Technically, my one-year is on April 21st, but since I'm not going to drive the truck between now and then, I thought I'd throw this out there now. What do I think of this truck? In a nutshell: LOVE IT!

Here's how she sits after a year of ownership:

That's 15,146 miles in a year. This is NOT my primary vehicle. I have a 2003 Audi as my daily driver. How I managed to put 15K miles on in a year is beyond me. A lot of it has been long-distance towing to various race tracks up and down the east coast though, and a couple of road trips too.

Things I love:
Engine (torques!)
Engine (quiet!)
Interior - design, instrumentation (love that center screen), love the sync and the nav screen. The layout is nice and Ford seems to have stepped up on the quality of materials too. Love how big and spacious it is inside too. Being able to sync my phone for music and phone calls is awesome. The navigation system, in my opinion, works well.
Capabilities - whether I'm towing an 18' open trailer with my race car on it, or a 28' enclosed trailer with my race car and tons of other gear, this thing just tows and tows. The power to go up the hills, even in 6th gear, and maintain speed is awesome.

I like the big mirrors, especially since the bottom, convex one is large enough to be very usable. Also use the folding feature a lot and the telescoping feature too.

The engine is awesome. It's got plenty of get-up-and-go. It gets good gas mileage for lugging around 8K lbs. I've averaged 14-16 in town and 18-21 on the highway, depending on how nice I am on the throttle. I can get up to 13MPG towing an enclosed trailer on fairly flat terrain. In my picture above, that was just coming back from a race weekend, pretty hilly terrain, so got low gas mileage.

Things I don't like (and they're not major):
Toggling back and forth on the various presets (Sat 1, 2, 3) etc. requires you to touch the screen. You can only toggle forward from the steering wheel, you have to touch the screen to toggle back or to start over.

If you have the radio on and you receive a phone call, after you hang up or disconnect, it doesn't return to the radio screen. You have to manually reach over to the screen and return it to the radio setting.

I don't like that my iPhone's notification sounds for everything except phone calls are completely muted. No text notification, no email notification, nothing.

I absolutely HATE that if I leave the media input set to Bluetooth that the iPhone will automatically start playing music from its iPod and that there is no way to turn it off unless you change the input to line-in or USB. Even if I'm listening to satellite or FM, the iPhone is playing music just because the media setting is set to Bluetooth.

Why aren't the switches for the memory seats and the mirror controls lit up??

Why don't we have auto up/down on all four windows. Sorry, but German cars spoiled me in this regard.

Sound quality...meh. For a premium sound system, the output is mediocre at best, and I'm not audiophile.

Why do they make a big, huge deal about not entering a destination while you're driving, except by voice, but then make you touch the screen to accept the silly lawyer's warning?

I think that's about it. Engine, braking, handling, are all just fine by me. I love towing with this truck and especially love that it has a lot of neat touches built-in. For example, the 5-flash turn signal with a trailer instead of 3 flashes without the trailer. Or the fact that the lights will automatically turn on if you turn on your windshield wipers.

All the complaints about harsh shifting and high pressure fuel pumps and whatever...no complaints here. I loved my old F150, but I really don't miss it. This one just does so much more.

A couple of gratuitous pics:
Loaded up and ready to leave for the racetrack:


In its natural habitat...the paddock at Virginia International Raceway:

 

Nice looking rig you got there...we need a shot of inside that trailer!

 

Thanks. This is what goes inside the trailer!

 

Nice post ! Thanks for the balanced review

Question: Lights on when wipers are turned on ???
Mine does not do this. Is there something I can do to make this happen?
Roy

 

Keep your lights in auto mode. Then, when you turn on wipers, the headlights will turn on automatically.

 

GREAT review and pics! A really good combo you have running...


biz

 

Wow..... That was Easy Thanks a Bunch

 

That looks fun to drive...very nice

 

very nice.. do you have a WD hitch for the larger trailer?
I just got a 2012 250 and it sags a lot more than expected. My WD hitch corrects, but if I ever had a flatbed I'd be stuck..
(I had a 350 dually, which never moved with this trailer.. but I used the wd hitch anyhow, >6000lbs with the hitch adapter)

Sam

 

Yes, a Reese WD hitch. I'm not sure how badly mine would sag without the WDH hooked up. I'd never tow without it. My buddy in his old 6.0L had to get towed with his trailer hooked up. He called and asked me to meet him at the Ford dealer. His F350 + enclosed trailer hooked up via WDH was towed in with an F450. I think everything was just fine. They picked up the front wheels of the F350 and off they went.

 

thx.. I have a WD as well. do you use it for the flatbed? I would have to move brackets

Sam

 

I do use it for the open trailer as well. But each trailer has its own set of brackets.

 

Good review! I agree on the auto up/down windows. Only other small complaint is head room I cant finnish my coffee without leaning over. Great truck! Great power! Glad I switched from Chevy! Oh yeah and the rear end does not sag 5 inches when I hook up my work trailer.

 

Great review. I bought a 2012 F450 DRW to tow a goose neck with my race car. I am so happy to hear all the positive comments about the 6.7. I have a trip to Atlanta in 5 weeks. This will be my first trip with the truck. I am so concerned, I bought an Edge Tune for it just in case there were any trouble towing the trailer. The trailer is 16,500lbs+. I also bought a cold air kit too.
Do you have any mods?
Any tow tips with the 6.7?

Thanks
Rob

 

I would get rid of the edge and get a sct or a minni max or spartan anything but that edge it will cuase lots headachs Rob says lol