Picked up my Cactus Gray XL this weekend. Some feedback / notes

[Old Ranchero]

If you have $10,000 sitting around get a Gov’t ibond. Its paying close to 5% now because it pegged to inflation. Rate is good for 6 months then adjusts but it will remain high for the next two years. Keep it 12 months and theres no penalty for cashing it in. It accumulates interest tax free until cashed. CD’s are paying .5 %. Get an ibond and in 6 months you would make the same money as a CD for 5 years.

any CD or bond interest counts as income at tax time. If you are trying to keep your tax burden as low as possible in retirement like we are, these little additions aren't worth the trouble to chase after.

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[Old Ranchero]

lol....right? I mean, 0% = free money. Seems odd to not ride that pony all the way to sunset.

Kind of like when people put money down on a lease......

(NO, I'm not a financial advisor, I just play one on the internet..)

there's no free money. I'm assuming you are not retired or close enough to plan much for it, but we found the best strategy is keeping our monthly payments as low and limited as possible to keep expenses stable and predictable and easy to plan for on long term horizon. We pay cash whenever possible instead of adding recurring monthly expenses and sleep better for it

 

[Falcon first]

I bond interest does not count as income until you cash in the bonds. The bond collects interest for 30 years, I’ve been buying i bonds since 2005. One of the biggest advantages is interest compounds and no tax until you want to cash it in.

 

[dalola]

there's no free money. I'm assuming you are not retired or close enough to plan much for it, but we found the best strategy is keeping our monthly payments as low and limited as possible to keep expenses stable and predictable and easy to plan for on long term horizon. We pay cash whenever possible instead of adding recurring monthly expenses and sleep better for it

Technically, you are correct. I should have said "free use of money", but I think you know what I mean....

I've been very blessed to have been able to retire at 55.

 

[PeterZ]

can you explain how there is a "panel gap" between bed and anything? This is a unibody construction vehicle and the cab & bed are 1 unit with no separate bed like body on frame trucks.

The bed joins the body along the cab, in the rear corners, and near the wheels (where the d-ring would be if this wasn't an XL), and underneath. The rest of the bed and the sidewalls have an intentional gap between them. I would guess for drainage. Its hard to get a good picture of this, but this looks intentional with all metal parts rounding away from each other and fully painted. Also hard to capture but the driver side gap are smaller than the passenger side gap but a little bit.

 

[OperationReciprocity]

Looking great! I got the Cactus, XLT AWD FX4. Love it! Only complaint is I hoped the fx4 came with some more aggressive AT or MT style tires instead of the Perelli . Otherwise, already got 30mpg on the hwy after a full tank run through!

 

[Canis]

This last picture... that would worry me personally. That doesn't seem right. But I've only looked at 4 or 5 in person so far (at Chapman in Horsham). None of those had anything like that (that i noticed at least).

 

[PeterZ]

This last picture... that would worry me personally. That doesn't seem right. But I've only looked at 4 or 5 in person so far (at Chapman in Horsham). None of those had anything like that (that i noticed at least).

That picture is really really zoomed in. I was trying to show that all surfaces are painted and rounded. All take one with a better sense of scale.

 

[Canis]

That picture is really really zoomed in. I was trying to show that all surfaces are painted and rounded. All take one with a better sense of scale.

Ah I see. Probably not a big deal but i'd def show that to the dealer to make sure. At least get your concern noted on record in the worst case something does happen down the road etc.

 

[Old Ranchero]

The bed joins the body along the cab, in the rear corners, and near the wheels (where the d-ring would be if this wasn't an XL), and underneath. The rest of the bed and the sidewalls have an intentional gap between them. I would guess for drainage. Its hard to get a good picture of this, but this looks intentional with all metal parts rounding away from each other and fully painted. Also hard to capture but the driver side gap are smaller than the passenger side gap but a little bit.

I see what you are talking about. I would expect there to normally be a factory applied caulking bead in those gaps between edge of floor and sides of bed. It is already done like that where the front wall of bed meets the floor as shown in your pictures 1 and 2. I can't imagine any good reason they would leave that gap like that to attract dirt, moisture, etc and possibly lead to rust situations. Definately I would show that to your dealer and take pictures to document it. Might end up being a recall to fix that in the future. I wonder if spray in bedliner completely fills that gap?

 

[Old Ranchero]

Technically, you are correct. I should have said "free use of money", but I think you know what I mean....

I've been very blessed to have been able to retire at 55.

Good for you, you beat me to it. I retired 1 month after my 56th birthday I used Rule Of 55 allowing distributions from my company 401k plan to avoid penalties before age 59.5 and never looked back. Only speed bump has been exorbitant health care costs using Obamacare exchanges

 

[Moby]

I have the same truck on order ,but added the 400 w inverter . Only thing I wish I could have added was cruse control . But I read people are figuring out how to add it . One thing the manager asked me when he was putting in the order was if I wanted a power locking tail gate for $40 bucks . Of course I said yes . Many people are saying this is not possible .I guess when it comes in we will have the answer . Good luck and glad you like it so much .

 

[FakeCowboy]

I have the same truck on order ,but added the 400 w inverter . Only thing I wish I could have added was cruse control . But I read people are figuring out how to add it . One thing the manager asked me when he was putting in the order was if I wanted a power locking tail gate for $40 bucks . Of course I said yes . Many people are saying this is not possible .I guess when it comes in we will have the answer . Good luck and glad you like it so much .

That's not a power locking tailgate, it's a tailgate lock which locks around the tailgate hinge and prevents someone from stealing the tailgate. The sales manager described it incorrectly. As of now you cannot add a locking power tailgate feature on the XL but they do make aftermarket kits for other Ford trucks so I'm sure soon enough there will be one.

 

[Moby]

That's not a power locking tailgate, it's a tailgate lock which locks around the tailgate hinge and prevents someone from stealing the tailgate. The sales manager described it incorrectly. As of now you cannot add a locking power tailgate feature on the XL but they do make aftermarket kits for other Ford trucks so I'm sure soon enough there will be one.

That makes sense .I guess they don't understand what they are selling ,because he said it would work off the key fob. The lock must be in the handle itself then .

 

[FakeCowboy]

That makes sense .I guess they don't understand what they are selling ,because he said it would work off the key fob. The lock must be in the handle itself then .

They don't know what they're selling.......on the XL there is a keyed lock in the handle for the tailgate but no power locking/unlocking for it, strictly manual. There are aftermarket companies that make kits to tie it into the power locking system but I don't know if they make one specific for the Maverick.....yet.

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