Howdy Ya’ll
Tired of borrowing a truck. Have been looking at what’s out there online.
First order of business: I’ve been looking at F-250s 1999-2008. From what I’ve seen, they come with the Triton V8, Triton V10, 6.0 Diesel, and 7.3 Turbo diesel. My wife has an Expedition with a 5.4 and I’m thoroughly impressed with it. I have gotten 20 mpg out of it. Haven’t been able to break above it. Besides horsepower and Cylinders, are there advantages to having a V10? What kinda mileage can one expect out of a V10? Is the 6.0 a reg. diesel with no turbos? From what i’ll use it for, I’m thinking of staying with the V8 gas. It’ll be a basic truck, no MAJOR hauling. I have used our Expedition in hauling a car on a car hauler so I know the Triton is plenty good.
Next question. I’m in love with the 1997-2003 F-150 body style and really like the supercrew cab. (I have kids-I want four doors) My wife’s complaint is the bed looks tremendously small on these model years. I pointed out the 2004-2008 style and she said it’s the same thing. Remember, I’m talking four doors in this model year. What is, or how can I find out, the cubic feet capacity of truck beds when comparing the 1997-2003 SuperCrews and the 2004-2008 SuperCrew? A friend of mine has an '04 and I was inpressed in the ride quality.
Thanks in advance for your time and responses.
JP#3
The V10 and the diesels both just give you more power for heavier-duty towing. If you don’t tow a lot of weight (like 5th wheels, horse trailers, bigger boats, etc) and tow it often, you’re probably fine sticking with the base V8. Gone are the days when you could get a full-size truck with a 6-cylinder engine that could barely pull the truck itself around.
As for the beds, you might want to take a closer look. I may be wrong, but I believe that bed sizes are more-or-less pretty standard (they definitely used to be in the old days), and so I wouldn’t be surprised if the bed might just LOOK bigger or smaller between the redesigns, but actually be the same size. Of course there are shortbed and longbed versions of the supercrew, so if you’ve only been looking at shortbeds, look for a longbed.
Either the 250 or 350 offer long(8ft) beds with 4 doors, just expect a really LONG vehicle you’ll have to maneuver around town. Most of the 150s have a 6 or 6.5ft bed with the 4 door version