Who here had never owned a full-sized crew cab pickup before?

[JWW]

The first time my wife sat in the back seat of the Lightning she said, this is bigger than her first apartment!

I too have to back in the 2-car door side of my garage, not for the width but the length. The 1-car bay has my ChargePoint and while I may fit I don't want to take a chance, plus that leaves the 1-car side for the wife's Mach-E.

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[casanewt]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I knew this question would draw all sorts of input. When it takes more than two years to get a vehicle, and you know you don't have to buy it in the end, you put it out of your mind. I almost did not order it when I got the email back at the end of March mainly due to the price increase that was in place at that time. I basically lost my mind and just ordered it because I knew someone would want an XLT SR even if I didn't. Then the price dropped and I got more excited. It was just rather hilarious when I pulled out the tape measure again last week and saw 232 inches of length in the space.

 

[bmwhitetx]

I end up with about an inch of space in the front as I don't want the license place bracket rubbing the wall.

Been there, done all those things. My last house wasn't even a full 20 so I was often pushing the front plate into the sheetrock. Realized one day there was no stud there so I cut out a hole in the sheetrock between the adjacent studs to accommodate the front plate with lots of wiggle room. Framed it out real nice with some trim - gave me 3 extra inches I could use.

 

[bellyer]

This was my first truck and definitely the largest vehicle I have ever owned. I had originally canceled my order because the truck would not fit in my garage. Then I eventually went for a test drive and fell in love and ended up taking over someone else's cancelled order that ended up on the dealer lot. Yes, it is big and, no, it does not fit in my garage (height and length), but that's okay because this truck is AMAZING. I will eventually rebuild my garage to fit it along side my Mach-E, but for now, it lives on the street. When it comes to parking garages, I just make sure that I check the height of them closely before entering and keep an eye on the antenna to see if it hits the ceiling to know if I am safe to park in there or not.

 

[RickLightning]

Been there, done all those things. My last house wasn't even a full 20 so I was often pushing the front plate into the sheetrock. Realized one day there was no stud there so I cut out a hole in the sheetrock between the adjacent studs to accommodate the front plate with lots of wiggle room. Framed it out real nice with some trim - gave me 3 extra inches I could use.

Ha!

First house we had the guy next door had a boat. Since he had the house built, he had them put a bump out in the garage for the motor. Just for the motor though. It looked pretty funny at the rear of the house.

 

[Lytning]

Been there, done all those things. My last house wasn't even a full 20 so I was often pushing the front plate into the sheetrock. Realized one day there was no stud there so I cut out a hole in the sheetrock between the adjacent studs to accommodate the front plate with lots of wiggle room. Framed it out real nice with some trim - gave me 3 extra inches I could use.

I showed my son how to do the exact same thing. He got an extra 4" with 3-1/2" stud plus 1/2" sheetrock.

 

[speedy123]

I drive a second generation Ridgeline now, which I love pretty much everything about except the bland look. My desire for a Lightning is more about going EV than wanting a fullsize truck. I don't have a garage, but it will be a pain with turning radius, parking garages, tight parking spots, etc. The Ridgeline is really a lifted car with a bed and drives like one. Trying still to decide if I want to be an early adopter with the Lightning or wait for the inevitable mainstream midsize EV truck to come out. T3 has me wondering if I should hold out another couple of years with my Honda......

 

[Quibbs]

I drive a second generation Ridgeline now, which I love pretty much everything about except the bland look. My desire for a Lightning is more about going EV than wanting a fullsize truck. I don't have a garage, but it will be a pain with turning radius, parking garages, tight parking spots, etc. The Ridgeline is really a lifted car with a bed and drives like one. Trying still to decide if I want to be an early adopter with the Lightning or wait for the inevitable mainstream midsize EV truck to come out. T3 has me wondering if I should hold out another couple of years with my Honda......

The Rivian R1T is out now and is what I would consider midsized. You'll be waiting longer than two years for another mid sized truck to be readily available.

The R1T is a good size and it's a good looking truck, handles well. However, we had several issues with ours that service could not seem to get fixed. To make matters worse, the closes service center was 4 hours away. They will come and pick up your truck if it needs to go to a service center but once "fixed" you will either have to pay to have it delivered as it's considered fixed at that point or come and get it. So living close to a SC would be important. Other knocks I have with the R1T was you could feel the weight in the suspension of the quad motors. WInd noise was an issue at highway speeds though it wasn't super terrible.

The F150 Lightning feels much smoother and better screwed together.

We ended up selling our R1T and 2018 Raptor and bought the Lightning.

 

[e-Trucka]

I drive a second generation Ridgeline now, which I love pretty much everything about except the bland look. My desire for a Lightning is more about going EV than wanting a fullsize truck. I don't have a garage, but it will be a pain with turning radius, parking garages, tight parking spots, etc. The Ridgeline is really a lifted car with a bed and drives like one. Trying still to decide if I want to be an early adopter with the Lightning or wait for the inevitable mainstream midsize EV truck to come out. T3 has me wondering if I should hold out another couple of years with my Honda......

My previous truck was a second generation Ridgeline and I had an order for a Rivian until I took a peak at the Lightning. The ride was just like my beloved Ridgeline with the independent rear suspension. The rear seating in the Ridgeline was very good, but compared to the F150L, night and day. I took the test drive, drove it home and was happy to find that it fit in my garage. That was all it took for me to jump into my first full-size truck. I use the hell out of the cameras when I park though.

 

[ryun]

I also think it's too large, but I'd purchase it again in a heart beat.

That said, if an EV maverick or ranger ever appears I may want to trade it in.

 

[ChrisC]

I got this truck to replace my older 1990 work horse and it is MUCH bigger. I would of preferred a smaller truck but I am getting use to it since it handles well and fits in my garage. It is handy for all the yard waste that I take to the dump every weekend since I don't need to take multiple trips.

I am still mad at @Ford Motor Company for the price drop a few weeks after I took delivery so I may trade it in for a smaller not Ford truck when they are available in a few years. This is the third Ford EV that I own and will be the last if they don't give us a price adjustment and allow us to be eligible for the tax rebate. I know that they really don't care about customer satisfaction or loyalty but I just needed to vent!

 

[Zprime29]

This is my first ever truck. Previously, the biggest thing I drove was a Honda Pilot. I'm still terrible at parking it, though I feel I'm getting better at it. I'm only comfortable backing it into most parking spaces after one horrible incident where I had to Austin Powers my way out of the space. That's really my only hang up so far. It's only 1.5" wider than the pilot so I'm comfortable with the width. It's the length/turn radius that I'm adjusting to.

Thankfully, we had the option to add 2 feet of length to the garage when designing our house and we jumped on it. It's also a 3 car tandem garage so one side is ~40ft long. I have to pull in at a slight angle so that I can have enough space between the vehicles when I straighten out but it's manageable.

 

[KickingGas]

My husband has kept his 2016 F150 out in the driveway since we bought it. A couple of times when we first had it he parallel parked it across our too short 3 car garage when we went on vacation. I wasn't going to do that. Made it work by replacing the hot water heater with a tankless and nosing it in at an angle in the alcove next to the HVAC. I told him he could park there if he wanted since the Lightning would fare better outside than his. He just gave me a look. Anyway, I know he can't fit in at all anymore with his ladder racks...

As for parking, I rarely parallel park. When I do, or sometimes even a regular parking space, the 360 cameras are a life saver! Would pay to upgrade and have those every time. Also the times I've hauled stuff in the back, the bed cam really reduces the anxiety level...

 

[frautumn]

This is my first truck, and I also just barely fit into the garage (about 8" to spare), but it's definitely worth it. It measure 3 feet longer than our Jeep Grand Cherokee, so if I know we are going somewhere with tight parking I'll take that instead of the Lightning, but in general it's not that tough to drive in tight spaces because of the awesome cameras all around the car which make parking a breeze. It doesn't feel too big while driving, and the dogs love all the room in the back with the seats up.

 

[Quibbs]

I also think it's too large, but I'd purchase it again in a heart beat.

That said, if an EV maverick or ranger ever appears I may want to trade it in.

My wife is waiting for a EV bronco.There's been talk about it but honestly it's probably years out (4?) before you could get one.

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