at least by the trucks meter I`ve seen 18 city(rush hour too) and 22 freeway with a 5.0.....honestly I don't get the v6 thing seems all the hype is because its a v6 with very capable towing power....why not use the v8 which gets better gas mileage anyway as the trucks signature engine and tweak it to get the torque and horsepower......if the current v8 produced the same #s and still beat the v6s mpg would anyone want an ecoboost........alright lay into me all u boosters

 

Listen, I am 100% a RWD V8 fanatic. I have owned a 80 Grand Prix, 96 Mustang GT, 69 Stang 302 4 speed fastback, 51 F-1 flathead, 06 Stang GT, 08 F150 5.4, 2010 Mustang GT 5 spd (cammed, bada$$) 2010 Raptor, 04 F250 Harley Davidson.....

Now I am in a 13 Ecoboost XLT and couldnt be happier. I have 280 miles on the truck with 15 mpg (heavy on the left foot) and its the fastest/more torquey truck I have ever owned... even faster than my Raptor. If i dont have any issues with the intercooler, plus, front steering rack or the other few isolated incidents then I will be 100% happy.

I am an ASE Master tech and have worked for MB, Lexus and Volvo, If you all understood how often those vehicles are in for silly issues you would turn away.

All that aside, I am a die hard V8 supporter and will be all 99.9% (due to the v6 i own now)

 

That's good to know, thanks for the insight.

 

this is why Ford didn't offer the maxtow to the 5.0. if both engines were equal, I wonder how many EB's would have been sold. to me they stacked the deck to sell more EB's, wouldn't you if you could get an extra $1100 per truck..

 

The issue is that you can't tweak it that much. Right now the only two engines available that have more torque than the EcoBoost are the GM and Ford 6.2L engines. Dodge's 5.7L Hemi falls short, as does the GM 5.3L and Ford 5.0L. I think it's accurate that the 5.0L engine gets better fuel economy in some circumstances, but that's not true all the time.

I don't think so. For starters the max tow package is a relatively rare bird. Out of 96 trucks on the lot at my local dealer only three were Max Tow. The previous dealer I went to had only one, and my dealer down in CT had none at all. You really think they didn't offer max tow on the 5.0L to get another couple percent sales?

Hell no I wouldn't. There are two turbos, a high pressure fuel system, a charge air cooler, extra electronic hardware, much higher grade internals, and myriad other things that make the EcoBoost an expensive beast to produce. You can't get two turbos for $1,100 let alone the rest of it.

And for the record the EcoBoost is capable of 35 ft-lbs more than your new 6.2L engine is. You have to be north of 4,500 RPMs to pull harder than your 2013 F150 did. That's why people buy the EcoBoost.

 

cmon Tom, I am not comparing the EB to my SD. I had a MaxTow EB, this is what I traded in for my SD. You know the diff between the 150 and 250. This is not a debate over these 2 trucks, Regardless of what you think the cost to build the EB, it is irrelevant to the point that FORD didn't provide an even playing field on purchase. They offered Maxtow only in the 3.5 and 6.2 and not 5.0..This is pure marketing, they knew the loyal following of the V8 guy and if this were available in all engines, FORD was worried there new engine wouldn't sell at the rate they needed to make the $$. That is all I was saying..I liked my maxtow and I am not bashing the EB it is a great engine and had fun driving/towing.

 

Ha ha...relax a little I was simply comparing engines, that's all. That's what this thread is about right?

If they were worried about the take rate as you say, there would be a MUCH higher percentage of max tow trucks out there. Heck they'd throw that in with every EB engine, wouldn't they? But they didn't, it's not even close. I think my point stands.

 

We will never know the true % because Ford stacked the deck..You might see more maxtow's on the road if the 5.0 had this option. I bet you see similar tactics with the new 2.7L.. There will be some options exclusive to this model that wont be offered across the board. I know maxtow wont be one of them. Maxtow may not be a big seller across there fleet and only a certain kind of buyer but it doesn't matter the EB is a nice engine and we will see how it fairs in the 15's.

 

I think a supercharged 5.0 from factory sounds nice .....what is the maxtow?

 

They stacked the deck because they ship inventory to dealers that's not specifically ordered by the customers?

The max tow package is the top tier towing package that gives the truck an 11,000+ lb tow rating. It includes a heavy duty cooling package, extendable towing mirrors, integrated brake control, and upgraded hitch rated for 11,500 lbs.

 

So today I towed my big trailer some more. Took it empty down to Southbury, CT to pick up a car. It was about 75 miles each way, and the majority of it was interstate driving. I set the cruise at 60 MPH for the sake of fuel economy and had a relaxing trip. Empty I was around 4,800 lbs, and coming back it was right around 9,000 lbs.

The trip down was easy for the truck with me being able to pull all of the grades in 5th or 6th gear with the engine never needing more than 2,200 RPM to maintain 60 MPH up the 5-7% grades found on I-84. On the way back the truck was noticeably working harder, but still spent the majority of its time in 6th gear. The steepest hills required 4th gear which put the engine at 2,600 RPM to steadily hold 60 MPH.

The "beefy" 6.2L V8 is incapable of this performance because it lacks the low end grunt the EB has. While that or the 5.0L V8 would have done a fine job, it would have required lower gears and more RPMs to get the job done. Towing performance is the biggest reason to get the EcoBoost engine, aside from the turbo whistle of course.

Stopped at the mall in Waterbury to eat lunch on the way back, here's a shot of the truck with loaded trailer.



And the load:



Yeah, it was strapped down before moving.

 

You can laugh all you want and act like your Bill Ford himself and sat in on the marketing meetings but it was a obvious that FORD didn't want the 5.0 to compete against there new engine. They knew the 6.2L wouldn't be a threat but the 5.0 was another concern. Like I said we will never know if the 5.0 if offered Maxtow could have taken a larger bite out of the EB sales. You keep making this about the EB and the 6.2L. I guarantee you didn't get any better fuel econ while towing than the 6.2L would under same conditions..Both tow great and bot get the job done that is all that matters.

 

You just aren't getting it. The EcoBoost is a full model year OLDER than the 5.0L engine. That's right, the 5.0 and 6.2L engines both entered production after the EcoBoost. You argue that lots of people aren't buying 5.0L trucks because they aren't equipped for max tow. If the market was that big for the max tow package you'd see far more of them out there than you do here.

The OP in this thread is comparing the EcoBoost to the 5.0L V8. I've owned both engines, and I was attempting to use my situation today to explain one of the reasons people fork over the money for the EcoBoost. That's all.

 

correct me if I am wrong but I thought the EB was only making up about 35-40% of all F150 sales. It might have recently changed..I wouldn't call that flocking..the remaining sales have to be 5.0 and some 6.2 (small% and the 3.7)..I am sure those numbers will increase in 15 since 2 of the 4 offerings are EB. I like the EB motor,,but does it matter whether a truck is at 2600 rpm's on a V6 or 3000 rpm's on a V8 if they both get the same MPG's while towing..

 

Of course it's tough to get data because they don't consistently release data. Last year they claimed 43%.

Ford boosts prices on EcoBoost F-150 as truck engine grows in popularity | cleveland.com

I agree with you that higher RPMs aren't necessarily a negative thing, and all of the available engines are very capable. Just fifteen years ago the top level V8 made a whopping 235 HP. The new EcoBoost engines in the 2015 trucks should be more efficient than the current gen engine; I've read talk about cooled EGR and some other interesting things they are trying to do to increase efficiency.