Trucks

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Anyone been truck shopping recently and want to suggest some must sees or stuff to stay away from?

My criteria are:

* must seat 5 and have real doors for the rear (super crew, etc)
* reasonably fuel efficient as far as trucks go
* must allow a tongue weight of 700-800# when towing with 5 people in the vehicle
* must tow at least 7000# with 5 people in vehicle and crap in the truck bed
* one rear facing seat and one booster which could be backless if necessary

Currently looking at the 2014 F-150 with EcoBoost engine. Gas mileage has a slightly better rating than my current mid size SUV. Ford has "employee pricing" on the 2014s right now since the 2015 is redesigned and coming out late this year, so pricing is great.

I'm also open to SUVs that can tow but the ones out there that can tow enough I don't like (Armada) or are way out of my price range (like 80K and up). I thought the Touareg might be it until I found out the max tongue weight in the manual is 616#.

I'm looking new so all should have adjustable headrests for the rear seats.

Was looking at 5.5' boxes but doing some reading and some people think they are too short and to go for the 6.5'? Any opinions? Might be cool to carry a 2 person Jetski or whatever the generic term is for those, on a rack in the bed at some point so would need 6.5' box to even think about doing that?
 
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bubbaray

New member
F150 super crew *not* with the EB. Lots of problems with it in the Ford forums. DH is thrilled he got the 8 instead.

ETA we have the short box to fit in our garage. Long box gives you more towing and cargo options. We are content with the SB for our use
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Well crap on the EcoBoost. I was loving the gas mileage on that V6!

And garage fit...good point. We'll be sure to check that before deciding on box size.
 

T4K

Well-known member
My husband loved his Silverado. It fit in our garage. I don't know anything about it's two allowances. Comfortably seats five but I can't remember if the back center had a headrest.
 

Kegracin

Active member
One of my friends just got this I'm waiting for him to respond to my questions be he claims it gets better gas milage then the Eco boost. Eta 28.8 he said was his best tank 25-27 is normal for him and he said that it has a smaller head rest in the back middle. image-3102022342.jpg it's the Eco diesel. I'm a ford girl my self my FIL has a lovely green f150 with ecoboost that he has not had any issues with. I love his back seat the only thing I don't love is the top tether anchors.
 
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DawgDad

New member
The EcoBoost F150 has fixes...it was moisture build-up in the turbos under extreme conditions that caused the turbo to lag or misfire completely. They reseal your plug gap to keep that from happening. Otherwise, it's a great fuel efficient truck and completely ok to buy. That's the problem with new technology and "first to buy"...you have to work through some of the kinks to get the best result. The V8 isn't too big of a drop off...the Ford's seem to have a little better handle on fuel economy on their trucks while still getting great tow.

I believe even with the slight blemish of the early EcoBoost issues, Ford still outsells all other competitors. My only complaint is they offer WAY too many different models. Sure, as you move "up" in models, you would expect to get more features, however that's not the case. In some situations, you lose a valuable feature when moving up to get another feature...so it's frustrating for a consumer to get everything want in the truck while NOT buying the top of the line model.

With the incentives, I would definitely narrow down what you want in a truck, look at inventory, and price one out at the dealership. Employee incentives on old stock typically cannot be beat by anything else you look at...and it's easily the Top 1 or 2 truck on the market...without bias.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
We almost bought an EcoBoost, but wound up not getting anything. At that point most of what I read was positive, but that was shortly after it came out.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Agreed that the Ford models are exhausting! Went and looked at a Tundra today. The sales guy wasn't very useful as they basically had one on the lot so that's what he was trying to sell us. It was a 1794 edition with beautiful leather, but the colour was that orangey brown and I don't like that. And I want an interior colour I like if I'm spending 56K. ;)

Besides that, the Tundra had zero storage for bigger things inside the cab. It didn't have the space under the rear seats like the F-150 had. So I think that's a deal breaker for me. If this truck is replacing my SUV, I need to be able to shove backpacks and grocery bags such under the rear seats, not in the truck bed. That being said, I'd need some sort of cargo net or something to keep stuff UNDER the seats.

So will I hate this thing if I give up my SUV? Where will I put my stroller? I can't climb into a truck bed to get a stroller out especially with heels...I was hoping maybe my Bee could slide partially under the rear seats and then be strapped in? Wouldn't matter if it stuck out in front of the seats some. But then where would I toss shopping bags? Like if we do a road trip to Ikea, I'd have nowhere to put my stuff but rolling around in an open truck bed?

I don't think I want a truck anymore...stupid trailer's fault. :p
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Have you looked at the Suburban XL? Or is that one of the $80,000 ones?

The 80K and up were Lexus, Mercedes and Infiniti. The Touraeg was actually pricey too as was the Sequoia and the Sequoia got worse gas mileage than a truck.

I did not look at the Suburban because I hate all those big crappy square SUVs. :( I like my imported sporty looking vehicles. I figured if I had to go square I may as well get a truck. Ha ha. I also think the Suburban has worse gas mileage than a truck too. I'll look though just to say I did. ;)

I can get an F-150 with leather, nav, sunroof, memory seats, heated and cooled seats, etc. for $46-$52 right now. I don't think I can find any SUV that will meet or beat that price right now.
 

bubbaray

New member
How many kids will you be transporting in the back seat when you so want to stow cargo?

We have two kids, they normally ride outboard. When DH grocery shops he puts them centre and drivers side and flips up the passenger side seat.

You could fit a Maclaren or skinny stroller under the seat but probably not any other.

I was going to suggest a Suburban for your towing needs.

I would not get an Ecoboost engine for towing. Period. Driving around town going to work sites, sure. Not for placing the engine under load. I would go with the diesel if I needed to tow regularly.
 

DawgDad

New member
The 80K and up were Lexus, Mercedes and Infiniti. The Touraeg was actually pricey too as was the Sequoia and the Sequoia got worse gas mileage than a truck.

I did not look at the Suburban because I hate all those big crappy square SUVs. :( I like my imported sporty looking vehicles. I figured if I had to go square I may as well get a truck. Ha ha. I also think the Suburban has worse gas mileage than a truck too. I'll look though just to say I did. ;)

I can get an F-150 with leather, nav, sunroof, memory seats, heated and cooled seats, etc. for $46-$52 right now. I don't think I can find any SUV that will meet or beat that price right now.

Yeah, a Suburban will be close to $65K with all that...but it will offer you the more useful feel to everyday life.

They do make bed organizers for trucks with a top if you want to keep things a little bit more compartmentalized and not slung all over the bed.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
I am just not a Suburban gal...I've owned Honda, Acura, Mazda...Chevy is just not me and I am quite certain I will hate it. I hated the Equinox when I looked at it. I do not like their interiors. Ford is really the only domestic I've found acceptable for style and even so I can't stand the interior of my friend's Edge. Plus I can't afford 65K. And A few years old doesn't help me as financing rates are so bad that I may as well buy new and if I go older so I can afford it, I've got a ton of maintenance coming up and I've just been through that with our MDX and I don't want to replace struts and shocks and rear away bar links and get new tires all over again so soon.

And the EcoBoost won't be under any serious load. The trailer is only 5500# GVWR. Right now it's 4800# loaded but we want to add bikes and some other stuff which is going to increase the tongue weight (bike storage is near front of trailer). But any of the SUVs I like can't take the tongue weight for it (the problem with my current SUV).

Flipping the passenger side up won't work as any model we want has a sub woofer under the passenger side rear seat so no storage under it. I don't care if my Bee sticks out into the floor area, as long as I could strap it down. But that still won't leave me room for bags of any sort.

DH picks up groceries on his own a lot so that's fine but we make Costco trips with the 2 little kids at least once a month and often the adult sized kid comes along too. And if we go out of town, it would be our only vehicle that would hold 5 of us. And that's usually a 5 hour drive where Ikea and a really big mall is involved. That we could use the bed for I suppose, but would need something overtop that locked.

So I'm not sure a truck will work now and all the big SUVs that tow, suck. Suck gas and suck in style and suck in price. Bah.

Expedition? Maybe it has Ford employee pricing too right now? I don't like it either from the outside looks but could take a look to see if I like the inside.

I probably just need to adapt. I can mostly drive my little car and DH take the truck but we have 2 vehicles for 3 drivers so sometimes works out that I'll need to take the truck.
 

bubbaray

New member
You will be lucky to find a Suburban with all the tow extras (gearing, tranny cooler, brake controller, hitch etc) and all the comfort style options for $75K up here.

6500 dry load trailer is up there for the short box F150 v8. If you want to bring 5 ppl and bikes you will need to tow with your tanks dry. Esp in the mountains (if you tow to the mountains).

DH has a tailgate pad and we put the bikes on that. It balances better than having the bikes on a bike rack on the trailer.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
At less than 5000# loaded with bikes, I think we'll be good with either the EcoBoost or the V8. For the models we are looking at, they have similar tow capacities of somewhere over 9000#. We'd still easily be able to carry water if necessary (although we typically don't).

We don't have a bike rack on our trailer. The trailer has a storage area to fit bikes with a bunk that flips up and a door to get the bikes in. It's just towards the front so will increase the tongue weight some (which is fine as we can still safely be between 10 and 15% tongue even with more tongue weight).

And figures on the Canadian Suburban price. Maybe why I see none around here but we do have a boat load of trucks. I'd fit right in with an F-150. ;)
 

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