2021 F-150 is gone, Brought an Old Sweetheart back to life

[Brons2]

Did you drive a 99-02? Or just a truck? 03+ had a refreshed interior and SUV GMs were usually better equipped. When I think of 3V Fords, I can imagine them as sparse as you're mentioning with the GM if I think of an F-150. But if I think about a SUV, I can imagine them well equipped. Also, with comparing to a Navigator you'd have to compare to Escalade.

I'm probably biased but I find the seats some of the most comfortable, controls well laid out, enjoy the interior styling and amenities. I have heated seats so I'm content. Perhaps some of the charm to me is the dated interior. Remembering a time when things were different. The simplicity and ease.

Something built by General Motors Corporation and not General Motors, LLC.

I think where you live in Western NY, the interiors hold up better in general. Down here the frames never rust but the sun beats everything all to heck eventually. The pics in the OP are the perfect embodiment. The paint and the interior look great. The underside, not so much. Here, it is like the exact inverse of that. It's super important to garage your vehicle here if you want to it to stay looking nice.

Probably the Pacific NW and Northern California are some the better places with the best of both worlds, not so much rust but the sun not beating everything up either. You will tend to get rock chips if you drive in the mountains though.

 

[redhat]

I think where you live in Western NY, the interiors hold up better in general. Down here the frames never rust but the sun beats everything all to heck eventually. The pics in the OP are the perfect embodiment. The paint and the interior look great. The underside, not so much. Here, it is like the exact inverse of that. It's super important to garage your vehicle here if you want to it to stay looking nice.

Probably the Pacific NW and Northern California are some the better places with the best of both worlds, not so much rust but the sun not beating everything up either. You will tend to get rock chips if you drive in the mountains though.

I think maybe North Carolina too might be a decent area to compromise. My 2005 Suburban came from Dallas FW area in Jan of 2021, living down there. It might have been garaged a lot cause the clear is decent and the interior isn't baked to death.

 

[vwmaniaman]

Our old 2005 Yukon XL has 209K on it now and it drives like an old GM, but that is a very comfortable way to travel. Its the XL with 4WD and we took our kids and two grand daughters in it to Destin on the first week of April. It was mechanic owned and was pretty well sorted. Needed a new front hub and pads on the front and two new front tires after an alignment. Cost me close to 1K to get it ready to travel and I paid 3,300 for it. Drove great and the 5.3 gave us 18mpg on the hiway and used no oil or water on the trip. Sometimes the old things are still better even when they have a lot of experience.

 

[Brons2]

Our old 2005 Yukon XL has 209K on it now and it drives like an old GM, but that is a very comfortable way to travel. Its the XL with 4WD and we took our kids and two grand daughters in it to Destin on the first week of April. It was mechanic owned and was pretty well sorted. Needed a new front hub and pads on the front and two new front tires after an alignment. Cost me close to 1K to get it ready to travel and I paid 3,300 for it. Drove great and the 5.3 gave us 18mpg on the hiway and used no oil or water on the trip. Sometimes the old things are still better even when they have a lot of experience.

Yeah this part is a stuggle for me no matter what older vehicle I have. Putting $3300 into my Navi would not be a pleasant discussion with my wife. There are cultural issues at play here, she is from Sao Paulo, Brazil and most people live in high rises where you don't have a garage to work on cars.

[edit] oh I see you paid $3300 for the vehicle. That is a good deal for the pre-07 generation, putting $1000 in is not so bad. My wife would go into apoplexy if I bought an 18 year old vehicle. LOL.

 

[redhat]

Little update. Old girl rolled over 310k a few days ago. She’s doing well with a used Cammed LQ4 6.0 swapped in.

Almost a year and a half and have put on about 25k miles.

 

[Dave Hess]

Looks good.

I would love to hear that engine with cam.

 

[redhat]

Looks good.

I would love to hear that engine with cam.

Thanks. She's a good runner. The cam is baby stage 1 low lift truck cam. You can hear an incredibly mild chop/burble at idle but beyond that, not much. It is stock converter friendly and has very good drivability. Higher RPM from 2k up, it really wakes up. Engine has a different sound than stock cam.

I have an MBRP Stainless Steel 3" cat-back exhaust with a Borla Heavy-Duty Truck muffler. Exhaust sounds good, not too loud, not quiet. Just right. The MBRP muffler with the cat-back was way too loud.