The V8 Engine is Dead. Long Live the EcoBoost!
Sales of the EcoBoost engine in the F-150 are strong, leaving fewer reasons to keep offering a V8.
Whenever Ford updates their truck line, people invariably ask if the V8 engine is dead. Of the six different engines available on the 2018 Ford F-150, only one of them is a V8. Does that mean it’s dead?
Yes. More or less.
When the truck was updated for 2018, some changes were made to the Coyote V8 in the pickup. Some of these changes were to separate it more from the V8 that’s in the Mustang, tuning it more for truck duty. But in 2018, most of the EcoBoost engines saw more significant changes.
Recently, Ford decided that they wanted to make the new 2019 F-150 Limited even more special. They wanted a truck with even more power to separate it from the rest of the non-Raptor lineup. They could’ve used a V8. They didn’t. Instead, it receives the same high output 3.5L EcoBoost that is in the Raptor, making 450 horsepower and 510 lb-ft of torque.
There are fewer and fewer reasons to keep the V8 around in the pickup. According to our contacts at Ford, over half of the F-150s sold are EcoBoost powered. The base 3.3L V6 is capable of running on alternative fuel, so cities that buy them in bulk can still upfit them the way they need to. The EcoBoosts, especially the 3.5L, have more usable torque across the entire rev range and improve overall towing capability.
At the high end of the Ford Performance spectrum, the company is moving away from the V8. The Ford GT, the company’s halo supercar, runs on a 3.5L EcoBoost engine. Outside the Mustang, no other non-truck Ford offers a V8. The number offered is getting fewer and fewer each year.
Is it completely going away? No. The Mustang currently has V8 power and it’s not going anywhere. Even the upcoming Shelby GT500 is likely to have a V8 of some sort. But as the EcoBoost gets more and more efficient and powerful, it becomes less compelling to offer a V8 in other Ford products.
It’s becoming a niche engine, whether you like it or not.
Join the Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums now!
