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I know I'll catch hell for this but here goes.....
Tow capacity 5k
Car weight 2k and trailer sub 1k.
Need to jack the back up a bit for more suspension travel. I know a guy with the same setup towing a 4k boat so I think I'll be good.
We don't get trucks like you do over here so I don't know anything about the "culture", whats good bad or otherwise but in saying that, I REALLY like this
That is a Ford F150 Lightning. Supercharged V8. It is a "sport" truck, so not one built for towing or payloads like a normal truck.
The nice thing about the Lightning (vs, say, the Ram SRT-10) is that it's still got a reasonable tow rating at 5K. The SRT is 500 pounds, IIRC.
A friend and I once towed a Miata down to the autox with a Lightning, and then we both co-drove both vehicles. The Lightning (F Stock) wasn't the fast way around the course, but it was definitely fun.
$15k-$25k.....The challenge is finding one that has not been molested. Most guys overspeed the blower and turn em into 1/4 mile racers. It's pretty fast stock. Best to keep it that way for towing. With car/trailer I'll be under 3,500lbs. Well south of the 5k rating.
I've had a few different pickups/SUV's over the years. After a while I grew tired of driving a truck everyday. The Lightning covers towing requirements and home hauling needs while having some fun too. It's a great truck to throw in the mix. Arguably better than some of the other more purpose built toys I own.
I see cars like these as the last hurrah before self driving cars take off in the next 10+ years. The transition period will be fun when there are mixed drivers. As they become more common I want to be one of the last drivers racing around the streets dodging em. They about the time it all goes away I'll be old and senile so I think I have this timed perfect.
A bit too much to much to even consider to import in that case.
Damn you, you have the two vehicles that would be in my dream garage (though not so sure about SC on miata...i'll take it on the truck any day and willing to trial the miata )
Did you factor in resale value? The $9k extra for the diesel option doesn't just evaporate, you recoup most/all of it when you sell the truck.
Excellent point and I did, yes. The math worked out in favor of this choice once I calculated all the nitty gritty details including the tax write off, maintenance costs, invested difference, running costs, my use case, and intended years of functional use, etc.
Obviously this varies by use case but so many are stuck in the diesel or die mentality that they won't run an honest numerical evaluation. The RAM diesel is a great option, it just didn't make sense for my use case. Much like the 4x4 or die mentality that makes it hard for me to find 4x2 for my use case.
The nice thing about the Lightning (vs, say, the Ram SRT-10) is that it's still got a reasonable tow rating at 5K. The SRT is 500 pounds, IIRC.
A friend and I once towed a Miata down to the autox with a Lightning, and then we both co-drove both vehicles. The Lightning (F Stock) wasn't the fast way around the course, but it was definitely fun.
--Ian
500 pounds is laughable! SRT10 Rams are one of the weirdest things ever. I see molested Lightnings all the time around here. I've heard they get horrendous gas mileage too.
That is pretty funny that the Lightning even had a class to run in!
Well I just got back from Road Atlanta, a 1000-mile plus round trip pulling a tow dolly with a Miata on it. I had 10 wheels and tires in the truck, a floor jack some jack stands and a bunch of tools. The truck is comfortable, the steering is tight, and the engine uses no oil. Odometer pictured below. 2001 Tundra SR5 4.7 2WD extended cab
I tow with a 2004 Silverado 2500HD with 6.0 gas engine on an open trailer. Hoping to get into an enclosed trailer in the next few years along with looking at potentially upgrading to a diesel truck. We'll see what the budget allows...
I upgraded my truck, old one was a 2002 LB7, new(er) one is a 2007 LBZ. More power, more torque, fewer miles, still no DPF or pee required. Crappy photo:
My god your cars/truck stay clean. This truck is 10 years old and still looks brand new! Here in Quebec, Canada, with the snow/salt, it is just impossible to keep them clean...
My god your cars/truck stay clean. This truck is 10 years old and still looks brand new! Here in Quebec, Canada, with the snow/salt, it is just impossible to keep them clean...
Well, the seller detailed it before sale, and when you get up close there are a lot of imperfections. But yes, it's amazing how big a difference it makes to a vehicle's lifetime if there's no salt on the roads.
I traded my 2016 Ram V8 single cab on a 2017 Titan crew cab (non-XD, gas V8) last month. It was awesome on all the test drives I did and it’s great as a daily, but it sucks for towing. My biggest reason for buying a new-ish truck with big power is so I can set the cruise and tow my 20ft enclosed with minimal stress, but the cruise control in this thing is useless while towing. As soon as you start up any kind of slight hill, it downshifts from 7th to 3rd and just holds 3rd gear at 5000rpm all the way up the hill until you get over the crest. It does it with or without tow haul mode. I don’t really understand why it does it… the engine definitely has enough power to hold a higher gear at a lower rpm. I can cancel the cruise, wait for it to upshift to 5th gear at <3000rpm, and then roll back in the throttle, and it will still accelerate up the hill to 80mph with very little effort. It’s just something weird with the transmission and/or cruise programming, and it’s the opposite of stress-free towing. On top of that, it’s 5mpg worse in all conditions than the Hemi Ram. 6-7mpg towing, 12 on my daily route to work, and 15 on the highway with the cruise set at 82.
Video from my recent trip to Akron to drop the car off at the cage builder. I left Lexington with the cruise set at 77mph and it did this on every small hill between here and Cincinatti. I finally couldn't take it anymore and killed the cruise around Cincy when the fuel economy was about to drop below 6mpg. Held 75-80mph for the rest of the trip and never saw more than about 3200rpm and 8mpg. I could definitely live with this if it was a <$10k craigslist deal, but this is ridiculous for a brand new $40k truck with direct injection and a 7sp.
Video from my recent trip to Akron to drop the car off at the cage builder. I left Lexington with the cruise set at 77mph and it did this on every small hill between here and Cincinatti. I finally couldn't take it anymore and killed the cruise around Cincy when the fuel economy was about to drop below 6mpg. Held 75-80mph for the rest of the trip and never saw more than about 3200rpm and 8mpg. I could definitely live with this if it was a <$10k craigslist deal, but this is ridiculous for a brand new $40k truck with direct injection and a 7sp.
I feel your pain. I bought and sold an Armada within a month earlier this year due to the same situation. DD mpg sucked and towing was horrible. I went back to a diesel (Audi Q7 TDI).
Does the titan have a trans cooler? Typically when a truck is doing that while towing it's to protect the trans. Low RPM, high torque and high load is a killer on automatic transmissions in the sub 1 ton trucks. I know on my GMC Canyon if I over ride the downshifting while climbing I can watch my trans temps steadily climb. If I swap to a lower gear that isn't putting as much pressure on the torque converter.
I wouldn't be as surprised/upset if this was my first attempt at towing an enclosed trailer with a gas truck, but it's not. The 2016 Ram that I traded on this Titan had damn near identical specs. Ram: 400hp, 400ft-lb, 5.7L, 8sp trans, rated at 15/22mpg. Titan: 390hp, 394ft-lb, 5.6L, 7sp trans, rated at 15/20mpg. I never had a single complaint about the Ram's towing abilities (even at 80mph) and gas mileage was 5-6mpg better in all conditions. I only switched to the Nissan because I wanted a crew cab, and the Nissan had more creature comforts for the money than the Ford and Ram.
12-03-2017, 07:22 PM
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