A large amount of drag racers would disagree with that. lol It's just a method of building power and if kept at reasonable levels can be extremely reliable. Any of the EB engines would be relatively gutless in N/A format. Also there's a reason that Ford still offers the 5.0 in the F-150. It's because of demand. When EB F-150s were first out, they outsold the V8 truck 5 to 1 but they still sold the V8 and that number had increased over the years for the exact same reasons being laid out in this thread. You're either buying for towing/hauling, commuting or a combo of both. That's probably why Ford chose to offer 3 different engines in the Super Duty.

 

I don’t know if inefficient is the correct word, but.......a large displacement gasoline engine, with the technology we have at this time, when a big load is put on it is going to burn plenty of gasoline. Even with the 3.5 egoboost, there was plenty of “sticker shock” when folks first hooked them up to a good load and found out they like gas when spooled up.
And I believe this is likely a big reason Ford has not pursued tHe big block V8 with turbocharging.

 

I've had a tuned '03 7.3 powerstroke - great motor, transmission was garbage. $4500 BTS trans and it was okay again
Then a '05 5.4 gasser with 4.10 gears- most gutless truck I've ever owned and it got 8mpg
'18 F150 3.5EB - pretty quick but not heavy duty enough for me and the V6 sounds terrible
I'm going to be buying a '22 F250. While I love diesels, I'm also an amateur mechanic and this video shows the simplicity of the 7.3 for the long term. Plus with diesel being 50 cents more a gallon plus DPF, I don't see the economy paying itself off. To me it's really about power vs. future repair bills.

 

I agree, fleet market seems to be quite interested in the 7.3L gas. Not sure a hotshot trucker would have a lot of interest in the 7.3L. It is great to have a choice since 1 size doesn’t fit all.

 

‘I agree, the diesel was just too much worry for a modest RV guy. The 7.3 gas motor can easily become the every mans’ towing rig for that summertime vacation.

 

What do they get towing heavy N/A? 8-10mpg? Add a turbo and make it 4-6mpg?

 

I can buy a lot of fuel for that up charge on a diesel. Don’t forget you will never have a warranty denial for a failed HPFP. All of sudden 6 mpg sounds good.

 

Not necessarily, back in my younger days supercharged a truck (GM 5.3L and Eaton M90 blower) and if driving like a sane person actually was a slight help to MPG. But at that stage of my life was difficult to drive like a sane person. Pulling my small ATV trailer actually picked up a MPG using cruse, and 2mpg gain empty using cruse on highway going speed limit. Around town was about 3mpg loss that I attribute love of the supercharger noise.

 

A practical example of volumetric efficiency. Making more power requires less throttle to do the same work.

 

The young man in me is very curious about the Whipple for the 7.3L but the brain takes over and says why introduce complexity. Yes I could possibly increase efficiency but as my last supercharger system aged had some wear and tear issues and that didn’t happen until the kit went out of production. It made replacement parts difficult to source. Ultimately ended up making the repairs with a lot of research on my part. Ended up returning to stock and selling the kit but it was fun while I had it.

 

Hmm while the diesel would be more complexity because of the fuel system you would run into the same costs beefing up the motor, then the forced induction, and some misc fueling extras needed on a gasser.

Then consider how much HP it takes to spin a super charger. Then consider how many RPMS are needed to spin a turbo (I guess they could do 4,000 rpm gas motors or massive blow off valves). I dont think it would work for the small cost savings at purchase.

 

The theories about more power takes less throttle kind of work, to a point. BUT; when a 5er that is 13’6” high and 102” wide gets going down the road at 65-70 MPH, that wind resistance has increased exponentially and a turbo’ed up big block is gonna get thirsty........but damn it will pull and sound great! I remember reading about the guys that went out and bought the egoboost V6 when they hooked up.........some about filled their drawers the way they suddenly got thirsty. Then when we start adding in the complexities of turbos and the aftercoolers, are we really staying simpler than a turbo-diesel? IDK on that; just throwing it out there.

Of course, there is something in the wind that will probably out date both diesel and gasoline..........electricity. Once everything gets worked out, now there is POWER!
The smooth torque of an electric will put them both to shame.

 

Yep. In my plug-in Priuses, I can beat anyone except a Tesla off the line - for the first 3 feet anyway!

Actually, from what I've read, the folks who tow the 5k limit with a Tesla find they can only go 150 miles on a full charge as opposed to the normal 350 miles. So the engineers still have plenty of work to do. I'm curious to see the specs on the Tesla semis and Cybertruck. But even though electric is super nice for commuting, it is going to be a bit before I consider ready it for hauling/towing etc.

https://shop.tesla.com/product/model-x-tow-package
https://www.greencarreports.com/news...-superchargers

 

Yup, I am an old geezer, so I probably won’t see it.

 

That's not theory friend. Land speed guys live by these rules. Hell that's why drafting in NASCAR works- reduce aerodynamic drag and BAM they don't need as much power and actually pass other cars. Personally I wouldn't put a roots or belt driven blower on anything. It's well known that blowers "take power to make power" but it's tune-ability for consistency is why it's a chosen setup. Any engine with any power adder is going to get thirsty if you increase load, wind resistance, friction or heat.