I have a 98' F150 XL 4.2L with 187,000 miles, and I am ready for an upgrade,
I've been looking at the 2012 F150 (XL, XLT) with the Ecoboost or 5.0 and the Toyota Tundra, both 4x4 extended cab.

I'm looking for information about the Ecoboost engine; reliability, problems, price of upkeep. etc. I drove an FX4 Ecoboost and loved the engine, acceleration across the board, but way above my price range.

 

I was reading this article yesterday, the owner has both a Tundra and an Ecoboost F150. Has some pretty interesting info!

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...have-both.html

 

Both Ford and Toyota are good trucks. I think it comes down to personal preference which is most comfortable for you. Sit in and drive both. I have a F150 Ecoboost and my friend has a Tundra 5.7L. We could trade trucks for a week and both be happy.

I used to drive a 7.3L diesel Superduty and my friend drove a 5.9L Dodge Cummins. We both thought we had the better truck. Now neither of us miss our 3/4 ton trucks one bit. I know my friend feels safer pulling his 4WD front loader tractor with the Tundra then he did with the 3/4 ton Dodge. He travels narrow country roads with no shoulders and the Tundra is easier to drive and has more electronics nannies to keep everything on the road. It gets much better traction then the Dodge did, especially in slippery conditions. I'm sure there is a point where the Dodge will excel but we don't run that heavy. I've not towed my car enough with the F150 to have an opinion, but I can tell you that the Ecoboost freaking smokes my old 7.3L driving around with my trailer. And that includes off-idle acceleration. But I used to have a manual transmission so almost anything would smoke me off the line.

 

What are your towing needs?? The Toyota has a limit of 8100 lbs. the F150 can be up to 11,300 lbs. (2 wheel drive) I looked at the Toyota's and they look great and I am used to driving Toyota (I currently have a Sequoia) however my next truck will be the F150 Ecoboost for it's low end torque and better gas milage.

Now if your towing needs are not anywhere close to the maximum of the Toyota...that would be a hard choice. I priced one at $51,655 and it still cannot tow as much as the F150...that is a no brainer for me. The Toyota's need a huge makeover...they have been relatively the same for many years. They do however have a really good stereo and speakers (JBL). Fuel milage is 15/20 on the Toyota of course depending on the gearing.

Anyway that thread that was posted will also help. My choice will be the F150.

 

I've driven all of them, had a rental Crew Max, 5.7L Tundra for a few days once, recently had a Super Crew, EcoBoost and I own/ drive an '11, XLT, 5.0L. I'm not going to lie, the 5.7L Tundra feels alot quicker off the line than my 5.0L F-150, and carrying the same 700-800 lbs in the box was pretty much undetectable in that truck as well, where I do feel the extra weight when a siilar load is in my 5.0L truck.

I'm going to put a foot out there and say that , the 5.7 i-Force V8 feels even more stout from say 0-40 than the EcoBoost I rented, but the Eco had the 3.31 rear axle so not sure if that made a difference? (I didn't not know what the rear-end was on the Tundra), it was a fully loaded "Platinum" model so I would assume 3.73? or 4.10??

However my 5.0L Feels more powerful from say mashing the gas pedal from 45-50 onward. While the gas milage wasn't obscene in the Tundra like it was in the '08 3/4 6.0L Gasser Chevy Silverado I was driving back then it also wouldn't get anywhere near the 21-22 mpgs I can pull off on the highway with my 5.0L F-150.

Truthfully I can't stand the way the Tundra looks, the interior is a mess to look at albeit everything is where is should be, it just looks like it was made by Little Tikes. I'm 5'6'' and felt like I was always sitting on the edge of a big, fat-mans seat in the Tundra, where I feel right at home in my F-150 seats.

I also felt the Tundra handled a little bit flatter and with more precision than my F-150 does, but then again my XLT has the 18" wheels with huge sidewalls. The Tundra I drove had the 20" wheel package with what looked like more of a lower profile tire.

I am more than happy with my 5.0L and would certainly buy again. When I was looking for a truck I appreciated the info screen, SYNC, and the other bells & whistles that came with that package over the high-tech engine option with about similar performance. And you are right, the discount for a 5.0L truck over the popular EcoBoost right now is a lot deeper.

 

I have both trucks,
My personal truck is a 2012 EB CC.
My company truck is a 2012 Tundra EC with the 5.7
Here are a couple of things I noticed
- The Tundra has a very stout seat of your pants pull off of the line but you you really need to turn the rpm's to turn on the power.
- Tundra has a lot of road noise( I drive all highway miles to work)
- Tundra mpg has been right at 15 mpg all highway driving
- Tundra interior looks very cheap


-F150 is has very little road noise
-F150 I average 18.6 mpg overall with an increase to 21 on the highway
-F150 power is very smooth and linear
-F150 seat are awesome, I do have the center console with bucket seats
-F150 interior is very clean looking

I drive the tundra 70% more then the F150 so I have more seat time in it then the F150 but I would take the F150 hands down if I had to choose between the 2. just my .02

 

I say drive them all and make a best choice based on your experience and affordability.

 

I notice a trend with the testimonies. They are absent of any real serious problems or gripes and usually end with, "I like this one because it's more comfortable or looks better." Doesn't appear there is a bad decision here.

 

I don't think there is a bad choice either.
I had to make a similar choice a few months ago, and coming from a Tacoma, I was actually biased towards the Tundra. Here is what made me get my F150 screw EB 4x4:
- payload (most important). I needed a crew cab 4x4. Tundra maxed at under 1,400 lbs, my F150 has > 2,200 lbs of payload. This is needed when towing a TT in most cases.
- fuel consumption: not towing, my HD / max tow EB gets 21 mpg.

Good luck, they are both good trucks IMO!

 

So your truck must have have the LS 4.10 gearing then? Otherwse there is no way to get max tow with max payload.

 

i like the tundras but i have reversed a few of the tail gates. buckled them with some weight. never have i over loaded the tailgate on my f150. i put two 75k transformer in the Toyota and was scared to leave them on there. i have done the same with my truck and didn't seem to be to much for it.

 

I have an EB with 3.73 rear end (LS), HD payload, and max tow package.

 

Thank you all for your replies. I really liked driving the Tundra, seemed to have plenty of power and the turning radius was amazingly tight. The interior decently designed but I really didn't like the dashboard from the center to the pax side.

Driving the FX4 was a blast,, but I worry the the Ecoboost engine will be troublesome and costly to repair. That makes me lean toward the Tundra. I want to find out what kind of reliability this engine has.

 

Why not look into the 5.0L? it will do everything the Toyota 5.7L Tundra will do, and is a fairly simple & efficient machine for what it is. If you are writing a blank check look at the Lariat with 6.2L another awesome engine, but probably not going to be more economical than the Tundra.

Just an observation I noticed, looks like one of my neighbors a retired fellow traded his 5.7 Tundra a week ago for a new Crew Cab EcoBoost F150. I'm going to have to ask him what drove him to swap his Tundra for an F150 one of these days.

 

The Ecoboost is a stout motor, don't give any concern to its abilities or "possible troubles". All vehicles are mechanical machines and can be troublesome at any time regardless of design or how they're used. I've spoke to a few different dealers within a 500 mile radius of where I bought my truck. Each seem to have a 4:1 ratio of Ecoboost-5.0 trucks sold. Only issues I've heard of were some plugs and coils burning out.

My work truck (and personal truck) has been worked from day 1, pulling my construction trailers nearly every day. Other than the Sync system taking a week long vacation, it has been flawless.

Good luck with your choice!!