Wiggums

I was in a similar dilemma deciding between the XLT at $10,000 off MSRP or the Lariat at $4,000 off MSRP. The Lariat held value much better. My 2012 Ford F-150 was bought new for $29,000, down from $39,000 and traded in for $24,000 four years later. The retained value was a damn impressive 84%. My 2016 Ford F-150 didn't do well, it held 77% of its value after three years. Keep in mind that's the trade-in value, not what the dealership's asking for. Strangely, my 2012 Ford F-150 was actually over 100% because the dealership that bought it from me asked for $29,999 - almost the same price I bought it at. At the end, I learned that I'd get about $7,000 more with the Ford F-150 Lariat so I lost a little more by buying the Ford F-150 XLT at $10,000 off MSRP. I also look into resale when I buy new trucks. I don't buy cars anymore for that very reason. For me, it was the Dodge RAM at $15,000 off or Chevrolet at $10,000 off. Ford was only $4k off so I went for Chevy instead.

Also, I don't know if that would be the case, but my F-150 got much better gas mileage if I filled it up with the Mexican Pemex gasoline but it cost about $4.00 per gallon while it was only $3.30 in California. 19.50 pesos per litre. I'd get 24 mpg instead of 20 mpg because the Mexican gas generally doesn't come with ethanol. Sometimes it is refined in California and I get ethanol. In Mexicali, it's usually refined in other areas. In Tijuana, I've noticed consistently bad gas mileage on my F-150 and I found out later on that a lot of gas there is refined in California.

I thought it would also use the brakes as well if it was too steep. Ah, THANKS!

The reason I mentioned gas mileage is because I had a bigger gas tank in my other truck but worse gas mileage. Still, I could get around 700 miles on a 36-gallon tank. Once in a while, I drive from Tijuana to Hermosillo. It's a 500-mile trip one-way and I don't like getting out of my car in the area between the two so I drive only cars that can comfortably do 500 miles without needing a refill. The new Silverado has a 24-gallon tank but quite a bit better gas mileage, I think it's only 80 miles less on a single tank despite the tank being 12 gallons smaller. Although the highway is posted at 110 km/h most of the way, the jarring speed bumps really get to me so I drive around 80 km/h which greatly helps the gas mileage.

You mentioned it's more responsive. I've gotten a few lags even with the stop/start being off and I suspect it could be the "dynamic" fuel management as it is called right now. If I'm getting 25 mpg, I can live with that.

Here, it's really steep downhill and limit drops from 45 to 35 and there is almost always a motorcycle cop. I still don't want it to brake, i want to control it myself. I just want it to prefer downshifting rather than braking while it's slowing down. If it won't downshift then I'll do it. I want to maximize the brake life.

I pay only 0.2% property tax rate.. in Texas, it would be 3%. As a retiree, Texas would cost me a lot more to live in. If I was working, Texas would be cheaper since there's no income tax, but when I'm retired, I'm much better off here in California. If I would just stop buying new trucks every few years, I wouldn't get dinged so hard here! I'm just a moderate, not deep left or right. I'm near the Mexican border so I enjoy 90% savings on my medicine. I just obtained CDMX plates for my truck since I live on both sides of the border. I've seen what small government can do.. Remember the City of Bell scandal? The city raised millions with bullshit towing policies and Robert Rizzo made $1.5 million a year. Coming from Mexico, I see what lack of regulations can do. No wonder Americans companies come over there and provide jobs but we're seeing big boobs on men working at big pharma.

I don't remember how heavy the tonneau cover was in that show but it fared worse than having the tailgate up. Having the tailgate down also got worse gas mileage than tailgate up. I do recall plastic netting yielding the best gas mileage too.

You got me going outside to try it.. much better now! Much appreciated!!

I am experiencing that too but don't have the upgraded instrument cluster. The loud thud is unsettling and sometimes the rear wheels slow down quickly, resulting in shuddering and loss of traction. I called my dealer today, they said they had a few mention that so I'm not alone here. It was so bad the rear end was off by a foot and I was at a different angle. Not sure if the computer will show that. Only happened once and I'm hoping it's just the transmission getting used to me.

I know I can manually disable it by changing it to "L" and selecting 8. That's what I've been doing if I want to stay in the top gear going downhill. If you do the tow/haul, does it downshift going down hill? On the Ford, it downshifts more aggressively without braking. I see your version is pre-2018, owners of 2019 models say it's spot on. I am curious to see that with the first fuel tank. My Ford was way off though so i just subtract 10%.

Others said to get the AFM (Active Fuel Management) disabler but the 2019 models have DFM (Dynamic Fuel Management). I think all RST's have DFM. Only 360 miles on mine and it's very unsettling. I'm starting to suspect it was responsible for shifting my rear end on a dirty road about a foot off, placing me at a dangerous angle while driving on a straight road, forcing me to suddenly jerk the steering wheel. That could be a liability issue for General Motors. They can easily look at the dirt pattern to see that I wasn't accelerating or braking. One could look at the dirt and see that the rear wheels changed gears suddenly, causing the truck to be off angle-wise. The "black box" in the truck will verify I wasn't speeding.

Going downhill, I seem to recall somebody complaining that the Silverado would brake instead of downshifting. I was unable to duplicate that on my truck but I sure would not want it to brake especially when I don't want it to!

I haven't even filled the first gas tank and don't think I'll be driving it much since I now have that coveted parking spot on the street and my neighbors will take it from me if I dare move it. It'll be there for weeks. As is with Ford, almost all of my driving is in the desert on a flat surface. When I managed to get 28 mpg on the computer of the F-150 V-8, it was a 4:00 a.m. camping trip to Ocotillo Wells which is mostly flat and I went 40 to 50 mph all the way. Driving it the same way back, I went back to the same gas station to the very same pump and was disappointed it was actually 24. Although that was the best gas mileage I could possibly get on the Ford V-8, I'm now averaging 25 mpg with a slightly more aggressive driving so I'm very pleased. I am almost sure I could achieve 30 mpg if I were to repeat that trip. I guess Dynamic Engine Management really works, but then again, those who had Active Engine Management reported no difference in gas mileage after deactivating it. Could be a marketing gimmick, like the auto/stop feature, it doesn't do squat to the gas mileage! Ford made that standard too, unfortunately. Is there a way I can make the Dynamic Engine Management more aggressive? I rarely floor the gas pedal and don't even accelerate hard. I don't even need 355 horses. After all, I used to drive my old man's huge F-250 SuperCrew with a massive 6.6 V-8 engine that made only 150 hp. Still, it hauled boulders, wood, trailers, all sorts of stuff!

Next to OP's name is "Drives 2019 Silverado RST" which is the same as mine, so I thought it was the same vehicle. That's why I chimed in, assuming he wasn't used to it.