You can get the leather in the XLT I believe. Aftermarket is as good or better as well. I had leather seats in my last vehicle, heated no less, but as I said, I didn't want that in my truck. Yeah, I got the deluxe mirrors and delayed power and stuff too. It's clear to me that the XLT is the intersect of price and value. If I won a Lariat I'd sell it and get the XLT and take a nice vaction..or two! I'm certain that it rides better too-you can tell by the "thunk" of the door!

 

Interesting thread! I just got an '05 XLT SC, 5.4, 4x4. Would've got the Screw but need the longer bed. My last truck had leather, I got the XLT cause I liked the dash better, don't care for the Lariat dash. Also wanted cloth seats, don't like riding on the leather with shorts, cloth is more comfortable for me. Real pleased with the truck, it rides & drives better than any of the Ford pickups I've had, this is the 5th one.

 

I have an 04 XLT Supercrew and I couldn't be any happier with my new baby!!!!! I have everything I love in this truck! Power everything from drivers seat, so power adustable pedals, running boards, Fender flares to match my two tone silver at the bottom, dulluxe mirrow package, 6 disk CD player, DVD player, Elecrtric auto rear view mirror. Power rear window, lighted visor mirrors Keyless entry pad and the list goes on!
I brought this truck becuase this is exactly what I loved and wanted! I could have brought any modle trim but I was extreamly Happy with the XLT's! There great trucks and I could not ask for anymore!

 

[/QUOTE]Also wanted cloth seats, don't like riding on the leather with shorts, cloth is more comfortable for me. Real pleased with the truck, it rides & drives better than any of the Ford pickups I've had, this is the 5th one.[/QUOTE]
I like the premium cloth better also, my Ford Five Hundred has all the leather and stuff, its my wifes ride. Leather looks nice but its not that comfortable to me.
I have the 04 XLT supercab after trading my 03 and your right..Ford really has reinvented the F-150 across the board. But really, its whatever floats your boat!! ( My 3rd one)

 

Well the fact is I drove the XLT for 3,000 miles and paid extreme attention to it's drive and noise level. Do not get me wrong. The XLT is one of the best trucks on the market and the ride and noise level were superior to the Chevy and Dodge I test drove. But the fact is after driving the Lariat for 6,600 miles it is clearly superior in ride comfort and noise level. Just be happy you have an 04 Ford whether it be the XLT or better. Yes, you are allowed to pretend the XLT is equivalent to the luxury model as well.

 

So no one knows what the substantive differences are that would make a Lariat ride better, more quietly, and make the doors more solid?

 

HAHA this is funny what ur keep saying!! You know what...the Base XL modle is just as quite as a Lariat!!! NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is different from an XL, STX, XLT, and Lariat! Whats wrong with you thinking one trim is quiter then the other?? Your full of crap! I think your trying to make yourself believe yours is better then everyone elses truck, but hey, your WRONG!! The only differnce with any truck is the FX4 due to it's stiffer suspention, but thats the odd ball of the group. You can pretend urs is better in sound then any other f150, but like I said..ur just trying to make yourself beleive yours is better when in fact, it's the same as any f150 modle on the line!

 

[QUOTE=. Yes, you are allowed to pretend the Lariat is quieter than the XLT model as well.[/QUOTE]
The majority of posts here agree that the difference is IN YOUR MIND toredor.
Give it up man, and just enjoy the nice truck ya got!

 

Curveman,

I'm glad your happy with yout truck, but leather / heated seats don't make a man less of a man, and doesn't make a truck less of a truck. Some people who buy luxury trim trucks still use them as trucks. Heated seats sure do feel good after I take off the waders and get back in my truck after a long day of duckhunting or fishing in the Atlantic surf this time of year. Since I don't want to pay for 2 vehicles, my truck has to be a jack of all trades.

I rode through the Iraqi desert for a straight 36 hours from Kuwait to Baghdad in a Humvee. It doesn't have heated seats, but then we didn't need them since it was 120 degrees outside. However, it has no A/C either. Legroom sucks too when you've got sandbags in the floor board to help shield mine blasts. I figure I've done enough things in my life that if I want sink my butt in heated leather seats then I'll do it. Hell, I may even join my wife for a massage at the spa. I just wish the Humvee was as comfortable as the Toyota Land Cruisers I saw some special op's (and un-named gov't agencies) guys running around in. But I guess I wasn't man enough to qualify for a Toyota.

 

I drove my 04 XLT Screw for 9 months and 20,000 + miles and i've put 1100 + miles on my 04 Lariat 4x4 Screw, and it does ride better and has a quiter cab, loved my XLT would get it again maybe i will in 9 months LOL yes this is a working truck you dont put 20,000 miles on a truck in 9 months just picking up the kids and going to the office LOL ,my new ride has 1138 miles got it on the 3rd Dec and the amount of time i spend in my truck i love all the toys on the lariat trim.
and lets say some one spills some water on my seats i can clean it off with a towel and not have stain like i did with my XLT And my STX i think every one here is real lucky to be able to own a FORD no matter what trim you have from XL with the 4.10 rear end to the King Ranch with the nice full Leather Seats
Happy Holidays

 

I think we are confusing the original issue. All the leather and padding ect in the Lariat may actually deaden the sound a bit, but I was referring to the frame and suspension componets. After talking with several service people and a few salesmen at a large Ford dealer, looking up info online ect.. I cannot find a difference in the XLT and Lariat. But, I test drove several of each and for my money there was little or no difference in the ride or quietness. A week after I bought the XLT I drove several Ford Five Hundreds, we ended up with the Limited model but the lesser equipped models were just as quiet and rode the same. When you are surrounded by wood trim, leather ect it lulls you into a sense of "luxury" I think, and FOOLS the senses.

 

I think 4x4 is one reason the ride is so much nicer

 

Just thought I'd add to the comments... Definitely the same suspension between these two. The "solid feel" and better ride speak of the door pillar on the screw vs. the door-to-door on a scab, combined with the heavier mass weight of the screw on the same springs. Of course it rides nicer! Also the interior bearing the most padding, and leather will be somewhat quieter just by virtue of all the extra sound absorbtion.

 

[QUOTE=wahoo]Curveman,

I'm glad your happy with yout truck, but leather / heated seats don't make a man less of a man, and doesn't make a truck less of a truck. Some people who buy luxury trim trucks still use them as trucks.

First off, I sincerely want to thank you for serving Wahoo! Secondly, I didn't say heated seats made you less of a man or I was rhetorically speaking in any case. You're using your truck as a truck. My point you might say, exactly! IT'S A TRUCK! In fact I was speaking toward trends and generalizing; stating in fact that driving a truck at all doesn't make you a man, in fact what we have now are soft bellied, parakeet males driving TRUCKS and never taking them on DIRT roads let alone off-road, let alone USING them as trucks! I'm not even knocking that really just the pretentiousness of it all. "You" (generally speaking, not you Wahoo) want the look without the attributes/tasks that ought to go with it. Instead we have "men" crying over swirl marks and searching auto stores for "make-up" kits for their trucks! Perhaps I WAS bemoaning the "feminization" of the American male in the worse sense of the concept (men are not becoming more nurturing but more spineless) etc. etc. MERCEDES SUVS?!! So I miss the days when hunting wasn't politically incorrect and a Harley was a Harley and men were men or whatever! I applaud and celebrate maleness not denigrate it as is so common with **** feminists. My opinion. But I repeat myself. To those who say I have "too much testosterone" all I can say is "Proud of It!" I picked out the truck I wanted in the color I wanted, not my wife shortly before telling me to pick up mauve at Home Depot. (she can pick out the color for hers) and yeah, I can afford a King Ranch. Just didn't want all that in my truck but have had it in cars. Leather and heated seats wasn't really the point. Enjoy your estrogen, "guys"!

 

He also went from a SuperCab to a SuperCrew with a smaller bed and four real doors that mount different
That may have something yo do with it
Plus it is probably heavier