What Makes A Great Truck And A Great Drive, From Highways To Parking Lots

Want a truck that works hard without the luxury price tag? We take the 2025 Ford F-150 STX SuperCrew 4x4 on real roads to see how its 5.0-liter V8, 10-speed automatic, and direct steering stack up against the high-trim hype. With 12,700 lbs of towing, 1,685 lbs of payload, and a standard 12-inch center screen, this “lower” trim still brings serious muscle and everyday comfort. We break down the maze of trims, cabs, beds, and engines, then map the pricing landscape against Ram 1500, Toyota Tundra, and Chevy Silverado to pinpoint where the value truly lives.

From there, we trade spec sheets for scenery with five family-ready spring break road trips. Base out of Flagstaff for a Grand Canyon loop with Sedona red rocks and Route 66 neon, or chase ocean air on California’s Pacific Coast Highway with Monterey and Santa Cruz stops. Prefer forests and wildlife? The Great Smoky Mountains deliver waterfall pullouts, easy hikes, and a Cades Cove loop with deer and black bear sightings. Desert dreamers get a cooler-season window into Utah’s Mighty Five—Zion, Bryce, and Arches—where short hikes lead to vast views. And if nostalgia calls, string together Route 66 segments for vintage motels, classic diners, and Americana in motion.

We also pull back the curtain on parking lot design. Why do angled spaces feel easier? When does perpendicular packing backfire? We explain 30, 45, and 60-degree tradeoffs, one-way flow, door clearance, and ADA considerations so you can pick smarter spots and keep your doors ding-free. 

Finally, we put the 2026 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo Premium Plus under the microscope. With 227 hp, 310 lb-ft, upscale materials, and a compact footprint, it’s a lively daily driver—though a small trunk opening and fussy infotainment hold it back. We compare it with Civic, Corolla, and Elantra to help you choose the right compact for your roads.

If this helped you sort your next truck or plan a better road trip, follow the show, share it with a friend, and drop a quick review—what would you drive first, the F-150 STX or the Mazda 3?

The Lupe' Tortilla Restaurants
Lupe Tortilla in Katy, Texas

Gulf Coast Auto Shield
Paint protection, tint, and more!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

----  ----- 
Want more In Wheel Time car talk any time?
     
In Wheel Time is now available on Audacy!  

Just go to Audacy.com/InWheelTime where ever you are.
-----   -----
Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast provider for the next episode of In Wheel Time Podcast and check out our live multiplatform broadcast every Saturday, 10a - 12nCT simulcasting on Audacy, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch and InWheelTime.com.

In Wheel Time Podcast can be heard on you mobile device from providers such as:

Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music Podcast, Spotify, SiriusXM Podcast, iHeartRadio podcast, TuneIn + Alexa, Podcast Addict, Castro, Castbox, YouTube Podcast and more on your mobile device.

Follow InWheelTime.com for the latest updates!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InWheelTime

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inwheeltime/

https://www.youtube.com/inwheeltime

https://www.Facebook.com/InWheelTime

For more information about In Wheel Time Podcast, email us at 

info@inwheeltime.com

Transcript

2025 F-150 STX Overview

SPEAKER_02 0:04

All right. First up, though, let's get Mr. Maher's review of the Ford F-150, Mike.

Trims, Cabs, Beds, And Engines

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Yes, sir. We're talking about the 2025 Ford F-150 4x4. It's a super crew with the STX package on it. Now, this is the 14th generation of the F-150, long-standing big seller. This was introduced in 2021 for this uh generation of it. The final assembly plant was in Dearborn, Michigan. It actually comes in considered available six standard trim levels: the XL, the STX, XLT, the Lariat, Platinum, and then you get the King Ranch. Now you got two more: the Trimmer, the Raptor, the Raptor R, they're all kind of out by themselves on it. But the really interesting thing about this is you got the six different trim levels. All six of them you can get three different cab levels. All six of them can get six or three different bed lengths, and then all six of them you can get your choice of six engines. So there's like 70 or 80 combinations that you can put together to find you an F-150 that you want. Now we are in the STX Super Crew. So this was down in the lower trim levels, which we don't get very often out of the press fleet. So I was kind of interested to see how it worked out. It is five passenger cloth seats. Up front, we had the LED reflector headlamps, had LED fog lamps, got a power tailgate lock. We were rolling on some really nice 22-inch aluminum wheels. And just for future reference, it comes with a 36-gallon fuel tank on it. Fill that baby up once in a while. Now the interior, we had the 12-inch, all of the F-150s now come with a 12-inch center stack screen. That's just standard across the trim levels, the whole line. We had the rear view camera, so it makes it really nice to be able to have that. Now, because we were in the STX, we had the column shifter, not the console shifter. We also had to use a key, not a push button. So this was kind of damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Are you complaining?

SPEAKER_03 2:00

No, no, I'm saying that this is kind of a stripper model, but it was kind of nice to get in.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

I like it. I like that stuff.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, it did have the front center console, and it's a black STX cloth seats. The front seat was a 40 with a console and a 40. The rear seat is a fold up 6040 that has underseat storage. So now this is a pickup that if you're looking for a pickup, if you don't want need all the leather and you don't need all the high-end stuff, I don't need you telling me what I don't need is what I don't need. Well, I don't need that neither. And the thing is, it had the 5.0 liter V8 under the hood. So we had 400 horsepower up to around 6,000 RPM, had a 10-speed automatic transmission. Nice. So it ran well, and this was a great driving truck.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Did you bring that over here? Yeah, you did.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

Yeah, I did. That was that one I drove over there.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

That was a good-looking pickup truck, I have to admit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

And it worked out. Ken Peabody, the Ford Press Fleet Manager, did a wonderful job. He got that one. I got a different vehicle. This week, I've got the King Ranch version hybrid. So it makes for a really nice comparison versus the two different trim levels.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Hey, are you gonna do either any ones of those next week?

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Uh I'm gonna I was gonna do the Mustang next week, but I can do the Ford hybrid.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Well, because the only reason I say that is because I've got the Ram 1500 Longhorn Edition sitting in the driveway.$86,000 worth of pickup truck. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's rodeo time, baby.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

We'll do the King Ranch um F-150 then.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

All right then.

STX Features And Interior

V8 Performance And Drive Impressions

SPEAKER_03 3:35

And uh okay, and the one we've got the STX back to it. Uh you quick but upright, it can tow 12,700 pounds, and it'll haul 1,685 pounds. Again, this is a half-ton truck. Now, the EPA says you should be looking for 16 in the city, 24 out on the highway, 19 combined. I drove around town a lot, obviously, 220.3 miles, uh, other than the quick run over to your place. So I averaged 16.8 the week I got it. But this is a really nice driving truck with plenty of power. It's got direct steering, and so it really drives and handles really well when you get out on the road. I really like to drive in this truck, particularly when I start looking at the price point on it. Now, the base trim price for the uh STX is$51,230. We had a few options, pushed it up to$61,780, which in the grand scheme of things, that's not a bad price for a pickup truck. But if you really get into the stripper stripper model, you can get this thing down to$38,800. Now, again, uh, fish hubcaps. Yeah, this is the bottom line. Now, the RAM$1500, if you're looking at something comparable, you're looking at something that started about$40,275. The Tundra,$40,900. I actually met somebody that drives the Tundra the other day. And then you can look at the Chevy Silver Auto for$40,300. Again, it's back like you were talking about the other review. Pricing in that category is pretty competitive whenever you get to looking at them. Now, uh I also found out that uh that I meant to mention that you can get the STX Super Crew two-wheel drive down for$36,000 if you really want to push it. But this is a really nice driving truck. It is a pickup truck, it's not a luxury truck, but it will serve your purposes really well. Great driver, and I enjoyed it, and thanks to Ken Peabody for letting me have that for the week. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

We love you, Ken Peabody. We've known Ken Peabody forever. Long time. Long time. Anyway, great guy. He's up in the Dallas area now. He was down here for a while, lived down here, lived down in Galveston. I said, I just can't, I can't. I've got too much to do up here. Okay, we'll go back up there then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see you on the uh Texas Muscle Car Club Challenge. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Okay, here's the size doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Uh time now here on In Wheel Time to talk about driving destinations, family fun spring break road trips. Mr. Mars, it's all yours.

Towing, MPG, And Real-World Results

SPEAKER_03 6:10

Yeah, I picked out like five things that would make great family spring break road trips in the United States. I mean, because it's when you're talking about spring in particular, it's more like a vacation. You got scenic highways, roadside stops, and lots of destinations where the kids go, wow. Some of them are more than others. But we'd start with the Grand Canyon in the North Arizona Loop. It's really good to kind of base this out of Flagstaff because then you can drive up to the South Rim and you can kind of overlook the rim and you find lots of paths along the way, and uh you can be like the Griswolds there on the way, and then you can uh pick up on stretches of US Route 66 where you go through Williams and you kind of step back in time with the neon signs, the vintage diners, and a lot of roadside attractions. Of course, you can always stop in the Sedona and check out the red rock scenery that you're gonna have along the way there. And then from there, we could go to California's Pacific Coast Highway. This comes up a lot because of what it is. I mean, if you're into the coastal scenery, this is just it's a legendary drive that's hard to beat. Start in San Francisco, head south towards Big Surf. You got lots of highway hugs, the cliffs, and the Pacific Ocean, big, beautiful bridges to go across. You can stop in Monterey, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium there, going down to Santa Cruz, where they've got an actually little amusement park down there to kind of wind up a day of spending the day in the car. The number three would be the Great Smoky Mountains Adventure. Now, families that like mountains and wildlife and like to go hiking, it's hard to beat this because the park is so big. You've got the scenic drives, you've got waterfalls, you've got short hiking trips that are great for the younger kids that are out traveling. And you can go down through the Cades Cove Loop. Now, this is where you can see a lot of deer, a lot of other wildlife like turkeys, and even sometimes a few black bears out through there. Now, you can also roll into Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. You've got lots of family fun there, lots of amusements, and it's very touristy. You got some aquariums, mountain coasters, lots of restaurants, and of course, if you go in the springtime, because of spring break, you're going to find a lot of wildflowers that are blooming. Makes things even a lot nicer. The other one would be going back to the other side of the world, the Utah's Mighty Five National Parks loop. Now, if you'd like to get out into the wide open landscapes, this is the place you want to go because now you're looking at Zion National Park or Bryce Canyon National Park or even Arches National Park, where you're going to find all this vast scenery of red rocks and canyons and uh canyon walls, arches that have been thousands of years in the making. And you can actually kind of go hiking out in here because during the summer it gets really hot up in here. So springtime breaks are a good time to go out through these desert highways. The other one that would be the classic Route 66 road trip. Now, if you want to get on, there's it's hard to go wrong with Route 66 because you can start in Chicago, go all the way to Santa Monica if you've got time. I'd really like to do that one of these days, but never seems to be enough time. So you end up on little stretches of it. Even if you go uh down through Texas and you hit into the Cadillac Ranch, you're going to find a lot of vintage motels, classic diners. Of course, you got neon signs that are all going to bring you back to that American rogue culture. And uh Springfield, Missouri is considered a halfway point, if nothing else. If you make it to there, you could go north for a little ways, you could go west for a little ways. Great place to kind of kick things off from there. And so that's that's some five trips that you can look at for spring break because it's the best part of it is it's a time that the kids are out of school, the family can get together, the family can then take and uh take off for a few days, don't mess with the airlines, just pack up the kids in the car and take off on a nice road trip.

Pricing And Competitor Matchups

SPEAKER_02 9:53

And buy some$5 a gallon gasoline. Hey, Mike, uh, check your I just texted you. All right, uh time now for Jeff's car culture. Size matters dot dot dot when it comes to parking spaces.

Shoutouts And Fleet Notes

Spring Break Road Trip Ideas

SPEAKER_00 10:11

Parking spaces, uh well, parking space dimensions are relatively standard across the country, but they can vary slightly depending on the local laws and regulations. Standard parking space dimensions across America are between seven and a half feet and nine feet of the width and uh sixteen feet to twenty feet in length, or what they call depth. So parking space dimensions are seemingly relatively straightforward at a glance. There are several things to consider they consider that affect the final layout of a parking lot. Parking lot size affects the maximum number of spaces that you can put under the different layouts. Many parking lots use perpendicular parking to try to fit as many spaces in the lot as possible. That's like putting a button seat at a theater or something. You gotta get them in there. Perpendicular designs are especially common in high traffic areas like grocery stores and department stores. However, there's also times when a parking lot is too large for the number of people using it. Having the highest possible number of spaces only matters in a parking lot if it sees enough traffic to fill those spaces. So you can actually overbuild a parking lot. This parking is somewhat dangerous and requires wider aisles, so it's often possible to use different configurations in a large lot. While most people are familiar with perpendicular or 90 degree parking, many are are the other angles and choices that can be designed and are in use. Two-sided parking array at this angle is forty-four point eight well, forty-four feet eight inches across in total. Twelve feet of this is for the main driving route, which is the rest of the parking spot. The setup offers excellent maneuverability because drivers only need to turn a little to get in or out of that space. In it's particularly practical in areas where people go in and out of the spaces a lot. So you got a lot of traffic in that one. Particular side of the street. Yeah, yeah. Uh one notable advantage of the 30-degree space is that all doors are cleared on both sides of the vehicle, and that's important. 45 degree spaces. There's another one. It can fit more cars into the same area. These angles are still tight enough that they're only practical for cars traveling in one direction. You see the arrows and the lots of the parking spaces. That nobody pays attention to. Right, right. Uh well, I do. However, increased capacity comes at the most uh comes at the cost of reduced speed because the cars need to slow down and much more uh skill to enter those spaces. Essentially, it is a balanced option for the angled parking, which is good to know. 60 degree parking is another one. It's relatively wide, uses a 59 foot eight-inch space for the areas with parking on both sides, typically about 20 feet of the driving space between the parking stalls. Then you got uh spaces that give people much more room to maneuver. It doesn't take up quite as much space as perpendicular parking, but it's somewhat easier to back into that spot. Then you got 90 degree parking or perpendicular parking, as we discussed. Is most common choice that people like where parking stalls are at the right angle to the road. Perpendicular parking is the worst choice for accessibility outside of an ADA compliant spots, which is the handicapped spots. All vehicle doors uh could be close to one another, such proximity can make it extremely hard for some people to enter or exit the car. That's why you have some of the grids on the side of the parking spot. Then you got straight parking or parallel parking, or common areas where it could be difficult to install and driving tests. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. They're most common along the edges of the streets, which are very common. Parallel parking spots are usually 19 feet in depth with an average of four feet of buffer space on the top of that, which is about uh 12 feet of driving space next to them. Then you can get into the other specialty parking like semi-trucks, motorcycles, and buses. They each have their own routes of doing that. Semi-trucks are about 30 feet long. Motorcycles, you can put more motorcycles in a regular parking spot than you could in a parking spot designated for a motorcycle. And then you got buses which are about 60 feet long. I do this because when I go to the grocery shopping or you go to your Walmart or your Target or whatever, and you got people that are pushing their baskets and they just leave them in the middle of the next length. They don't take them to the reason the place where you're supposed to put your car. I've seen people put shopping cars in the handicap space as someone's trying to pull in there, and it just drives me nuts. So you want to go out there and just poke them in the eye.

Route 66 And Family Travel Tips

SPEAKER_02 14:36

Uh time now. Time now for this hour's car review. 2026 Mazda 3. This is the four-door compact sedan. Um, they do make a hatchback, but forget that. This is the sedan. Available trim levels, the S, the Select, and the S preferred, along with the carbon edition all-wheel drive and the 2.5 turbo premium plus. I had the 2.5 turbo premium plus top of the line. Compact four-door sedan, seats five. Exterior changes minimal. It was completely redesigned in 2019. So this current design is getting a little long in the tooth. Exterior features include the shark grille with the laid back arrow windshield, quick back design with a small trunk lid and a small opening back there, slick wraparound headlights, 18-inch black wheels on this particular trim level, giving it a premium appearance. But I liked the overall sporty design. I could use improvement. Uh well, something new is 70-year-old design. It it sells, it's good, but it's time to bump it up, I think. Uh, interior highlights. Design and quality get high marks. Uh small infotainment screen sits atop the dash. Minimal minimalist control switches. They look good, but some are hard to find, the ones that you need. Uh front seats are comfortable, um, but rear ones, not so much. Small trunk room, and especially that opening back there. It's very small, so you're not gonna get your you know, get your big suitcase back in there. Uh what I like, quality materials. This is high end, really, for this kind of car and for this price. So I could use improvement, but the infotainment operation is still too complicated. It's the same one they've been stuck with for years, and I'm not a big fan. 2.5 liter, four-cylinder engine, 227 horsepower, 310 pound feet of torque. Uh torque.

unknown 16:45

Torque.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

310 pound feet of torque. Transmission, six speed automatic, 23 miles per gallon city, 32 highway for a combined at 27. I got 25.2 miles per gallon over 525 miles. Oops, 25 miles over. I'm sorry. What I liked, plenty of power for this top of the line engine. Um we could use improvement. How about a hybrid offering for a better miles per gallon? I don't know if it's possible or not, but that's a slick like sedan. What I liked about it, the sporty nature of the sedan. I could use improvement for the ride and handling. Base trim price. No, base trim price, 36,740. Price is tested, 39,145, which is a lot of money for this car. But base model price, 24,550. Oh, very good. Hello? I'm in for that. Competitors. The Honda Civic starts at 24,695. This is so weird to me when I started looking all this stuff up. I'm going, wait a minute. They're all within$1,000 of each other. Toyota Corolla starts at$22,925, and the Hyundai Alantra starts at$22,625. Isn't that bizarre? The price, really, comparison is between the Mazda 3 that I drove, the base model price$24,550 and the Honda Civic for$24.695.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

And you got some youngster going away to college, it might be a good first car on the base side of it. Yeah,$22.50.

Parking Space Design 101

SPEAKER_02 18:16

If you can find, you know, the base cars are hard to find. They want to sell them with all the goodies on it because they make more money than it. And I get it. They're not going to Oreo one with just base. I mean, they probably would, but that's the car review of the Mazda 3 sedan. I like it. I mean it it it's a sporty car. Clearly, Mazda's brand is about sportiness. It's not going to ride like, you know, the Buick Regal over the past. Oh no. You can you can toss it around the corner.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

And that uh the shape when you saw the the silhouette of the side view of that vehicle, it's like all of their everything looks like Euro. It looks like a Euro. Nice and rounded. Well, it my opinion they stand out. Do something different on your design. And also shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

They're nice cars.