[kdjasper]

Hi all. I have been driving my 2010 King Ranch for 8 years and 8 months, and today (Wed 11/21/18) was the last day I will ever drive it. Loved that truck, 5.4L Triton with 6-speed tranny with 3.55 gears and 171K miles on it. Mechanically, it was rock solid. Body wise, not so much from these Minnesota winters and the salted roads. I had rust happening just about everywhere, and the rocker panels were rusted through--every time I slammed the rear doors shut another chunk of rusted metal would drop to the running boards. KKB fair condition on dealer trade looked to be $7.4K-$10K. I knew they would have to put the truck to auction. The dealer I bought it new from only offered me $6K trade in, and wouldn't negotiate down any further on a new 2018 King Ranch (price is the price). So I went to another Ford dealer, and through negotiations I ended up getting a resulting trade in value of $8,799--let's just call it $8.8K, or $2.8K higher than the offer from the other dealer. Now here is the part you guys are going to love reading about...the first dealer was a 5.0L V8 with 3.31 gears, and the second dealer was a 3.0 PowerStroke with 3.55 gears. Both trucks had towing mirrors and 6.5" long bed that I was looking for. So, how is that diesel payback period looking since that I picked it up for $2.8K less than I could have got the V8!

I know I probably could have tried to sell my old truck to private party, but I have always traded in for piece of mind that I never have to worry how the new owner is getting by with my old truck. Also, with all the rust I had, I seriously think it may have been a long difficult process to sell it.

Anyway, my new 2018 F150 King Ranch PowerStroke White Platinum with Stone Gray accent having 6.5' bed and tow mirrors with 3.55 gears is fully loaded--MSRP $72,945, but with my trade in and negotiations I was out the door at $59K. I did all the negotiations before even taking it for a test drive, since I told them there was no point to test driving if they weren't going to make me a Black Friday deal I couldn't walk away from (of course I have already test drove the F150 diesel numerous times over the past 3-4 months at other dealers).

I have always custom ordered my new trucks and waited for them to arrive. This truck happened to be exactly how I would have ordered it, and it was sitting on the lot (I knew it was there). I was surprised when I test drove it that it only had 8.0 miles on the odometer. Thanks to those in the forum that have been posting how long they have been waiting for their custom ordered trucks, which also motivated me to make this deal.

I am really looking forward to driving this truck and pulling around my Ranger fiberglass boat (~4,000 pounds) with it next summer.

Now I have to stop typing here and get either Husky or WeatherTech floor liners on order. I saw one post where a guy got Husky and was really happy with them, and came from WeatherTech. 2 trucks back I was Husky, last 1 WeatherTech, so will have to give both websites a look.

Cheers!

 

[wreedsvt]

Nice!

I just got the Huskys for mine over the Weathertechs. I like them both, but I would buy the Huskys again.

 

[FordTuff]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new truck. Fingers crossed that your new King Ranch is a bit more impervious to harsh winter months. Are you considering getting some kind of paint protection/underspray?

 

[wheelerd0726]

Congrats on the sweet ride! It sounds like my unicorn!

I looked at one a couple weeks or so ago that was the 6.5’ bed with tow mirrors and had 3.55 rear end, Oxford white with stone accent on the bottom. The only thing it didn’t have that I really wanted was the sunroof in it. I was in a week long negotiation with them and they sold it out from underneath me. Or so that’s what they told me. They may have just told me that to get rid of me lol. We were 1800 apart still, so we still had quite a bit of ground to cover.

Anyways I have moved on and found a platinum tri-coat white with 5.5’ bed and sunroof. I love the two tone white with stone accent on the bottom but the platinum white does glisten in the sun. My only hang up on it that is keeping it from being my “unicorn” is that it doesn’t have tow mirrors and is a short bed.

I have found a dealership on eBay that can sell OEM tow mirrors that are compatible with BLIS, has the 360 cameras in them, and has the spotlights. They come with new switches for the door so the power fold and telescope works also. But at $2,000 dollars it is a bit steep....plus they don’t have chrome caps on them, just the plain black ones. This would be in addition to the $60,000 for the truck I have to pay the dealer the truck is at. So then I’d be in for all at $62,000. I may just have to live with the small mirrors and reminisce the tow mirrors every time I look in the mirrors lol.

 

[kdjasper]

If you haven't bought the truck yet, I would negotiate with the dealer that they swap out the mirrors for the tow mirrors at a reasonable cost since they can put the non-tow mirrors on the shelf in their parts department possibly, or you could sell those on eBay if anyone happens to have a need for them.

I can say that I absolutely love the tow mirrors on my new truck, and it was one of my must have options.

Good luck with your final negotiations on the new truck, and let us know how it turns out.

 

[wheelerd0726]

Well bad day today....better luck next time I guess. I shook hands on a deal on the KR this morning and filled out all the paperwork all except for financing and went to grab lunch with the family while the dealership got the financing paperwork ready only to come back and on final sale contract they had screwed with the numbers that we agreed upon. So after getting the run around and just getting more and more PO’d thinking about it I had to walk away. (I had them at a dang good deal and wasn’t sure how they were doing it to begin with but apparently that was never their intentions to do the deal we agreed upon.) They claimed it was an honest mistake but I’m not buying it.

Anyways the search is still on! I’m still optimistic and now I don’t have to settle for a pickup without tow mirrors!

 

[kdjasper]

My advice is that when you are dropping this much coin on a new truck it better be optioned just how you want it. I was very fortunate, in that I found one on a dealer lot that would be just as I would have custom ordered it. My pattern is to buy brand new every 8-9 years and trade in my old truck when I do it. The last two trucks (2010 F150 5.4 KR & 2002 Tacoma) were both custom orders, and I had almost convinced myself that this one was going to have to be as well.

My two required options for the 2018 F150 3.0 KR were the tow mirrors and the 3.55 rear axle ratio. Yes, with the 10 speed tranny the 3.31 gears will tow just fine for the ~4,200 pound boat I will be towing around; however, I hate the look of the 275/55R20 tires--not enough sidewall rubber for me, so the next tires I put on will be 275/60R20 (believe me that my eyes can see a big difference in the two...many of the Ram trucks come stock with 275/60R20). The larger tires have the effect of reducing the rear axle ratio, in this case from 3.55 to 3.43, and I wouldn't want to reduce a 3.31 to ~3.19 on this truck. And, the 275/60R20's can be done without a lift or leveling with no rub.

My only regret with my new truck purchase was the financing. In hindsight, I should have taken the 0% for 72 months even though they were removing the $2500 Ford Credit incentive and adding that $2500 back into the cost of the truck. I temporarily took the Ford Credit financing 48 months @ 7.9% to refinance with my Credit Union to 36 months @ 2.46% as soon as my title comes in the mailbox. I will have to pay my truck off in 30 months or less at my Credit Union to be at a break-even point from just letting them add $2500 to the initial purchase cost and taking the 0% financing option. So for anyone reading this that is about to make the big purchase hopefully this paragraph will save you from making the same mistake I did.

Happy New Year!

 

[BluePill]

Patience is the toughest part when buying new, especially if you know a future model year might have better features.
Its in the automakers best interest to keep us interested and coming back for more, without, they just wouldn't be able to sustain themselves. For that reason I have seen folks buying outgoing models.