Since 2004 I have had 5 new F 1500 and they have been great, but I never liked my 2011 SCREW FX4, it was always squeaking and creaking, so while in for service today (my wipers wouldn't shut off) I spent some time with my salesman. I decided to trade in the 11 and lease for the first time.

Long story short, my payment went down $60 a month, the dealership is giving me a $5,000 check and in two years I will be able to get a new truck again, either sticking with another lease, or buying again if this doesn't work out.

I have had 2 FX4's now and my suggestion to people who might be new to trucks and buying their first one is to strongly consider an XLT as I don't feel the FX4 warrents the extra $8,000 ish.

Has anyone else here traded down? All I ever read is people wanting to go from XLT to FX4/Lariat/Platinum

 

All I have had are XLTs and I am totally satisfied with them. Never considered the higher end trucks as I do not want leather.

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Same here, not a fan of leather. I do like my women in it though.

 

Didn't like the FX4 because of lack of a front center seat, don't like painted bumpers, didn't like the black plastic grill, and really didn't want off road shocks which don't always do good on road or while towing.

Didn't get the Lariat because it just had a bit to much fluff. Besides I hate leather seats and woodgrain dashes. If they changed to fabric seats and normal colored dash inserts, I may consider one on the next round as long as they are NOT payload deficient.

The XLT to me is a very good round of features and luxury items. I've had dual zone climate control, rear zone climate control, moon roofs, and fancy Bose stereos, I hated them all. Dual Zone was worthless as it was never needed. Moon roofs limit headroom, let the bright sun blind you, and are very cold in the winter. Wife has one in the Escape and rarely pull the shade open. Bose stereo in Pathfinder sucked. Sounded like crap but it was a package deal.

If I want better sound, I'll replace the speakers and use a power subwoofer. But what for, I have a home 7.1 high current Denon, Infinity, and Velodyne home stereo/theater. I'm not talking theater in a box but large tower speakers, large powerful sub and large center speaker, with bookshelf speakers for side and rear surrounds. Anything less sounds like crap to me. The bose were just underwhelming next to some standard car stereos.

 

I went from a King Ranch to a Xlt to a Fx2 back to a xlt all within a year

 

For all you folks saying you hate leather seats, I was that way too...until I owned a vehicle with leather. Now I won't go back. Especially once those leather seats are heated! I have some lower back issues at times, and heated seats relieve the pain and make the long drives bearable. Now, if only I had the cooled seats for the summer! Even though they aren't as hot as I expected them to be in the summer.

Not to mention, with 3 kids, it's nice to know I can wipe off nearly anything they get on the seats.

I love my leather!

 

I too liked the leather, but now that the XLT comes with power mirrors, backup camera and power sliding rear window it becomes harder to justify the extra $8,000 for the FX4. Another good point that was brought up in this thread is the suspension, the FX4 rides Very Rough!

 

My father just picked up a 2013 xlt a few weeks after I got my 2013 fx4. Driving them back to back in all honestly I feel my fx4 drives better overall. To me the xlt felt a little spongy (IMO all the new f150's feel spongy) compared to the fx4. I'm used to driving lifted solid axle f250's so switching back to and IFS 1500 is still a night and day comfort/driving difference.

As far as the leather, I absolutely hated the old style leather (2003 and older). I had a few trucks with it, and it was down right torture in hot/cold weather. Not to mention even with meticulous up keep it was still prone to cracking. 04-08 wasn't bad. Fairly comfortable, but the 09+ has a great interior. Leather is extremely comfortable. Heat/AC seats were more or less a must for me with pretty much any truck. While the price tag is a little hard to swallow, it is an extremely comfortable truck.

 

With the XLT, are features such as locking diff, tow mirrors, sway control, brake controller, key-pad entry, all available on the XLT? Are there desirable features that cannot be equipped from the factory on that truck?

 

While I am a strong believer in drive it till the wheels fall off then bolt new wheels on... I bought the most / best truck I could that fit my needs and tastes. I could have gotten an FX-4 when I bought for not a whole lot more money, but I hated the interior, no center seat in front... I like having the ability to seat 6 in a pinch...

Honestly, I like the leather in the Lariat, but that isn't enough to justify the other fluff... Ford pretty much got it right on the XLT, which is why they are so popular, all the right featres at a good price point...

 

yes, i have locking diff, sway control (which i dont understand, how do i permanenetly disable that, it just robs power like traction control), key pad entry, you can get the tow mirrors and brake control but i did not, even if you dont get the brake control it still comes with the harness so that it can easily be added in the future

i went in to buy a lariat, i would love the a/c seats and the in dash nav, but at the end of the day i prefer the extra $8K in my bank

i am debating leasing, what residual are they taking off MSRP?

 

FX4s themselves don't cost $8k more, just all the fluffy options do when you price them out like a Platinum. You can get them for just a touch more than an XLT, but the issue is that most of them have a lot of options, so stripped down ones are very hard to find.

Growing up, every vehicle my family had had leather. My truck is the first one I've ever had with cloth. I thought cloth was disgusting and didn't like how it felt when you touched it. But I actually like how it stays much cooler in the summer. But overall, leather is much better. Cloth stains too easily and is a real PITA overall trying to keep it from looking dingy. All American manufacturers use a very poor grade of leather now (a decade ago it was pretty good and much thicker) that is comparable to vinyl and is very spongy and thin. It's not worth the price Ford charges, not at all.

 

Wow, Now i don't feel so guilty now trading up a couple of times, thanks!

 

yes.......

 

There is a button on the center stack to turn the s/c off.