Waited for a 2016 Tacoma.. bought a F-150 instead

You get more truck for the money with the f150. Plus if you get a tune for the 3.5 Ecoboost it will rape the Tacoma 3.5l while getting better gas mileage.

 

Truck rape

 

The ol' banana in the tail pipe trick....

 

I went from a 2009 tacoma reg cab 4x4 with ome 3 inch lift and 32's to a 2014 f150 4x4 5.0 reg cab short bed with fox 2.5 inch lift and 33's. The ford got almost the same mpg on the hwy but less in town and Was way way more comfortable on the hwy, but off road the taco was much better due to overall size and ground clearance. The extra 1/2 foot of length in the bed made sleeping a lot more comfortable.

But after one yr i really wanted to be able to wheel again and wanted better than the tacoma's off road performance, with simple bolt on mods, so i bought a jeep jk....

Not to start talking about jeeps now.. So my thoughts after all three of these over the last 3 yrs and probably 65-70k miles driven in that time the taco is my overall prefrence. For ppl that dont go wheeling the ford is a great choice.

When was shopping for the ford i was also looking at the tacoma access cab v6. But it was more money with less option. Ford had satelite radio and limited slip rear. With the same wheel base i thought it should be ok in easy trails. Somehow i started feeling like inwas getting more for less and signed.. Oh and in the price from ford my lift was included!

Anyway.... Had i just spent a few more bucks up front and got the tacoma i would still be driving it and have spent less overall.

 

This. Nice truck man. To be honest the Aluminum repair thing is being overblown. The 17K repair is if the shop has to send things out and dings you for every little thing. The local Ford dealer body shop has the right tools and has done a few panels for slightly more than steel. In ten years everyone is going to go to aluminum anyways, similar to what happened with engine blocks, and Ford is just ahead of the curve. Once that happens Aluminum will cost as much as steel to fix.

Like someone else said, the difference in retained value between Ford and Toyota trucks is now under 5%.

F150 is to wide to wheel here, but in the field with the right mods it can run with a Tacoma anyday with twice the load.

 

The aluminum repair costs aren't being overblown, that's Ford marketing and fan boy talk. Ford says an equal amount of damage will cost about the same, the problem is aluminum vehicles don't sustain an equal amount of damage when they get into accidents. A fender bender in a typical truck results in you being able to drive away, this isn't the case for the aluminum wonder truck, and there's a reason the IIHS went and did this test to educate consumers. You can see the new Ford sustained much more damage in real world testing.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YkOZRjz3_3o

 

We all make mistakes. The important thing is to learn from them.....

 

You lost me at fanboy considering I have three fucking brands in my driveway . One of the owners of two local Ford dealerships is a friend/customer of mine. I know a bunch of his neighbors and they have had to have a few dents taken care of. The cost was nowhere near the 17K one poster mentioned.

The aluminum panels on an F150 are actually thicker than the steel panels and rebound from minor damage, like door dings, rather than stay set like steel does. Ford didn't compromise the structural integrity of the panels. Like armor on Tacomas that is made of Aluminum, Ford added more material to compensate for the softer Aluminum. BTW the firewall and the frame of the F150 are made of steel. Actually the F150 uses a higher proportion of high strength steels in it's frame than anyone else is right now.

As for the "more damage" the quarter panel on both trucks is still messed and needs to be replaced in each case. Same with the bumper and bumper support structure. So there isn't 15% more damage there. What there is in that case is 15% more space where energy was absorbed and not passed on to the occupants. That's not the same thing. Like I tried to say, much like engine blocks, as time goes by fixing Aluminum will cost less and less until it is roughly the same as steel.

Now go back to working on post number 5....

Edit: Sorry for coming off the handle, but the Fanboy and Hater comments on this site get old really fast. You can like a truck and it's technology yet not be a fanboy. It's called keeping your options open and owning multiple brands. I prefer Ford and Toyota based on their reliability, but after my experience with Hyundai I'd also be extremely comfortable with their vehicles. Everything I've had from Chrysler has been junk and my Nissan was meh.

 

RE: Aluminium. Don't think of it as "specialty equipment" think of it as "new equipment." Nobody has made an alu body vehicle to the extent that Ford has with the F150, so there were not very many shops that needed to have the equipment. F series trucks have always been the most sold vehicle in the US for decades. The F150 is the most common of the bunch. More and more shops are able to handle fixing the aluminum, so prices wont be as bad.

RE: Frame. The raptor has always had a different frame than the rest of the f150s. Doesn't mean the F150 frame is weak...just means that ford is strengthening the frame of the model that they know will see much harder use. I wish Toyota could figure out how to coat a frame so it doesnt rust out in 8 years.

@OP: Good choice. F150 or Silverado will be my next truck. Toyota relies on the name too much while everybody else is out there and actually progressing.

 

What drew me to Toyota like someone else said was its name, which these trucks rely heavily on for obvious reasons. After paying 43g's for a mid size truck (yes I'm in Canada) I realized what a mistake I made. I enjoy outdoors, but I also enjoy baseball, golf and travelling. Truck served its purposes in the Eastern Canadian winters, but come summer months it didn't. After a ball game I was scared to let anyone over 200lbs sit on my tailgate cause it flexed so bad, 4 sets of clubs and luggage actually sagged my truck, full size grown man couldn't fit in the back of my crew cab let alone the front, my two kids never even had leg room. These trucks are sharp looking, just wish they had all the pros the F150 has. No comparison in engineering, power, electronics, comfort, interior spaciousness etc... With the 2016 I guess they'll be once again relying on its name for sales, it sure won't be for anything else. Which ever anyone chooses to spend there hard earned money on is there decision...

 

^^^This^^^

This new '16 appears like it is going to push people into another brand.

*clearing throat*

 

Lol here ha go @ramonortiz55

 

i like this

 

I thought you would lol!!!!!

 

Here is my take on the F150 I bought a few months back:

I bought a used 2012 F150 3.5 Ecoboost screw with the 6.5' bed. Coming from an FJ this was quite a change but I knew I needed to get back into a truck. I loved the FJ for what it was and what it was capable of doing. It was the ultimate utility vehicle. Before the FJ I had a Highlander that is now my wife's vehicle and we had a couple of RAV4s as well as my '09 Tacoma so obviously we have been Toyota loyalists for many years.

First off, it was very difficult buying a V6 in a full size truck even though it uses two turbos. Then I test drove one. I was hooked. The F150 I bought is huge compared to the FJ. In reality parking wise it only feels a little bigger than my '09 Tacoma DCLB. But it is still big.

The interior and options are fantastic. Sync is a little clunky and not as friendly as I had hoped but I am working with it. I added a OEM Ford Kicker sound system that comes with a 200w powered 10" sub, four door speakers and a DSP/amp. Big sound improvement for a $400 investment and a totally hidden factory look. My truck came with a sunroof but no power rear slider. For another $400 I added the power slider. All plug and play. The back seat area is huge. Did I say the back seat area is huge? The rear floor is completely flat so you can fold up the rear seats and fit quite a bit of stuff back there if needed.

Fuel mileage. Right now, I am averaging the same as I did with my Tacoma and my FJ. Also I have a Livewire TS+ tuner and am running a canned 91 performance tune. Numbers are right around 400hp and 500lb/ft of torque per the manufacturer's claim. I do very little freeway driving and I have a heavy foot but if I average the same mileage that I did with my Toyotas with close to 400hp on tap I am happy. It will hit the limiter pretty quickly with power to spare.

Now to the Ecoboost. I won't say I don't worry about the turbos but I haven't heard of any failing. Both turbos are liquid and oil cooled. I still let it idle for a second or two before I shut it down. Off the line performance is typical for a turbo motor. A little lag at the get go but once they spool up hold on. 50mph to 70mph performance is downright impressive. Everyone has stated the Ecoboost likes to be pushed hard. Carbon deposits are possible issue with the Ecoboost. A catch can is recommended. Synthetic oil is required. 87 octane fuel is okay but with the tune I am using I am running 92 octane.

Towing. I only pull my utility trailer. With a load of bark or sand the F150 pulls it with ease. The same load would make the FJ and Tacoma work a little harder but that is to be expected. I don't put any loads in the truck bed. I did load it with sand when my trailer was being used and it did fine but air bags would have been nice. The F150 has soft rear springs. Ford compromised load carrying for comfort as they figured most F150 owners would rarely haul heavy loads in the back. That is what a Super Duty is for. If you have ever driven a SD unloaded you know what I mean.

Overall, I am impressed so far. Time will tell. I bought it used and got it for a great price so hopefully it's previous life wasn't too hard on it. Oh, as far as spark plugs are concerned except for the stupid coil connectors the plugs take a standard 5/8" spark plug socket. No fancy doodads needed.

 

I have the 3.5 Screw Ecoboost and I can say it blows my old tacoma out of the water. Everything you said is dead accurate and I got mine used for a price that still blows me away today. I do worry about the turbos but like you said, but all the research I have come across indicates they hold up well.

The size of the truck is ridiculous, the engine pulls very well while getting me over 20 mpg on every tank. Couple parts of the truck are a little clunky and it doesn't feel as "tight" overall as the tacoma if that makes sense, but it is definitely a solid truck.

 

What models were you comparing?
I'm looking at a TRD Sport Double Cab Long Bed. Puts me right around $34,350 MSRP.
To get myself into an F-150 with some basic must haves I am looking at around $44-45K.
I was initially looking at a new Super Duty but those things get in the realm of about $60K and the gas milage still blows. (I have an old 250 Lariat right now, would have loved to replace it with a new one, but the SO and I decided we'd rather buy a house with the money haha)
I didn't find that a full-sized saved me money at all. I was going to spend considerably more.
Now, where a full-sized does save me money is in mods. I will Mod a Tacoma, I don't Mod full-sized very much. I think they look plenty hot on their own.

 

Visited my local Ford dealer yesterday. I was looking at an F150, XLT, 2.7 ecoboost, 4x4, double cab, with 301a package ( forget what else it had on it). Sticker was $44K but they were selling it for $35-ish.
The back seats were impressively spacious.

 

Lots of nice full size choices on the market. It's a lucrative segment for automakers. I just don't want to do my daily driving in such a huge vehicle. I tow my travel trailer which is 3000 lbs and that is as heavy as I will go. If I got an F-150, even if it the take home price was simialar to a Taco would mean I am driving something I don't like driving around.
Most people don't go mid-size because of cost, but rather size.

 

Woah.
Buying this truck has been the hardest decision of my life. I've almost gotten divorced 5 times over it (and we have not bought a house yet!).

Didn't know they were that desperate to sell 150's. May need to go talk to someone about them.

The size of the cabin is the final consideration. I've decided on all other things. Now I just need to decide if I'm giving up too much by going mid-sized. The space in a full is amazing. I do a lot of long trips with 3-4 people and the space is just really nice.
I really don't make the sacrifice though. Just the people in my back seats HAHA