i was at the dealer newport ford in RI - today and was happy to see my first lariat - it was a real nice loaded black w/ chrome bumper model, and the only new one they had on their lot for sale.
with..........are you ready?
an fx4 off road sticker on the back panel on one side and w/ a 4x4 sticker on the other side!!
wait it gets better,
after reading the sticker in the window a bit and saying wow nice truck for $40,000 grand!!
i once again had to do a double take on the same side as the fx4 sticker i noticed that it had a flat black fx4 plastic wheel moulding and all the other 3 were the correct for lariat style- painted black mouldings.......
i was thinking good thing for ford that its labor day 'cause the people in the assembly line must need a good rest!!
maybe its done by robots w/o human hands but either way that's a bad thing, for ford's top model lariat w/ that price, in this important launch on
september 4th to make it this far and be out on the lot w/ a sticker in the window to be sold.....
when the salesman says if you like this we can have it ready in about a day first its gotta go to our body shop guy so he can do the corrections on it...
kinda makes you wonder what else besides the obvious things i mentioned - is incorrect on it??
.......wake up ford!!!!!

 

wow that is odd. maybe mistakes like this is why ford had some of those fords that were stored in those lots being fixed for so long. or maybe it was done as a demo to show the differance between the two. my guess is the first. I do know ford had changed to a differant type of assembly line. there must have been problems to be worked out in the new assembly lines.

 

It was a collectors item, and you should have bought it!

j/k I would have went back on Tuesday, and asked the saleperson what it was, just to see what they said. Then If they tell you it is a Lariat, You should say, then how come it has this? while pointing to a FX4 part. If they say it is a FX4, you point to a Lariat part. heh, heh. That would be fun. Most dealers don't even know the difference between a FX4 and a XLT anyway, so they deserve to be messed with a bit.

 

my 03 is a larait fx4 why can't a 04 be?

 

With the 04s, the FX4 is no longer an option package - it's now a separate trim level, like XL, XLT, and Lariat.

As far as the FX4/Lariat confusion, that does seem a bit odd - you'd think that somebody would catch that before it made it to a dealer.

I know that Ford has mentioned that they are trying to cut costs during the launch, particularly on inspections and that sort of thing - their thought is that if the truck is built properly in the first place, they shouldn't need to have everything double-checked. I guess we'll see how that works out...I suspect that if problems like this become common, they'll start doing quality checks like they did on previous product launches. I still find it odd that Ford has reduced the number of inspectors on such a crucial product launch...it's a pretty big gamble, and I think they should have tried it on a lower-profile launch first.

LK

 

Agreed I will go check one out on Monday, the 9th, even if I cannot afford one.

 

I'm relatively a new owner of a 2002 7.3 ltr Lariat Crew Cab LB 4x4. I'll tell you what.. I would never own a different truck.. These are damn awesome and Super nice to boot. Always wondered what the difference was between the Fx4 and 4x4 models. From what I decifered out of the above posts, it looks like it may only be the trim on the 2 models that are different. Is that correct?

Thanks for any insight you may have...

M@tRiX

 

On the F-series trucks, the FX4 doesn't really give you any off-road advantages at all. It really is just a "sticker package". On the Ranger, FX4s do have some nice extras.

As far as quality checks go, my truck was shipped with missing step bars (which are factory equipment). And another truck on the lot where I got mine was shipped with the wrong radio in it. Ford's quality checks are non-existant now days I think. So having both decals on one truck doesn't surprise me a bit.

 

M@tRiX: On the Superduty, the FX4 package gives you upgraded shocks, skidplates, a steering damper, and FX4 decals. You can get the skidplates and steering damper without the FX4 package, so basically the things unique to the FX4 package are shocks and decals - and those generally won't keep you from getting stuck. Well, I suppose you could peel off a decal and stick it under a tire for traction - but I don't think it'd help very much.

I have to agree with WXboy on this one - on the Superduty and F150 the FX4 package is mainly an appearance package, but on the Ranger it does include some good features (torsen limited-slip, alcoa wheels with BFG ATs).

LK

 

Thank you for the enlightenment.. I appreciate the info..

M@tRiX

 

I get in one of our XLT's on Saturday, and something just doesn't look right. Let's see, we got the standard radio, the standard manual A/C controls.......and switches on the steering wheel to control those 2 items. But you don't get that on an XLT. Great- I'VE GOT AN XLT WITH A LARIAT STEERING WHEEL!! Now, which poor sucker is drivng around in a Lariat, trying to figure out how to operate his heat and radio from the steering wheel!

 

LMAO.. That's too funny MarkIII!