Sick of your GM-loving friends showing off in their Denali HD pickups? Wish your Super Duty had more flash, but can’t afford an XLT or King Ranch? Ford heard your cries.
Ford Motor Company announced the return of the STX appearance package to its F-150 line today, and as an added bonus, it’s letting Super Duty buyers join the club too.
The long-standing package briefly disappeared when the F-150’s current generation bowed for the 2015 model year. Now it’s back, offering all 2017 Ford pickup buyers a new trim level positioned between the spartan XL and uplevel XLT.
When applied to the F-150, the STX packages adds 20-inch aluminum wheels, a black mesh grille with body-color surround, body-color fascia and bumpers, Sync 3 infotainment system (with eight-inch touchscreen), privacy glass, fog lamps, black sport seats and the STX decal on the box. There’s also adjustable lumbar support for driver and passenger, because you’re both something special.
The package is available on SuperCab and SuperCrew models with the 2.7 and 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engines, as well as the 5.0-liter V8. Starting price is $35, 615.
Super Duty customers can order the package on all body and engine configurations, starting at $34,910 for the F-250 and $36,080 for the F-350. Unlike its smaller brother, the Super Duty sees plenty of chrome in STX guise. A chrome grille, front and rear step bumpers, and aluminum wheels come with the package, along with a fender vent badge and steering wheel mounted cruise control.
Check the STX box at the dealer, start chirping about torque figures, and consider your friends humbled.
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
Let the truck people rejoice.
let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing praises unto Ford’s name.
STX does nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility it values others above itself.
In Canada the STX package was just an option package tacked onto the XLT trim. It basically was the equivalent of the chrome appearance package in the USA. My 2010 F150 is an XLT with the STX package.
I thought XTR was the equivalent to the US’s XLT-plus-chrome-package.
Drzhivago138 – my bad. Got my abbreviations mixed up. You said it more clearly than I did. XTR is the XLT plus chrome package in Canada.
Oh Ford
Thou hast granted thee thy STX
Praise, praise, praise be unto you Ford
Master of the Ecoverse
Axle to axle and truck to truck
Hahahaha
What say you, Brother Adam?
I say that STX 5.0L is a disciple of our Lord and Savior 3800.
Ah but tis’t cam over thy cylinder in our disciple?
“God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the torque.”
Very wise, for thou has been blessed with wisdom of 3800!
He is good.
Give thanks to Ford, for 3800 is good;
it’s production endures forever.
Let Flint North Plant 36 say:
“it’s production endures forever.”
Let the house of Buick say:
“it’s production endures forever.”
Let those who fear Ford say:
“it’s production endures forever.”
I say the 3.5 TWINFORCE torques the torque and walks the walk over its pathetic 5.0 brethren.
Preaching the sound of HORSEPOWERS though is another matter, bow ye to cylinders numbering 8.
Preach it Brother Tresmonos!
davefromcalgary,
I’m not a fan of the bigger EcoThirst engines (V6).
Turbo gas engines are okay in light vehicles and compacts, but not for a heavy vehicle.
The problem is the mass they need to move is large, and the EcoBoost’s are heavy on fuel.
I do think Ford should offer a reasonable small entry level diesel in it’s HDs, a large 4 cylinder diesel similar to the Izuzu 5.4 litre diesels.
These would make an ideal work truck engine, and economical, not like the fuel hungry EcoThirsts.
Trucks are trucks, not cars, so diesels are apt.
this is gold
Lol thx.
So say we all.
Comment thread of the day!
Thx.
“this is gold” Yes. Excluding BAFO’s comment. Yes it is.
I love all pickup trim levels that get rid of the chrome. I don’t understand why they didn’t take the monochrome approach with the Super Duty.
That makes no sense to me either, it seems that the basic flavor shouldn’t change just because you made the jump to the 250, especially since it will share more with the 150 than it has in a long time.
I think one day soon someone will offer powdercoated bumpers from the factory.
Yeah. Jeep. And they’ll somehow be a $5,000 option over the plastic ones, too.
I think I’d skip it on the F-150, but get it on the F-250, because I find the F-250 in normal form to be waaaay too chrome heavy.
Also, the Silverado now comes with two different front fascias, one with a body-colored grille-surround and one with a chromed one. Which do you prefer? I prefer the body-colored one.
In the pickup space, I’m a fan of absolutely any option or trim level that replaces anything chrome with body color. I don’t hate all chrome — on cars, chrome door handles and rocker trim often look good — but the slather treatment pickups get is really too much.
IMO the best-looking F-150 is the XLT Sport Appearance, looking a lot like this STX but with body-color door handles. If I moved to a rural area, I’d buy an XLT Sport 4×4.
I just looked at a lot of new Ford trucks, and pretty much concur. I’d say the XL Sport Appearance is even nicer looking than the XLT.
Parked next to those two, the Platinum does look pretty impressive in real life, though. It may be pointlessly bling for what is supposed to be a work vehicle, but it looks like what I would imagine a Lincoln truck, one for the Boss who is no longer involved in the nitty gritty, should look like. The darned thing almost looks like a rolling high end steak house, both inside and out.
The new Superduty is just tall. Or, more accurately Tall. With even a cab high cap, given the rake when unloaded, it won’t limbo under any beam where a low roof Transit can’t follow. Which is kind of sad when you compare the storage space in a Transit, to the confines under a cab high truck cap…….
So basically it is an XL Sport Appearance package with slightly larger wheels and a slightly (and I mean slightly) different grille?
Plus the Sync3 system. That hasn’t been available on the XL.
So basically its an option package with a unique look and some added features, that is reasonably priced?
Geeze, what were they thinking? This will never work. Ford clearly has no idea what they’re doing with full size trucks. Big Al could’ve told you that, and with the 2.631% accuracy in his made up figures to prove it.
Should’ve gone with the T(u)RD PrO-X Rebel Z-71 instead.
John,
I’m luckier it appears than many like yourself who comment on these sites.
Also, look at your comment and you guys wonder why I respond at times like I do. Go back to your simplistic Ozark wifes/sisters home.
I’m not locked into a particular brand or country of manufacture. I don’t consider US or Thai vehicles any better than each other. They are just vehicles.
If a vehicle is good I’ll state it is good. If a better product can be had or deficiencies I can see arise I will highlight this.
Ford is not different than most any other brand. It never has been the best at anything. It a nice product overall.
Oh, don’t forget I actually drive a Ford and consider it quite good, even with the catastrophic Getrag MT82 gearbox. But, like most any vehicle, there are compromises that must be made.
A HD isn’t my cup of tea, yet. I’ve driven plenty HDs and full size 1/2 ton pickups. So I do believe my comments are of value, not to a Ford fan at times.
Soooo, Aussie Al is implying out of nowhere that John is sleeping with his sister because John had the gall to question his figures. Isn’t this the sort of thing that brings out the ban hammer nowadays?
Big Al From ‘Murica – true.
BTSR got banned for CAPS LOCK and BOMBAST
BUT
This clown insults everyone and tr0lls incessantly and is still here.
I do suspect that his days are numbered.
BTSR wasn’t banned for caps lock usage. Let’s just leave it at that for now.
“Go back to your simplistic Ozark wifes/sisters home.”
Easy there Al. You can disagree with John without accusing him of incest. Relax man.
It’s the damn Goldilocks of trucks!! No need for leather, carpet floors and chrome up the A$$, hence “XLT” to get a good looking truck with ‘ala carte’ power windows/locks, slider rear window, alloy wheels, side steps and a few others or whatever you hold dear on a base “XL” pickup.
The color-key bumpers, grill surround, etc, is an especially nice touch on a basic truck. Beats the look of chrome everywhere, any day.
I personally can’t stand the big 20 inch wheels with skinny tires. count me out! I’ll take a basic XLT SuperCrew optioned with the rear locker and normal sized wheels.
Thats my truck. Trouble is the “Normal” sized wheels are still 18 inchers. Think you can get 17 and nothing smaller.
17’s are as small as they get. I like the 18 inch wheels since it is makes sourcing LT tires rather easy. 18’s are an extremely common LT size.
My brother-in-law has 20’s on his Platinum. The extra cost of tires would offset getting aftermarket 18 inch wheels.
I didn’t think crank windows were offered in any full size truck. I thought they went the way of manual transmissions.
You can still get crank windows and full manual mirrors. Supposedly a selling point for some in the sizeable portion of the truck market that are of Latin American origin, and plan on (or perhaps dream of….) bringing the truck back to where there are few repair shops, once they have saved enough dollars to retire and buy a small ranchito.
Jeff S,
I don’t know of any vehicle without power windows.
I’d say it’s now most likely just as cheap to have power windows as hand crank windows.
Frontier still has them available, as does the “new normal” spec Versa.
Ford has it on XL pickups. Your typical fleet spec truck. I would assume that GM and Ram has similar fleet level trim packages.
When I leased my Ram Express back in 2014, the STX wasn’t competitive. The Ram Express had much more standard equipment for less $. It also rode better and looked better. Especially how the did the front bumper on the Ram.
Ram has done trucks better than Ford for a long time. A good friend of mine got rid of his ’14 F-150 XLT (with the proper 5.0L) and into a ’16 Ram. The Ram has a better ride, nicer interior, more options, better engine, far superior styling, and a worlds better transmission. All for far less money. And he has much more power and the same fuel economy.
win/win
I don’t know. I was between the Ram and The F150. The Ram did ride better, I’ll give you that but it had a substantially smaller payload. The interior was a wash but the F150 felt more durable. Yeah, the transmission seemed better. Fuel economy though? Maybe the ecodiesel but it felt slow.
As a Ford stockholder, this is fantastic as Ford has long needed something between the black faced XL & chrome faced XLT in my opinion. As a buyer, I’m hoping the STX comes with satellite radio, otherwise I’d have no use for the STX package. The body color on the front of the STX looks great.
Think that is part of sync3
Wait,how is it that the Super Duty is cheaper than the F150?
The Super Duty comes with fewer options as part of the STX package. Although no real comparison is possible, between the F150 and F250 if you build similarly optioned trucks at lower trim levels especially the prices aren’t all that much different. Maybe $2000-$3000 grand more for the Super Duty at most. Obviously as soon as you add the Diesel engine the price difference between the two widens considerably.
This is all with about 10 minutes of research on Ford’s configuration tool, so there could be some inaccuracies.
Can you get it with the combination keypad? The XLT was the lowes trim that offered that and it is so nice when I go to PT in the morning to be able to lock the keys in there. Ive lost keys and had my phone stolen out of the car once when I just tossed them in the console and left it unlocked so this was a big deal to me. I would have given up the chrome for the sync 3 (I have a 15 so it was still MFT and I preferred the base system but I really liked the sync 3).
Yeah, that’s one thing I like about Fords, the retained use of the keypad on everything but the Mustang. I’m envious of the fact that when my best friend goes to the gym with me, he can just leave his keys and wallet in the car and lock it with his passcode.
I could leave my key in the car and use Volkswagen CarNet to secure it, but (a) the car won’t let you lock it *at all* with the keys inside, and (b) CarNet is finicky and doesn’t always work.
That keypad is so 80s.
There are far better options now that allow you to do the same exact thing (well actually a lot more) and you don’t have to have holes in the door or worry about it breaking at 36,001 miles…
The keypad is built into the B pillar applique now.
Yeah, since the 2009 Lincoln MKS, a lot of the cars have keypads that are capacitative-touch spots on the B-pillars. I believe the F-150 still has the buttons, because a lot people who drive F-150s wear work gloves and such.
I know Nissan had a keypad that was similar, only it was a dealer accessory and could be installed anywhere, such as behind the gas door.
The keypad is one of the niceties that I didn’t know I needed, until I had it.
This
Is this new STX also 2wd only? I was pretty sure the old one was 2wd. I like the looks of the F150-it’s pretty much just the XLT Sport package. Doesn’t hurt to give people more choices, I guess.
I do wish they would get rid of the chrome on the Super Duty and either paint it black or make it body colored or a combo of both.
They are 4WD too. It’s hard to find a 2WD truck here in MN that isn’t a work truck.
I gotcha. Same a state south. I’ve seen a few older STX’s around, but they were all 2wd, must just be bad luck.
STX /was/ 4×2 only for its first year of existence. I can’t be sure, but I think 2004 was the first year of the STX 4×4.
The best STX was the old Ranger one, which always seemed to be black and came standard with cheesy “fading” graphics.
My dad actually had an STX Ranger back in the 80’s, I’ve seen pics and his was actually kinda a grey, but the side was COVERED in graphics.
My fave Ranger was definitely the Splash. I was only 5 when my neighbor at the time bought what was a ’99 model I believe. He had it until we moved away in 2006. Yellow, with those super 90’s graphics on the side, I thought I was the coolest truck I had ever seen at the time, haha.
Maybe it was gray, yeah…but the graphics were what was most important.
And I’m partial to the Splash blue, whatever it was called.
They came in like 3-4 colors it looks like! Those fade out graphics were wild.
“Start chirping about torque figures”
I’ve never actually had a customer ask about torque figures when buying an F-150. Usually they just want one because their mother’s brother… I mean father drives one
BURN!
The XLT in “Sport” guise has the color-keyed bumpers and dispenses with the chrome, as well.
Having the 8″ screen is huge (pun). The 4.5″ screen that came on XLs and some XLTs was a joke, it was difficult to discern anything through the camera and it looked as if it was being swallowed by the dash.
Meh, mine has it and I have no issue hooking up my trailer with it.
Yours is a 300A/301A ’15 or ’16 XLT? My eyesight is bad, so I’m sure it’s me in regards to clarity.
In fact, even with the 8″ screen, I’m so used to mirrors I rarely use it, except when backing into my shop. With the Evo up against the wall the S-Cab *barely* fits, and if I left the hitch on it it would be a wave-off. The lift handle for the rolling door clears the bumper cover by about two-and-a-half inches.
All OEMs, GM, Ford, Toyota & FCA (well, not that FCA matters) must get rid of those awful all-black grilles. I don’t care what they do after that, for anything is an improvement.
I want a Nite Edition or they can get outa here.
And I don’t like it when they show new trims on 2WD models. Looks fake.
Buy F150 STX in black. Add purple and blue stripe plus graphics. Swap 20 inch wheels with an owner of an F150 XL with 17″ steel wheels. Nite edition activate.
Adam,
I had my dark coloured vehicles, never again!
The prefix I used when describing dark colours on cars is “stonechip”, ie, Stonechip Black.
They do look pretty when new, but go down a few dirt roads, highway driving and off roading an it doesn’t take long for them to look like sh!t.
I like white and silver.
Silver does really well with a little chrome and black.
Well, if Corey wants an F150 Nite Edition, it has to be a dark color. I do agree with you about dark colored vehicles getting dirty easily. One of our vehicles gets dirty sitting in the garage. It makes me angry.
I decided the teal and pink dual tape stripe needs to have a wavy bit at the end of the bed, like the Tracker.
I love it!
This new “Super” Duty is beyond hideous. It makes the Toyota looking F-150 somewhat palatable.
Yeah, well, that’s just like, y’know, your opinion, man.
It’s gotten too tall. The outgoing one, particularly the 250, still had the old school grace of a tall cab and reasonably low bedrails, even in 4wd guise. This new one is jacked waaay up, on what proportionally looks like tiny little wheels (despite them being bigger than the 150s.)
That even the gas 250 is stuck with a grille sized to house a 450 diesel sized radiator, designed around the requirement to cool a 40,000 lb rig climbing out of Death Valley in the summer, doesn’t really do it any favors, either. Once you get your crane operator to hoist you into the cab, it’s a pretty nice and well equipped perch from which to look down on Donald Trump in his penthouse, though….
EBFlex,
I think part of the problem Ford has is experience in shaping aluminium.
Remember, this is glued and riveted together. I would think from a manufacturing perspective Ford is limited in how shapely it can make it’s pickups. Maybe one day when Ford has experience with aluminium it can make more shapely and desirable looking pickups.
It was easier for Ford to design long straight’ish lines for ease of assembly.
I do believe the F-150’s front end looks disgusting. One of the worst. There is no excuse for this front end. It can be hidden behind a bull bar.
The exterior material choice did not dictate the shape of the F150. It isn’t really any more or less boxy than the last version.
Adam,
Ford has issues in shaping the aluminium. I don’t know if you are aware of this.
The problem was Ford has issues with the aluminium holding its preformed shape. The aluminium after forming was flexing back towards it’s original shape, material memory.
Ford, I think with Alcan/Alcoa (can’t remember which one) spent time working on how to alloy the aluminium to produce a easier material to work with and form.
Simpler creases and straight lines are easier to work with, especially with the issue of forming that Ford had.
The front end is not aluminium. I’d say plastic, this is why I think Ford has done a poor job in it’s design. Plastic can be shaped into whatever you want.
“Ford has issues in shaping the aluminum.”
Source?
When has the F-Series not had simple creases and straight lines? Even the jelly bean F150 had mostly straight lines.
Citations required!
Other than personal opinion based upon one’s view of the Axis of evil. (Ford, aluminum, no small truck and no small diesel).
Older STXs had no larger than 18″ wheels (optional, with 17″ standard, I think?). The first year (2003) was 4×2 only. Also, STX was only available as a Regular cab/6.5′ or SuperCab/6.5′ bed model until 2014, when it was also made available as a SuperCrew/5.5′ for its “final” year. It seems likely that these three configs will be available again.
I don’t know if the US has the XLS, which sits just below the XLT. The XLS here has less chrome, with a slightly more basic interior. The XLS is a blur between a base model and the mid spec XLT.
I don’t mind chrome, but I do believe there is way too much chrome on pickups. It cheapens them, like a lady of the night standing on a corner all dolled up.
Ford could really offer whatever the F-150 comes with in these HDs, since the cabs are the same.
I do think that is a good move on Ford’s part having the same cabs as the F-150. Sort of like the “old” days when a HD was actually a heavier half ton.
We had the XLS on F-100s and 150s in the early-mid ’80s, I think. And yes, it was lower-spec than XLT and had no chrome, not even the mirrors. Most were Flaresides, but you could also get them with a Styleside bed, short or long.
http://paintref.com/graphics/sample/fordpickup1982ravenblack.jpg
The XLS trim was also available on Broncos, Rangers, and Bronco IIs.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/oxIAAOSwaNBUjNsR/s-l300.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_G3DjZetEqK8/SXemwVLKRfI/AAAAAAAAEGU/fhwe022gYk4/s320/1980-1989-ford-trucks-22.jpg
Definitely agree that sharing cabs is a good idea.
I like chrome grills and bumpers on the XLT. In my life that is what made the XLT an XLT. The XL was work spec with black everything. Then there was always an XL Sport or STX that painted the black trim body colored. I like those but I prefer the chrome so long as it doesn’t get stupid. Having said that, I may have gotten the STX had it been available though…I really like that sync 3 but I’d have gotten some normal sized rims off craigslist the first time I needed tires. Not sure how the STX would look in brown though.
If the previous color offerings are any indication, you’ll only be able to get STX in bright red, blue, white, black, dark gray, or silver.