I think
@meep has the 2.7 as I recall.
PM responded:
but I'll add it here for posterity:
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Good morning! Sure thing-
I come from a "reliability is important" background with a lot of hondas and toyotas, with things like Jeeps and old beaters more of a hobby, and so I appreciate quality and reliability, while also having some tolerance for minor repairs which can be done myself without needing a dealer or mechanic. Keep that in mind. My first truck was a 2006 Tundra 4dr 2wd. The tundra was super reliable. It was built well and solid. It was a bit noisy, thirsty at the pump, I wasn't sure about it's safety ratings (which made me a little nervous) and while it towed utility trailers very well, it really struggled with our 4000 lb camper over 55 mph. However, the "3/4 size" of the tundra was darn near perfect. I never got tired of driving it for its size.
The 2018 F150 is the 2.7 with 10spd transmission and 4wd. I wanted a green truck with tan leather with heated seats. I wanted extended cab because the 4 door would have a shorter bed than even the tundra, and I really wanted the larger gas tank for towing. I had to give up on the paint and heated seats, because heated seats required leather which required a $10k trim package, and green paint required a $6k trim package above that. So, skipping out on color and heated seats, I walked out the door with all the other stuff (gas tank, 4wd, supercab) for $42k new in an XL STX (trim package) FX4. It had two upgrades - Sync3 and a center console.
It is a very nice truck in most ways. It is quiet, well-sorted, tows very well. I really like the 2.7, especially for tow duty - it makes power down low and doesn't need to rev. The 10 speed is elegant (when it works) and I like it alot. It's a little "shifty" and I drive it in "eco" mode, which keeps it in a higher gear and detunes the throttle pedal a little. The truck has so much power, there is no penalty for daily driving in eco, and it's a more pleasant experience.
I had a bunch of transmission problems. 3-4 shift started becoming a miss, or a bang, or a "what I'm supposed to be in a gear now?" or a drop to neutral and coast to the side of the road. The dealer couldn't figure it out, reflashed it (which IMO made it less fun to drive), and was at a loss. After several fluid changes to experiment, none of that helped, but I got a "feel" for what was happening. I added a 1/10th dose of lubeguard red to oem-spec fluid and all the problems went away in 15 minutes. Transmission has been flawless since.
I lost my air conditioning in the second year of ownership. It pretty much requires you to use recirc mode, the way it is designed. It will blow ICE COLD
after the humidity is removed from the air. It cannot cool the cab on fresh mode. My recirc door motor failed, and it's a whole-dashboard off affair to get to it. Warranty covered it. BUT, the ford interior is a plastic affair - and it started squeaking a little at year 1 and gained an additional squeak after that repair. Of the big three, Ford probably has the worst interior, and Dodge probably has the best.
I find the standard XL drivers seat to be quite comfortable, excellent on long trips, no problem. The bottom cushion is long, which bothers my wife some. I like it. However at 4 years old, the padding is collapsing some, and there's now a ridge forming between the buns which pokes up. That's really weird. What's up with that? I don't know. It ain't right. Most days I don't notice it.
Interior is quiet. I really like the quiet interior. That said, road noise has increased and the doors started rattling. I rubbed honda shin-etsu grease into the weatherstripping, which tends to "fill it out" some. It helped. Ford's weatherstripping uses half the material of say, toyota.
And that's where i started noticing - Ford loves plastic. The tundra made everything from metal. Brackets, caps, covers, valve covers, curved body parts - ford likes plastic.
With a cap, daily driving in a gentle, mixed commute returns 20-21 mpg, driven easily. This is with oem wheels. It is sensitive to tires, which I've seen vary 1-1.5 mpg depending. Highway right now is about the same - 20.4. the best I had was on smaller, 18" oem wheels with continental tires - it would approach 22 on the highway (70 mph and not more than 72-73 generally) in that configuration. Mine came with 20" wheels and I've switched back and forth. The 20s cost me ride quality and half an mpg or so, but they gain me stability in pulling out into traffic in a turn with a hole-shot. This is where OCD kicks in. I'll probably waffle back to the 18s when I finish upgrading the shocks.
The oem rear shocks were DONE before 20,000 miles. Towing the trailer may have aided that - but they are known to be poor to start with. I replaced with bilsteins and may be the 2nd person on the internet to have bilsteins wear too fast. At 45k the rear was a pogo stick. I moved to FOX in the rear, and they match the front well, but they are stiffer. if/when I ever do the front, that will be a real time to consider going back to 18" wheels. I think there was a professional review somewhere that said that 18" wheels were a better matched character for the truck. The weight of the 20's is enough that wheel hop starts to influence the chassis and intrude into the driver experience. I would agree. But man, the 20's look good and turn sharp.
best upgrade: $400 hellwig rear sway bar.
my plans? Keep it as long as I can. I don't want to buy anything else before electric. I do have a small sedan which I put half my miles on. If you've not had a fullsize before, I feel silly driving all that vehicle when I simply don't need it. It's a waste. If safety wasn't a concern, I'd be happy to commute in a go-kart. a kart would be more fun! Especially if I've got 4 errands loaded up, I want to drive the little car because the truck is slower and lumbers around.
Sync 3 is GREAT. Love it, no issues. Don't bother with Nav - airplay & android auto are GREAT.
Aluminum body? dents easier. Heavy items dig metal out of the bed. Meh - keep using it. No issues.
2018 headlights were amazingly useless. I butchered mine early on to install internal projectors. Worst job I've done, but the oem headlights were seriously that useless. I hope the new ones were better - TEST THEM YOURSELF.
The 2.7 is known for developing minor coolant leaks on the lines that feed the turbos from the back of the block. Yep. mines got them too, but they haven't become bad enough to do anything about them yet.
There have been more recalls on this truck than any other I've owned. Transmission shift cable, seat back, tailgate latch, and I think one more. The service department at my closest dealer is known to be awful, so I wait until there's enough wrong to take it out of town for the repairs and give them the recalls then.
Driving dynamics - excellent. Probably 2nd place to Dodge. It's our favorite highway vehicle for this reason.
Hope this helps, good luck!
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