Column shift vs console
 

Are you talking just a center console with a column shifter or the Sport package with the console shifter?
Generally a center console for me is a must no matter the vehicle.
Easy access cup holders and storage is one big advantage.

Here's my take on the center console shifter that comes with the Sport option..
Being a die hard mopar guy i looked at the Rams first.
All with either a column or dial shifter. :icon_mad:
I had to have a center console shifter.

So i looked at the Ford's and they offered a center console shifter in the Sport option and a FX4 along with a V8.
Needless to say, the dealership's search HAD to include the Sport and FX4 option.
The rest is history and with 24K miles on my F150, happy so far.

Myself IMO the column shifter is outdated and the idiotic dial shifter with the Rams is well crapola.
I will say this, the column shifter's center console will offer a little more storage space but the storage space in my console is way more than i need.

Like i said the only way you're gonna get that is with the optional Sport package.

I've had both, my 2016 had the center shift console (floor) and my current 2017 has the column shifter without the center console. I prefer the center shift console over the column shift. Lots more storage and handy cup holders as moparado stated and since there is only my wife and myself we only need the two bucket seats in the front. Plenty of room for the Grandkids in the back. The 2019 Lariat I ordered (ETA date 2-16-2019) has the 502A package and comes with the center shift console.

I have a 2018 lariat with center console, love the console just wish ford would give you the option to get a column shift with it, losing console space because of a shift is just stupid, loved the RAM better because of no console shifter but they wouldn't get right on the price.

I think the column shift just makes the truck feel more like a truck. I have always owned trucks with a column shift except for one that was a manual. I also like having the bench seat with fold down armrest as it is a console when I want, albeit a small one, and a seat when I need to carry six people. Best of all worlds to me.

I needed a 6 seater with lots of room. Thanks to Ford, I got all that and more versus and SUV.


Center shifter not in my future anytime soon until my kids are out.

Like stated above. The column shift allows you to carry 5 passengers. I think the floor shift looks better. Just all preference in what you need?

Ive had both in 2018 Lariat. The 500A package had the column shift. could seat 6 and enjoyed it. I now have a 502A . LOVE the center console much more storage . Just feels better IMHO

The console with the floor mounted shifter is tiny compared to the one included with the column shifter for my year model. That thing is a huge blackhole from which there is little hope of escape lol. So much so I added a motion activated light and organizer. I'm sure there is something hiding in the bottom forward. :D

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I have twin captains chairs up front, not the flip up center seat. Did they shrink the consoles on the newer models with column shifter?
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Part of the reason I choose the f150 over the ram was for the console shifter. I just like the feel of it better and it is a natural hard or arm rest if I am flipping through my thumb drive or sirius as a music fan.

98 Exploder - column
99 Exploder - column
97 F150 - column
03 F150 - column
04 F250 - column
14 F150 - column

Fleet of F250s at work - column

I make sure the truck has a column always. I like the option of carrying up to 6 people if need be. Center seat folds down and sometimes have built in storage (I plan on swapping the center in my '14 as it doesn't have the storage lid). I just don't like having a console. Feels more open inside and more "truck-ish" with column.


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my first 3 F150s all had the column shift. When i got my 18, i made sure to get the sport package as i wanted the console shifter in the WORST way

My last two trucks had console shifters, and after having them I think I'd prefer a column shifter, I'd even be ok with a dial shifter like the Ram uses after driving one as a rental for a week.

I don't keep a lot in my center console, but it'd be nice if there were a couple extra larger slots, especially when my family is with me and we've got bottles, snacks, etc, and that console shifter takes up a lot of space. It's one of the areas where I think truck designs have gone backwards; a column shifter works well and is out of the way.

column shift here. Center storage is larger then the console and we fit three across many times in the front seat. It's a real 6 passenger truck

For whatever reason I prefer column shifters over console mounted ones in my trucks, guess I like have the option of having a ladyfriend be able to snuggle up next to me while driving :) ...

Agreed. I love the console shifter. I think we have the same console...
That being said... what organizer is that?

I got a XLT, and I got the center flow-through console and a column shifter. Unless you intend to use the console shifter''s transmission gear selection features, I don't see any tangible benefits or advantage.

Once the transmission is in gear, the gear shifter location disappear in the background.

I prefer the console shifter with the flow through console. I've owned several XLTs with the column shifter and my last 3 F150s had the flow through console.

I've got a 2018 XLT column shift. The fold down center "seat" has ok storage, cup holders and place for my iPhone. You can also folder the center armrest up to access additional storage by lifting the seat bottom up. Additional cupholders in there as well. Plenty of storage options for me.

My boss has a 2016 with the sport package. I prefer mine with the column shift.

I thought I wanted the floor shifter in my new XLT, but only way to get it was to go with the Sport package....and I hated the seats and the wheels with that package. I ended up with bucket seats, center counsel, column shifter and love it. I like the extra space I have where the floor shifter would have been.

For my uses, the center flow-through console and the shifter on the steering column is ideal. That is what I wish I could have...
Ford doesn't offer this option in the lariat 502a, so I'm stuck with the huge console shifter where I could have extra storage and a flat surface for doing work.

I've got the flow thru console and floor shifter. I've wanted that in every vehicle I've owned, and have had it in most all my cars. Just was never able to get it in a truck until this one. Shifter on the floor seems natural to me, and very comfortable. Easier to rock the vehicle forward/reverse when stuck. With a column shifter, I gave up manually shifting, with the floor, it's very easy. I've never even had anyone but my grandson in the backseats. I didn't get any truck to haul people around, and the console has more than enough space for me. Crap, the glovebox only has the owners manual in it, the little cubby under the sliding door is empty, and the only thing in the console is my wheel lock key, insurance papers, registration, and a terry cloth and bottle of invisible glass. There might be some other crap in there, I don't remember. I do know, my next truck will have a floor shifter and console in it if possible.

Sounds a lot like my situation..

Decades ago, I once owned for a short while a (gulp) '60 Chevy inline 6 lunger with a manual tranny complete with a dam column shifter.
After driving that thing for a while, i swore i would never ever get another column shifter again.
Stick on the floor or console for me is the only way to go.

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Oh geez, three on the tree, with non syncro first. Remember them well. I swear, if you could drive that, you could drive anything.

psst.. You manually shift perfectly using the up/down shift button on the stalk, much better then you can do with a floor shifter

Maybe I'm built funny or something, but on the column shifter on my '12, I always had to hunt for the button. On my '17 with floor shifter, it's right there under my thumb, a lot easier and feels more natural. YMMD

I guess I can drive anything. Had a 79 GMC 2500 3 on the tree, shoulda seen me under the hood on Canal St. New Orleans in a tux yanking that efffing linkage back into place. Fail!!!!! Pumped the clutch and lugged it all the way to the ceremony in 3rd.

I should have taken that as a bad omen cause that marriage drained 17 years of my life away. :blink:
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LOL, I can imagine that, for real! I drove plenty of those things. The worse I remember was a Dodge pickup that was used as the service vehicle at the gas station I worked at as a kid. '61 IIRC, the bloody clutch was so heavy that at stop lights I had to throw it in nuetral, let alone no power steering. I hated that thing.

I have an XLT with the flow through console and the column shifter. I wanted the console because it has tons of storage, looks way better than the jump seat and the leather lids is comfortable for your elbow.

I went with the non-sport model since I wanted the column shifter (plus the sport sticker is ugly). Why would I want to waste the space in my console area with a shifter that is only used at the start and end of a trip?

When we travel, I have easy access to my drinks and I use the area where the floor shifter would be to hold a bag of chips/nuts/candies etc. I would hate losing that precious spot to a floor shifter.

If I upgrade to an Lariat (5 seater) I don't think I have a choice...it only comes with the floor shifter I believe.

Completely agree, but watch out if this becomes popular.

2019 Ford Edge. Uh-oh, LOL.


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The knob is on the way. Electronic shifters allow for computer control of transmission gear selection which in the future is going to be needed for self driving. On the newest Lincolns with the knob and active park assist the driver simply presses and holds the park assist button and the computer will do all the rest in low speed auto drive. When it sees a parking spot it will stop shift itself into reverse, back in, stop shift in to drive and move forward. If necessary it will shift into reverse and drive again if the vehicle is not straight in the spot. When complete it will chime and shift itself into park.

With that said I prefer the steering column stalk electronic shifter Mercedes and Tesla uses. The knob still takes up space on the console and the stalk function is close to how a column shifter works and seems more intuitive. Also I like how Tesla has integrated autopilot and cruise engagement in the shifter stalk in the new Model 3. When in drive press down once and adaptive cruise is turned on. Press twice and auto pilot is engaged. Simple.

That reminds me.
I once had a '72 Toyota Celica with a manual tranny. No Toyota's..... never again.
For some reason whenever i shifted from reverse into 1st gear the tranny hopelessly locked up in 1st gear.
Took it to a tranny repair place and they assured me they found and fixed the problem.

Well i had a hot date and i drove to the big city downtown to wine/dine and impress her.
Only parking available was valet parking garage, no problem.
When we were done with the wining and dining and got back to the parking garage, horror, seen my Toyota parked in a weird place. Oh Oh!
Yep the tranny was locked in 1st gear. Had to map side roads 20 miles back home all the time in 1st gear.

Finally took that dam rice burner to a Toyota dealer. Seems the factory forgot to install a detent bearing somewhere in the tranny.

No preference. My Tacoma has the shifter in the console, the Ford on the column. I can use either, but invariably reach in the wrong place when driving one after the other. I bought my Ford used and wasn't able to pick and choose every option but the one I ended up with is the one that came closest to checking all the right boxes at the best price. Being able to seat 6 would have been nice, but there is almost no storage in the console with that option. My truck is unusual in that it has a huge console for storage, yet has the column shift. Not sure why they would do that but it is what it is.

Not trying to pick a fight, just adding perspective. My dad was born in 1923 and started driving at age 13 before a license was needed. He could NEVER understand the appeal of modern cars having the shifter, either manual or automatic, on the floor. He once told me that when they were able to figure out how to get the shifter out of the floor and onto the column what a big deal it was. In his mind having it on the floor was outdated and moving technology backwards.

I agree!!
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My 2016 with column shifter can store a laptop in the console. That's huge ;-)

When I was young, I had a '71 Chevy. Had two tools in the truck -- a big screwdriver for the solenoid and a ball peen hammer for the shifter linkage. Good times.

and never got to second base...

We have two cars console on my car and column in the truck. Wiper controls on the car are where the shifter is on the truck. Gas filler on the driver side in the truck and passenger on the car. Haven't driven a manual transmission for three years, but my left foot occasionally feels for the clutch.

Console. It's tough to strap in a laptop.

We were a family of four adults. Five seats were plenty of room.

no idea what i meant ;-) thanks for pointing that out. corrected. I have a column shifter and a console with buckets in the front (no convertable middle seat).

Haha, i eventually did get to 2nd.
Yeah at the time they were bad experiences..... are now for some reason those were the good 'ol times.

Speaking of different shifting scenarios, surprised no one mentioned the old Mopar push button shifters.
Decades ago i owned a Plymouth and a Dodge with the push button shifters.
Better than the column shifters but still no contest to a floor shifter. IMO that is.

By the way my XLT's center console shifter's storage compartment will easily store a medium size laptop and then some but not a kitchen sink.

I'd wager there's more here that never saw that, opposed to those of us that have driven a "typewriter".:D

The following U.S. cars had pushbutton automatic transmissions:
AMC Rambler & Ambassador (except American) 1958-1962
All Chrysler Products 1956-1964
Edsel 1958 (upper line Corsair and Citation only)
The Rambler and Chrysler products had the pushbuttons to the left of the steering column. The Edsel had the pushbuttons in the steering wheel hub.

My last ( 4 ) trucks had manual transmissions with a floor shifter.
My weekend toy(s) are 6 speeds.
Not having it on a console would seem odd to me, like not having a moonroof, it's something I expect to be there..
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Haha, now that you mentioned that, thinking back it was sort of like driving with a typewriter. :)

And i'll bet a lot here never used an old school ink ribbon typewriter! :blink:

LOL, likely not. Geez, we're dating ourselves!:eek:

Now that I have learned what the Select Shift does I use it multiple times each time I go anywhere. It works perfectly on the mountain hills around here to keep the truck from the dreaded 6th-5th-6th shift constantly. With the console shifter my hand just naturally lays right near the shifter to flick the button. I would have to reach for a column shift which means I likely wouldn't use it much.

Our other vehicle is my wife's VW TDI which is a 5 speed. I've had multiple TDI's over the years. It's just natural for me to have a console shifter after all that.

Nope. When the console is down and your arm is resting on it, your hand falls directly on the column shift.

Your arms must be a whole lot longer than mine!