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dlwhitlinger

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I live in a Hamlet of less than 1,000 population - and had the first Lightning in the sticks here, but now I see another one down the road a bit from me, they bought the Flash and it looks great.

I have a buddy that called up - his neighbour wanted to know if they could ask me some things about charging and what it costs to charge it at home, does it need to be garaged in our winter etc. There is interest out there, I try to be an honest ambassador and tell it like it is.

Ford may not be pushing the ads but I find quite a few people will ask me about the truck, I say:

1. Around town and within the range of the truck is no-brainer, our gas is expensive and utilty power is cheap as dust. (I drive for $1-2/day instead of $16-20/day.
2. Farther than the full battery range of the truck typically means DCFC and this costs about what gas costs around here, and you need to have and learn how to use some apps, and get the DC adapter to allow using Tesla chargers.
3. Winter range is less, even with the heatpump, its a fact. 20-30% less is likely in cold weather.
4. The truck is faster than anything I have ever owned, by far, a bit "too fun" sometimes.
5. The truck is the best in snow and on ice of any truck I have ever owned by far. even on stock tires.
6. Towing heavy and long distances isn't going to work in our region - no pull through charging yet.
7. Towing heavy short distances/around town is a joy - the truck out-pulls my 2500 Ram in city driving.
8. It is quiet - maybe too quiet even. I can hear the wind around the door mirror because there is no other noise to drown it out.
9. The "Frunk" is an amazing addition to the truck, my wife takes it shopping rather than her SUV just because of the convenience.
10. The truck heats up or cools down for cheap, in a few minutes. Compare to an ICE that you remote start and leave running long enough to heat the cabin from -20, wasting expensive gas to do it. I love the convenience of programing the departure times and the truck is ready when I am.


AND... I have the Pro Power option and my Lightning powers my whole house during power outages, which are frequent in the Seattle area. This is a major selling point in our area... git rid of your gas generator.
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22legit2quit

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I’m a proud owner, but I’m certainly not proud of the most recent prices I’ve seen. Lends to the opinion that they’re not being as serious and this could be something that they’re using to balance their books to get some sort of leniency from the government. These trucks are, in my opinion, no more valuable than gas trucks and for the meat and potatoes of the vehicle (battery and electric motors) I feel like they should be even less than ICE.
 

TwentyTwentyThree

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Fisher price interior? You must not have a lariat. They are superb
I have a lariat ER. Dashboard and center console and most of the door panel are hard plastics.

I will say this again. Cybertruck and Rivian take the win in that category.
 

WXman

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I think the F-150 Lightning has sold well compared to competitors because:

- F-150 in general is the #1 seller
- F-150 Lightning is almost identical to a traditional pickup
- F-150 Lightning pricing is lowest

I have never understood why automakers feel like their EVs have to look wild and futuristic. This surely turns off a lot of buyers. I mean, look at Cybertruck. EVERY time we've seen one at a car show I hear people talk trash about its appearance. And the GM Silverado EV isn't a lot better...it looks like a 2001 Avalanche. In the U.S. market buyers do care about the appearance of their vehicle. Ford was brilliant to not try and reinvent the wheel, but rather to just throw an EV driveline into the existing truck.
 

NW Ontario Ford Lightning

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When people see my truck they ask if it is an EV ... because it is not super-obvious that it is..
Last night my wife and I were at a camp fire party and we used the rear of the truck - wider for two people - so it was not super obvious the truck was EV - since we didn't open the "frunk". couple next to us start up a conversation, and 'she' says oh wait is that 'All electric, or does it also have a small engine' and 'he' double takes, because he handn't even noticed the truck wasn't just like all the other F-150's parked near-by.

I think someone said it well - the younger crowd may like radically new looking futuristic, - but the older crowd (who seem to have most of the money to spend) like things to look and feel more or less like what they are used to, familar.

Yeah, my wife took that lady around to the front of the truck and hit the frunk-open button while talking about grocery shopping - show off.

Maybe some new features are welcome, but mostly we want our EV truck to appear like a 'regular' truck, with bonus features. Good job Ford Motor Co.
 

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Altivec

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I have a lariat ER. Dashboard and center console and most of the door panel are hard plastics.

I will say this again. Cybertruck and Rivian take the win in that category.
It's one of the reasons I went with a platinum over a lariat. I liked the soft touch leather/suede on the doors and the real wood accents. You get what you pay for. Why didn't you go for the platinum? It's still way cheaper than a Cybertruck or Rivian. The Rivian definitely has the nicest interior of the bunch (but I needed a bigger truck, and reliable service network). I absolutely hate the cybertrucks minimalist interior with no physical buttons and no dash. To each their own I guess.
 

TwentyTwentyThree

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It's one of the reasons I went with a platinum over a lariat. I liked the soft touch leather/suede on the doors and the real wood accents. You get what you pay for. Why didn't you go for the platinum? It's still way cheaper than a Cybertruck or Rivian. The Rivian definitely has the nicest interior of the bunch (but I needed a bigger truck, and reliable service network). I absolutely hate the cybertrucks minimalist interior with no physical buttons and no dash. To each their own I guess.
My truck is a CPO. I should’ve gotten the platinum.
 

Schroederhc1

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I own a 2023 XLT ER, and it's been stinking perfect. I wish they would get more range, that and a better OTA rhythm.
 

Henry Ford

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Lightning nearly sold as many units as Mustang. That's not great for the future of Mustang. Farley will certainly keep it around but how long will he be around?
 

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daveross1212

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I do a lot of "brand ambassador" stuff in parking lots (seems to happen a lot on the golf course when I pull my clubs out of the frunk). Now that I'm three years in, I typically start with a conversation around mechanical longevity and reliability. This is the number one reason I've kept the truck, and at this point see myself just keeping it long term even when I shift to a different daily driver. The sheer utility of having 10 tesla powerwalls worth of energy attached to four wheels is just something I see as having long term value.

As soon as you walk them thru the "no, of course I don't tow long distances or go on road trips" they get it. Within a 100 mile radius it's so hard to beat, and that fits 99% of most people's needs.
 

WXman

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Lightning nearly sold as many units as Mustang. That's not great for the future of Mustang. Farley will certainly keep it around but how long will he be around?
That's sort of self-imposed though. It's not that guys don't still want Mustangs, it's just that the S650 didn't add anything impressive, has a ruined interior littered with screens instead of gauges, and most importantly the pricing got insane. The last Mustang I had was a 2013 GT Premium with nice options. It stickered in the $30s. Today the same car with the same powertrain is close to $60k. The buyer for Mustang GT isn't typically in a place in life where they can drop $1000 per month on a fun car.
 

sunrise089

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I have a lariat ER. Dashboard and center console and most of the door panel are hard plastics.

I will say this again. Cybertruck and Rivian take the win in that category.
I really don’t know if the people who think the Lightning (yes even the Plat when factoring price in at all) has a good interior just haven’t looked at the competition at all, or if they’re glass-half-full people who grade it on the best features (like leather seats and the screen) and ignore the worst (like hard dash and door plastics).

Ford has made some brilliant packaging and technology decisions with the Lightning. Car and Driver pointed out in their recent Flash review that the size of the frunk shows the level of engineering that went into the truck - that far from being just a quick swap of the ICE model the frunk was actually more thoughtfully designed than those on dedicated EV platform vehicles.

But the look and feel of the interior surfaces, especially away from the primary style or touch points, is pretty bad. Not 2004 GM bad. But not 2024 GM good, much less as good as mid-trim Rams have been for a decade.
 

Mmccarthy

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Could the low sales numbers be due to limited supply? It seems most dealers only have one maybe two on the lot - and usually only the top trims. In Southeast Georgia and Florida is see multiple Lightnings on the road everyday. I agree that dealerships were opposed to EVs early on, but now it seems every time I talk to a dealer, they point out how many employee owned EVs are in the lot...
 

sunrise089

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IMHO no. Supply seems stable after years of adding and removing shifts, and raising and lowering prices. If anything the end of the tax credit will mean supply is too high.

Also the used market is pretty weak, which doesn’t suggest inventory is tight.
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