A Truck For Me And The Crew

Author's Rating:

Pros: Haul cargo and crew, healthy torque, nimble for its size, great value, available accessories

Cons: Stiff ride

Ease of Loading:

The Bottom Line: 
This truck is effective as people mover, periodic stuff hauler, and a tow vehicle, all while being a great value.

Author's Review
Update: 32K of Experience
My wife took the truck in for it's scheduled 30K service about a month ago, and I thought it's an appropriate time to update this review for folks shopping for used versions of this vehicle.

Before the service I noticed some brake squeal, but they said I had enough pad left on the front brakes to hold off until 35K before replacing them. The rear brakes are fine.

The transmission wasn't butter-smooth after 30K, but it felt like new after the transmission fluid was drained and replaced. I'm considering changing out the transmission fluid more often since the past 10K have been mostly stop-and-go driving on surface streets.

The fit and finish of the body remain good, and all other components function as normal. The engine runs well, and the dealer found no indications during the 30K service check. We're still, overall, very happy with our purchase.


Update: 22,222.9K of Experience

I parked the truck last night and read the odometer. I got deuces all the way across, except for the last digit. Shoot, I thought, I'd better update my review.

This truck is definitely aging well. The positives I've mentioned below remain. The interior still feels tight and quiet, while the engine/transmission performance has been excellent. No major problems to report.

I added a Snugtop lid to the bed, so now the bed's like one big trunk and has much more utility than before. The lid can be removed without any tools by two people inside of 5 minutes, and reattached in about the same amount of time, so tall loads are not a problem if they're planned for.

With the lid, though, means that some long loads (>5.5 ft)don't fit with the lid closed. The remedy is to remove one of the shocks on the lid and have it stay closed either through lashing or via gravity. Awkward, but the benefits of having the oversized, lockable "trunk" outweighs this minor inconvenience.

So far, so good.


Update: 5K of Experience

Right now the truck sits at about 5K miles and I'm still loving it. I wanted to update the review with more recent experiences, mostly some people- and stuff-hauling. (The text of the original review appears below.)

First off, after 5K, the shorter bed still remains a non-issue. Recently, we hauled a queen-sized bed around town which didn't slip right into the truck box but was easily secured slanted into the box using straps and the tie-downs on the inside of the bed. (BTW I purchased the factory bedliner, which installs the tie-downs outside the bedliner so it stays readily accessible. That's very thoughtful.) Having the crew cab means my grunts get to sit comfortably in the rear as we haul this thing around town.

The center seat came in handy when we picked up some out-of-towners from the airport. There were four of them and two of us. All the luggage got dumped in the bed. We were in and out of the white zone in a scant sixty seconds.

I also installed the factory step-sides. These rails are definitely useful: shorter adults and kids use them all the time to clamber into the vehicle, and I get less complaints of the vehicle being too far off the ground.

We took an 800 mile trip (LA-to-SF) recently. The mileage I got was within the 19 MPG advertised for the vehicle. Again, bumpy portions of the I-5 highlighted the stiff suspension, but otherwise the ride was comfortable and quiet. The 5.4L V8 performed flawlessly going up and down the mountain passes, with plenty of passing power on the uphills.

No quality problems to report after the first 5K. The engine still runs smoothly, with the hesitation from 1st to 2nd not as pronounced. (Better throttle control on the driver's part?) All components seem to be operating normally without any glitches. I definitely remain impressed with the quality of this vehicle and continue to be satisfied with my decision to purchase it.


Original Review

I purchased the 2002 Ford F150 XLT Supercrew (4x2) at the end of October of 2002 and have driven it for about 1400 miles. I use it as a daily driver (13 miles each way on surface streets) and occasionally to drive around friends and family. I estimate an even split between city and highway miles. In the past month I used it once to drive out to go kart practice (90 miles each way) and another time to pick up a sofa and love seat set (40 miles with the cargo). This epinion is based upon these experiences.

I was looking to upgrade my (compact) Mazda B3000 for a larger truck with the flexibility of carrying passengers. My fiance and I are planning to start a family in a couple of years and the truck is a long term investment. I wanted to stay away from SUVs since I usually carry messy and tall cargo -- mountain bikes, DJ equipment, the go kart, and so forth. I had driven my friend's F150 Supercab and had a good experience. I admit to having a bias toward Ford trucks, plus I had fixed-pricing through my employer and Ford offered a $2500 cash back rebate, so I didn't consider any other brands.

The final decision to select the Supercrew was driven really by the value the truck represented on paper. The XLT trim has a long list of standard features. Some standard ones I liked in particular: a locking tailgate; a fold-down 60/40 split rear bench with storage compartments on the back wall; power adjustable pedals; tinted glass on the rear window and rear door windows; and 4-wheel ABS. Significant non-standard options I added are a power adjustable driver's seat, a power sliding rear window, the upgraded 5.4L Triton V8 w/ automatic transmission, and the Class III towing package.

Initial quality on the vehicle is excellent. I haven't found any defects significant enough to report. Fit of the doors, windows, window seals, tailgate, and hood seem fine. I hear no rattles or squeaks to speak of during driving.

Power on the optional 5.4L Triton V8 is plentiful for the duties I've asked this truck to perform. With the sofa and loveseat, along with four adults in the vehicle, the truck had plenty of torque and a good kick. In normal driving there is a slight hesitation sometimes from first to second, but otherwise the transmission operates smoothly and consistently. I haven't had the opportunity to tow anything so I can't comment on the truck's performance there. I'm still collecting mileage statistics, but the numbers seem close to the published 15 MPG City/19 MPG Hwy.

The truck is definitely full-sized. Even so, the turning circle is surprisingly tight and maneuvering in small spaces is challenging but not impossible. I like the large windows, with the side windows set low to allow blind spot checks. There still is a pretty serious blind spot on the passenger side right over the bed since the bed seems to sit higher than other trucks. Handling on surface streets is predictable. Road feel with the power assist remains present through most normal turns and comforting at highway speeds. Braking is strong, though it did take me a while to figure out that braking harder meant much more braking pressure than I'm used to. One panic stop -- inattentive driving made me almost miss a stop sign -- convinced me that braking on this truck is exceptional.

The ride is smooth over most driving surfaces. With the optional tow package, the suspension seems stiffer than my friend's F150, with small road bumps evident in the ride. This suspension makes the truck "resonate" with some concrete freeway surfaces, causing bumpiness and sharp up-and-down motion at highway speeds, which is my only complaint on the ride. The cab is impressively quiet, even at significant highway speeds, and no wind noise is evident.

Sitting behind the wheel, the controls are laid out logically and adjustments are easy to make. The leather wrapped steering wheel is comfortable on the hands. The easy-to-read instrument cluster contains a tach and analog gauges for temp, oil pressure, and voltage. A single digital read-out provides both the odometer reading and trip meter -- a pushbutton switch swaps the output data. The power driver's seat offers plenty of adjustments and a lumbar support. I've found I can really fine tune my seat to a comfortable driving position for the long haul. The power sliding window is convenient when venting the cab: cracking that open along with the front windows creates a comfortable draft through the cab without excessive wind noise around the open front windows. Most folks probably would consider this option superfluous, but it seems to be the one feature that has the largest "wow" factor.

The interior is spacious. Four hefty-sized adults or two hefty and three average-sized adults fit comfortably. Of course, these adults have to clamber up the side of the truck, and the trip gets even more adventurous for small children, so a planned future upgrade are step-sides. We also haven't tried to stuff a sixth person in the front, but I'm estimating a small person could likely ride there for short trips. The rear seats have headrests and shoulder belts for two of the three passengers, with anchor points in the rear for a child seat. One impressive thing with the interior is the number of courtesy lights: the interior can really be lit up at night.

The standard factory sound system has a CD player and 12 presets for FM stations and 6 for AM. It also includes the new Radio Data System, or RDS, which allows broadcasters to transmit short text messages with the radio broadcast. So far that feature has been useful in identifying radio stations and the title and artist of the songs that are playing, but we have yet to take a long enough trip to see how effective this new feature could be. The sound quality is passable and power is decent, and I can see it satisfying most folks.

Folding the rear seats down creates a flat surface to place cargo in the cab. The rear door makes putting stuff in this area a snap. This feature came in handy when we went to go karting: that's where the cooler, the picnic table, bags, etc., ended up for the 90 minute jaunt out of town. The headrests do make contact with the front seats when folding, so the front seats might need to be moved or the rear headrests removed during this procedure.

The bed length is advertised at 5.5'. As mentioned earlier it seems deeper than a normal bed which makes for a taller tailgate and hence a longer extension when the gate is down. All the feet of the long couch we hauled made it onto the truck -- no overhangs. It doesn't seem much shorter than the bed in my Mazda truck, as seen when comparing how an EZ-up tent fits in the bed. I don't imagine for what I plan to do that bed length will be an issue.

Working with cargo in the bed can be challenging. The tall bed and the added height from the tow-package suspension makes slipping cargo over the side a problem for my 5'6" frame. The depth of the bed, though, gives some comfort that stuff in the bed won't be affected too much by the wind at speed. Taking cargo in from the rear hasn't been an issue, but the tailgate is narrower than the standard full-size bed opening and I can imagine wider loads won't lay down flat properly. The position of the bed tie-downs -- about 4 inches above the floor on the side walls -- provides a surprising amount of flexibility in tying down cargo.

Just for kicks I logged onto Ford's web site to see what upgrades I can get for the truck. I was really surprised at how much other stuff I can use to personalize this truck. (Given the number of trucks I'm seeing, setting my truck apart from the rest of the world seems like a good idea.) Many of the accessories are bolt-on, requiring little or no modification to the vehicle. The aftermarket options available for this vehicle are staggering as well and customization is limited only by the imagination and one's wallet. I'm looking forward to adding features and personalizing this truck over the next few years.

To sum up, I love this pickup. As a people mover, periodic stuff hauler, and perhaps a tow vehicle, this truck seems to fit our needs now and into the future. I'm satisfied with amount of truck I got for my money, and the performance so far.