My title may sound confusing but here's the story.

Two days ago my wife chose a 2012 Double cab Tundra as her personal "car". Of course, I insisted she get an SR-5 & The off-road package. She picked a Pyrite Mica color. She totaled her 2006 Mercedes a few weeks back & was trying to decide between a new Mercedes E350 or the Tundra. Short story, we drove the Tundra home & I saved over $25,000.00! We traded in my 2008 F350 diesel with 220,000 miles - my work truck.

The company decided to supply me with a new 2012 F-150 with an Ecoboost engine. It's a 4 x 4 extended cab XLT so it will be interesting to compare the two trucks. I'll get my new F-150 around the 10th of January so until then I can't compare the two rigs.

I promise to keep the forum updated on impressions, mileage, etc on the two new trucks. Of course, I'll put on 40,000+ miles a year, while she puts on 6,000 or so miles per year. So from the begining the Tundra has that advantage.

Also note; I am a die hard Ford man at heart.

Cheers!

 

I've been out of state on business for 8 days so my 2012 Tundra sat at home in the garage. I've only driven it around 40 miles so I still don't know the truck very well yet. So far I really like it.

Today, I was handed the key to my company supplied 2012 F150 Ecoboost. It had 115 total miles. I drove it home the 50 miles after work so I have equal time in both rigs. Some quick observations:

The Ford has a 36 gallon tank as opposed to the Tundra's 24.
The Ford provides much more info to the driver. Miles to empty, miles per gallon, etc.
The Ford seemed real quiet driving home tonight but again, I haven't driven the Tundra for over 9 days.
I like the feel of the steering & input from the road better on the Tundra.
The Ford has about a 5" hump on the floor in front of the seat...that bugged me tonight.

In comparing the way the trucks are equipped was interesting. I bought the Tundra off of the lot & my company ordered the F150 but they are quite similar. The sticker prices were only a few hundred dollars apart hovering right around $38,000.00.
Both have tow packages, power rear windows, syncing, cloth seats. My Tundra has four doors, the Ford has suicide doors. When its just me, I prefer the suicide doors. The Tundra has true bucket seats, the Ford has what they call a "60,40,60" seat.

Btw, the Ford showed my average fuel consumption on the way home at 17.9. My speed was 62 MPH on level ground with no passing. I'm taking the Ford on a 1,200 mile trip starting Sunday so I'll do some manual MPG's.

The Ford will get driven 40,000 miles a year, the Tundra probably around 8,000 so that will be the biggest discrepancy.

I'll keep driving & posting!<!-- google_ad_section_end --> <!-- / message -->

 

should be interesting to hear your thoughts after driving them both for a while!

 

I just returned from a 1,300 mile trip with the F-150. We averaged 75 MPH on the way down to Southern Idaho but averaged much slower coming home through Montana due to blizzard conditions & icy, slick roads. The Ecoboost averaged 17.3...not bad. It also handled the slick roads great. With the traction control I hardly ever went into 4X4.

Side note; It was my wife's first ride in the F-150 & she really, really liked it. She even took it shopping one day while I was in meetings. Her impression was that the F-150 was smaller & more car-like than the Tundra. She asked; Why did we buy a Tundra again? Remember, we've been traveling a lot this month & have only racked up 400 miles on the Tundra. I looking forward to driving it more after the four days in the F-150.

I shot a quick pix before we left for credibility reasons!
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This is going to be the beginning of decent thread. I'm not certain if the Tundra has Electric power assisted steering or not, but it's a huge contributor to it's nimble feel.

When I jump into my '04 Expy after driving my truck. I feel like I'm driving a truck even though it's smaller.

 

My impressions of the Tundra's that I have had for rentals was pretty poor.

Ill fitting seats, mirrors set too far back to be useful and guages blocked by the steering wheel.

Last one that I used was probaby an 09.

 

MORE, MORE, MORE!!!

 

Okay, it appears time to write un update.

Ford mileage 3,300. Tundra 1,070.

I have practically lived in the Ford this month & thus haven't hardly driven the garage queen Tundra. But yesterday, I did take a personal outing to Seattle area & back & logged another 600 miles on the Tundra.

The Tundra mileage seems stuck at 14.9 while the Ecoboost seems to hover around 17.3.

My father-in-law who owns a Raptor drove the Tundra yesterday for about 25 miles & was really impressed. This surprised me! We drove on a hilly, pot-holed road that he travels weekly. He felt the Tundra has more get up & go then his Raptor but rode a bit harsher. The Tundra felt like a 3/4 ton to him compared to his Raptor.

My impressions? Well, the Tundra seemed larger to me too. You ride higher in the Tundra & the leg & headroom are much more spacious than the F-150. I liked the Tundra's orange display instrument lights at night & found them much more soothing than the blue display in my F-150 which I have to turn to it's lowest setting at night. The F-150 gives a lot of display data in the information center most of it I really don't need. I also like the way my arms seem to fit the door & center armrest while driving. The Tundra's telescoping steering wheel is nice too.

I drove the F-150 again today to run a few errands in town. It did seem much smaller & more agile than the Tundra. But again, yesterday I was in a very tight parking lot at a major mall & the Tundra navigated around all the idiots & tight parking just great. I think it's more of a perception of largeness than reality. Remember, I traded in a 2008 F350 Screw that I drove 230,000 miles...now it was a bear to park in tight places.

Three things I hate about the Ford. The sun visor only seems to want to stay in two different positions - neither where I want it to stay. The lower storage under the center seat is a pain to get to & the upper on is too small. Third; the controls on the steering wheel especially the cruise seems to be poorly thought out. Maybe because it's different than my F350 & perhaps I'll get used to it.

All in all, after my wife spent some time driving the F-150 she thought maybe we'd made a mistake in buying a Tundra for our personal driver. But after spending yesterday in the Tundra the jury is still out. Overall, the Tundra was great to travel in yesterday!

Gosh, to think I've always professed to be a Ford man!

 

I totally agree with you on the sun visor - I'm not sure what Ford was thinking! Once you go past about 40% open, it flips all the way open, and won't stay anywhere inbetween.

 

subscribing been looking at the ecoboost and have been impressed it might end up being my second truck Thank you for the great description on both vehicles I can tell you are trying your best to not be a ford man when comparing the two and your doing a good job keep it up

 

Is her Tundra the 4.6 or the 5.7?

I owned an 07 Tundra 5.7 Crewmax Limited and I really liked that truck. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if I was looking for a 1/2 ton that is used for tow duty.

I like my 6.7 better, but then again, the truck costs another 20k.

 

Same thread, same OP posts, different responses! Love it.

 

Her Tundra has the 5.7L. We purchased it with the idea of pulling boat, horse trailer, & camping trailer.

I came from a 6.4L F350 which I drove for 232,000 miles. Relatively trouble free. It was the fourth Ford Diesel I had owned. They were all good & somehow I missed the pleasure of owning a 6.0L diesel. I'm not too fond of that engine.

Our campany has a dozen or so 6.7L engines. Most are in F550 service trucks but we have a few F250/350 pickups too. Other than the exhaust fluid hassle the guys all seem to like them.

 

Your EB mileage pretty much jives with mine - 17.5 is my average over the last 12,000 miles. It seems that if you drive sedately or hyper mile the EB engine it'll adapt to that, then when you need it to crank to and punch it, it has problems.
Best thing is to keep it blown out regularly (like every time you drive it). If this is done, it'll always run fine.

How do I know? I got mesmerized trying to get the best mpg possible and actually got my FX4 up 19.9 mpg just taking it easy. But while all this was going on I noticed that the truck just didn't feel "crisp" any more and then, finally, while merging into traffic one day she got short winded on me when I opened her up. For several days I was perplexed over all this.

Then while out in the Texas hill country, I decided to blow off mpg's and just flog the truck to have some fun. Every grade I had to climb was done in passing gear, full bore until I had to let off. I caned my truck for 45 miles like that and when I parked, I had my old truck back. All those bad habits GONE!

Now, I just drive it without regard to mpg's and the truck has settled in around 17.5 - exactly what she used to do before my hyper mile madness. Enjoy your EB truck, just remember, baby loves the whip.... a lot!

 

This is a good thread...I have the F150 in the back of my head...I have been hanging out in the 6.7 forum because I was convinced that was what I want and need...but lately I am revisiting my decisions.

Any more updates??