Ford F150 EcoBoost Review – Our First Review

If you are in the trades, we rely on our trucks to make a living.  We need to carry, haul and just get from point A to point B.  As a consumer you really only have a couple of choices when it comes to getting a truck you can rely on to get the job done.  That’s why when we got a 2012 Ford F150 EcoBoost, we decided to turn this into a project vehicle.  Our goal is to give you an update every 10,000 miles about the truck and any accessories we have added to it over time.  The only downside to this project, is most of our work is in our hometown, so we really don’t put a lot of miles on the truck every year.  Before we start, let me give you a little background information on my experience, which may help explain some of my gripes and likes about this truck.

Before this F150 I owned a 2003 GMC Sierra truck.  This truck was awesome to me.  It always ran, never had any problems and I just loved the truck.  The only reason I sold the truck was it was an extended cab.  I have a 4 year old and a 2 year old and there really wasn’t room in the back seat anymore.  It was my fault for not thinking ahead.  So when I decided to upgrade, my first choice was another GMC Sierra since that was so good to me.  However I really wasn’t excited about buying a truck from a company that took government money to stay afloat.  I really wanted to support a company like Ford because they had their ducks in a row and could survive like a true company.  On the other hand the GMC was good to me, so how could I steer away.  When I went to check out the 2012 GMC, they were very nice, but even in the full crew cab, the back seats were very small, which defeated my point of trading in my truck.  Long story short, I ended up getting a 2012 F150 EcoBoost Larriat.  So without boring you with my story anymore, let’s jump into what we like and don’t like about the new truck.  Again we’re not trying to say this is the best or worst truck on the market.  We are just giving our initial feedback about the truck and what we think.  Stay with us for all the updates on this truck and time will tell.  So let’s start out with the pros to this truck.

Ford F150 EcoBoost Pros

• EcoBoost Engine – This is the heart of the truck and boy does it have a strong heart.  This truck is very fast off the line and even when you’re cruising and you need to make a pass, you know you can.  I don’t get the gas mileage Ford states I should get, but again I only have 2,000 miles.  I have heard that once the truck gets to about 5,000 miles, I should see my MPG stabilize.
• Hauling and Towing – This truck is really built to haul and tow.  In fact I would say the truck rides even better with something in the bed or hauling a load.
• Features – This truck is really built like a Cadillac.  With almost all the options you would ever want at your finger tips.  Sometimes I forget it’s a truck, then I hit a rough rode and I am reminded it’s a truck.
• Room – This has to be one of the roomiest trucks I have been in.  There is more than enough room for the driver and passenger.  The back seat is not only spacious, but also comfortable.  Even for a large adult.  The back seat has a nice slant so you are not sitting straight up and down.
• Dash – I have to say the blue lights and the instrument cluster is laid out very nice.  The heads up display is easy to navigate and provides a lot of information.  Just wish they did have more information in the heads up display.
• Navigation – This is one feature I thought I would never use, but I was wrong.  The navigation system is easy to use and easy to read.  Lots of valuable information.  Why am I not a big fan of Sirrus?  Because they really don’t have many useful channels, the HD radio is a nice feature.
• Panel Set Up – Below the navigation is the panel and I really like how this is set up.  Everything is easy to read and designed very well.
• Cup Holders – The truck seats 5 people and has eight cup holders.  Two in the front console and two in the back console.  There is an arm rest in the back seat that also has two more cup holders if needed.  On each door their are even more cup holders for the bottles you have with caps.
• Easy Car Seats – Some people don’t care about this, but this is huge for me.  I have two kids that are still in car seats.  Moving them from my wife’s car to my truck is very easy.  The clips are not hidden under the seat and are very easy to access.
• Doors Shut Easily – The doors on the truck shut very easily.  You don’t have to slam them.  While they do sound cheap when they shut, it does shut nicely.
• Interior – Overall the interior is very roomy and set up nice.  Again I sometimes feel like I am in a Cadiallac
• Auto Windows and Sun Roof – The front windows and sun roof are a single touch button to open and close them.  This is one real nice feature of the truck.  I like just being able to push the buttons, let the windows do what they are suppose to , while I can do something else.
•  Outside – Besides the Sierra Denali, the F150 probably has one of the toughest looking outsides of a truck.  The lines of the truck flow nice and gives the truck an overall appeal.

Ford F150 EcoBoost Cons

• Rough Idle – This truck is not cheap. I work hard for my money, so I want something that will last.  I have to say I am extremely disappointed that the truck idles rough.  I would think when you pay a lot for a truck, something simple like an idle wouldn’t be an issue.
• Rough Shifting – This truck shifts like it has a transmission problem.  I am not talking about a rolling stop.  I am talking about when I come to a complete stop, wait and then take off.  For some reason there is a long delay.  It all most seems like the truck has to shift from third gear down to first gear, which it should have done when I was stopped.  Again the beginning shifting on this truck is awful.
• Brake Pedal – When you have the wipers on and your stopped  you can feel a thump in the brake pedal every time the wipers hit s a certain spot.  Isn’t this what the Japanese cars did in the 70’s?  To me that is very cheap.
• Squeaks – The truck does have some squeaks which is very annoying.  When you pay this much for a truck, it should be quiet.  Have a squeak coming from one door, and somewhere on the inside roof between the A and B post, right by my ear.
• Attention to Detail – This is a huge disappointment to me.  I would think when I pay a lot for a vehicle, the attention to detail would be there.  Now I might be nit picking, but it’s my money and I worked for it.  On the shifter knob, part of the side wasn’t attached right, so it sticks out.  Part of my fender is already coming off.  I am not sure if they used tape or gun to hold it in place, but the fender is peeling away from the side of the truck.  I made the mistake of having Ford spray in the bed liner.  If I could do one thing over, it would be this.  You can see spray marks on the bed and it just doesn’t look nice.
• Rough Ride – Now I am not sure if the rough ride is because of the tires or 6′ bed, but my old GMC with 95K and 9 years old rode better than this truck.  I will hate to see what happens when I get 50K on this truck.
• Not much Storage – The truck has a nice deep center console, but that is about it.  There really isn’t much storage space in the truck.  One bad thing is for some reason Ford decided to put the sub woofer on the back floor instead of hiding it somewhere.  This creates even less storage room in the back.
• Rain in Sun Roof – This is just a very poor design.  I use my sunroof a lot.  Only problem is when it rains, the water stays in the channels on the tip of the truck.  So when I forget about this and have my sun roof open, my first stop is always a wet stop.  The water does poor into the cabin and it is always annoying.
• Brakes Squeak – My first couple times I use the brakes each day, I get a really bad squeak.  It does go away each day, but it’s annoying.  My neighbors look at me like as if I got ripped off and bought a junk truck.
• No Separate Cargo Light – Not a huge deal, but I use my cargo light a lot.  I also like having my windows down in my truck.  Well when the bugs are bad, I have to have the interior lights on while the cargo lights are on.  So each time I always have to roll up my windows so the bugs aren’t overtaking the interior of my truck.
• Dome light Operation –  This could be set up a little nicer, maybe have two separate buttons.  To turn all the dome lights on, you have to hold down the dimmer switch.  Same thing when you turn them off.  Only when you do this, most of the time, the lights in the truck just dim without the dome lights going off.

All in all this is a great truck.  Very fast, payload and hauling capacity are incredible.  Now we only touched on 1/10 of what this truck has to offer, but we wanted to hit some important items of this truck.  Stay with us as we will continue to update our experience with this truck.  Let us know what you like and don’t like about the new Ford F150 Trucks.

[pptgtool]1HamZzyUrbw[/pptgtool]