GEN 2 2018 SCrew: Early Experience

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NHnewbie

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2018 SCrew: Early Experience

Recently took delivery of a 2018 Magnetic SCrew Raptor after 10 years and 200,000 miles of driving Tundras. The Tundras were the model of reliability, with only one unscheduled maintenance item in 10 years (covered as a warranty item even though the truck was a year past the warranty expiration). But, I wanted something with more “sporting” performance and appearance. The Raptor is my only Ford in 50+ years of buying and owning motor vehicles, and only my second vehicle produced by a U.S. headquartered manufacturer. Overall, my experience with the Raptor through the first 700 miles has been excellent, with no problems to date. The few problems I thought I had all turned out to be pilot error; perhaps not unexpected for a vehicle in which the owners manuals total 800+ pages. This is a far more sophisticated vehicle than the Tundra, and the features/capabilities are impressive.

What I like:

 Overall comfort/ride: With the off-road orientation of this truck and the OEM tires, I was expecting a crude, noisy ride on-road. Nice surprise here, as this vehicle is far quieter and smoother on-road than the Tundras. This is important to me as the closest to off-road this truck will see is my gravel driveway.

 Sync 3: far more user friendly and capable than the OEM nav system in the Tundra; night and day difference. Found the Sync software easy to update via USB thumb drive; not available in the previous Tundras.

 Distinctive appearance: nothing else quite like it, plus large range of aftermarket accessories/enhancements available.

 Performance: not fully explored so far, but still impressive.

 Range: 600+ miles with large capacity gas tank.

 Aux/upfitter switches: makes adding electrical equipment (lighting in my case) easy.

 Lots of nice design details: well thought out, quality that shows.

What I don’t like:

 Auto Start/Stop “feature:” has no place on a vehicle like this; I currently disable this on each start with the button, but will soon get into Forscan to disable permanently. If Ford finds it necessary to include this feature, the button should be setup to turn it on (IOW, its off unless you press the button), and the selection of off/on should remain through start cycles.

 Exhaust note: at least inside the truck, it sounds like a wet fart. I own two other vehicles with twin turbo engines and they definitely don’t sound like this!

 Lane keeping system: a bit of a toy as far as I can tell so far. Useful only when lanes are well defined and not obscured by surface contamination, which is not the norm where I live.

 OEM bed divider option: pretty useless as it can be installed in only two positions (only one position if the bed extender option is also installed), and neither position is useful. The tundra bed divider can be easily adjusted to any location in the bed.

 OEM folding soft tonneau cover: if I could do it again, I’d get an aftermarket roll up cover, as the OEM folding cover does not allow full use of the bed without removing the cover; doable but a hassle compared to the roll up variety. In favor of the OEM cover: it fits better, looks better, and is of higher quality than the cover on my Tundra.

Overall, I am more than pleased with this vehicle so far. What could change this are reliability problems and a poor service experience. My local Toyota dealer is very good re routine and warranty service. My closest Ford dealers have terrible online reviews for service. This could be a deal breaker for me. My patience with reliability problems combined with poor service is close to non-existent. I’ll be back in a Tundra if this turns out to be the case.
 
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Higgs Boson

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The things you don't like are simply modern tech and factory accessories.

Factory accessories are almost never ideal no matter what car or truck.

Start stop and lane keeping are great features but you're simply not used to them. Everyone resists it on first experience, including me 4 years ago when Benz came out with it. You get used to it and will eventually leave it enabled, it is not intrusive.

Lane Keeping can save your life, simple as that. Turn it off unless you are traveling on the highway and feel there is a chance you will get tired. I have seen people cross the highway and die. Lane keeping "could" stop that from happening just enough for you to regain control and live.
 
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NHnewbie

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You get used to it and will eventually leave it enabled

it is not intrusive.

No, actually, I wont. Start/stop not as intrusive as I expected it to be, just pointless; no meaningful benefits plus additional unnecessary wear & tear, complexity.
 
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Loufish

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No, actually, I wont.

Ha...ha...you're correct...the only thing about it that I got used to was turning it off every time I started the truck...I think it's a crazy feature..
I knew I wouldn't like the lane keeping feature which is why when I ordered my 2018 it was without that option.
 

smurfslayer

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Ha...ha...you're correct...the only thing about it that I got used to was turning it off every time I started the truck...I think it's a crazy feature..
I knew I wouldn't like the lane keeping feature which is why when I ordered my 2018 it was without that option.

I don’t know if you could say I’ve been a “defender” of auto stop/start, but I’ve experienced it in Europe a few times and I wasn’t initially turned off of it as much as some have been. I will say I’m about 65% for, 35% against right now, but I recently tripped over a safety bug this “feature” causes. I was rolling to a stop to turn right onto a 45mph divided road. Traffic was approaching from the left but I had enough of a gap if the cell-yakking-yaris-driver would just. put. the. phone. down and drive! So eventually, said lazy, uncaring and selfish yaris driver pulls out into the far left, swerves back right and gets going very slowly. I spy a gap and think here’s my chance ... nope. auto stop. Now I have to start again and no, I’m not going to chance the oncoming traffic because once the truck stops, starts and you have the ability to move is at least .5 seconds. Not a lot at traffic speeds, but I’ve noticed the truck doesn’t appreciate heavy throttle after just starting back up.

I do like sitting at traffic lights not expending fuel, especially long lights and there are plenty around me.

That said, Ford missed the boat on this <cough> “feature”. all they needed to do was give is a mechanical switch and not give the damn computer so much overlording control. let me have sport mode when I start up, not having to select it every time and let me choose whether or not to default to auto stop/start.
 

jaz13

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The reason sport and start/stop reset after every key cycle is because the EPA knows many people would not use the economy settings if they had the choice. Manufacturers only get credit for these devices on the fuel economy tests if these features reset after each key cycle. It's not a Ford thing, this is the way all manufacturers make cars now.
 
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NHnewbie

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I do like sitting at traffic lights not expending fuel


If you look at the life cycle cost of owning and driving a Raptor, the fuel savings related to auto start/stop will not make a detectable blip on the total.
 

FordPerf Addict

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If you look at the life cycle cost of owning and driving a Raptor, the fuel savings related to auto start/stop will not make a detectable blip on the total.



Would be interesting to see some real numbers on that


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jaz13

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Would be interesting to see some real numbers on that


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Stop/start only exists to game the EPA's fuel consumption test. 1/3 of the city simulation is at idle. Auto companies boost their ratings by shutting off the engine during the idle portion.

And as for fuel consumption, I blow any savings out the tailpipe by many multiples using the remote start in the winter. But the start/stop makes me feel less guilty about warming up my truck on cold mornings.

The only time I mind the stop/start is on hot days when it cuts the A/C. The rest of the time it is transparent to me. (if I need a quick getaway, releasing a tad of brake pressure fires up the engine. it also won't turn off if the front wheels are turned.)
 

Loufish

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So how many stop/start cycles would I have every day in Los Angeles traffic?....50?
That's 25 more times each day the starter gets used...that alone had me reaching to shut the damn thing off...If it was for sitting at long rail road crossings or such then yeah maybe but that's not my situation...
 
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