Hi guys. New to the forum here.
I need a larger truck for my family so I've started shopping around. I'm from Utah so we have Moab, and all kinds of desert terrain to explore. I looked at building up a mid/LT truck from scratch but am leaning towards a Raptor because of it's ability right out of the box and I'd like to retain the warranty. I have a few questions that I'd like to get experienced owners response on:
If you actually use these trucks for offroad duty regularly how good is Ford about honoring the warranty? I ask this because I had a pretty bad experience with a Toyota FJ years ago. The interior sheet metal on the fenders would start to stress crack/propagate and if you even had a hint of dirt on the rig Toyota was not honoring warranties except on a few occasions. I do not want to go through that type of scenario again.
How well do these trucks hold up for their intended purpose? Most of the failures/issues I've read about are due to owners abusing them ie the infamous frame bending.. I have no plans to go to go launch road gaps at 100mph but I will be doing some of the more mellow trails in Moab and doing some exploring. Also potentially doing some light pre-running/support for a friend of mine that's into desert racing. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and an avid road racer/HPDE driver and a very experienced mountain biker. I spend all day doing stress analysis so I'm probably a little more educated than the average consumer about failures and what causes them.. ie I'm good at not breaking ****! lol.
The truck I've found is a 2011 Black Crew Cab with the luxury package and 34k miles. The CPO comes with 12 month /12k mile comprehensive and 7 yr 100k mile drivetrain warranty. I've haggled relentlessly with the dealer to get them down to $39K+ tax. This price appears to be at kbb trade in value so I think I'm getting a screaming deal..
The truck has 1 minor accident reported with damage to the rear fender so I went through the whole truck and can not see any repair work to the frame. It drives great but has a minor clunk on occasion coming from the front end. I've done some reading on this and it doesn't seem like their is much consensus on if this is actually a suspension issue or some sounds the internal bypasses make. The dealer says they'll take care of this under warranty also. The front and rear bumpers have some pretty minor rash/scrapes, which isn't a huge deal to me as I'll likely replace them for something with more clearance anyway.
The drivers side seat heater is out which will also be repaired. This seems like a pretty common issue based on my reading.
They are also giving me high-book value for my trade in (2009 Nissan Frontier)
Does this seem like a good deal to everyone? Are their any other common issues I should look for?
Also, I was able to put down a deposit and take the truck for a few days to have it looked over. Having it for those few days is what really sold me on the truck. I have never owned a Ford vehicle so-in my completely non-biased opinion this truck honestly deserves all the praise it gets. The driving dynamics are excellent, and coming from a Lotus owner this says a ton! The fuel economy was telling me not to buy it, but if I kept my foot out of it I was able to get 15-16 on the fwy. Still I wonder if I would even care if I averaged 8mpg because the thing is just such a damn riot to drive!
3rd and last question is if all the 2012+ changes are worth it? My main question is concerning the Torsen front diff. Is it absolutely necessary for crawling/Moab type terrain and is it as reliable as the 2010-2011 setup? It looks like the 2012 trucks are running about 7-$10K more expensive that this truck.
Thanks in advance to anyone who has the patience to read all that! I appreciate any input you all may have.
I need a larger truck for my family so I've started shopping around. I'm from Utah so we have Moab, and all kinds of desert terrain to explore. I looked at building up a mid/LT truck from scratch but am leaning towards a Raptor because of it's ability right out of the box and I'd like to retain the warranty. I have a few questions that I'd like to get experienced owners response on:
If you actually use these trucks for offroad duty regularly how good is Ford about honoring the warranty? I ask this because I had a pretty bad experience with a Toyota FJ years ago. The interior sheet metal on the fenders would start to stress crack/propagate and if you even had a hint of dirt on the rig Toyota was not honoring warranties except on a few occasions. I do not want to go through that type of scenario again.
How well do these trucks hold up for their intended purpose? Most of the failures/issues I've read about are due to owners abusing them ie the infamous frame bending.. I have no plans to go to go launch road gaps at 100mph but I will be doing some of the more mellow trails in Moab and doing some exploring. Also potentially doing some light pre-running/support for a friend of mine that's into desert racing. I'm a mechanical engineer by trade and an avid road racer/HPDE driver and a very experienced mountain biker. I spend all day doing stress analysis so I'm probably a little more educated than the average consumer about failures and what causes them.. ie I'm good at not breaking ****! lol.
The truck I've found is a 2011 Black Crew Cab with the luxury package and 34k miles. The CPO comes with 12 month /12k mile comprehensive and 7 yr 100k mile drivetrain warranty. I've haggled relentlessly with the dealer to get them down to $39K+ tax. This price appears to be at kbb trade in value so I think I'm getting a screaming deal..
The truck has 1 minor accident reported with damage to the rear fender so I went through the whole truck and can not see any repair work to the frame. It drives great but has a minor clunk on occasion coming from the front end. I've done some reading on this and it doesn't seem like their is much consensus on if this is actually a suspension issue or some sounds the internal bypasses make. The dealer says they'll take care of this under warranty also. The front and rear bumpers have some pretty minor rash/scrapes, which isn't a huge deal to me as I'll likely replace them for something with more clearance anyway.
The drivers side seat heater is out which will also be repaired. This seems like a pretty common issue based on my reading.
They are also giving me high-book value for my trade in (2009 Nissan Frontier)
Does this seem like a good deal to everyone? Are their any other common issues I should look for?
Also, I was able to put down a deposit and take the truck for a few days to have it looked over. Having it for those few days is what really sold me on the truck. I have never owned a Ford vehicle so-in my completely non-biased opinion this truck honestly deserves all the praise it gets. The driving dynamics are excellent, and coming from a Lotus owner this says a ton! The fuel economy was telling me not to buy it, but if I kept my foot out of it I was able to get 15-16 on the fwy. Still I wonder if I would even care if I averaged 8mpg because the thing is just such a damn riot to drive!
3rd and last question is if all the 2012+ changes are worth it? My main question is concerning the Torsen front diff. Is it absolutely necessary for crawling/Moab type terrain and is it as reliable as the 2010-2011 setup? It looks like the 2012 trucks are running about 7-$10K more expensive that this truck.
Thanks in advance to anyone who has the patience to read all that! I appreciate any input you all may have.
