2019 F-150 XLT review (rental)

[OVERKILL]

We have this while the RAM is in the (body) shop. Don't ask, I was away at the time. We'll be without it for a week or so.

Truck is your basic Enterprise rental in XLT trim. Has 4x4 and the 5.0L with start/stop. Cloth interior, power driver seat, Sync, steering wheel controls...etc. It's not as well equipped as the RAM, but it's still reasonably well equipped.

Pros:
- Ride quality is quite good
- Steering feel is quite good
- Transmission feels competent with no bizarre shifts or hunting
- Seats are comfortable and have adequate adjustment
- Wheel-mounted controls are well-placed and easy to use
- HVAC seems to work well (It lacks automatic climate control)
- Back-up camera has steering-following lines
- Has excellent power
- Gauges are clear and easy to read
- Feel of both the shifter and turn stalk are quality; they don't feel cheap
- Sync system is reasonably intuitive and works well with CarPlay
- Fit and finish seems quite good, with everything lining up, no weird gaps.
- Cabin insulation seems good and there were no rattles or noises
- Brake feel is good with excellent modulation
- Visibility is good and the mirrors, despite being small, appear adequate

Cons:
- The start stop drives my wife mad. I tried it, and there's definitely a delay. Luckily, "Sport" disables this feature
- Throttle response not in "Sport" is like pushing an oar through a swimming pool of 5th wheel grease.
- Sound quality of the factory speakers was certainly lacking, though I appreciate that this unit does not have the upgraded sound system. The systems we've had in the RAM trucks blow it out of the water, even the more "base" system we had in the EcoDiesel.
- The turn signal indicators are low in the cluster and thus difficult to spot when you are doing the "3 click" for a lane change which has left me wondering a few times if it actually signalled
- Position of the door lock switch on the door is odd, and takes some getting used to
- Due to the somewhat vague throttle, maintaining a speed takes a bit of work. I find you are either going faster than you intended, or slowing down. This isn't an issue we experience with the RAM. Perhaps this is exasperated by my operation in "sport"? Not sure. Cruise control of course fixes that.
- Interior quality is definitely not up to the same standard as the '19 RAM, though I acknowledge it is quite serviceable
- Centre console area, this is one of the areas where the RAM really shines, with the multiple phone holders, myriad of USB connections, flexible storage options....etc. That's all lacking here.
- Sync isn't UConnect, the latter which is a better system in my opinion
- Sync's WiFi won't connect to my HP Aruba access point, it would however connect to a Cisco Meraki MR20 I setup to test, so this may be a compatibility issue
- Sync acts extremely wonky if you don't have Siri enabled (I don't have Siri enabled) and may or may not let you play your music
- The engine makes a very strange noise, almost like a whistle or electric sound, when taking off from a stop.

Upon my return, aware of the situation, my wife was complaining that this vehicle was a "gutless wonder", but since I was keen on not using start/stop I drove it in sport from the get-go and found it worked great. Tried it in "Normal" and it does feel slow without exaggerated throttle inputs. I assume this is done for fuel economy reasons. The amount of power available is more than adequate, it just seems the delivery of this is heavily dampened unless you operate in "Sport".

Fuel economy-wise, it's averaging 12.1L/100Km so far, which is quite good; definitely better than the RAM. But the RAM gets driven pretty spiritedly, so that's definitely a contributing factor, along with its far more responsive throttle.

All-in-all, this is a very well-built truck and if this was 2017, I'd be far more impressed. Unfortunately, the 2019 update to the RAM really raised the bar and keep in mind, our RAM is "Sport" trim, so it isn't a Laramie or anything exotic, but it is a much nicer truck for the money. Still, I doubt one would be displeased with the service the F-150 will provide, as I expect it will hold up extremely well, as my buddy's 2012 has.

Some pics:

 

[Ws6]

 

[JeffKeryk]

The F150 with the Ecoboost 2.7 or 3.5 would be my choice of any truck out there.
Thanks for the review.

 

[JLTD]

Appreciate the review… Do you have to engage sport mode each time you start the vehicle, or can you just leave it on?

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted by JLTD
Appreciate the review… Do you have to engage sport mode each time you start the vehicle, or can you just leave it on?


I was wondering the same thing also.

 

[Alfred_B]

After FIAT acquisition, RAM are the best interiors.

 

[KrisZ]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing!

The interior in this trim, at least from pictures looks like nothing to get excited about. I

 

[01rangerxl]

The cloth looks a little nasty. The cloth Ford has been using for 15+ years always seems to get stained/dirty easily. My 02 Ranger does stain, but not as bad, same for 94 Explorer with base woven cloth seats. My 94 Ranger with optional velour seats doesn't stain nearly as easy and mostly still looks great except for a hole on one bolster. Not sure why velour went away other than cost, it holds up well. It's like door panels and dashes have better materials now, but seats have gotten cheaper.

 

[Cujet]

God, I hate it when they just can't make a throttle work like it should. It makes an otherwise fine or acceptable vehicle completely infuriating.

This is 2020, not 1934 or 1989.

 

[53' Stude]

Originally Posted by Cujet
God, I hate it when they just can't make a throttle work like it should. It makes an otherwise fine or acceptable vehicle completely infuriating.

This is 2020, not 1934 or 1989.




We have had few f 150's with 5.0 consuming massive amounts of oil lately. I would rather get a hemi RAM 1500

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted by 53' Stude
We have had few f 150's with 5.0 consuming massive amounts of oil lately. I would rather get a hemi RAM 1500


There's a TSB for that: https://www.f150forum.com/f118/2018-f150-5-0l-excessive-oil-consumption-tsb-2058-a-440924/

Guess when they changed coatings on the 5.0 there were issues with some...

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by JLTD
Appreciate the review… Do you have to engage sport mode each time you start the vehicle, or can you just leave it on?


Unfortunately, you have to do the little dance to turn it on every time you start the truck.

 

[AdRock]

There's a switch above the center screen to turn the Start/stop off. And yes, you have to choosw the driving mode each time you get in. However there are super simple fixes for both. I have a start stop eliminator which basically just remembers where you left the switch last. So you turn it off with the switch, the unit remembers that, and turns it off again whenever you turn the ignition on. Also, I've got a module coming in the mail that basically does the same thing with the drive mode. It remembers what mode you put it in, then puts it back in that mode when you turn the ignition on. Each unit takes about 10 minutes to put in.

 

[MNgopher]

Sounds like the normal 5.0 experience. It is decent on power, but you have to get on it and rev to get it... Part of where the success of the ecoboosts has come from...

You can get the XLT with a center console, but it is an upgrade. My model year you could order it separate (and ended up with the column shifter) or go with the sport package (and get a console shifter).

 

[aquariuscsm]

That black Ram is a beautiful truck,and I'm not even a truck guy. Best looking one on the market imo.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by AdRock
There's a switch above the center screen to turn the Start/stop off. And yes, you have to choosw the driving mode each time you get in. However there are super simple fixes for both. I have a start stop eliminator which basically just remembers where you left the switch last. So you turn it off with the switch, the unit remembers that, and turns it off again whenever you turn the ignition on. Also, I've got a module coming in the mail that basically does the same thing with the drive mode. It remembers what mode you put it in, then puts it back in that mode when you turn the ignition on. Each unit takes about 10 minutes to put in.


There was something similar available for my M5 IIRC, so that it could be in "Sport" whenever you turned it on.

 

[ridgerunner]

Just got the 19' w the 2.7 ecoboost. Tried all other engine options and the smallest engine was the most responsive bar none. Traded the 5.7 hemi couldnt be happier. Hemi turned lots of gasoline into noise. Tiny ecoboost whups the hemi

 

[OVERKILL]

Further update to this (since we still have it).

Drove it up to the cottage this past weekend, since we had to haul some furniture. Trip is ~200Km each way. Made most of the trip in "Normal" with only a short stint in "Sport". Start-Stop was disabled the entire time.

Cons:
- The part of the wheel where the buttons mount, that surrounds the horn and where it meets the wheel, is a bit loose; it moves when you put your hand on it. While not a major annoyance, it's noticeable.
- The 10spd appears to get a bit confused on hills. It's less than graceful trying to figure out what gear it wants to be in when encountering a reasonably major grade. It was in 10th on approach, dropped to 9, realized that wasn't sufficient, and then all of a sudden we are in 7th and away she went. This repeated on the next hill.
- There's some shift shudder/lack of firm engagement when doing aggressive passing, though it seems far more noticeable in "Sport" than it does in "Normal"

- The box tiedowns (since they come through the plastic liner) are nowhere near as accessible when you've got a bed full of stuff as on the RAM, which has a spray-in liner.
- The backup camera is significantly lower resolution and thus not as nice to use as the one on the RAM.
- The seats, while not bad for truck seats, definitely aren't as comfortable as the RAM ones. This became quite noticeable on the long drive. Truck is of course XLT trim, so I would expect a higher trim model would make inroads or perhaps completely rectify this.

Pros:
- Ride quality is excellent, and certainly not tiring. Reminds me a lot of our old Expedition in this department.
- Suspension seems extremely competent and I was very pleased by the road manners on winding country roads with hard curves
- The 5.0L, once you engage sufficient throttle to bring it out of "soggy fuel mileage" mode and into full-song is delightful and pulls hard when overtaking. The engine note is also excellent.
- Gas mileage was quite good. While not hand calculated, we went through less than 1/2 a tank over the ~400Km trip.
- The mirrors, with their dropped position, are surprisingly good; vastly better than the weird GM mirrors with the corner cut out of them.

I missed the in-floor storage that we have in the RAM, not sure whether this is an option on the Ford trucks and this one, being a rental simply doesn't have it? It's a great place to put tie-straps and the like, which ended up getting tossed under the seat.

All-in-all, given the relatively low trim version of the truck, I can't really complain about too much. I think my major gripes come down primarily to cluster layout and throttle programming. The former, they could have done better on, the latter I understand to be for fuel economy reasons, but it makes the vehicle feel ridiculously sluggish with lighter throttle inputs. I'd have no problem owning a higher-trim level version of this vehicle however, despite those critiques.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Thanks OVERKILL.
Question for you:
You mention the XLT trim level is a little lacking. What would you recommend without breaking the bank?

I may be in the market and I do not know Ford trucks, except there are a bazillion options.
Sheesh....

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Thanks OVERKILL.
Question for you:
You mention the XLT trim level is a little lacking. What would you recommend without breaking the bank?

I may be in the market and I do not know Ford trucks, except there are a bazillion options.
Sheesh....


I believe the FX4 offers a better host of standard features, and options. My buddy has a 2012 FX4 and it is quite well equipped.