Well, just did the deal at my local Ford dealer for my white F-150 4X4 Lariat SuperCrew!!! Will be taking delivery tomorrow! A-plan pricing, 3.9% / 48 months, and good trade in...Feeling good about it.

One thing I'm a little concerned about is that the dealership is getting it from their Dallas showroom (~250 miles) and they're driving it up tomorrow. Is there any break-in that is recommended on this truck? It used to be that you should NOT run over 2K rpm, and NOT run cruise control for extended trips for the first 500 - 1000 miles. Is that true for the F-150 also?

My brother has owned two F-150s (1999 4x2 xlt and '03 FX4) and loves them. We have a '99 EB Expedition and love it (although it's my wife's primary vehicle). Can't wait to have my own!!!

 

I'm not an expert...but all the dealer reps I have talked with say that "rule of thumb" about breakin periods is just bull. The motors have to go through a certain amount of "stress" before they'll install it in a truck.

Now of course you have to understand that you're driving a brand new machine...so maybe flooring it and running the RPMs up to 4 or 5,000 might not be a good idea until you put some miles on...

but again...I'm just saying what I heard.
-Justin

 

Did you get any cash back and 3.9% of just the interest rate? I got a 2003 Screw in June and paid A-plan, minus cash incentives at the time of $3500, and financed throught my credit union at 3.99%. Just lookign to possibly save you some more cash.

Anyway, I would not worry too much about the 250 mile dealer trade. These are trucks, not sports cars. Most people don't drive them hard or rev them a lot. And on the highway, with 3.73 gears and 17" tires, you are only turning 2100rpm at 80mph. My trcuk was also a dealer trade, but not as far, 83 miles on the odo when we took delivery. But, 10 days later around 500 miles, I towed two quads and camping gear worth about 2000 pounds and put a coupel hundred miles on it. We mananged to put 6000 miles in 2 months, about half of those were towing trailers with 2000-3500 pounds. My confidence with the old 5.4L and tranny allowed me to use this one so new like I did. Gas mileage suffered big time, in the 10-12 range. Still are not doing to well compared to the old truck with same drivetrain, at 12-13mpg unloaded. winter is coming too so it will only get worse. Guess I need to start doing some mods to free it up.

 

APT, you're right about the gas. When I bought my truck I drove home 150 miles at 13 MPG. I have the 5.4 with 3.73 gearing too. First thing was K&N Filter (old one was really dirty anyway) and that put me at 15. Then I started experimenting with different octanes and gas stations. After some math I got more miles per tank on 87 than on 85 (in Colo) and it is cheaper to run 87 from the milage boost.

Now I am scurting 16-17, my record is 19 on mixed city/hwy miles. And of course since winter is coming I will drop back down to 14-15 because of fuel additive and warm up time that I allow.

--Justin