Scotsskier, thanks for the honest and incredibly helpful feedback. Your experience pretty much mirrors how I anticipate this going for me. The allure of the Raptor is pretty hard to shake. My craving for something unique and fun to drive has the Raptor in the back of my mind, but at the end of the day this is going to be my only and daily driver for a while and I know that the Platinum is going to be better suited toward that type of usage. To be completely honest, I really want to just go and buy an M5 and pickup some winter wheels and rubber for the cold months, but I can't do without the truck bed and like I said earlier don't feel like juggling multiple cars at the present time. The hardest part I'm having is dropping $60k on a truck I can't get fully excited about but know is probably the best next move for me. Thought the Raptor might bring some excitement to the transaction, but my guy is telling me that would be short lived. All in all a very first-world problem and I should be able to survive either way ;-). Thanks for all of the help. I'll probably sit tight and plan on doing something toward the end of September. Ford, if you're reading this, send one of those $3,000 PCO's my way to get me off the fence.

 

In suburbia the drivability is not an issue at all. I daily drive mine and use it for all road trips. The negatives come from downtown/city trips. It won't fit in many parking garages. Street parking it sucks. No real issues driving it in the city as long as you don't have to park.

 

No worries, I completely understand the thought process (have been there a few times -heart v. head). For added background I have also had a pretty wide range of fun cars as my daily driver over the years including the original Audi quattro, Golf GTIs, RS escorts, STI, 335i,Q7s, Boxster, 911 etc so I do like good performing cars but I am now on my third F150 and it turns out it sees way more use and miles than my wife's macan turbo (terrific car but you have to go so damn quick to get anywhere near the limits it would be very easy to get locked up!) and i can have just as much fun pushing my truck hard, knowing you have to do a bit more work and more driver input.

BTW, you can find some good deals on the platinum, my 19 was blue box stickered at $69k and change and after discounts rebates and PCO I ended up at $53k including fees, before sales tax and reg.

Oh and apologies to all raptor owners here for interrupting, they are great trucks!

 

Couldn't agree more with your last sentence. Raptors are incredible trucks and hats off to those of you who drive them. This discussion just shows how much people's tolerances and preferences can play into these expensive decisions.

I've followed your path on a few of past fun cars and have no regrets on any of them, aside of selling of course. The 981 Cayman S was the pinnacle of ownership for me so far and produced some of the best memories I have in a car. From 2,000 mile road trips to early morning runs to Home Depot, that car was incredible. When we were well into the path of starting a family I knew it had to go, the time it sat unused up to that time bugged me immensely up to that point, and a kid wasn't going to make that any better. Ended up trading it for a Cayenne Diesel after they settled dieselgate. Got a great price on a 2 year old Cayenne with only a handful of miles, and 6 years of factory warranty when you stack on on the settlement warranty and CPO. It's a hilariously fun SUV to fling around and breaks and corners better than anything that tall and heavy should. The Macan turbo must be a hoot! I've only read glowing things about them.

So far I've narrowed my focus to a few Platinums that are right around $66k blue box, down to $59,500 with dealer discount, then $56,000 maxing out 3,500 in rebates. A don't think the dealers around here have much more room to work so a PCO is my only shot at lowering the price. Being the last month in the quarter I'm going to roll the dice and hang tight until the last week to see if Ford gets a little more aggressive on either the rebates or PCO's. There are a handful of Platinums around me that meet my specs so I see little risk in waiting. Wish I had the patience to wait until we know more about the new 2021's, but probably don't want to wait that long nor buy into the first model year. Thanks again for all of the input, very helpful!

 

I got the "new paint" bug last February and was leaning towards a Raptor. I was driving a 16 King Ranch at the time. There wasn't a thing wrong with it and it only had about 20k miles it.

I looked at the inventory of all the dealers within about 100 miles and there were none optioned the way I wanted. I then visited three of the closer dealers to get quotes for ordering a Raptor. At same time the more practical side of me had me also pricing Platinums...as a fall-back, The last dealer I visited had just received a Raptor that was very close to what I wanted and gave me a really good price. Also, I got a really good price on ordering a Platinum.

I took all the info home to ponder. I was still leaning toward the Raptor. In a few days, I was notified that Ford had issued me a PCO for $3,500. The PCO and the other rebates ($3,250) could not be used on a Raptor. With everything considered, the difference in price OTD between the Raptor and a Platinum would have been over $14,000. For me, the tipping point in my decision was the PCO. I could rationalize/justify up to about $10k difference, but not over $14k.

I ordered the Platinum and have had it now for about 3 months. I am (so far) very satisfied with it. Its a great truck! However, I still have longings for a Raptor and still maintain a close watch on area dealers' Raptor inventories. If one would come in exactly the way I would build it...... I dunno. My current plan is to wait and see what 2021s are like...then decide.

Good luck in making your choice!
.

 

Well,, I have 400 miles on my new Raptor. The more I drive it the more I love it. Only complaint so far is I have yet to learn how to get out of it without scraping my calf on the cheese grater running board. I wear shorts year round. I am thinking about swapping out for something a little more narrow and round. Got the bed liner sprayed in, windows tinted, Diamondback black aluminum diamond plate bed cover on the way.. More to come...

 

I have a 2016 Platinum F150 and a 2017 Platinum Explorer. I am getting ready to get rid of the Explorer and get a Raptor. I work from home so MPG driveabilty etc really don't matter to me. My wife likes driving the truck better then the Explorer we don't have any real reason to have an Explorer and two trucks would work just as well as one. The 16 has the 3.5 EB and tow package and will tow anything I want. If you want it and can afford it buy it. If it comes down to what works best for you, then only you can say. If you plan on working, towing etc the Platinum would be a better choose.If you are not then it is a matter of which one will do better for you along with cost etc. With either one I don't think you could go wrong..

Mike

 

Thanks for the input! The lack of rebates and PCO on the Raptor is definitely a factor, some of which I feel is negated by it holding value better than the other trims. I'm still leaning more and more toward the Platinum as it's utility is probably better suited to my current and near future needs. I'm sure the Raptor would be a blast and will probably do the same as you keeping an eye on the market. But, for the time being the Platinum looks to be the sweet spot for my current situation. The Limited is interesting and would be more in the running if they did a straight black interior, I just can't bring myself to like the two tone and colors.

I'm thrilled with the responses in this thread as all have been honest and informative. I'm planning on finalizing something by the end of the month. I'm fortunate in that there are still a handful of Platinums spec'd out to my preferences so it's just a matter of choosing a dealer and finding a few hours to finalize things. Who knows, I'll probably drive by the Raptors on the way in and make a last minute change

 

When I got my Lariat(after talking myself out of a Raptor), I pulled into the dealer and they had parked the Lariat up front for me(I called ahead), and, what was parked a few feet away for about the same price...a grey Raptor.
That was hard to say no to, but I managed, lol.
No regrets with my Lariat, but I doubt I'de be disapointed now had I got the Raptor instead.

 

I traded in my decked out Black 2017 Lariat on my Raptor and cannot say one single negative thing about that truck. I put 33,000 miles on it in exactly 2 years with zero problems, which is very typical I believe. Had a 2014 XLT before that one. Yep the Platty is hard to resist.. I was looking at a Black Platty and a Blue Jeans Lariat when I made the mistake of driving the Raptor. Sounds like you are putting a lotta thought into what to do and that is a good thing. Nothing worse than buyers remorse.