So, after seeing a number of "I was driving my Raptor home after purchasing it 1000 miles away and it didn't make the trip" threads, I wanted to post one where everything went according to plan; the reason for this is that I don't want the only news available to be bad news. After all, who takes the time to log on to a forum and say, "I drove my truck today, and it was uneventful"?
In any event, I found my MSRP deal via another forum member (thanks, Miker397!) in Wayne, MI. The salesman was Mark Movsesian at Jack Demmer Ford. Had a great experience here... placed the order in November, 2016, and the truck was built March 11, 2017 (no beadlocks or CF interior).
As it happens, I have a high school buddy who lives in Dearborn, about 8 miles from the dealership, and I was able to stay at his place. Flew in on Thursday, March 23, and picked up the truck on Friday morning, March 24 at around 9:00 AM. Hung out for the rest of the day with my buddy, and ran out to Ann Arbor (beautiful area!). On the way back from Ann Arbor, we took my truck "home" to the Rouge assembly plant... it's, uh, not in the best neighborhood, and pretty damned sketchy looking (at least at night). Anyhoo, I left at 7:00 AM Eastern on Saturday, March 25 heading for home (Dallas), with the intent to put in a hard first day so that the second day was nice and easy. Mission accomplished.
Day one was right at 900 miles to the West side of Little Rock, AR. The truck performed flawlessly, and was only turned off at fuel/pit stops (two of them). Adaptive cruise was set at 82 mph nearly the whole time, with occasional journeys up to 90 mph or so as circumstances dictated. I was fighting wind the whole day, either a direct headwind, or a pretty stout crosswind. Advertised MPG per the dash display was right at 14 mpg. I did not hand-calculate the actual mileage, but based on feedback from others, real mileage was probably closer to 13. Day two (today) was significantly shorter at only ~300 miles. Adaptive cruise was set between 82 (Arkansas) and 85 (Texas), again with occasional 90 mph speeds as appropriate for traffic. Lifetime MPG per the dash display crept up to 14.1, as I wasn't fighting wind.
I have yet to play with the drive modes at all, and the highest the tach has been so far is around 4100 or so. I'll certainly be playing with it more in the upcoming days.
In any event, I am REALLY pleased with the truck so far, and have to say that the adaptive cruise created a safer driving experience for me and all those around me... with standard cruise control, I typically get fed up with people getting in my way and having to disable the cruise, I drive manually... which means that when I get pissed off, I end up doing 100 mph, passing people on the shoulder, etc...
(Yes, this is ******* driving, and I am an ******* driver. I am at peace with that.)
In any event, the adaptive cruise meant that I could just hang out, waiting for the slowpokes to get out of my way (with the occasional flash of the high beams if they weren't getting the picture), and letting the truck handle the braking, following distances, and acceleration back up to cruising speed. After 900 miles, I'd ordinarily be ready to shoot someone, but this go 'round, it really wasn't too bad. I can't imagine that I'll buy another new vehicle without adaptive cruise.
tl;dr - I bought a Raptor 1200 miles from home and drove it back with 0 drama or concerns; very happy with my purchase
In any event, I found my MSRP deal via another forum member (thanks, Miker397!) in Wayne, MI. The salesman was Mark Movsesian at Jack Demmer Ford. Had a great experience here... placed the order in November, 2016, and the truck was built March 11, 2017 (no beadlocks or CF interior).
As it happens, I have a high school buddy who lives in Dearborn, about 8 miles from the dealership, and I was able to stay at his place. Flew in on Thursday, March 23, and picked up the truck on Friday morning, March 24 at around 9:00 AM. Hung out for the rest of the day with my buddy, and ran out to Ann Arbor (beautiful area!). On the way back from Ann Arbor, we took my truck "home" to the Rouge assembly plant... it's, uh, not in the best neighborhood, and pretty damned sketchy looking (at least at night). Anyhoo, I left at 7:00 AM Eastern on Saturday, March 25 heading for home (Dallas), with the intent to put in a hard first day so that the second day was nice and easy. Mission accomplished.
Day one was right at 900 miles to the West side of Little Rock, AR. The truck performed flawlessly, and was only turned off at fuel/pit stops (two of them). Adaptive cruise was set at 82 mph nearly the whole time, with occasional journeys up to 90 mph or so as circumstances dictated. I was fighting wind the whole day, either a direct headwind, or a pretty stout crosswind. Advertised MPG per the dash display was right at 14 mpg. I did not hand-calculate the actual mileage, but based on feedback from others, real mileage was probably closer to 13. Day two (today) was significantly shorter at only ~300 miles. Adaptive cruise was set between 82 (Arkansas) and 85 (Texas), again with occasional 90 mph speeds as appropriate for traffic. Lifetime MPG per the dash display crept up to 14.1, as I wasn't fighting wind.
I have yet to play with the drive modes at all, and the highest the tach has been so far is around 4100 or so. I'll certainly be playing with it more in the upcoming days.
In any event, I am REALLY pleased with the truck so far, and have to say that the adaptive cruise created a safer driving experience for me and all those around me... with standard cruise control, I typically get fed up with people getting in my way and having to disable the cruise, I drive manually... which means that when I get pissed off, I end up doing 100 mph, passing people on the shoulder, etc...
(Yes, this is ******* driving, and I am an ******* driver. I am at peace with that.)
In any event, the adaptive cruise meant that I could just hang out, waiting for the slowpokes to get out of my way (with the occasional flash of the high beams if they weren't getting the picture), and letting the truck handle the braking, following distances, and acceleration back up to cruising speed. After 900 miles, I'd ordinarily be ready to shoot someone, but this go 'round, it really wasn't too bad. I can't imagine that I'll buy another new vehicle without adaptive cruise.
tl;dr - I bought a Raptor 1200 miles from home and drove it back with 0 drama or concerns; very happy with my purchase
