Latest new rumour to come out:

The first 20 or so trucks going to each dealership will configured by Ford, not by the dealer or the customer. As in, you can't place a factory order to get what you want until after September. If you want one by September, you have to hope there's a body/box/trim/colour configuration you like in the ones that show up.



I certainly hope this new rumour (heard from my local dealership) is NOT true.

If Ford starts telling me what options I want instead of letting me pick, I'll go order a new Ram with a Hemi. What arrogance!

 

This seems reasonable to me.
The plants have been running the same line for seven years(1997-2003).
This is a new line.
Believe me it will have enough problems just babying the trucks through without 'forced' orders making more problems.

The Norfolk plant alone spits out an F150 every 90 seconds.
1500 dealerships x 20 trucks is only 30,000.

That means each plant would run about a week or two before 'customer' builds.

I'm sure a dealer will take your order before September.
It just won't get to you before the end of September.
That would also include the shipping time.

The bottom line is if the rumor is true, it would add no more than one or two weeks to the entire process.

You have to see it from Ford's perspective.
Suppose 100,000 people in California order new F150s and a
dealership in Vermont does not have a single order. The Vermont dealer would not even have anything to display to attract customers even if it was Purple.

Ford wants to get their new product out for the masses to see.

(You gotta wait.)

 

Very well explained, Raoul!

 

Thanks.
I took a course on how to string together irrelevant facts and statistics with innuendo, packaged as false hope to dupe the unsuspecting, all the while smiling and appearing helpful.

(which means I work for Ford)

 

Thanks for the explanation Raoul.

2 weeks, I can handle that. It just sounded a lot worse than 2 weeks at the outset.

I'll chill a bit now

They're doing a lease extension on my 2000 truck to last until the 2004's are out. I'll just tell him that I'd like it extended until I can order mine special, not just wait till the first random truck comes out.

The madness has passed. What was I thinking? I hate those Dodge Lamb POS "trucks". I'll still go to the local Dodge dealer tomorrow as planned, to test drive one, so I can complain for the rest of the week how much of a POS it is.

 

It's great you're giving it a good, fair and unbiased trial. lol

 

The new Dodge Hemi's are not the same Hemi design from the 70's. They are not all that impressive if you ask me.

And....they still put that junker transmission that only lasts about 20k miles before the clutches need replacing. I have never known a Dodge owner yet that has not complained about the weak transmission. That goes for the Minivans and most of the cars too.

Dodge....Just DON'T do it! Even a chebby is better than a stinkin Dodge!

homebrau

 

I liked how Raoul explained everything.

 

heh heh

Yeah, nothing like going in with no preconceived expectations.

 

Hey Raoul, Are you sure you're not a politician? You made that sound good.

I know what you said is actually true as I have done startup support for GM truck launches and trust me you do not want any of the first batch of trucks off the line! They are just bound to have plenty of problems. That's just my opinion though.

 

Well I drove the Dodge Lamb this morning. It wasn't as bad as I thought, I actually like it better than the current Shovie. That said, the 2004 F-150 will blow them both away.

The interior on the Ram seemed outdated, somehow just not modern. The back seat of the quad cab had about 3" more leg room than my 2000 F150 supercab, but that came at the expense of a 3" shorter box. The shorter box alone kills the Ram for me right there.

The doors on the quad cab sucked too. That B-pillar really makes you feel cramped when you're accessing the back seat. I like Ford's suicide doors on the supercab much much better, especially for child seats.

I drove the Hemi which they only had in a 3/4 ton. It is a way better engine than Dodge's 360 Magnum. More power, really nice sound, very impressive. But as others have pointed out, I also found that the pig was so heavy that the extra power gets offset by the extra weight. I predict taking HP and weight into account, Ford's new 3V Triton will feel about the same power-wise as the Hemi does in the 3/4 ton Dodge.

The new Dodge has improved their ride and suspension so it is about as good as the old Ford. The new Ford's ride should blow it away.

All in all I'm glad I tried it out, but I'm definitely going to wait for the 2004 F150. I'm dealing with DK Ford in Leduc and they have been great so far about the lease extension and so on, so I'm not worried about the extra couple of weeks to get the truck I really want.

 

but it has a beam front axle (4x4) and I sure like the independent front end that Ford has on the 150. I wouldn't mind having that hemi though. Not much doubt in my mind that it out powers the upcoming 3 valve 5.4. Various buddies have driven or own the Hemi and love it. I think the Ford is just a better overall package.