transmutated
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Hello new friends, recently bought up a Lightning cause I really want a truck and not interesting in this first edition Cybertruck or any $100k truck honestly 
I scooped up a used XLT Lightning with 11k miles on it for doing truck stuff mostly. My wife and I both have Model Ys and love them as we go into our 4th year of EV ownership. Even with the tow hitch, I've struggled to make the best use of it because I don't wanna rent a trailer every time i need one and while the storage in the Y is great for boards...it's hard to move sheets around. So I'm living my biggest truck dreams with this used truck. Wanted to give my hot takes coming from Tesla land and lean on the community for any work arounds to the issues I may be having.
On the second day of owning the truck, I rented a uhaul trailer and helped move a storage unit for my parents which was 2 hours each way with a 6X12 covered trailer and driving at a constant 65 got 1.4 mpkwh loaded and 1.5 mpkwh unloaded
So the things I don't like first:
Things I don't like that are out of Ford's control, but guilty by association I suppose:
Now for the awesome stuff:
Workarounds I've got:
This is where I am with the truck after owning it for 70 something hours and taking it on a good sized road trip with a trailer. The truck really is awesome. No regrets. I loved the used price, the smooth ride, and the range is better than expected. I find myself missing the standard features that I've come to expect from Tesla that are only available in higher trims on the Lightening...ie phone as key, lane keeping, bluecruise, etc. I'm sure some other stuff will come up as time goes on, but aside from the 12v problem concerning the shifter getting stuck in park, I'm really excited about the truck otherwise.
What are some recommendations from the community for new Lightening owner? I've got charging handled since we've got two Teslas already. But yeah, hunting for any other workarounds that other Tesla users have done or what everyone else thinks is useful. Thanks
I scooped up a used XLT Lightning with 11k miles on it for doing truck stuff mostly. My wife and I both have Model Ys and love them as we go into our 4th year of EV ownership. Even with the tow hitch, I've struggled to make the best use of it because I don't wanna rent a trailer every time i need one and while the storage in the Y is great for boards...it's hard to move sheets around. So I'm living my biggest truck dreams with this used truck. Wanted to give my hot takes coming from Tesla land and lean on the community for any work arounds to the issues I may be having.On the second day of owning the truck, I rented a uhaul trailer and helped move a storage unit for my parents which was 2 hours each way with a 6X12 covered trailer and driving at a constant 65 got 1.4 mpkwh loaded and 1.5 mpkwh unloaded
So the things I don't like first:
- The screen is actually nice in the XLT, but the void of third party apps like we have on the Tesla is shameful. No entertainment while charging or chilling in the ride is really weird. Beautiful screen...with super limited functionality. Entertainment is standard on ALL teslas.
- No phone as key as a standard option. It's not even an option unless you get Lariat with some extra trim level. Again, standard on all Teslas. This seems really weird to put behind a trim and model barrier.
- If you have 1 key, which is all my truck came with, don't add mykey...and try to remove it. OOF. Apparently I don't have the "admin key"? Who knows. I would have expected that to be requisit to add mykey but now I've limited what all my truck can do to the default profile? I don't know. Would love some community help here or else I'm bringing the truck to the dealership to get a new fob and remove the mykey nonsense.
- Route planning is stressful with the Ford interface. I can easily enough create a route, but I have no idea what % of battery I will have when I arrive at a charging station. Perhaps it is, but I'm just not used to the interface? On the dash, it shows how much range I have left and how far away I am from my destination...is that my final destination or the charging stop? I didn't pay enough attention I suppose because my charging stop was at my destionation effectively. It just wasn't immediately clear.
- After the truck was dropped off since it was delivered from out of state, my wife promptly sat in the truck and started pushing buttons She found the button that stows the gear shifter and pressed it a few times. Needless to say, it got stuck in park. It was this forum that some one recommended buying a 10mm wrench and keeping that in the frunk to disconnect the 12v battery and reconnecting it, which in fact did the trick. Thanks for that lil nugget of information because that fixed this. Will never touch that button again
- Didn't realize that bluecruise is a feature of higher trims. I wasn't buying the truck for smart features, but while road tripping with the trailer, it would have been nice to flip on auto pilot and roll. But I don't have the million dollar truck so I'm left holding the steering wheel like a peasent I suppose Autopilot is standard on all tesla models and is great for highway driving!
Things I don't like that are out of Ford's control, but guilty by association I suppose:
- Stopped and charged at my first ever Electrify America while I appreciated the trailer friendly pull through charger...it was a train wreck. The charger didn't work. I called them, they rebooted it, had me plug and unplug what seems like a dozen times when suddently it started working.
- Electrify America is expensive. Coming from Tesla land, high is over .40 kwh, .30something is typical. This charger was nearly .60 pkwh. OOF
Now for the awesome stuff:
- Towing was DREAMY over what I've done with the Model Y. Model Y was great and all, but the Lightning was champ. Wasn't sure what to expect concerning range, but the internet would have you believe I was going to tow 10 miles and be out of juice. I was happy with the range for the job I was doing and wasn't concerned with with my range.
- Super comfortable drive! Man this truck is smooth! Absolutely love driving it!
- APPLE CAR PLAY IS EXCELLENT! Tesla needs to stop playing games and make it happen.
- Can't wait to get my Tesla Supercharger adapter to use that network! This will ROCK. 4 years of charging my Tesla's while road tripping and I can count on 1 hand where I've had to wait for a charger to be open OR had a failed charger.
Workarounds I've got:
- I'm using a bluetooth obd device in conjuction with a better route planner + apple car play to DIY a smart trip planner that I've got some confidence in. The ford app didn't seem like it would tell me when I have a sufficient charge to carry on or anything like that. This more closely reproduces the intelligence that I've come to expect with Tesla and range calculations concerning weather, etc. I don't have a lot of confidence in whatever the ford app might be doing. Doing this setup with Apple Car Play is a great combo! Maybe I'm just doing Ford wrong? Am I missing anything?
This is where I am with the truck after owning it for 70 something hours and taking it on a good sized road trip with a trailer. The truck really is awesome. No regrets. I loved the used price, the smooth ride, and the range is better than expected. I find myself missing the standard features that I've come to expect from Tesla that are only available in higher trims on the Lightening...ie phone as key, lane keeping, bluecruise, etc. I'm sure some other stuff will come up as time goes on, but aside from the 12v problem concerning the shifter getting stuck in park, I'm really excited about the truck otherwise.
What are some recommendations from the community for new Lightening owner? I've got charging handled since we've got two Teslas already. But yeah, hunting for any other workarounds that other Tesla users have done or what everyone else thinks is useful. Thanks
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) and run low on washer fluid, forget to change out windshield swipes. And.That.is.It.