One Year Today with 2018 SCREW...Thoughts (bad and good)

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CUinBama

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Today marks exactly one year since I brought home my 2018 Oxford White SuperCrew and one year and four days since my previous vehicle, Genesis Coupe, was t-***** and totaled (hence the timeline for getting the Raptor being moved up!)


Far and away, have *loved* having this truck!


Wife has had two Yukon XLs, we had an Escape for 10 years, but this is our first real truck. Really did a ton of research (including this forum) before even deciding on a Raptor, but between the wreck in a small car, the encouragement of two teenage sons, a great deal (thank you Paul at Allan Vigil in ATL!) and a good bit of post-wreck percocet, pulled the trigger and brought her home.


Here are my thoughts after one year:


Mileage: exactly 22,222 miles, averaging exactly 13.0 mpg burning almost exclusively Costco 87 octane. Far and away, most of them interstate miles, driving very...spirited. Lots of time in Sport Mode. Have never put this many miles on in vehicle in one year, but everyone wanted to ride in it or drive it.


What could be better (I am a Bad News first person):


Let me say this first, this is (for now) based almost exclusively based on driving on road, and, yes, I know that is NOT why the Raptor really exists. So comments are based on a ton of interstate driving to and from travel baseball games, the beach and all that. So, yes, getting the Pavement Princess thing out of the way now.


Biggest reservation about this vehicle was the motor. I know the specs, I know it is a twin turbo and all that and outperforms the old V8 on paper. For the most part, I have been very pleased. That being said, the first time I was in “regular” mode and nailed the gas and nothing happened for a few seconds, I was having some serious buyer’s remorse. Was *really* missing the Denali’s 6.2L V8 or even the little Genesis’ 3.8L 6cyl. Once I tried Sport mode and learned to anticipate the turbo lag in regular mode, have been much happier. And, yes, I want to go fast on pavement when I am on pavement.


Going from almost 10 years of GMC controls, Sync 3 took some getting used to. Now that I have had more time with it, really like it. Well, except for two things: really, really wish there was a physical “home” key somewhere. And really still not used to this being more a “Sirius” radio than an XM radio. Again, probably the transition going form GM to Ford, but finding football games on Comedy Central and all that gets old. Also not convinced that the sound quality is as good on the Ford’s sat radio. Hesitate to impugn the whole B&O system because it decidedly sounds better with CDs or even high bit-rate iTunes. But really does seem like SiriusXM sounds better on the Yukon’s Bose system than the Raptor’s B&O.


The whole no-WiFi hotspot thing ticks me off. Makes no sense. Really? No way to “upgrade” so it can get the same unlimited package as all the other 2018 Ford trim levels or the 2019 Raptor?!?!? Hell, seems like even the ****** or whatever had this option. Have yet to see any explanation that makes any sense.


FordPass app getting better, but still has a ways to go.


Know I am not the only one with the issue, but the whole thing of the side mirrors going crazy is annoying.


It is scary in rain without going into Weather mode. Maybe it is the tires, maybe it is the torque, but in anything more than light rain, the back end is all over the road without being in 4WD.


Probably just missing it, but where is the “swipe once” thing for the windshield wipers? No huge deal to turn the whole knob up or down a notch, but sometimes end up turning off the auto-wipers without realizing it.


What I Really Like:


There is no where I found (yet) that I cannot go. Have not been (guess I will not be) able to get to Utah for the Driving School, and know that would have opened up all sorts of new appreciation for the vehicle. My little brother’s college roommate is a Big Shot at Ford and before I bought it, he made me promise I would get the truck off road. Look forward to doing more of this. Also love how it allows me to do some creative urban driving…curbs, speed bumps…whatever.


And, yes, the truck just looks cool. Do get lots of looks from all sorts of folks. EVERYONE wants to ride in it or drive it. For anyone who has ever been on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach on a Friday night, it was pretty funny being (by far) the oldest guy out there…and, for once, being in one of the “smallest” trucks! Still stood out though…only one there.


There is plenty of power, tons of torque (which is not so good though when cutting a turn around the driveway gate a little too close… about took the post right out of the concrete and I had barely hit the gas. Aluminum might be light, but, damn, it is not forgiving!)


Tons and tons of room in the back seat. Important with a truck full of ball players or when got son and wife up front and I am in the back seat.


It is comfortable. Easy to (and fun) to drive. Plenty of room for a family of 5…though it is usually just me and the dog. Feel almost claustrophobic when I have to ride in the Yukon.


The double moon roof is just plain awesome. Dog has to strain to poke her nose out the roof—little higher up than the Genesis was!


And, yes, it is fast. Not that I have ever experienced the governor kicking in…


Will update this as I think of more, but wanted to get this posted on the actual year anniversary. Throwing in a couple fotos of it after getting a birthday bath and de-Love Bugged. Has been exclusively Zaino washed and polished, inside and out. (Well, except for when the body shop cleaned it up after the fence post incident…)


IMG_7396.JPG IMG_7404.JPGIMG_7381.JPG
 
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Gerald

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The single swipe for the wipers is the same button for the windshield washer fluid. Just depress the button quickly and let go and you'll get a single swipe. If you depress the button too long, you'll get the washer fluid spraying.

Good write up. I know the days of travel ball. This is a first year without our son playing (just finished his senior year in college). So now we're trying to figure out what life is going to be like without baseball. :(
 

goblues38

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Good honest post. Now go splurge and run a tank of 93 thru it and you will never go back, it's that good.

Yep. 87 octane gas has you down about 11% on power. And about .5 on mpg's.

22,222 miles with 400.5 hp instead of 450. Seems like a waste to me. $56 a month in gas extra for premium to get 11% more power.

I know where I would spend my money.
 

jabroni619

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Yep. 87 octane gas has you down about 11% on power. And about .5 on mpg's.

22,222 miles with 400.5 hp instead of 450. Seems like a waste to me. $56 a month in gas extra for premium to get 11% more power.

I know where I would spend my money.

It looks like he wants all the power the engine can muster when driving on pavement. That isn't possible if he's gimping the engine with fuel that restricts it from doing that. Silly to complain about a power issue when you're responsible for 11% of your power loss. That's not a trivial number. Would you rather get from 0-60 in 10 seconds or 8.9 seconds? I know these aren't times for the Raptor, i'm just working with simple figures to illustrate a point.
 

dilmorecg

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Thanks for the review. I have similar comments to others. Def run higher octane gas. I think all turbo cars need to run whatever the highest octane you can get at the pump. I am in Seattle area and it rains a lot here. I havent had much trouble slipping on the wet. I run it in sport mode with 4A usually. It could be that I am more used to driving here so I go slower around corners. Also try airing down your tires a little. I run 38F/35R and I think the tires grip better in wet.

Ive only had mine 4 months, 5k miles but am really happy with it.
 

smurfslayer

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the first time I was in “regular” mode and nailed the gas and nothing happened for a few seconds, I was having some serious buyer’s remorse. Was *really* missing the Denali’s 6.2L V8 or even the little Genesis’ 3.8L 6cyl. Once I tried Sport mode and learned to anticipate the turbo lag in regular mode, have been much happier. And, yes, I want to go fast on pavement when I am on pavement.

Yup. if you don’t want a tune, you can try the pedal commander and I think there’s a competitor now that fools the computer into thinking it’s being given more throttle, so normal mode won’t punk you as much.
 
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