Well ladies and gentlemen, my supercrew is now four days old, and here are my initial reactions, but first.....they may be as common as muck in America, but here in the UK, they are as rare as rockin' as we say (rocking horse sh**). I have not seen another since I ordered mine in August, so it's getting a lot of attention. People aren't used to seeing a vehicle of this size over here....it's a real jaw dropper. Also, those guys that approach the highway from a side road, and you slow down because you know they will pull out, well they look at this mother and they stop! Finding parking places is a right bas****, but I always knew it would be. Cab steps are on order, 'cos my wife is only used to getting in and out of sedans, and she's moaning already.

I've done about 500 miles on motorways, A roads and B roads, in dry sunshine, rain and blizzards. We had the first snow of winter here in Yorkshire on Thursday, and I had to go into the middle of it to see a client. The s'crew handles high speed cruising very well, but can drink faster than Deano. It handles better than a thing of such size has a right to, and considering the weight, the brakes are OK, but they hardly worked at all until they were bedded in. It (2WD) does not like wet roads, let alone snow, and like my previous auto's, it will not stop downhill on snow without knocking it into neutral. It needs some weight in the bed for winter, and all the 2WD models should get traction control as standard. The radio is only tuneable in steps, and all our UK and European stations are in between, so there are only one or two which I can tune close to.
The big gripe is the suspension. No doubt I will get a pithy "it's a truck you ****wit" from someone (probably Logical or Matt)
but on anything but a perfect surface, it bucks and bounces all over the place. I want a Superchip when it's run in, and it needs an exhaust that makes it sound more like a V8 than a hairdryer,
but the first spend (other than the cab steps) will be on the suspension....it really is awful, but there again, I suppose it's designed to carry more than me and my briefcase. Further, I ordered it with the factory tonneau. This was a mistake, and I will need to swap it for a hard cover on struts. The soft one flaps like a sail at speed, and is very distracting.
Having said all that, I absolutely love it. It being a left hooker is no problem as visibility is fine due to the height. All round visibility is great. It is comfortable (on the motorway at least) but although it's size is a bit of a problem, for now I'm just enjoying the way that traffic parts like the waters of the Red Sea. Other drivers are vastly intimidated by its sheer size, and stunned by the way it can sprint for such a big 'un. It's like a really fast bomber in amongst tiny little fighters, and it's an absolute hoot!
We are having fun now........
Hughie

 

Hughie:

Glad to hear your perspective....that big nasty screw must be a real hoot in your neck of the woods. Too bad you didn't get the 4X4, many of your issues would be resolved and it is well worth the extra bucks. On this side of the pond, where ever snow or ice is even a remote possibility, most of us have FWD. Besides, How else can you off-road, haul and otherwise have fun?

Cab steps ? Get stainless, no rust, no paint scrathes, look great forever. Enjoy the ride..........

 

I personally will be getting the Edlebrocks once my first set wears out as I like the IAS valve in em, and I have the same valving in my Progressive 440 shocks for my Valkyrie ( called F6C on the other side of the pond) and I love em!

As for ride, you can add a Heilwig sway bar to maybe help out too...

but you are right.. IT IS A TRUCK! ( hadta say it hahahaha)

I get a great catalog in the mail called performance products for your Ford and they have a website www.performanceproducts.com too... There are also MANY reference vendors here on the site that are equally as good... www.truckperformance.com is one of em, there are more...

Anyway, have fun with yoru new beast! shoot some pics for us and let us see what you have done...

BTW, I want a chip for mine too...

Mosa

 

I'm over here on study abroad and whenever I walk through a parking lot it's a sea of tiny micro-hatchbacks with the occasional mid-sized SUV(LAnd Rover Defender, Grand Cherokee, etc...) thrown in. There's also a few compact 4-door pickups. I have seen NOTHING full sized yet. I kinda miss havin a crew-cab dually block my view at a light or hearing the burble of an American V8. Is your Screw right hand drive?

 

Hughie,

Congratulations!

Where's the pics???? We need Pics!!! Gotta' have pics!!! No digital camera? No excuse, borrow one!

Sorry to hear about your suspension issues but I must agree with Mr Bill that a 4x4 would have solved most if not all of your suspension issues with ease especially if you get the 5.4L V8 as it has the biggest springs and with towing package you get heavy duty gas charged shock absorbers. I'm not a covered bed kind of guy so I can't say much there. Even in the states, people take double takes when a 4x4 Screw approaches and most think twice before they pull out in front of you as there are lots of rice wagons (Japanese cars and trucks) around here as well as other compact patty wagons. To me, bigger is better and so I'm in good shape when it comes to who's gonna' win in a crash unless it's a semi-truck.

As for driving in the snow and wet, tires make a huge difference and my KR came with Goodyear Wranglers RT/Ss and I swapped them for Wrangler AT/Ss and there is a huge difference in ride, wet traction performance as well as all around performance and a better look too. You might want to look into some different rubber or at least look into it or read some info on this board as there are volumes written about tires here.

What's the price of gas, oops petrol, over there now, in dollars/gal, if you don't mind converting please?

Good luck

DaveMan

 

Is ridiculous, which is why you don't see many large trucks. Mostly its compact pickups and SUV's and also these wierd looking little cube vans.

They think anything larger than 2.0 liters is big and anything 3 liters or more is huge. 30 mpg is the norm, 25 or less is considered mediocre. Anything under 20 is considered a real guzzler.

 

Must be nice to be King of the road ! Over here trucks vans and SUV's dominate the roads & parking lots .

 

Daveman....the price for super (97/98 noc ) is about 80p per litre, so the equivalent is over $4 per gallon, but we got used to high fuel costs a long time ago.
I had weight in the bed for the first time yesterday (no, it wasn't the wife) and the ride was a little better, but I,ll have it into my sons shop for some lowering treatment. That should improve it some. Everybodys right, the 4x4 should have been the deal, but the gas mileage is even worse, and the line had to be drawn somewhere. Import duty, sales tax, type approval costs and mods to make it legal here in the UK meant that the truck cost
£32.000 here......work that out in green!

 

I work for a company based in the UK and make frequent trips over. I can't imagine driving a Screw on some of the less traveled roads. They are narrow compared to the US but I suppose you get used to it.

I had to pick up a couple of the UK coworkers at the airport here in the US one day with my Screw. They were in awe at the size of the truck. It was pretty funny! I can understand the attention you get!