dtaylor

I know I can get a big discount on a 16 now and even bigger when the 17's start rolling in. Looking at the specs the 17 has a couple things I like better. Not sure if it's worth the extra money or not? Might need to drive them back to back to see what one I like better.

Spamfritter

I recently made this very choice. I had a 2015 F-150 Lariat 501A with the FX4 and Sport Appearance packages prior to getting my 2016 F-250 Lariat Ultimate with the FX4 package. I have only seen the 2017 Super Duty in person at an auto show. I haven't been inside one but the pictures are pretty telling. It uses the same seats and 95% of the interior and cab of the F-150 so I think I can add some insight here.

First, consider the discounts. I picked up my 2016 Super Duty for almost $16,000 off MSRP. That puts the price of my truck into F-150 territory. Actually, it puts it into F-150 Lariat territory. I've got virtually every option aside from the Platinum's massaging seats. I needed the capability of the Super Duty and frankly, I've always wanted one. It's the truck I've wanted and I kept settling for F-150's. That's probably why I've had four of them and this is my first Super Duty. In any case, I had my 2015 F-150 for over a year. While the interior is usually an upgrade in most respects, it does suffer in a number of areas. The costs for building these trucks went up for Ford and there is some evident cost cutting to minimize the impact to profit margins. Ford increased the overall cost of the trucks by nearly 10% on the high end trim levels compared to 2014. The same thing is true of the 2017 Super Duty.

The LCD productivity, gauge cluster area, ambient lighting, twin panel moon roof, adaptive steering, soft touch surfaces and other improvements really do take things up a notch. I don't know of the Super Duty will inherit the sport mode of the F-150, but it's quite spectacular and fun to drive an F-150 with that on. Being able to lock out gears and see what gear you are in is also great. If you buy the higher end trim levels the technology package with parking assistance, active cruise control, 360 cameras and things like that are very cool. On the outside you have LED bed lighting, the box link system, box steps and auto locking tailgates. I do prefer the upfitter switch location and the amount of switches on the new trucks though. That's a nice change.

When I talk about cost cutting, most of it isn't readily apparent. Aesthetically the interior is much nicer and more modern. Unfortunately, there are some quality issues with the F-150's interior design. Again the Super Duty and F-150 will share the entire cab assembly, with different sheet metal on the doors and a slightly different dash on the passenger side. First and foremost the interior plastics on the new design are thinner than they are on the out going Super Duty. They do not feel as rugged. The soft touch surfaces seem nice at first, but the leather isn't of good quality if it's even leather at all. The console mounted shifter is cool and looks great. It's even a nice place to rest your hand but it does eat up a lot of console space. Some people don't like that. I did, but once I got into the Super Duty I found I liked the room afforded by the relocation to the column to be my preference.

Leg room is reduced if anything for the driver. I don't know what the actual specs say but the door panels, fatter console or something make it feel more cramped. It's still roomy enough but I find I have more room in the outgoing model. The new model may be better on the passenger side. I don't know. The F-150 offers more passenger area leg room but I don't know if that translates to the 2017 Super Duty or not. In the back, the load floor is flat (as it is in my 2016 SD) so that's the same. I do not know if the locking storage found in the outgoing trucks on some models exists on the new truck or not. It doesn't on the F-150. There is slightly more leg room in the back of the cab on the F-150. It isn't much and in fact my passengers that used to ride in my F-150 didn't even notice and when asked they said it was the same. I know it isn't, but they say it is. There are more power ports on the outgoing model as well. Although the inverter is more powerful on the new trucks. Whether or not the SD models will get as many cigarette style ports as the outgoing trucks have is unknown to me.

The ***** on the HVAC system and radio feel better in the older model. They in fact look almost the same, but there is a more positive click with the older ones. The location of the NAV system is better on the outgoing models as far as I am concerned. I also believe that ergonomically the older trucks do some things a bit better. The lighting controls on the new truck are a mess. They aren't as intuitive on the new truck. Also the location of the trailer brake sucks and the power port in the dash doesn't feel as solid. The console in the new truck lets the removable tray slide around. In the old trucks it stays put. I also believe the big part of the console is larger on the older model.

Last but not least is the seat discussion. This is actually where the new interior cuts the most corners and frankly, this is going to be the biggest issue I see with the new trucks. If you aren't aware, there is a seat cooling design flaw in the 2015+ F-150's in which the TED has no way to exhaust heat generated by the system. It soaks in the seat back and eliminates the cooling provided in the seat back at best. At worst, it has burned people. There isn't much of an intake either, but that was corrected via a TSB which includes a "sock" on the intake. The sock sometimes collapses which keeps air from getting into the system. Again, cooling suffers. There is a guy on the here who makes some 3D printed parts to help with this issue. It's not the cheapest thing out there but it's the only game in town and it works better than the stock configuration.

You can read the thread here.

Additionally, the leather on the new seats is terrible. They've gone to less stitching and larger pieces as it was explained to me. The leather isn't as supple and it bunches up around the edges and seams. It looks terrible on many of the trucks that have this problem. Apparently it's glued to the seat foam and comes loose. In any case, the foam is harder, the cooling function sucks *** and the leather looks terrible when it bunches up. Ford isn't going to do anything about this issue either. You can read all about that in the thread I linked above as well. The seats in my 2016 Super Duty cool better and are more comfortable by a long shot.

I do not like getting the first year of a redesign. I did that with my 2003 Silverado and got burned badly. I took a chance on the 2015 F-150 and while that worked out decently, it still wasn't as trouble free as my other F-150's. The current (2016) Super Duty will do everything I'll ever need a truck to do and then some. It also is a proven design which has matured and has relatively few issues. Even if there are problems, they are well documented at this point and can be dealt with. I want my truck to just work. There were a few other issues with the 2015 F-150 that pushed me into the Super Duty, but those issues probably won't translate to the new 2017 Super Duty. We'll have to see. Ultimately, things like the bed lighting I can do myself. I don't need the active parking assist or trailer backup features. I didn't have them on my F-150 either. Aesthetically I like the older Super Duty better. Interior wise the new truck is more modern and looks better even if not everything about it is an improvement. If the seats were better I'd be more supportive of the new truck.

That said, I made my choice because I didn't want to deal with first year BS on the 2017's and I didn't want to pay the higher costs associated with them. There won't be deals on the new trucks for quite some time and these things are already in the stratosphere as it is. I'm very happy with my 2016 SD and I'm sure I'd like the 2017's for the most part as well. After a couple years of smoothing things out I'm sure they'll be great. I wouldn't pick one up until the 2016's are cleared out and some end of the year or truck month rebates come around but that's just me.

Consider this: The 2016 Super Duty is having massive dealer discounts on it right now and will until stock is depleted. The 2017 trucks have gone up substantially in price and there will be no deals offered on those for the better part of a year or more. Right now you can get as much as 16k off a 16 model and you may pay as much as 7,000 or more over the 16's MSRP for a 2017 model. I went through the configuration on Ford's site last night and found that for the same truck, at only the Lariat trim level the cost increased $7,000 for identical options. It's about the same if you go all out on an F-450. The previous truck comes in around $76,000 while the new one comes in at a whopping $83,680 they way I did it. The 2017 Super Duty is pretty cool but I wouldn't want to deal with first model year issues and pay as much as $22,500 or more for similar capabilities. I know Ford talks about how much more this new truck CAN do on paper. However, the reality is we've been doing the same tasks with far less powerful or "capable" trucks in the last several decades. So you essentially pay $23k more for the same truck just have a few bells and whistles that the outgoing model lacks. There is nothing wrong with that so long as this is known going in.

dtaylor

Wow! Thanks for the write up!

The dealers in our area are not discounting them 16K yet. If they were I'd have that truck sitting on the lot. It has a 67K sticker price. A Lariat truck is a little over 10k off without a trade in.

Maybe I'm still riding the fence because my 2011 FX4 does almost everything I need. And it has been the best vehicle I've ever owned. It's just undersized towing our 28 foot TT.

Floridaguy80

I bought a 16 back in June. Msrp was $49800. After discounts I was at $38900

Sinne

My dad is currently in the same scenario. He had a 2016 F250 Platinum price out $1,500 than a 2017 F250 Lariat. So no he is torn because he like the new front end of the 2017. We are going to look at a few more dealerships next week and see what they offer.

Floridaguy80

Four $1500 I would go with the 2017 model they have so much more upgrades than the 2016's

Sinne

From a 2017 Lariat compared to a 2016 Platinum?

Floridaguy80

Yea. Pull up the specs and compare them side-by-side.
Unless he is hell on bent on having the platinum tailgate and platimun embroidered on the seats and everything else I would definitely go with the 2017 model

Floridaguy80

Also don't expect any big deals on these 2017 models. It's a new body change a lot more options are on these vehicles and now it's going to be about supply and demand

Sinne

We will do that.

Also, your statment in your signature is sage advice.