Oh, the joys of vehicle shopping....

[Deleted member 9101]

Here is an "ungraded" 2.7. Stock forged internals ,rebuilt turbos, intake, exhaust, intercooler, and of course some veeeery careful tuning.

You can not kill a 2.7 (unless you so something really stupid).

Here Is How to Make 540 Wheel Horsepower with a Ford F-150 2.7L Ecoboost V6 Stage 3! (Tuning) - The Fast Lane Truck

 

[Martinjmpr]

Are you opposed to a 3.5? I got exactly what you want, except the 3.5 and no heated seats. One thing to remember is the 2.7 gets you 6,500lb GVWR which means about 1,400-1,500 Payload. 3.5 gets you about 2,000lbs. Also has the bigger 9.75” ring pinion as well.
STX gets you the bigger info screen (but the hideous 20” wheels I need to swap out).
I got about 23-24mpg on the freeway on the drive home. Not bad at all.

Not opposed to the 3.5 at all. In fact, it seems more likely that the truck with the combination of features I want is more likely to have a 3.5 than a 2.7, and I'm fine with that.

The brake controller is really easy to add to any of the new F150s.

Yes, and that's actually the one feature I'm willing to compromise on for that very reason. I did research on adding heated seats and while it's possible, it would not be as "clean" as a factory install and would likely be more expensive than just waiting for a truck with the right features to come along. Ditto for adding a rear locker.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Not paying for insurance premium of a new vehicle, not paying monthly car payments and not paying for any repairs I save about $5-10,000 per year which is an extra 20-40,000 more miles I can put on my vehicles every year than everyone making payment.

A couple years ago when gas was over $3.25/gal here I put a spreadsheet together to compare the cost of ownership of keeping my Expedition (older rig with about 200k miles on it at the time) vs getting a comparable but newer, more efficient vehicle that I had to finance. I factored in things like insurance costs, registration cost, maintenance costs and of course fuel costs. The older vehicle had more money allocated for repairs and fuel, but cheaper insurance/registration and no payments. Basically what I found out was that gas would have to be around $20/gal to BREAK EVEN. Obviously the payment cost of the new vehicle really slanted the odds towards the older vehicle.

 

[bknudtsen]

I went through this whole process recently. Ended up finding a 2014 5.0 F150 with only 32,500 miles. Pretty awesome (despite being somewhat ubiquitous) build sheet too. They are out there. Just need to be patient.

 

[Explorerinil]

What’s so awesome about that build sheet? Looks like every other f150 out there.

 

[bknudtsen]

In the grand spectrum of things? Nothing. There are so many F150’s out there that everyone should be able to get what they want. This one had the options that the OP was talking about, so I thought it was on topic.

 

[Martinjmpr]

At this point I'm contemplating casting a wider net and doing a fly out/drive back deal. There are trucks that meet my specs in Salt Lake City and I can get a cheap 1 way flight for under $75.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

Just saw this in a Facebook group. Don't worry about the reliability of the 3.5 ;-)

 

[shade]

At this point I'm contemplating casting a wider net and doing a fly out/drive back deal. There are trucks that meet my specs in Salt Lake City and I can get a cheap 1 way flight for under $75.

It's a nice town for its size. If you haven't spent much time in the area, make a short vacation out of the trip and enjoy the truck before coming home.

 

[AbleGuy]

What’s so awesome about that build sheet? Looks like every other f150 out there.

Only 32,000 miles is what...

In the wide open west, it’s usually pretty darn hard to find a decent used truck with low miles on it.

 

[shade]

Once again customers today now accept the fact that they will ALWAYS have a car payment and I want a new vehicle therefore it's all about the payment! That's how BROKE PEOPLE think and Dealer's know it!

I've walked out of a dealership when I couldn't get the salesman to simply tell me the price. I don't buy based on monthly payments.

The biggest sales skill LACKING with most new car store sales people is their ability to LISTEN to what their customer tells them.

Very true. After three rounds of being told I didn't want what I wanted, I told one I'd just shop elsewhere because Toyota made a lot of them, and I was certain I could find it at another dealership. I wasn't shopping for a Bugatti, after all.

Several years ago, I bought a new car online, with absolutely no problems. The salesman was always straight forward, and exceeded my expectations in many ways - with no deposit required on a highly sought after model. He attributed his success to selling a great product at fair prices, and always being honest with his customers. He would even send customers to other brands if his didn't make the right vehicle for them, all while setting sales records. Seems reasonable to me.

I never waste time asking a salesman about any specific feature of a vehicle - I presume that in most cases, I probably know more about the vehicle he is selling than he does

I had a salesman open the moonroof on a car on a highway test drive, with my family in the back seat ... during a thunderstorm. He didn't know what the control knob did, and I slapped his hand as I closed the roof. Family didn't care for the shower. No sale.

I had two salesmen try to explain what lurked under the hood of a Prius. That was fun to watch.

I prefer to buy used, put 100-200k miles on them, beat the living hell out of it, do absolutely no repairs and sell it for the same but usually more than what I paid for it. This keeps my vehicle expenses at fuel and insurance, and occasional oil change every 20-30k miles.

You must buy very used vehicles if that's the case.

The brake controller is really easy to add to any of the new F150s.

True. Brake controllers are usually simple to wire for most anything, but some tow packages include more, like a higher rated receiver hitch and a high output alternator; Toyota has done this with the Tacoma. I'd find out exactly what came with the Ford tow package before passing on it.

 

[Cackalak Han]

If you do go used, check Carfax. Not for accidents. But to see where it’s from. There are a ton of salt/rust belt trucks being bought at auction and sold out near your area (western states), where they can get more money for them. Rust belt not only includes the NE, but also lots of Canadian trucks being imported.

 

[IdaSHO]

Yes, and that's actually the one feature I'm willing to compromise on for that very reason. I did research on adding heated seats and while it's possible, it would not be as "clean" as a factory install and would likely be more expensive than just waiting for a truck with the right features to come along. Ditto for adding a rear locker.

To be clear, you can easily add an OEM brake controller to an F150 (or superduty) quite easily. The harness is already there ready to go.
Just source the controller, install it into the OEM location (probably have a cubby or blank panel to remove), and either have the dealer or use ForScan to activate it.

Once done the truck will recognize it like it was always there and it will look and function as factory.

 

[shade]

To be clear, you can easily add an OEM brake controller to an F150 (or superduty) quite easily. The harness is already there ready to go.
Just source the controller, install it into the OEM location (probably have a cubby or blank panel to remove), and either have the dealer or use ForScan to activate it.

Once done the truck will recognize it like it was always there and it will look and function as factory.

Does every F150 come pre-wired like that, or just ones with an OEM tow package? I'm unfamiliar with how Ford does it, but Toyota only has brake controller wiring installed with the OEM tow package.

 

[Voodoo Blue 57]

My problem wasn't with the sales person but the finance person. I was financing the truck through my credit union. My CU has a list of dealers who are fast tracked for financing. The dealer fills out the finance paper work and then sends it to the CU.

After agreeing on the price I called my CU and gave them all the specifics and they gave me the monthly finance price. Sat down with the finance person and after they entered all the data in the computer they came out with a higher monthly price. The finance persons response to the difference was the CU made a mistake and this was the price and this happens all the time. Called my CU and had them talked to finance person, turns out the finance person had accidentally (their words) checked a box giving me an extended warranty because most of their customers purchase the extended warranty. I wonder how many customers purchased extended warranties without knowing it.

Moral of story, if financing know what your final payment is and verify before signing, look for additional add-ons also.