94 F250 RCLB 460 auto 2wd: 9-10 MPG unloaded around town.

96 F150 SCSB 351 auto 4x4: 13-15 MPG unloaded around town.

There's my math based on each truck's weight without hauling or towing anything.

If you REGULARLY tow, I'd buy the 460 truck for a tow vehicle and drive something else around town.

I don't tow often but they get about the same mileage. The difference is the 460 doesn't notice when you have a load in/behind the truck, and you won't either except for the deeper exhaust rumble.

 

My daily driver is either my F-250 crew cab with a 460 or my '71 Bronco (I park the Bronco in the winter, but drive it more than the pickup in the summer).

In both vehicles the vast majority of the miles are only hauling me. Yes, I could get by with a smaller vehicle that gets better mileage as my daily driver, but I've already got 2 vehicles of my own. Add in my wife's Escape and my two sons cars and I really can't get another one. The Bronco is obviously a toy, and couldn't be replaced by anything reasonable while still being the toy it's supposed to be (I wouldn't drive it as much if it didn't get better mileage than the pickup). And the pickup needs to be big enough to carry a slide-in camper and tow the Bronco. So I'm stuck with crappy mileage in my daily driver.

As I said earlier, my choice would have been to have a 351 in my crew cab. I know the performance loaded would have been only adequate, and the mileage loaded would likely be worse than a loaded 460. But for me, that's balanced off by my experience that 351s get better mileage than 460s in the vast majority of the driving I do. As they say, your mileage may vary, but that's my preference for my usage based off my experience. However when I couldn't find a 351 crew cab it wasn't too hard for me to settle for the 460. It just means I get to drive my Bronco more!

 

I think in today's day and age, fuel mileage in a big truck is a moot point. If you want to save fuel, downsize or buy a second car for commuting and save the full size truck for weekends.

I have a 460 and yes it does cost a little more than my small block chevy was, but the amount of extra fuel per month is minimal.

One other thought is to get a truck with a 300 six in it, then that would make sense.

 

Another solution is having two trucks. My F-250 with 302/AOD is the daily driver and does the light work, it gets 14-16 mpg average. My F-350 with 460/E4OD is the heavy hauler, 10 mpg average... but I only drive it when I need to haul something heavy.

Most folks have a truck and an economy car, but cars are useless in the country where the roads are rough and there's always something that needs to be thrown in the bed of a truck.

 

I want a 460, but I'll just have to keep driving the 351 a few more years, which will save enough gas money, to buy a 460 truck. Lol

 

i agree with brad, my 4.9 2wd f150 gets around 18-20 in the summer and about 3 mpgs worse in the winter it will continue to be my daily driver whenever i find a good deal on a obs f250 or f350, but they are pretty high priced around here, i can get a 2005 f350 duallie with a 6.0 cheaper than a 95 f250 with a 7.3, but i know why that is

 

It isn't that simple for people that can't have 8 trucks. As I said, I have 2 which is one more than a lot of people can manage. So my two trucks have to do everything I need them to. Since one is an early Bronco, the other needs to haul my family of 4, carry a slide-in camper and tow the Bronco. It also needs to be my commuter car. Yes it would be nice to have an F-150 or Ranger for commuting, but they couldn't handle the other needs.

So I have an F-250 crew cab. That carries the 4 people and camper and tows the Bronco. Since it has a 460 it does that very well. But I'd be very willing to have it haul that load a little less well, more like my '85 F-250 with a 351 or my '95 F-150 with a 351 did, if it would get a little better mileage the rest of the time like my 351 trucks got.

If I had a different truck for daily use and only used my crew cab for hauling then yes, I'd definitely want a bigger engine (but I'd probably take a PowerStroke over a 460 if that was the only use of the truck). But for most of us, compromise is the name of the game. And a 460 isn't the best compromise for me.

 

Bought this new in 97 and after 16 years it has 104k on it. Not my dd which is my 99 Explorer with 172k miles because of gas mileage difference. When I need to haul/tow I bring out the F250 or the 350. Surprising how much I can get in the Exp with all the seats down which is most of the time. It's like a Ranger with camper top.