Hi all,

Took delivery of a 2002 S'crew (I love how they're called Screws!) Lariat 4x2 last Wednesday. It has the 4.6L V8 and 3.55 limited slip diff. I put in the Ford black bedliner. I previously drove an '01 Explorer Sport Trac, an '99 Explorer Sport, a '97 Taurus SHO, and a '94 Mustang GT. I guess you could say I'd bleed Ford Blue if you cut me! I got tired of how small the cab is on the Sport Trac so I traded-up to a more appropriately scaled vehicle.

So far the truck behaves pretty well in city driving and my relatively short freeway commute from the suburb where I live to my workplace near downtown Los Angeles. I've got a road trip happening next month to the Yosemite area that should put about 1500 miles on the clock over flat- and mountainouse terrain so I'll have some insight on the highway manners soon.

The 60/40 bench seat is pretty nice. I walked in to the dealership asking for the Captain's Chairs but once I saw the 60/40 bench and the arm-rest I decided to save the money. I can see putting 4 full-size adults in the corner seating positions but that center seating position (front and back) seems meant for a child-sized person. Visibilty through the back and the sliding window is pretty bad but that doesn't stop me from backing into the same parking spot where I used to put my Sport Trac.

After reviewing the message back-log the 4.6L sounds like a bad decision. The consensus seems to be that the 4.6L doesn't cut it at high-speed and forces the tranny to drop out of overdrive to make the desired acceleration. the 5.4L seems to have a wider power-band and doesn't need to drop out of overdrive. I don't plan to do much towing so please figure that into your comments. Opinions?

 

>Hi all,
>
> Took delivery of a 2002 S'crew (I love how they're
>called Screws!) Lariat 4x2 last Wednesday. It has the 4.6L
>V8 and 3.55 limited slip diff. I put in the Ford black
>bedliner. I previously drove an '01 Explorer Sport Trac, an
>'99 Explorer Sport, a '97 Taurus SHO, and a '94 Mustang GT.
>I guess you could say I'd bleed Ford Blue if you cut me! I
>got tired of how small the cab is on the Sport Trac so I
>traded-up to a more appropriately scaled vehicle.
>
>So far the truck behaves pretty well in city driving and my
>relatively short freeway commute from the suburb where I
>live to my workplace near downtown Los Angeles. I've got a
>road trip happening next month to the Yosemite area that
>should put about 1500 miles on the clock over flat- and
>mountainouse terrain so I'll have some insight on the
>highway manners soon.
>
>The 60/40 bench seat is pretty nice. I walked in to the
>dealership asking for the Captain's Chairs but once I saw
>the 60/40 bench and the arm-rest I decided to save the
>money. I can see putting 4 full-size adults in the corner
>seating positions but that center seating position (front
>and back) seems meant for a child-sized person. Visibilty
>through the back and the sliding window is pretty bad but
>that doesn't stop me from backing into the same parking spot
>where I used to put my Sport Trac.
>
>After reviewing the message back-log the 4.6L sounds like a
>bad decision. The consensus seems to be that the 4.6L
>doesn't cut it at high-speed and forces the tranny to drop
>out of overdrive to make the desired acceleration. the 5.4L
>seems to have a wider power-band and doesn't need to drop
>out of overdrive. I don't plan to do much towing so please
>figure that into your comments. Opinions?



Alex,
Welcome to the club. . I too have the split bench seating, and the front middle position is the smallest of the 6. The middle rear isn't bad at all because of the ample legroom. As far as the 4.6 vs 5.4 engine thing, I only know my 5.4 is fine. However I live in flat country ,and have not towed anything yet. My guess is , of course, that the 4.6 isn't as strong, but gearing has a lot to do with driveability also, and the 3.55 gears should make your truck driveable under most conditions. Let us know how you did after your trip. I think you will enjoy you Screw. I love mine!


Bru
2002 F150 Super Crew
Black 4X4 Lariat
5.4 Engine Ford Chrome Bars

1979 Bronco 351M 75K orig.

 

i just got supercrew much like yours. mine is the 4.6 also. my preference would have been the 5.4 but that wasn't what was on the lot and i don't plan on towing a lot either. i have less than 1000 miles on mine. it seems great so far. i also thought that fabric and the front bench would be my choice, but like the engine, it came with leather and buckets. don't know about leather. never had it before. i have seen some posts on the seats that say the buckets are more comfortable on longer trips.

enjoy the truck. i plan on it.

 

I took my Screw down to San Diego (I live near Los Angeles) for a one day outing and it performed (mostly) perfectly.

I think I might have noticed what some of the 5.4 proponents were talking about: At a good highway speed (60-70MPH) if I wanted to punch it I had to really mash the throttle to convince the transmission to drop out of overdrive. I guess in the 5.4 there's enough power to get to the desired speed without dropping out of overdrive.

Los Angeles to San Diego is basically flat, level terrain so I didn't get a feel for hill driving. I think I'll get that this coming weekend when I drive up to the Yosemite area from some rafting.

Apart from that the drive was very smooth and relatively quiet. I think the interior was about as loud as my Taurus SHO which, I suppose, is a nice to thing to say about a truck.

Most of my passengers that day were women under 5' 4" and they had some trouble getting in since my Screw lacks a side-step. Got to give that some thought. Ford wants $500 or so for the original equipment style.