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I had almost an identical dilemma about a month ago, only I had already bought the travel trailer, was within spec on towing in every regard: total weight, payload, rear axle rating, hitch weight....everything. Still pulled horribly in the mountains and scared me one too many times. I loved by '16 F150. Absolutely loved it. I also hesitated to step "back" in technology to the '16 Super Duty. I knew if I went F250, I would only consider the diesel. I looked at the '17 F250's, and they were nice, but they are 3-4" taller (higher does not equal better towing experience) and the dealers are not willing to deal on them at all. They want the '16's off their lots, though. I test drove a '16 and my fears of missing the creature comforts went away immediately. Sure, I loved my full pano moonroof. Would love to have it back. But that's all I miss. The 250 diesel has so much more power, it isn't even a comparison. This truck is SO much fun to drive! And the torque/power is just ridiculous. It pulls my trailer like it isn't even there. As an added bonus, I had constant problems out of the Sync 3. The new truck has the older Sync system. Not as pretty, but it has yet to freeze, restart or fail on me. It works. I have absolutely no regrets about my decision. I also got a nicely equipped 2016 F250 diesel Lariat for $20k off sticker. In addition, they gave me $5000 more than I owed on my trade in, and it was only 10 months old with 9,000 miles. Sure, you'd be better off financially staying in your current truck and paying it off. But, with a complete body and transmission change, you would probably never get a better deal than right now on a prior model year. I still like my '16 better than the '17's. It felt more solid, heavier duty, and I really didn't like the added stock height of the new F250's. Just my preference, but it worked out financially in my favor. I say drive a '16 and see how you feel. Don't discount them so quickly.
Thats really good feedback. Thanks. I actually will check them out as a couple of folks mentioned above as well. Yeah, as of right now, a couple of dealers want to give me $9K under what I owe. Ouch...thats just to get me to level playing field - no thanks, and the 17's are still overpriced (I did find a dealer out of state advertising 5-8K off Platinum and loaded Lariat 17s though (on MSRPs around 75K). Everyone else is offering like $2K discount off MSRP. On my F150, I may actually be better off selling private party, rather than trading, I'm thinking - I had added a 5/85K transferrable number to number warranty for $1500.
Good luck to you. I went into it thinking the same way you are. I didn't want to give up how nice and sporty my f150 was. They are really nice trucks with nice features. However, when I crawled in the 250 and drove it for a few miles, I remembered it was a truck and the diesel was up to any task I could throw at it. I'm sure opinions will differ, but I thought the '16 drove much better. It is heavier, and isn't fully aluminum. It just made a difference in the way it handled and I preferred the '16. In the 150, it was sporty and quick. In the new '17 250, it felt jumpy and not as stable to me. That may have been the added height, too. I also was very hesitant to buy the first batch of a n entirely new transmission. The 6 speed in my '16 is very smooth and capable. Actually far smoother than my F150 was. All that being said, pulling a travel trailer is a pleasure now, whereas before it was a white knuckled chore. I have to slow myself down sometimes now because I truly forget it's behind me. That is worth the money on its own. Gas mileage between the trucks is comparable. Parking took all of a week to adjust to. It is very comfortable to drive. I had to travel several hours away to find the '16 I wanted, but there are still some out there on lots.
Good luck to you. I went into it thinking the same way you are. I didn't want to give up how nice and sporty my f150 was. They are really nice trucks with nice features. However, when I crawled in the 250 and drove it for a few miles, I remembered it was a truck and the diesel was up to any task I could throw at it. I'm sure opinions will differ, but I thought the '16 drove much better. It is heavier, and isn't fully aluminum. It just made a difference in the way it handled and I preferred the '16. In the 150, it was sporty and quick. In the new '17 250, it felt jumpy and not as stable to me. That may have been the added height, too. I also was very hesitant to buy the first batch of a n entirely new transmission. The 6 speed in my '16 is very smooth and capable. Actually far smoother than my F150 was. All that being said, pulling a travel trailer is a pleasure now, whereas before it was a white knuckled chore. I have to slow myself down sometimes now because I truly forget it's behind me. That is worth the money on its own. Gas mileage between the trucks is comparable. Parking took all of a week to adjust to. It is very comfortable to drive. I had to travel several hours away to find the '16 I wanted, but there are still some out there on lots.
I forgot to mention height difference at the hitch point was also a deciding factor for me as was bed wall height. Since we haul GN horse trailers, its very critical that those be as low as possible within reason.
With many new Ram and Chevy trucks the heights preclude using many older GN trailers without shifting the load all onto the rear tandem. Since hitch height is fixed and so are bed sides, you cant lower the shaft of the GN hitch on the trailer to get a level trailer without risking crunching the bed wall while going over RR or through curb cuts.
Leaving it nose high loads the rear axle and offloads the front one(on the trailer) which overheats tires and wears out bearings very fast. Lots of blow outs and other issues have been related to this issue.
The 11 to 16 SD had about the perfect heights for both. The 17 was about 3 inches higher to the bed floor and much higher bed walls. Lots of guys dont even think about it until they have the new trucks and then its too late. Our trainer is dealing with this on his Ram/Sundowner Combo. Its to the point where the trailer is going to get blocked axles this year as he keeps blowing rear tires(3 in 3 seasons). So while with TT you can use an adjustable ball mount, just keep in mind that the 17s are much higher in these two areas.
I really think you will like the 2016SD if you can find the options you want. They drive very nice and my around town mileage is the same as my 13 5.0 4x4 unless I get crazy and heavy footed, then its down 1mpg or so,but the 5.0 suffered when I used to play with it too.
I wanted to use my F150 to tow the maximum weight possible. I bought a WD hitch, i bought a programmer, i bought custom towing tunes, i had injectors done, i had spark plugs done, i had my brakes inspected, fluids checked, and here's my F150 now.
I wanted to use my F150 to tow the maximum weight possible. I bought a WD hitch, i bought a programmer, i bought custom towing tunes, i had injectors done, i had spark plugs done, i had my brakes inspected, fluids checked, and here's my F150 now.
I wanted to use my F150 to tow the maximum weight possible. I bought a WD hitch, i bought a programmer, i bought custom towing tunes, i had injectors done, i had spark plugs done, i had my brakes inspected, fluids checked, and here's my F150 now.
Looks like the F-150 went from a mild mannered truck into Superman!! Great looking Superduty...
03-02-2017, 09:37 PM
