While my 1999 BMW 323is was being serviced I was given a rental for 24 hours via Enterprise. In spite of my previous bad experience, this young man was very nice (Although the situation was much different.) and was giving the 4 women ahead of me choices! It appeared no one wanted to drive the Ford F150. I grabbed it since we are rethinking our configuration of cars and I really don’t like my husband’s 1998 Chevy S-10 Pick Up.

The car’s features :

This truck is the 2003 4 door SuperCrew XLT 4 Wheel Drive Styleside with an automatic transmission. It has a 4.6 liter engine with 8 cylinders. This is a powerful, huge truck.

The truck has a little more than 14,000 miles on it. (Remember it is a rental but in fantastic condition.) I will attempt not to compare it with my BMW but I can't promise. I do have our Chevy S-10 in mind, though these trucks are very different as well.

The Ford F150 has a 25 gallon gas tank with an estimated gas mileage of 14 miles per gallon in the city and 19 on the highway. It has so many features that are standard there aren’t too many options that I would look for except perhaps heated seats! Standard (not an inclusive list) includes automatic transmission, front independent suspension front stabilizer bar, clock, external temperature display (Which I have on my BMW and really love.), low fuel level warning, compass, and trailer wiring cargo tie downs (Which we need because we tow a 21 foot travel trailer Sun-Lite.

This truck has a seating capacity of 6 people. The front has a 40-60 split bench front seats which mean that the driver’s seat is separate from the other two seats which are attached. The front driver’s seat is also a little longer than the rest of the bench. A fantastic feature is lumbar supports for both the driver and the passenger via a round lever. It makes a huge difference. One reason I don’t like the Chevy is because it is so uncomfortable. I found the Ford F150 to be quite comfortable.

There is cloth upholstery and in the car I am driving it is a soft material and in gray. What I had never seen is the compartment between the driver and the window passenger. If you only have 2 people in the front you can put down a compartment (I can’t call it an arm rest because it really doesn’t come out long enough to rest my arm.) that holds cups and storage. This truck has quite a bit of storage except for the glove compartment. What looks huge is actually tiny once you open it. There is storage on the doors and on the roof for glasses and kleenex. Note though that there is a bump (It isn’t huge like in a bucket seat car.) where the middle passenger sits. The is so much head and leg room that comfort in the front isn’t an issue.

The back has cup holders as well and a split-bench. It is divided as in 1/3 and 2/3rd. There are two head rests. 2/3rds of the back bench fold down but not all the way but enough to get to a place where there is a small holding compartment where the jack is kept. The other 1/3rd seat does the same. There are also rear heating ducts.

The truck has remote power door locks, power windows, power mirrors, cruise control, front and rear 12volt power outlets, air conditioning, front and rear reading lights, dual illuminating vanity mirrors and a leather-wrapped steering wheel.

Other specs include:
Front Head Room: 39.8 in. Front Hip Room: 59.8 in. Front Shoulder Room: 63.7 in. Rear Head Room: 39.8 in. Rear Shoulder Room: 63.6 in. Rear Hip Room: 58 in. Front Leg Room: 41 in. Rear Leg Room: 36.8 in (from www.edmunds.com)

I am driving a white truck. It looks nice in white. Other colors are black, beige, red, burgundy, green, dark green, gray, dark gray, silver and a couple of shades of blue.

It has an AM/FM radio with a cassette player with 4 speakers and 80 watts of stereo output. The radio sounds terrific.
There are no side airbags, you may want to note. Also please note that this truck is high. Luckily it has handles near the 4 doors you can hold onto to lift yourself up. For many, though, the height of this truck will be a problem.

How the car handles:

The first thing I noticed when driving this truck which did not go away with time were the bumps I felt. I think the truck found every bump on the road or made up some on the way. That is a real negative for me because we drive for long periods of time and if we are spending this much money will spend a bit more for a vehicle that will tow and that won’t get me car sick.

The second thing I noticed was the outside noise. That seemed to diminish in time. Of course it really didn’t, I just noticed it less. I could, for example, use my cell phone’s voice command without being told it was too noisy.

The third thing I noticed was that it didn’t stop like my BMW (OK I know I said I wouldn’t compare.) but this is a truck. It stops just like our Chevy...a bit too slowly for me. Stepping hard on the brake will stop the truck immediately but just pushing on it will have it come to a slow stop.

The fourth thing I noticed was the steering. Considering how big this truck is it handles well. It corners much better than I expected, though I did move with the truck. For something this size I didn’t expect the steering to handle so well. I easily passed cars that I was too close to and got into the lane again with no problem.

The fifth thing I noticed was the acceleration. OK it is a truck but with 8 cylinders I expect more power. I had to really give it gas to get up a hill at 65 miles an hour. I never feared for my life when merging onto the highway, there is enough pickup for me to say it accelerates well enough, I’m just not used to having to put my foot down on the accelerator so hard to get it going.

I could feel it go into gear as I accelerated as well. I could also feel the truck at 70 miles an hour. I wasn’t afraid of going to fast in this Ford because it told me when we were above the speed limit – it shook a little bit. I had a Maxima that did that and I don’t like that. We travel in places where there are no speed limits so I’d like to be able to do 80 without feeling it.

The safety of this truck is not good according to http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/summary_lgpickup.htm#0110. The overall is poor as is the safety of your chest, head and neck; left foot is acceptable, right is marginal and the restraints, using a dummy, are poor – that is they don't keep you safe enough.

The standard basic warranty including the drivetrain and roadside assistance is 3 years or 36,000 miles. The warranty for rust is 5 years. This is one of the worse warranties I have seen – at least comparing it to cars.

In summary:

I have said many times that if I looked at the crash tests on vehicles I probably wouldn’t get into one, but these letters (P=poor) are glaring. Can I not recommend a truck based on that alone? Perhaps but there are other reasons I can’t recommend it. I love the lumbar support, though why it is manual I don’t know when everything is power. Then again in my BMW my seat lever is manual in spite of other things being power.

Among the things mentioned – the bumps, the noise, the fact that the middle person in the front has a bump under their legs (does that make it a 5 seater then, really?), the fact that the acceleration isn’t what I would like nor is the ability to stop, and the climb up it will get 3 stars since I like it better than my Chevy which I don’t recommend either. So it is an average truck. I am sure there are better. I love the 4 doors and the 7,000-pound towing capability which is what we need, but other than that, I know I’ll look elsewhere.

If you have any questions about this car, feel free to e-mail me.

Other car reviews I have written include:

2003 BMW325I
2000 Nissan Altima
2001 Chevy Malibu
2002 Chevy Prizm
1998 Dodge Ram Van
1996 Nissan Sentra
2001 Pontiac Sunfire
1999 Toyota Camry
2001 Hyundai Accent
2002 Subaru Impreza
2000 Suzuki Swift
2001 Chevy Metro




Amount Paid (US$): 31,700