And we would have been happiest, if we could have found one with the Integrated TBC installed, even for the msrp of $275-295? I paid 18 bucks for that cable and He paid $90 for the Ford Factory TBC that you have. His time to install and my time to enable, but also learning there's a whole LOT under the hood you can adjust to your preferences... THAT was the big bonus, not just paying half for the same thing that you got...

I think this story stands on it's own. Mostly because 2018 was a unique model year for the F-150, for Ford, because the Corporation assumed one thing, and the Dealers (who all have to order their own vehicles to floor - you DO know that) assumed another: that they could order base level XLs, trimmed up, and add a TBC if wanted... Lots of dealers got caught on this one, and I think Ford stepped up, in the end and fixed it....

Scott

 

We started off looking at XLT models, didn't want the leather interior and gadgets that came on the Lariat nor the higher price.
Stepping up from a 01 Z71 to a 18 F-150 was a pretty big jump in years and we didn't know anything about the new features these trucks have, we really liked the mesh grill on the STX and didn't know for a while it as a upgrade on the base LX model for 18. It's now availlable on the STX, XLT and Lariat for 19 models.
Most of the STX we looked at had 2.7 eco and a standard trailer hitch, very few options but that keeps the price down and the trucks look sporty.
The one we got had a good list of options, some I would not with marked on a option list.
We wanted the 5.0 engine which proved hard to find, probably because of the addition $1995 increase in the price over the STX option.
Other options are
3.55 e locker axle
Carpet, base models come with vinyl mats
Running Boards, wife likes that
Trailer Tow Package
Sirius XM radio
36 gal fuel tank, a $445 option I would not have checked
Trailer Brake Controller
110v/400watt inverter
Seats are manual control but we're ok with that.
I did have to fly 600 miles to another state to pick it up and drive it home, made for a pretty good test drive thru the Smoky Mountains.

 

Dumping the Chevy was smart. I'll never forget back in the early '90s when I was getting tires changed on my 3/4 ton Chevy 4x4, looking under an F150 next to it, both on the lifts... Not a single thing I could find wasn't heavier duty on that HALF TON ford.... Over my Chevy three quarter ton...

Glad to hear that Ford recognized "that look", that should be on the order list for all the above trim levels... Frankly, I'm tired of how many and how big of bars they (any of them) put across the (what used to be called) "grill". UGLY - just so we can get a tenth of an MPG more??! Why not use the tech the Fusion (I think it was) had and have dampener shutters that close when air flow wasn't needed to cool?????

Gotta' go, wife has called Dinner Time

 

Still have the Chevy but it's been demoted to work truck and foul weather driver status while it finishes rusting away.
Pulled the supercharger off (was on the truck when we bought it) and put it back stock, has a goose neck hitch installed so it'll be used for light trailer towing.
Have a Cummins powered 04 F-450 for the heavy work.
The F-150 will be our nice truck to be used for dining out, events and trips, although it has the towing package it likely won't be used much for so time.
Presently it's setting in the shed out of the rain, ice and snow we've been getting for the past several days, may not get driven again till spring.

Wife is from a GM family, I grew up Ford and some Mopar, we've owned them all but she always wanted a Chevy around and I alway kept a Ford for myself.
When the body shop quoted nearly $10K to fix the rust in her Chevy she was ready to change brands, she wasn't to receptive to the new aluminum bodies on the F-150's till I explained that the Peterbilt semi's we used to own had aluminum bodies. I'm hoping these new F-150 bodies hold up as well as those Pete's did, if not she'll switch back on me.

Like you I don't care for the big bars in the grills on the newer trucks, in a way the STX grill opening reminds me of the one on the old 79 F-150 I owned for over 20 years and wish I still had.

 

Well they have the bars and active shutters on them, even the more open Sport grills have the shutters. They are in use on all levels of the gas engine. I imagine they will be on the 3.0 diesel as well.
TJ

 

That's wild, when I read that I went out and checked , sure enough there's shutters behind the grill.
I hadn't seen shutters on a vehicle since they quit putting them on semi's back in the late 70's- early 80's

Something I noticed, is part of the plug cover missing from one the wire bundles in the photo?
It just does't look right.

 

I just went out and looked at my 2018 Lariat and it is exactly the same, Still look like it's torn though!
TJ

 

I just picked up a 2018 STX 2.7 that had been in a fender bender and I thought that plug had gotten broken in the process. I had wrapped it with black duck tape until I could get to the bottom of it only to realize the truck came that way. I took the tape off when I installed the catch can. Odd . .