S Killius
Member
TL;DR: The Forum was very helpful in my research/buying/driving my new truck. The '19 Raptor is an amazing machine.
My truck: Ford Performance Blue, fully loaded 802a but no graphics.
Buying process: The worst ever. After a cost analysis, I convinced myself I might as well buy a new '19 at sticker rather than buy a used truck at a slight discount. Even with the new 18s being marked down, they're already a model year old and I am betting the new suspension causes the '19s to hold their value a little better (or they suck and I made a terrible decision).
Since almost all the dealers around here (NW FL) order their loaded trucks with graphics, I knew it was likely I'd just have to order one. I had multiple dealerships get to the point of dropping a deposit and then suddenly remember "oh, we have a $2500-15000 markup". Lowest offer I had from a dealer was sticker with a non-refundable deposit (non-refundable deposits are a scam). I had a friendly dealer nearby who would happily order me one at sticker, however he said it wouldn't arrive before summer and agreed to attempt a dealer trade for me. Last week I found the exact truck I wanted in a dealer's showroom across the state, so called them and they refused to go less than $10k over. I asked my local dealer to contact them with a trade offer, and the next day the dealer with the truck called and asked if my offer of MSRP was still good. I drove over and picked it up last weekend. I know there are several people on the forum who paid under sticker, but having dealt with at least 10 dealerships over 6 weeks they broke down my resolve and I was happy to pay sticker, with just additional cost for TTL.
Recaro Package: Overall, don't get a truck without it if you're on the fence. Downsides: the carbon fiber added around the vents (EDIT: all around the center console also) doesn't match the rest of the carbon fiber. Upside: The blue stitching on the dash and the alcantara wrapping all the way around the seats was unexpected and awesome.
Tech Package: I am honestly surprised how useful the lane-keeping and auto cruise control nannies are. I initially started out with just the alert, and then I turned on the assist and they were especially helpful in the first few hours of driving to help me learn the edges of this behemoth. The auto-cruise control was awesome in holiday highway traffic, including coming to a complete stop a few times without any required input. Just remember to hit the resume button once traffic starts moving again.
Tires: I learned from the forum to make sure and check the tire pressure and I specifically instructed the dealer to do so before I picked it up, but it still had 47+ psi in all the tires. At my first stop I aired down to 40ish and it made a world of difference in the ride quality.
Stereo: I learned from the forum to make sure and set the stereo to "surround" mode, and once I found that menu it vastly improved the sound quality. It took me awhile to figure out how to get out of Apple Carplay with my phone plugged in, it turns out I needed the Ford app.
Driving impressions: I was concerned with the on-road ride quality with all the talk on here about the 19s being harsher than the 18s. I think the ride quality is fantastic, and especially compared to my Z06 corvette it's like riding on a cloud. So maybe I'm lucky for not having a previous Raptor to compare it to? It does nose dive a little during braking as many have said, but nothing crazy or uncontrolled. I would like stronger brakes, but that's probably just because I'm used to the ridiculous brakes and lighter weight of the vette. Off road it is just as amazing as you'd think from reading/watching all the online reviews, I was definitely not disappointed running down sandy forest trails here in NW Florida.
I hope this helps at least one of you in your search for a Raptor, the forum definitely helped me and I wanted to try and pay it forward.
My truck: Ford Performance Blue, fully loaded 802a but no graphics.
Buying process: The worst ever. After a cost analysis, I convinced myself I might as well buy a new '19 at sticker rather than buy a used truck at a slight discount. Even with the new 18s being marked down, they're already a model year old and I am betting the new suspension causes the '19s to hold their value a little better (or they suck and I made a terrible decision).
Since almost all the dealers around here (NW FL) order their loaded trucks with graphics, I knew it was likely I'd just have to order one. I had multiple dealerships get to the point of dropping a deposit and then suddenly remember "oh, we have a $2500-15000 markup". Lowest offer I had from a dealer was sticker with a non-refundable deposit (non-refundable deposits are a scam). I had a friendly dealer nearby who would happily order me one at sticker, however he said it wouldn't arrive before summer and agreed to attempt a dealer trade for me. Last week I found the exact truck I wanted in a dealer's showroom across the state, so called them and they refused to go less than $10k over. I asked my local dealer to contact them with a trade offer, and the next day the dealer with the truck called and asked if my offer of MSRP was still good. I drove over and picked it up last weekend. I know there are several people on the forum who paid under sticker, but having dealt with at least 10 dealerships over 6 weeks they broke down my resolve and I was happy to pay sticker, with just additional cost for TTL.
Recaro Package: Overall, don't get a truck without it if you're on the fence. Downsides: the carbon fiber added around the vents (EDIT: all around the center console also) doesn't match the rest of the carbon fiber. Upside: The blue stitching on the dash and the alcantara wrapping all the way around the seats was unexpected and awesome.
Tech Package: I am honestly surprised how useful the lane-keeping and auto cruise control nannies are. I initially started out with just the alert, and then I turned on the assist and they were especially helpful in the first few hours of driving to help me learn the edges of this behemoth. The auto-cruise control was awesome in holiday highway traffic, including coming to a complete stop a few times without any required input. Just remember to hit the resume button once traffic starts moving again.
Tires: I learned from the forum to make sure and check the tire pressure and I specifically instructed the dealer to do so before I picked it up, but it still had 47+ psi in all the tires. At my first stop I aired down to 40ish and it made a world of difference in the ride quality.
Stereo: I learned from the forum to make sure and set the stereo to "surround" mode, and once I found that menu it vastly improved the sound quality. It took me awhile to figure out how to get out of Apple Carplay with my phone plugged in, it turns out I needed the Ford app.
Driving impressions: I was concerned with the on-road ride quality with all the talk on here about the 19s being harsher than the 18s. I think the ride quality is fantastic, and especially compared to my Z06 corvette it's like riding on a cloud. So maybe I'm lucky for not having a previous Raptor to compare it to? It does nose dive a little during braking as many have said, but nothing crazy or uncontrolled. I would like stronger brakes, but that's probably just because I'm used to the ridiculous brakes and lighter weight of the vette. Off road it is just as amazing as you'd think from reading/watching all the online reviews, I was definitely not disappointed running down sandy forest trails here in NW Florida.
I hope this helps at least one of you in your search for a Raptor, the forum definitely helped me and I wanted to try and pay it forward.
Last edited: