up and checked the average MPG. it was 10.4 I reset it and on the next tankful it was up to 20.5. They idle alot during the shipping process which decreases the MPG... just a thought. my last fill-up DTE was 824 DTE. 36 gal tank w/3.31 gears

mal01

Beautiful, congratulations!

flanneljunkie

Congrats on the truck, and thank you for the back story. I sold my 2011 F150 for a Super Duty, as I have always wanted one. After driving it for 8 months, I opted to sell it to get back into a half ton at some point. The rear seat/compartment of the F150 screw is just about at the top of my list of needs. I didn't realize how much I utilized the space during the three years I owned the 2011.

Again, congrats, I here is hoping you get 14 wonderful years out of your new truck.

savagecanuck

Congratulations on the truck. We have very similar requirements .I too have to fit an atv in the box and put up tailgate too tow my TT. I went back and forth as well.My truck is due too arrive next Saturday June 6.It a 4x4 crew xlt, sport, 302a, kicker sub, 157 " wheel base.5.0 3.73 trailer brake control tow mirrors, blue flame. I also tow a work trailer 5 days a week. Snowmobile trailer in winter and I live in the mountains. It's real flat where you are.

richharmer

It might be flat here, but where I tow is out to the mountains (Colorado mainly). Sounds like a very nice truck.. I wonder how the kicker sounds..