I'm in disbelief also.

Yesterday, 8-23, I moved my youngest daughter back to Mary Baldwin College to begin her third year. . We had all her gear in the back. My oldest daughter and her family were traveling with us in a 2011 Chevy Aveo.

The trip as I've stated before is half flats and half mountains. The drive was painful, traffic was heavy and unrelenting the whole way forcing us to stop and go, bottleneck at construction sites and maintain great speed in other locations. Then we hit the mountains outside of Charlottesville, Va.

The whole way we were averaging between 65-75 MPH till we hit the mountains, the herd thinned and then it was wide open. My lie-ometer was reading 25.2 MPG's (average) for the full 187 mile trip.

We drove around town, went to eat, dropped Sarah off and headed for the freeway. I gassed up before leaving home and I wanted to see how much fuel I burned so I gassed up again before getting underway for home. Well, wait for it, I pumped 8 gallons for 200 miles of some crazy driving.

My SIL didn't fair so well with his Chevy. He gassed up in the same places that I did, drove to the same locations and he averaged just 30 MPG or just over 6.5 gallons consumed.

Coming home I dropped a little over 1 MPG but I was able to maintain a better overall speed, 75-80 the whole way.

 

Can't complain about that sir!

 

I don't know what it is with the Ecoboosts that they suddenly start getting great mileage. I know my mileage jumped 10% or better the last few tanks and that's in city driving.

There are a lot of people driving really crappy cars are getting worse mileage than I am...

 

You're not lying at all Tim.

We just took the Platinum from VA to Maine and back two weeks ago. Mind you that my truck, unloaded, weighs just shy of 6100lbs. Add two adults and 10 days worth of luggage, food and beverage to that total.

We averaged 19.21mpg (hand calculated on Fuelly.com) on the highway runs...most of which was 65mph posted speeds, meaning I was traveling 72-75mph when traffic allowed. We cut the trip up by stopping overnight in NJ at my inlaws place. On the way out of NJ back to VA I was seeing 22.2mpg on the lie-o-meter as we approached the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel.

Needless to say when driven properly the EB can net some pretty good mileage for a heavy truck. Your truck likely weighs 800-1000lbs less than mine as well.

We had a great trip, like yours, and logged about 1700miles in a 10 day span. I was very pleased with the way the Gray Ghost ran.

 

You're (notice, not "your") a liar. Heheheheheeee, well, I did wha' ye asked! Oh me, that's hard to do. I don't call people liars. Me old brain couldn't resist!

Anyway, that is good news indeed. Also, I'm not going to call that gas metering thingmabob a liar either. I think they are really more accurate than a calculator because of..., I forgot, but I read a very good reason a few months back.

 

What kind of gas are you using Tim, sounds like e/0, awesome mileage. Just came back from vaycay, finally did a hand calc and a trip calc at the same time, this is a max tow, fx4, I averaged 19.5 doing the speed limit, 75% highway, 1.4 hours idling, 25 percent back roads, I couldn't be happier! Who says the max tows don't get good fuel economy?

 

You know the great thing about this power plant? It's effectively 5 years old and the other 3 full size truck makers are still using and stating it as the benchmark to beat. And they still are having a tough time at doing exactly that. You wanna talk about game changers? This engine most certainly is just that. A real game changer. And to think way back in 2011/12 I myself was a skeptic of this little beast. What changed? You may ask. I rent a 2013 F150 Lariat Screw 4x4 and you guessed it Egobooster. I got to experience one for myself. Albeit just for one weekend. But that was all I needed. Once I got to see it for myself and feel the gobs of power and torque. I knew it was a very capable choice. Not to mention that the previous year I rented the same truck (effectively) only that time it had the 5.0. And I thought the 5.0 was a beast. I knew instantly the egobooster was a much better option. Tim thanks for sharing you experience with us.

 

What I do not understand is, why all the hate on this engine?

 

I'm just glad most of us with all the engine choices are all happy with what we are getting, that is what matters. Being happy with our purchase and the continued happiness they bring.

 

I'm using regular no name E-10 gasoline and I always have. I wanted to fill up with E-0 once I got her unloaded but I still had 18+ gallons on board, so it was pointless.

We're going again in Oct and I'll try to leave with a half tank this time and by the time Sunday comes, it'll be about empty.

 

Very impressive Tim. Even more impressive that a subcompact only burned a little more gas than you did for the same trip.

 

For me it was a couple of things. First it was the old school mentality, and second was all the bad publicity that this engine had/has. Especially at that time. Then like I said I got to drive and experience one for myself. And my mind was changed forever. Don't get me wrong though I still love the 5.0. I always was a fan for the 302(aka 5.0). All the way back to the Windsor blocks from the late sixties. And I know that the new 302 is a completely different animal, but to me it just seems to have a little bit of the same old feel of the old 302. Just much more powerful. To give you an idea of how much I liked the old 302's, I'd much prefer a truck with one of those engines then a truck with the 4.6/5.4 engines.

Now I will say that when I get a new truck it'll most likely have the 3.5 max tow. Unless of course I can get the 5.0 with a comparable max tow and capability. Either way I know I'd be completely satisfied with either engine and not have any regrets.

 

This past weekend was a busy one for my truck. Friday I towed a tandem Uhaul trailer with two full loads. The first load was loose furniture and wasn't so heavy bu the second load was very heavy from front to back with boxes of books, electronics, tools and the rest of their heavy bulk.

Anyway, while backing the second load into my back yard I was having issues getting the trailer to go the way I wanted it to go and I got pissed. I pulled out onto my street to go around the block and I mashed the gas pedal and left a nice strip of rubber on the road even with all that weight. In three years of ownership, I think that was my moment of reckoning as to how much torque this little engine is laying down.

So I cooled down after a good laugh and backed her right in.

These trucks, no matter what you get really built for all purposes.

 

Nice report Tim!! It's always good to hear a good milage story.

 

I hope mine gets better, only getting 13.5 mpg