First impressions: 2019 Ford F250

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   So... I got my new 'company truck' about two weeks ago.

2019 Ford F250... gas engine, 6 speed trans, 2wd, 8ft bed. it's got the slightly extended cab with 'suicide doors' and 'jump seat' in back.  The following are my observations so far:

Like the 2016 I had... it tends to hesitate and drop a cylinder at idle.  the '16 did this often 'till I started hearing ignition noise on my HAM radio, after goin' round the world with the dealership's service center (three trips), they finally followed my instructions and figured out that it had one ignition coil going bad... replaced it, and it was much better... 'till another one started going bad a month or three later.  Apparently, the coils fail often?  Well, this one's doing it already... 1100miles...

It's fairly quick... although I can't compare it apples-to-apples with the '16, as this has the so-called 'mil-spec aluminum' body, and Ford felt it necessary to elevate the sides of the bed another 1.1" taller than the '16, so now my fiberglass service body insert no longer sits on the floor... it's hanging in air, with all it's weight resting on those aluminum sides.  Now, the fiberglass body manufacturer has figured this out, and has been manufacturing retrofit 'kits' to make them useable on the '17 and newer aluminum bodies (along with forcing the body rearward about an inch and  a half to clear this big combination high-mount stoplight, bed light, backup light, camera housing on the top of the cab.  When the service body shifts around, it hits the light on the cab, and crushes the cab (did I mention that it's mil-spec aluminum?) as it's crushing the sides (again, mil-spec aluminum) of the bed.  SO... to prevent my truck from getting damaged (like the other three in the fleet that were changed-out before mine), I've got NO tools in my truck, so it weighs several thousand pounds less than the '16 I turned in.

I have driven the truck a bit, and fuel economy seems about the same as the '16, or just a tad less... mebbie 10mpg, instead of the '16's 12mpg.

The seating is okay.  Head rest is designed to prop my head forward, which puts lots of strain on my neck (I've had C5/6 fused), so in order to absolve the pain, I've had to remove and reverse the headrest.  Not optimal, but better than no headrest at all.

The '16 's so-called 'center console' was worthless.  The '19 's is slightly better, but still pretty useless... since it's intended to be a middle seat, there's enough storage for a pair of light gloves, and two shallow cupholders.  To it's merit, FORD appears to have made it much easier to unbolt and discard this middle seat, which is what I'll do... and install the center console that I made for the '16.  I did so for that one, because since the middle seat doesn't move, it places either the seat back (up) or console (down) about 2" above, and forward of where my elbow needs to be to drive comfortably.

The rear doors on this model year actually swing out full, then back... double-jointed hinge... good idea in some ways, bad in others.  Nice is that I can access the back seat area easier.  Bad, though, because with driver's door open, and rear door open, if the wind blows front door shut, then back door, the back door slams into the front door's outside, leaving a long crease in the (mil spec aluminum) bodywork.  Fortunately, I observed this on the others in the fleet before falling to that mistake on mine.

The rear seat for this cab is a little bit more useful than the '16... and if I were actually using it as a 'family' vehicle, I would use it for my kids... mebbie six years ago.  My kids are teenagers now, so they won't fit in it anyway.  Fortunately, the seat bottom flips up, but unfortunately, this doesn't make the back seat space any more useful, just easier to vacuum up the carpet (which I've replaced with Weathertec floor mats).  I'll do same thing as I did with the '16... unbolt the bottoms, unbolt the center seatbelt, remove the seat back, and discard it all, and put a rack on the floor for boots and tools shelf for my luggage and computer bag, of some type of shelves all the way up the back, and a garment pole to hang my extra round of arctic gear (coat, coveralls, etc) so I can warm and dry a second round while I'm out working in cold rain/snow/ice.

SYNC-3 Entertainment center...  It's a big LCD screen with icons and menus to control all sorts of stuff... backup camera (which doesn't exist, as the tailgate had to be removed for the service body)... and all the sound-system stuff.  Some people really like 'em... I don't...  the menu-driven touch-screen is a distracting accident-waiting-to-happen... every time something happens, that screen lights up the inside of the cab on a dark night, blinding me.  Fortunately, Ford had their SYNC programmers make a setting that turns DISPLAY OFF, after you've swiped the screen to left, selected DISPLAY SETTINGS, then DISPLAY OFF... of course,  when you shut the ignition off, it looses that setting, and reverts to full-blast-bright at night.  Oh, and when you shift to reverse, the screen lights up bright blue, and says CAMERA UNAVAILABLE, which you have to select OK to in order to clear... (but the big bright blue screen stays on for about 20 seconds after that anyway).  I've thrown a blanket over it, because I'm particularly unappreciative of being blinded while driving.

Along with a screen that constantly blinds you and demands your attention, Ford has added a myriad of other 'safety features', like 'blind spot warning'... a pair of motion sensors located in the tail lights, and when there's something along side you, it flashes a bright yellow light in the corresponding mirror.  Of course, the mirrors on the truck are big and bountiful, so if it weren't for a yellow light blinding your periphery, you'd clearly SEE that there was something there.  These are great mirrors... they don't leave blind spots, so the 'blind spot warning' feature is pointless, if not counter-productive.  I used a dab of black touch-up paint to cover the blinding yellow lights, which subdued them substantially.

On the subject of 'blind spots'...  the worst blind spots anymore, are the A and B-pillars... being equipped with a half-dozen air-bags has made these areas big and fat, right in the middle of sight-lines.  Easy to lose a motorcyclist, bicyclist, pedestrian... just because they're behind a big air-bag pocket.  High body sides don't help, either... my '82 F100 had tiny square mirrors, but didn't have such a propensity to lose traffic right in front of me... a true case where safety equipment does just the opposite.

The tops of the mirrors are capped with chrome.  Yeah, the 'stylists' decided they liked it... but stylists must be morons-  the tops of the mirrors cause substantial glare, not only during daytime, but hideous at night... even the truck's own headlights shine off the mirror-tops' 'chrome'.  It took me about 45 minutes to mask off the area, and paint it down with flat black.

Dashboard has little bits of chrome trim inside each vent.  Unclipping the vent from the dashboard allows removing the chrome trim... straight to trashcan... much better now.  The centers of the vents have chrome accents, which got black permanent marker sublimation.

Everything... every control, every knob, even the USB ports down on the lower dash, are all illuminated by blue LEDs, and NONE of them dim with the dash dimming.  Black magic marker blacked them out.

As for the big display and the dash... next step will be to either disconnect the backlight (basically disable the SYNC-3 screen semi-permanently), or cut covers to totally seal them off.  The main dashboard is gonna get a cover... the tachometer, the 'status display' in the middle of the dash, all the lights at the bottom (especially the stupid green light that indicates headlights on)... all punishingly bright, so I'll make a cover that leaves only the numbered edge of the speedometer, and the temp/pressure/volt gauges and the odometer visible.  i don't need the rest.

Back up assist... the so-called 'smart trailer'... all junk IMO.  The 'stability control' has been downright dangerous (it applies brakes when it 'thinks' you're losing control'... causing the truck to do things you don't want it to do).  If I could permanently shut that crap off, I would.

As the '16 did, I'm constantly having people 'punish' me... flash brights on at last moment, because the headlamps's low-beam pattern are poorly patterned high from factory.  Can't effectively lower them enough to make 'em any better, and flashing people back with my brights doesn't change their attitude.  On the '16, i cranked the lamps down so low that I was perpetually overdriving my sight distance... and I was still getting 'flashed'. 

Aside from all these things, it seems comfortable so far. This one has heated seats and mirrors... the latter is great... the former, probably won't get used much...

Better than the '16, is that the rear half-door's windows actually roll down.  I prefer to have a little fresh air flow in while driving, cracking open the passenger front and driver rear makes that happen without 'rumbling' the interior at highway speeds.

Ride isn't bad, but again, I don't have any tools in back yet.  Unfortunately, engineers felt it necessary to raise the bed sides 1.1", and clearly they've increased suspension height another 2" from our '16's, so my tool shelves are now too high to reach without a stepladder.

Ground clearance on both the '16 and the 19 is challenged by stuff hanging down kinda low in the middle.  I don't drive it off pavement much, but with the '16 I did have snow and ice building up on low-hanging chassis stuff, and being 2wd, these things are helpless in snow and ice... even with traction control and electric locking differentials, they're fair-weather-only.

It's nicely quiet in the cab- they did a good job suppressing the noise... aside from all the constant bleeps and dings from safety features demanding attention, it's an otherwise comfortable machine.

I hope that some day, the programmers learn wisdom and restraint, and make it so that all the 'convenience' and 'safety' features can be set to a permanent DO NOT DISTURB.

I'm disappointed by the aluminum body... it has no place on a serious truck doing what we do.  On a car-body, maybie (I had an aluminum AUDI, and many aluminum bicycles and motorcycles), but not on a pickup truck.

So all that being said... would I buy one?  No.  There's a few things I like, but I certainly wouldn't own one... not at any price.

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