Threads die quick when people fail to make constructive comments.

 

That or people don't comment on them for days. I don't know why anyone would be worried about having a lighter truck. Even my 99 gets tossed around in the wind and it weighs around 6,200 pounds. When that happens I slow down, unless its really bad then I pull over for a bit. Sand bags would be a good idea but when you want fuel economy, added weight can significantly impact that.

 

Where ye live, mizz? $1.89 was cheaper, but not nary $3.30 per gallon. I could afford a new truck on that difference in price. Knuckahaided politicians and EPA. They cost Ford a sale.

 

Right now I consider anything $3.05 and lower to be cheap. Cheapest I ever saw gas in my 21 years was $0.95 and that was about 15 or 16 years ago. Nowadays to see gas at like $2.89 it has to be like a 1 day promotion at a gas station or someone has a Cub Foods Rewards card and has spent $1,500 on food to save a $1.50 per gallon of gas.

Few inches shorter here and there isn't the end of the world and I honestly doubt you'll really notice it after a few months of driving. If people are that OCD about a couple inch loss here and there, keep the older trucks.

If Ford wanted to drop a few more pounds off the trucks, a carbon fiber hood would be a nice start too...not sure on how much the weight loos is going from Aluminum to carbon fiber is but it has to be noticeable over time.

 

A well-made carbon fibre hood will be MUCH more expensive than the aluminum. A poorly or cheaply made one won't be that much lighter.

 

Where are y'all seeing these mythical creatures?

 

Auto shows. I missed it last week at the Minneapolis Auto show since it wasn't very well advertised on the channels I frequent.

If you get enough carbon fiber made, it might end up being cheap enough where it'll be feasible.

 

Honda is going bigger, Ford is going smaller. Who woulda guessed?

 

To me, the so called full size trucks could use some shrinking. I also have a '93 Dakota, and would like a truck between the older Dakota like mine and the F150. Just a bit smaller would do.

 

6,200 lbs sounds close to the GVWR. Do you keep it loaded near max weight? I can imagine it would impact MPG.

 

No that would be actual weight, according to the truck lift at my high school 4 years ago. It might be closer to 5700 since there was at the time a few hundred pounds of snow in the bed and a set of mud tires.

The truck is rarely ever filled with stuff. But when I was out in central Nebraska for about a year going between Grand Island and Kearney for work and it was windy, I would be getting tossed around. On a good 500 mile trip best I got was 19.2 mpg with the 5.4L. Hand calculated, no wind at all and a 200lb load in the bed. Not too dang bad. Its been a while since the truck has been weighed but my guess actual weight with my light butt in it is around 5500 maybe more.

 

http://media.ford.com/content/dam/fo...tech_specs.pdf

This doesn't strike as a small truck, just a little lighter.

 

I don't know what they call torsion bar suspension other than IFS but looking on there it seems they got rid the torsion bars.

 

I'll have to see one in person but from what I have seen the 15' looks really low. Even the 4x4 looks low and lower than the already low GMs. I don't drive lowrider crap and use a truck as truck, it looks like that is direction Ford went. My guess is to try and keep air from going under the truck.(all to gain miniscule mpg increase)

 

Ford needs the F150 to get big gains on the MPG front since it is a big part of the CAFE equation. They are trying everything, including reducing airflow beneath the truck to help them get there. Get used to it, because it's gonna get worse by the next design cycle.