First off this is one amazing and for me overwhelming site. I live in Belgium (little crappy country in europe so my apologies for spelling faults. I fell in love with Ford since i can remember (have had orion and escort). Ive found a new love and its called f-150 STX. The problem is that here in Europe this beauty off a car is somethin you dont see a lot and is even harder to get, i cant get a test drive or even a good sales person because i have to import the car. I hope you guys can help me out with a few questions. Thx in advance

1) Difference between Flare side & Style Side
2) Difference between Regular & Supercab
3) 40/20/40 Front Seat with Manual Driver Lumbar (what do the numbers mean?)
4) Normal europe cars are not for large people (im almost 2m srry i dont know how much this is in feet & inches) so i hope you got a lot off room in a f-150.

 

Welcome to FTE! The difference between flarside and styleside is best seen so try the ford web site to get a look at them. The regular cab has two small suicide doors the open to give you a little space ebhind the seats but not enough to fit anyone else in. The Supercab (also know as a SCAB) has larger suicide doors and actual seats in the back but they are a little cramped. 40/20/40 means that the front bench seat is split into a 40% portion for each seat with the final 20% portion in the middle. the two 40% portions slide back and forth but the middle portion 20% does not. The F-150 (and most american designed pick-up trucks) have very good interior room, I'm sure you will be comfortable (I think 2 meters is close to 6 feet, I'm 6 feet 1 inch and I have lots of room). I hope you have the chance to own one, they are great vehicles!

 

K3th3r...I've been to Bruge and Brussels, far from "Crappy"! (I thought they were beautiful!) But I hear Belgium is one of the MOST expensive places to live in Europe.

I'm biased to the looks of the Flareside (since I own one!). The inside of the bed is more directly over the rear wheel wells, and the outside "flares" from a narrow width at the top to a wider width at the bottom (where it meets the outside of the wheel wells). The Styleside is more vertical on the outside (sides go straight up) and the inside of the bed has larger volume because of this. I just like the way the Flareside breaks up the profile of the vehicle (not to diss the Styleside!! This is my own personal opinion!!).

By the way, "suicide doors" are ones that open up swinging aft, instead of forward like the driver and passenger doors do (you need to open either one before you can open the suicide doors).

I have the Super Cab and it's enough room for me and the (young teenage) kids in the back. But a really sharp looking truck would be the Regular Cab with a 5.5' (<2m) bed...the overall length would be much more manageable in those tight European towns!

For 2005, they are offering a 4.2l V6 with a 5-speed manual transmission. With the price of gas over there, that would be something I'd look into.

Good luck! Hope you're able to get that new love in your life!!

PS: take a look in my gallery for an idea of how the Flareside looks...

 

You'll be the envy of Europe! Do you have to export it to a Ford dealer for warranty work?

 

Ford has dealerships in Europe....they make their own european versions of the vans, stationwagon and cars like the mondeo which is their version of our escort also the focus. Europeans have smaller cars because some of the streets are really narrow, parking and I believe most of all the cost of petro. Trucks on the otherhand are strictly for what they were designed for... hauling stuff! therefore, to own a truck in europe meant you were in the business of hauling stuff and oh yea, the occasional helping of friends and family move their personal items. which I'm sure he'll encounter from time to time once the word is out that he has one.

K3th3r, do you have a place to park such a beast? did you consider how much it will cost to fill the tank? I know how Belgium is, I was there at Nato HQ and SACEUR and I'm sure you probably seen allot of American Military personnel crusin the streets with their trucks as well but these trucks aren't very fuel efficient and replacement parts may take months for you to get it.

Just my 2 centz!

 

Thx for the info lads. No offence but the Belgium yall probably saw is the Big cities (big here is 100k peeps livin there). I on the other hand live in what we call a peasant place. The only people who can afford to buy an american ride are self employed peeps because off tax brakes and such when you have a light freight vehicle as it is called here. The problem off gas will be solved by an lpg tank thats being put in and is a whole lot cheaper. I am going for self employment soon and need a new car it will be a euro mondeo or iff its possible an f-150 light freight stx flareside ;-). Ill be doin some computer stuff and iff it works i want to get a paint-ball place up and runnin. Sow i surely wanna haul stuff and a lot off peeps around me are plannin on buildin so ill come in handy there as well.

Got a wee question. Is it possible to get a closed bed with open space between bed & cab (srry for strange description i hope you undestand what i mean)

 

K3th3r...Paintball sounds like a blast!

I think the only thing you can do for access to the bed from the cab is make sure you get a slider in your rear window and a Leer cap to cover the bed, then somehow make it waterproof between the 2. It won't let you get people through, but you can pass the beers back and forth (JUST KIDDING!).

Good luck, sounds like a good business plan you've got worked out!

 

What do you mean, are you lookin for a tonneau or bed cap (bed level) or a camper shell (cabin level)? there's many types to choose from. you could start with MotorHaven.com or fordaccessories.com and see what is available for your personal touch.

LPG!!! wow, are you sure about that, I mean, do they even make a conversion for this type of engine? sounds like a costly endeavour to me but 2eachhisown! K3th3r, Do some research before making any commitments. and let us know how everything turns out for ya.
Arrivederci!

 

It was more to put a sub in the back so you get a nice base sound while hauling stuff, how is the standard sound like in a cab btw ?(The stx has some sub option with new cars but i cant see it in the options it every model seems to have the same options at ford vehicles. Only the bigger trucks like the excursion seem to have somethin i mean in that cab/bed cover but thats a bit above budget. A friend off mine has a big us truck and put his on lpg its a 5.4 iff im not mistaken. All big engines over here mostely get moded with lpg by my knowledge. Is there something wrong with lpg ?

 

as for sound, if you get the Audiophile system (highend stock system) that should do you fine.

as for LPG, I'm not an engineer or engine tech but I do believe there would be a considerable amount of power lost. When I was stationed in California, we had a big push at our motorpool to convert half of our fleet to environmentally safe vehicles. in other words, LPG. well to make along story short, they were limited to travel due to commercial fuel stations unavailable (you have your own), decrease MPG, no punch to get on the freeway safely, and repair shops to maintain them. needless to say, it didn't last long.
I guess this is why there is no true market for LPG trucks here yet. although I think I read it somewhere that Ford was working on a Hybrid F150. not 100% but I'm sure there will be people buying them due to the direction our cost of fuel has been going.