Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

I'm from England, and have lived here 8 years, and I think that the best thing the USA auto makers are good at is building full size trucks.

The 97 - 03 F150 (V8) is a very good truck if maintained. My brother in law has had one too. The build quality is good, but not the best; bits of dash are not put together very well. Also corrosion protection is poor underneath.

But mechanically, and where it matters, the F150 is the best value truck around. I use mine to pull a heavy trailer, and it's done 193k miles. The transmission has been good and it doesn't use a drop of oil. Using tufoil oil additive I get up to 21mpg, highway. The extended cab is comfy for those up front and fine for kids in the back. The aircon is second to none in mine.

Faults:

The sway bar links have snapped and fallen out, but the new ones only cost $10 each.

The ball joints had to be replaced @ 100,000 miles. If the stock ball joints would have had grease fittings, there is a good chance they could have gone longer.

General Comments:

This Ford has no bells; it is a real simple truck, with no power windows or locks.

She gets 20MPG and has real good power!!!

The step side and regular cab makes her a hot little 205Hp ticket.

I have had 4 Ford F150s with 6cyl engines. I will not have a V8, no way, no how.

Love the one piece rubber mat; it is a farmers dream come true.

Faults:

Needed a brake pin or something in the rear brakes; made them lock up and really sensitive.

Not much has gone wrong with this truck, well built and would buy it again. Planning on buying another one.

Faults:

Ran fine until winter, and would not start unless the temperature was above 30 degrees.

Motor went at 137000, at a repair cost of 4000 dollars. Needed major bottom end work.

General Comments:

Powerful enough, but not worth it.

Faults:

Typical door cracks on the metal just above the window line, front sway bar bolt broke on driver side, bolt was rusted badly.

General Comments:

Love the truck. It has a 4.6, automatic. Until recently it had pretty poor fuel economy. I chalked this up to typical Ford engines. But this past weekend, I changed all the plugs and plug wires (a bit of a task in itself, let me tell you) and noticed an immediate MPG improvement. Otherwise, it is a great truck. Comfortable, good-looking, reliable and a pleasure to drive.

Faults:

Seal in the rear sliding glass window at 20K miles started to leak.

Driver's side power window motor died and replaced at 35K miles. Left turn signal died and replaced at 35K miles (right turn signal still functioned properly). Passenger side power window motor died and was replaced at 70K miles.

General Comments:

Great truck! It is a '98 F-150 XLT Supercab, Four Wheel Drive model. With the exception of the passenger side power window, the few problems I have had were covered under warranty. The power window motors I will attribute to use and normal wear and tear. The truck today runs as good as it did the day I purchased it new. I change the oil and filter every 3,000 miles (probably more often than needed) and expect the engine to last forever. Most of the miles are local in town driving with a number of 1000+ mile trips pulling a '70 Mustang on a 4 wheel car trailer and the truck had no problems. The 4.6L engine did have a little trouble getting over the mountains with the car trailer behind it (on some of the steeper grades 45mph was all I could get out of her), but for everything else, no worries. No issues with the 4 wheel drive system. Shift on the go is great, no hubs to lock and it is easily switchable with a rotary stitch on the dash. The only complaint, which was fixed in '99 and newer models is the 3rd door for the back seat is on the passenger side, rather than the driver's side, where I think it makes more sense. Oh well, a very minor complaint for a very good truck!