I for one think Ford did a great job on the 04 F-150. I love the interior upgrades, and the exterior is much tougher looking too.

I guess it is just a matter of opinion, but I vote for the "They did a good job" side.

 

I drove a 55 Ford Panel for about 20 years, slowly fixing it up, painting it, making a nice interior with a raised bed, padded and insulated walls n ceiling, etc etc.... and I wish I still had it. It got stolen and trashed. I loved driving that old rounded and more aerodynamic design than the square boxy looking trucks. I also owned a 60 Ford 4x4 that I loved beyond all means and pulled several Chebbies outta the mud with, but.........

..... in 97 when the first of the new body style came out, I fell heads over heals in love with the design. The dropped front end gives great views when climbing or out in the toolies, compared to the danged big boxy front ends on most 4x4s of the square nosed variety. Now I AM first to admit that I'm not too excited about taking my newer truck off road and scratching the heck out of it, but that isn't totally what I bought it for. 98% of my driving is in town or on the highways. As for hauling, I have a tool box in the rear and cut hauling space down quite a bit, but I'm not in the hauling business either.

OK, so the newer styles aren't "macho" enough for some of you... that's ok by me... I have already taken that truck, stood it on its nose backing up a hill to turn around on a mountain road, freaking my best friend out, without so much as spinning a tire. I've stayed WARM in blizzards, much unlike in my panel, my early broncos or 99% of my other older beasts.

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. I think the new 04s are beautiful. Although it will be a while before I can buy one. I just hope they don't go too far backward with the boxy look. I could never figure out why no one ever went with aerodynamic designs sooner.

Still haven't seen any reasoning behind the original post for anyone to return them to the dealer. Only talking about how ya would rather drive yer older beast rather than a new beast. Just cuz its pretty don't mean it still isn't a truck.

To each their own, I guess.

 

Tomorrow I will have had the 04 F150 Super cab XLT for a full week. Gave back an 01 Ranger Super cab XLT at Red Carpet Option time. (Timing is everything.) Before that a 94 F150 XLT Flareside with monochrome white paint.
I went to the parts house and all the guys took turns coming out to check the 04 out. At the electric supply all the employees and the other customer came outside at the same time for a walkaround. I work in sales and when I got to the mall parking lot I found out that the new truck is also a chick magnet!
I think that Ford has done a great job of moving back to the serious truck look while adding an industrial tech look. The truck looks bigger than it is, I think. It even makes the 17" wheels look too small.
I really don't think of this truck as an evolution of the 03 as much as the next upgrade of the 94,5,6, etc.
All of the changes I see are improvements, too. The raindrops on the hood did not move at 65 mph! Better aerodynamics. Not sure about how air moves over the bed yet. When the leaves start falling, I'll find out.
Updated styling, vastly improved engineering-chick magnet, what else could I want? Just my prejudiced opinion.
Jimmyj

 

According to the brochure, you can still get the lever to shift into 4x4. The electronic 4x4 is optional on XLT and standard on FX4 and Lariat (not even available on the XL and STX).

The nice thing about the new F150 is it can be tailored to just about anyone.

 

Glad to hear that it has the floor mount option for 4x4, which I would never live without anymore --'cept if I was wealthy enough to buy a Lightning - '04 at that.

But from the sounds of other posts I've read, it looks like there's no manual tranny.....yet. Oh well... not to worry anyway. I still have one heck of a lot of good miles to put on my NASCAR Edition, before I'm ready to put it out to pasture. LOL, not to mention a couple more years of payments.

The '04 I looked at had a floor mounted auto shifter in it. It looked really nice though, but I want a manual in anything I drive. Especially for hunting season. I have been down a couple steep icy hills where using gears and the engine to keep control was a lot better than depending on braking action.

I guess at my age and my physical condition I look more for comfort now than "truck", but still want the option of hauling what little I need to haul. That deeper box would make a lot of difference, even with a tool box like the one I have on my 99.