Saturday, Aug 14, 2004 at 09:46
I remember talking to someone about them but as to whether I am against them or not is up to what you want to use it for. I mean for a big comfy truck that does a lot of towing and highway work they are fantastic. On
the beach they have no competition. I can also assure you they will carry 1 tonne or tow with ease. However if you want to do any 4wding that sees you folding a Patrol or Landcruisers mirrors in then it just isn't going to happen.
Well we have actually taken them down some tight tracks but some we have had to reverse all the way out and the sides get very scratched. Although the paints must be quite thick as you can cut and polish them quite
well. Most scratches have been removed this way.
I would also imagine that the reason the F250 does so
well in the States is it costs ableepload less over there. We only get the XL and XLT here but over there that is the 2 base models. They also get models equiped to the likes of a Ti Patrol.
I am not against having to have your foot on the brake pedal to pull it out of
park but it would be nice if the brake switch was reliable. They didn't even have one in the country so ours was replaced with a switch from another new F250.
The interior is also below par. How can a vehicle so big not have a glovebox? Sure it has a large centre console but so do most other vehicles. The dash is made of poorly cut cheap plastic.
One of our vehicles handbrake levers needs to be lifted up and down a few times if you want the light and chime to stop when you take the handbrake off. Many
services but never fixed.
The airconditioning cannot keep pace with the Summer heat in
Brisbane. Up North it is almost non existent. The aircon almost switches itself off when stationary but does get better once you have been moving for a little while. But not much better.
One of them arrived missing trim parts and some malformed trim parts.
They are quite softly sprung and can bottom out easily.
The headlights are so bad they border on dangerous.
You will need to get aftermarket tie down points if you want to put anything into a styleside tray. There is only one in each corner and it is a BIG tray. The rear two are also almost totally covered when a Ford tray line is installed.
A lot of these things can be fixed by either your warranty or the aftermarket. However we are still waiting on some warranty claims (pretty crap since one is August? 2003 and the other Febuary 2004 model) and the company has spent money on headlight upgrades and spotlights.
It might be possible to remove the filter in the
tank (its a gauze sock type thing for coarse contaminants) and it is something we want to try however we have been told that removing the in
tank filter would void the warranty. The 7.3litre also does not have a lift pump so we are dubious as to whether or not it would cope with a real 2nd filter.
If you want decent tyres as the standard Goodyears aquaplane VERY easily on wet roads then there is very little to choose from due to the 16x7 rim size and the high load rating. If you get aftermarket 16x8 rims then you can get a huge selection. In the standard size and load rating (this is for dual cabs so singles may be different as they are short and much lighter) there were 3 tyre choices 6 months ago and none were decent A/T.
Ours do spend most of their time on the highway somtimes very loaded or towing heavy trailers so we get the use out of them. However for a privately owned car that spends a lot of time in the city I would think they would not be very good at all.
Although when I go away, I see they are multiplying like rabbits in the regional areas. I would imagine they would make an excellent compromise in these areas as instead of buying a 4x4 ute and a 2wd truck you can have one that does both. This is essentially why we have them.
The USA also has the 6 litre version now which we will not see until the new F250 is released here in about 12 months. Apparently more powerful and efficient than 7.3 (as you would expect with a new engine).
It is your choice if you want to buy one. Just need to weigh up the pros and cons the same as for any purchase. But for my money I wouldn't.
Utemad
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