Ford has announced that the new 10-speed automatic transmission will be standard with all 2017 F150 pickups fitted with the 3.5L EcoBoost V6.

For our Question of the Week, we want to know if you think that the move to this transmission as standard equipment is a good idea?

 

It's a good idea. Just hope it makes it to the rest of the engine line up and that it's not an additional cost for it...rather not have to pay $4500 just to have it...it would take way too long to make that up in gas. I'd expect 1-4mpg better than the current 6 speed and that's bring generous.

1st gear is 4.7:1, seventh is 1:1 direct drive, tenth is 0.64:1.

 

What's the final drive ratio for the existing 6 speed? I'm running at 1,600 rpm with the 3.55 rear at 60mph, so the 3.15 rear is going to be much lower. It seems like these engines are already lugging going down the highway, so I don't see there being that much of a MPG improvement.

I'll be the forum skeptic in this. There are no magic bullets left to increase mileage. If a 10-speed could increase mileage better than moving to an AL body, Ford would have poured the resources into it first. But all we got out of the AL change was a 1mpg increase. I've been wrong before and will be again (just watch)...hopefully I'm wrong here too

 

I know a lot of people are all excited and can't wait for it. I'm going to sit back and watch. This is an all new design. More than likely there will be issues. Adding complexity increaes the probability of that. I believe it will use different speeds for different conditions. For example, tow mode may use 1,2,4,6,8. I don't think it will ever use all 10 speeds sequentially.

On the other hand, I think the current six speed auto is a great transmission. It's proven, durable and dependable.

 

The only part of it that I don't like is that it was designed with Ford and GM collaboration, so it's somewhat a GM product. That being said, any new GM models with the 10 speed could get bad feedback because it was partially designed by Ford!

Still, it should be interesting to see how it performs in the F150, especially the new Raptor!

 

The more gears the better as far as I am concerned. I think we'd all be in CVTs by now if they could handle high power output.

It might mean they could narrow the power band for engines and save money somehow, but that is sort of grasping at straws.

 

As I understand it, the sibling transmissions will be tuned /geared differently to minimize similarities.

However, double the product on the street, double the R&D efforts and 1/2 the cost for each builder means a good thing for the Ford and GM guys.

IMHO, the 3.5L EB will get it exclusively so Ford can build up it's inventory to offer it to the full line up.

 

Anyone know what percent of the F-150 engines are the 3.5L EB? I bet it's more than half, but I don't really know.

 

the more gears the higher the cost and if you blow one up
finding a re builder will be a chore .

I like the 6 speeds....

 

The latest video that was going around illustrated that 30% are 3.5L EB, 30% are 2.7L EB, 3.5L N/A are 10% and 30% are 50.L, IIRC.

 

I think it's higher than 30%, but that's just on what Ford reps say, and they might be more bias than I am. For some reason 46% comes to mind, but I'm too lazy to fact check this morning.

Al body was about more than just a MPG increase. It helped get a better payload, and if you haven't driven one yet, you'll be very happy with the lower center of gravity on these trucks. It makes a world of a difference. I also think it's going to help long term value, with will help Ford lease them more (and maybe even take the value crown from Toyota, who holds it because there are more cheap used Toyota buyers than there are cheap new Toyota buyers so it's supply/demand more than an actual value).

I look forward to anything that works better. Since I haven't really cracked open a transmission newer than the 1990s it doesn't matter to me how much of a PIA it is to repair. If it last to 200k+ then sign me up. I think reliability is more important to most buyers than other gains in the F150 line. Frankly there isn't much room upward in performance for the truck to go. It already holds or pulls more weight than my old fashioned brain is comfy with.

 

I agree that the more speeds the better. And I would like to have one of the new transmissions. However, I just worked through the dates and timing and came to the conclusion that even though I haven really "used" my 2015 yet, I will use it to tow the boat 2,000 miles this fall and that's well before the 2017's will be available. And add to that the fact that I really don't want the first iteration, that means I wouldn't buy until they've been on the road a year or two.

 

The term "lugging" is highly subjective, and easily measured with regards to efficiency. There's a point where power output below a certain RPM becomes inefficient, and in one of the videos they have a chart. Too busy to go find it, but it's around 1,100 RPMs if I remember right.

My truck isn't turning 1,100 RPMs going down the interstate, so it's not lugging.

 

I'd use http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html then add tire size to figure out the RPM and speed. I'm good with 2000RPM at 65mph with .75 overdrive and 3.73 gears on the Mountaineer. Best mpg was 19.9 on our last trip to Nebraska last month doing 65 all the way. When I did an hour and a half at 75mph it dropped to 17.7. If I had to guess if it had a 10 speed in it doing 75 I'd probably get close to 19.2.

 

The transmission is great, but I think the majority of the efficiency improvement will come from the engine. They're doing a whole bunch of things to increase efficiency in the new engine, so I'd say that's where we'll see the majority of the fuel savings.

The transmission will likely provide the most fuel economy improvement when driving below highway speeds, at which point both transmissions will be locked into top gear.