Heck I feel that the 5.4 is a dog....Especially hearing stories of these 300HP 3 valve 5.4 motors only putting out 210HP at the wheels. Ford BS'ed the masses with this new 3 valve 5.4 motor. I do not accept that much power loss thru the drivetrain. But than again I had been driving a 450HP to the wheels lightning. I hope Ford catches up w/ the rest of the manufacturers and produce a true 300+ HP truck w/ a gas motor. It seems I need to add a turbo to make my 07' wake up.:o

 

I love my 04 STX. Regular cab so not as heavy, but then, I've added something like 200 lbs of extras to my truck, so my weight may be getting up to SuperCab ranges.

The 4.6 is very reliable. The 5.4 may be reliable for some, but cam phasors, spark plug issues, transmission issues, vibration issues and several other lesser problems would prevent me from buying one if I was getting a newer truck today. If I really had to tow a 27 foot trailer, or use it to carry heavy stuff (most weight I carry in a month would be 400-600 lbs) I would buy a Superduty.

As to power, well, I have 3.55 gears, 18 inch Lariat rims/tires, all that extra stuff and with my exhaust and tuner my truck feels quicker and is quicker than stock SuperCrew 5.4 trucks. Wouldn't tow as many pounds, but then, it cost me less than half what the average guy here paid for his truck.

The STX is a nice, decent truck that you can get for a 'leader' price, thus it's a good choice.
But guys who pay 26-49k for their trucks are always gonna slam anyone who pays 13,000-20,000 for a truck that looks basically the same to the casual observer.


As to the V6, well, it's a good engine, but with the auto it just doesn't have the oomph for my local driving conditions.
I drove one and coming up the pass it could barely stay with traffic at full throttle. Now with the stick it's a great truck, gets the best mileage of the three engines and has plenty of power at least when running empty.

Your choice, don't let the engine snobs make your decision for you.
Chris

 

I am happy with my 4.6L It does everything I want it to, but I don't tow with it. I haul with it but only a couple hundred pounds at best. I am installing a Edge to get better performance out of it.
If you are going to use your truck to tow anything large (>4K Lbs), get the 5.4 otherwise the 4.6 is good.

 

From a guy who has had three trucks with the 4.2 in one, the 4.6 in another, and currently my 5.4, i can give some good insight. My first truck had the 4.2 which is a good basic engine. Never had a problem out of the engine but if you want any get up and go or ever want to haul anything don't get this engine. It got 3-4 mpg better.
The 4.6 was not much faster than the 4.2 in my opinion. I know what it says on paper but as a driver I could not tell a bit of difference except for higher speeds. It had a higher towing capacity but i would not tow anything exceptionally heavy.
The 5.4 is in my opinion the best engine. Has good power and the best towing. SO what if you don't haul but once a month, but when you do you will be glad you got it. It cruises at lower rpms and will only cost you about 1-2 mpg on daily driving. With as heavy as these trucks are (especially the quad cab) I would insist on you getting the 5.4 Yes it may be a little more expensive, but it is well worth it.

Its all up to your daily driving. If you are ever going to tow anything with some decent weight I would spend the extra money and get the 5.4 It is well worth the money.

Your decision

 

Cheese and rice guys, there's no need to fight, we're all friends here right?

Well, concerning power, I'm really only gonna use it to travel to and from school, and to help me move stuff when i go to college. Seeing as how an STX is really all i'm able to get (and that's pushing it), I was hoping you guys could give me a few estimates and how much you guys paid for yalls. The one i'm looking at is a STX SuperCab with the 4.6. It has the power eqipment package and a couple extra stuff. The price for it is $27,500. I'm probably going to go in tomorrow and see how much i can get it for. Depending on whether or not i like the price, I also have my eye on a 04 with 23,000 mi for $16,000. We'll see tomorrow I guess...

Thanks guys, and please, no more fighthing >_>...lol, later.

 

You are paying retail.
If money is no object, that's fine.
If money is important to you, try only buying a truck that is a 'loss leader' or what is commonly called, on sale...
I have a regular cab. I got it for 12,995 plus tax and license. Last weekend I saw 2007 trucks, mostly XL's going for 13,995. One STX SuperCab going for 17,999. This is in the Los Angeles area papers.
Of course you can't always pick the color/options that way. If you want to get just the right truck, pay retail.

Chris

adding, just checked todays prices
http://ads.ocregister.com/interactiv...8289808-01.pdf
example 19k for supercabs, 14k for regular cabs. not a good sale week.

Another place has the XLT supercab going for 20,969, STX regular cab 16,869

 

I.m assuming you are saying that is the sticker price, and you should be able to get it for around 21,000.

 

Yeah, both those prices are sticker, depending how it goes, i hope to get a pretty good deal. I know they are selling regular cab XL's for 11,888 or something like that.

 

Hardly, if I wanted a 5.4, I would have bought one

 

you keep thinking that

 

He may be right. Depends on lots of factors. In 40 plus years of messing with trucks from 1949 Fords to almost new Superduty’s I've learned (along with a LOT of others) that bigger engines often get better mileage than smaller engines in trucks.

Has to do with several factors, but include the fact that a smaller engine must work harder to do the same chore.
If you are all the way into the throttle to move a heavy load you are going to be at a worse place in the power curve/fuel consumption range than the truck that does the same job at 10-20% throttle.

Historically small engine trucks got the same or worse mileage than big engine trucks. Even with the 4.6 vs. 5.4 engines you will notice both old and new EPA numbers are VERY close.
Now if you change other factors the numbers get wider. Example a 5.4 only comes with an automatic. So you would want to compare the automatic version of the 4.2 for a realistic comparison.
A stick regular cab 4.2 XL or STX with stick shift, no power options and 3.55 gears should, if driven correctly get about 4-6 more miles per gallon on the freeway than the 5.4, and about 2-3 better mpg around town. But with a load in it, it would probably get no better mileage around town than the 5.4.
To make it worse, if you drove at the same speeds, same acceleration as the 5.4 you would virtually always get poorer mileage with the 4.2.

Odd thing about drivers, they tend to drive smaller engines harder, to match the acceleration of larger engines.
Or to put it the other way, they tend to take it easier on big engines.
If you drive five trucks a day, each with a different power option, you will tend to go 0-30, 0-60 and cruise speed at almost the same times. Because it's you the driver, not the truck deciding how quickly and fast you want to drive.
On the other hand, guys who only drive one vehicle tend to adapt to it.
So you can get radically different results just from that.
There are many other factors, of course.

Chris