Took delivery a few days back. Limited MAX, 302A, HD Tow
2021-11 - ordered
2022-02 - went into production and then into chip hold
2022-06 - finished building
2022-09 - shipped
2022-10 - took delivery
Initial observations
- I love the car in general. The ride is very smooth.
- The mahogany interior is far better looking in person than the photos suggest. It has a classy look. Although the black interior would have been better. But for black, I would have had to get the 303A package which I didn't want
- While doing the test drive, I saw the rear view mirrors on both sides flapping around quite a bit. I was alarmed and thought I would have to give back the vehicle for time consuming repairs. Fortunately, it was just a quick 5 minute fix back at the dealership
- After reading other people'e post, I tested the hands free liftgate and signs of wear and tear on the tires. Fortunately, the hands free liftgate was working properly. And the tires were also good.
- I did a 700 mile trip over the weekend (San Fran to Los Angeles and back). The fuel economy was 19.3 mpg. This is based on what I calculated based on miles travelled and gallons of gas put in. The onboard computer gave a lower figure actually 17.9. So essentially, the actual mpg was better than what ford stated.
- I was able to get an old finance interest rate that ford had back in Nov 2021 - 1.9% APR for 36 months. I felt it is a great deal; especially as compared to now when commercial banks are easily charging 5% or more. I also got the X-Plan pricing via my membership in EAA. Be careful, generate a PIN only when you are actually at the dealership and about to buy the vehicle. I was not aware that there is an annual limit of 2 X-Plan pins. And I had generated my last pin 4 months back. There is actually a 90 day expiry and hence my pin had actually expired. However, my dealership was able to use that expired pin and actually get me x-plan pricing. They were great.
Other things which I wish I had ordered differently.
- The panoramic sunroof is great. But I should have just bought the regular sunroof. Reason is that the pano sunroof brings down the weight bearing capacity of the roof rack. I think it comes down from 200 lbs to 125 lbs. That can be a problem when putting roof cargo boxes or kayaks or whatever.
- I didn't get the CCD suspension. I think I shoud have. While going over rough roads, I could feel the roughness a bit more than I expected. Also when going on concrete highways, it bounced around a bit more. This is when compared with my other large SUV which has a very adaptive suspension.
- I have the Sync 4 and not the Sync 4A. That is , the smaller screen and not the giant screen. I feel that the Sync 4 is a bit smaller than I thought. Although the small screen serves the purpose, the giant Sync 4A 15 inch screen might also not have been bad. I had not bought the giant screen because I wanted the convenience of physical knobs for the most used controls