Been looking at trucks...

[2kwik4u]

This looks pretty cool for a steering wheel. Would like to see it implemented in the trucks and SUV's
Ford has reinvented the wheel ... the steering wheel | Fox News

In general I'm not a fan of Ford interiors. Just not my style.

HOWEVER.

They know their market for certain. I spent several years driving both an F350 and a Econoline "fleet service" style vehicles. The amount of time I sat in the truck waiting on a client, waiting for a vendor, or getting my timing right between appointments was absurd. So much so that I had RAM mounts installed in both of those vehicles to hold my laptop so I could do office work from the road. This convertible steering wheel, and the slidy over table console thing are gonna be big hits for those that work out of their trucks.

 

[adrianp89]

In general I'm not a fan of Ford interiors. Just not my style.

HOWEVER.

They know their market for certain. I spent several years driving both an F350 and a Econoline "fleet service" style vehicles. The amount of time I sat in the truck waiting on a client, waiting for a vendor, or getting my timing right between appointments was absurd. So much so that I had RAM mounts installed in both of those vehicles to hold my laptop so I could do office work from the road. This convertible steering wheel, and the slidy over table console thing are gonna be big hits for those that work out of their trucks.

Was thinking the same exact thing, I am surprised this hasn't been done before.

 

[BlkGS]

Neat idea, ut inwould be worried about when that mechanism fails and now your steering wheel is a permanent table.

its like the power folding console shjfter on f150. The table could be supremely useful, but not with that stupid power fold. And all they had to do was fot the rotary shifter from.expedition and itd have worked great.

 

[2kwik4u]

its like the power folding console shjfter on f150. The table could be supremely useful, but not with that stupid power fold. And all they had to do was fot the rotary shifter from.expedition and itd have worked great.

100% agree on that shifter. Console shifters SUCK anyway. Moreso in a truck, and Triple So when it has to fold out of the way for another feature to work. WTF was wrong with column shifters. The industry solved this problem DECADES ago.

I hope for owners saker, there are some manual releases and latches built into the design so you can recover in the event of electronics failure.

 

[BlkGS]

I'm not a fan of column shifters, id prefer a console shifter than a column, but the push button or rotary Shifters have grown on me, and solve the issue as well.

IMO, if the shifter aint gonna have a direct linkage, it can be a knob or button.

 

[adrianp89]

100% agree on that shifter. Console shifters SUCK anyway. Moreso in a truck, and Triple So when it has to fold out of the way for another feature to work. WTF was wrong with column shifters. The industry solved this problem DECADES ago.

I hope for owners saker, there are some manual releases and latches built into the design so you can recover in the event of electronics failure.

They all have manual releases to get the car into neutral. When I worked 12v, we would use them quite often to move the gear shifter without turning the car on (since the entire dash was apart).

 

[suke]

I'm not a fan of column shifters, id prefer a console shifter than a column, but the push button or rotary Shifters have grown on me, and solve the issue as well.

IMO, if the shifter aint gonna have a direct linkage, it can be a knob or button.

I refuse to look at anything with a column shifter. It's a non starter for me. Which was easy to narrow down trucks when I was looking. Ram and Ford were the only options that didn't have those damn things.

 

[BlkGS]

With all the talk of "things getting better", I called the Ford dealer the other day to ask about ordering a new f150. They said 6+ months, if I order a platinum I don't get nav or massage seats or something else I forgot (but normally you would). No discounts, $500 non refundable deposit. But "they're not overcharging like other dealers and selling at MSRP".

Needless to say, I didn't do that, lol.

 

[suke]

With all the talk of "things getting better", I called the Ford dealer the other day to ask about ordering a new f150. They said 6+ months, if I order a platinum I don't get nav or massage seats or something else I forgot (but normally you would). No discounts, $500 non refundable deposit. But "they're not overcharging like other dealers and selling at MSRP".

Needless to say, I didn't do that, lol.

check the F150 forums. There's a dealer that does 5% under invoice and will price protect during the build. Meaning if Ford comes out with price increases from the time you put the build in to when it's done they'll stick to the original deal. Then just have it shipped to ya for $800 or one way ticket and drive it back.

 

[scokill]

Yeah, that's been an issue with gm motors since they started adding AFM. Ram has the issue too, my dad's 6.4L in his 2500 had that issue.

I'm definitely all over the place. Part of me wonders if the smart move is to buy a 250 diesel, as those tend to hold more value at 100k miles or so than a gas 150.

I traded in my Suburban with AFM with 300K miles. No issues, but I did replace the valve covers with bad design that allowed PCV to suck out oil.