I've been offered a super deal on a 2020 F150 with the 3.0 diesel. I would be interest in the opinions of people who have experience with this engine. All of my driving is rural or hiway. I'm in my early 70's and this would likely be my last new truck purchase. Thanks.

 

What do you want to know? I have one now, about a year of ownership. Only 25,000 miles due to Covid. I love mine. (15-27mpg average. Rarely hit highway. It’s not going to win a race with an Ecoboost, but if I didn’t haul a trailer that I need more payload, I’d buy another in a heartbeat. It has plenty of power pulling my 6,000 pound travel trailer, just light in payload with four adults in the cab. I really do love the truck with a 3.0L. This is NOT your normal diesel. Maintenance intervals are not like it’s big brother 6.7L. The basic engine has been used in Europe for about 5-6 years. Oil changes are about $80 at the dealer, but it’s so easy, I do my own for half. Fuel filters are easy peasy.

 

Dave, I’ve owned mine for just short of 2 years. Excellent engine. I am very happy with it and have had zero issues. Mileage on the interstate with no payload is 26-30. If I keep my speed around 65 I can consistently get 30. Around town is 18-20. I have a 6500 pound travel trailer and it pulls it easily with good amount of get up and go. What I like about towing with this engine is that at 65 the rpms are down in the vicinity of 2000 give or take and the transmission is in 9th or 10th gear. The downside to diesel is slightly more in fuel cost and availability. When we travel it is a bit of a pain to have to make sure that a gas station actually has diesel...especially when you are getting low on fuel. My truck is a 2018 and only has a 22 gallon fuel tank. They may now have an option for a bigger tank, not sure. The small tank is my number one complaint about my truck.

 

In 2018, the only tank available with the diesel was 23 Gallons. My 2019 has a 26 gallon. No larger tank is available with the diesel today.

 

Thanks for the information/experiences. I took delivery today and my initial impression of the performance is that it has ample power for my driving style. The longer bed makes it a bit less manuverable but the extra foot of length is a good trade off. One disappointment is that it came with the 8.8 rear end rather than the 9.75, a 3.73 ratio option would have been nice too. The noise level is isn't much more than a gas engine. Overall it should prove more than adequate for my needs.

 

If you have a 6.5 box you can get a 48 gallon tank;
https://titanfueltanks.com/2018-19-f...allons-7021218

 

I have the 6.5 bed also, I have no problem parking or driving it around, but I'm used to a crew cab long bed from "99". When I was looking to buy my truck I didn't want the diesel option, I had diesel pick ups since the early 80's. I am now tickled that I did spring for the 3.0 diesel. I had a guy tell me his buddy had one and he was getting 30 mpg's on the hi-way. I doubted that number, so on the way home from that visit, (while on the hi-way), I zeroed out my monitor. Well, to my surprise it soon settled in at 30 mpg. I continued to drive home in amazement, then noticed about 15 miles down the road that the MPG's got up to 34.2. All I could say is WOW. Now don't get me wrong I drive this more now in the city, so my combined MPG's are much lower, but still staying at 23 mpg on average. I just raised my tire pressure to 40 psi. It was down to just under 30 while getting those numbers. I hope to see a little improvement with the higher pressure. My tires call for over 50 psi, but I have been checking the contact pattern for the best pressure setting. I hope yours is as good for you as mine has become for me.

 

A 3.73 rear end ration is not needed with the 3.0L. The torque is early in the power band. Besides, fuel economy on the highway would suffer.

I, too, can get well into the 30’s after resetting the mpg, but run that out a full tank, and I’ll bet the farm you’re not gonna get 34mpg hand calculated unless you’re driving at 65mph steady through the flats. And a tailwind would be helpful.

 

You're right about not needing the 3.73's. Had to make 2 trips to the Springfield airport over the holiday. 80 miles one way in Ozark hills. On several of the longer, steeper grades the 5.0/3.73 combo would always downshift but the 3.0/3.55 stayed in 10th gear the entire trip(s).
I've driven the truck enough to do a quick non-towing fuel cost per mile comparison using current fuel prices . The 5.0 was 11.7 cents/mile and the 3.0PS 7.5 cents/mile including a half penny a mile for DEF. A 36% decrease in fuel cost. Hopefully the savings will be higher when towing as I always used 91 octane non-ethanol when pulling a load with the 5.0.

 

Towing won’t win you any races, but I love the 3.0L for that mix between daily driving 98% and towing 2%.
Towing just under 5k in flatbed and quads, I get almost 21mpg. Towing my 6k travel trailer I get 15-16. My 2018 5.0L and 2016 3.5L could barely muster 16 and 9 respectively. The 3.0L for me nets 5-6mpg all the way around. Even pulling hills on the Midwest interstate with my travel trailer it sticks in 10th gear. And I’m running AT payload.

 

Thanks for the input, the loads I pull are much the same. I have a '62 F100 for a daily driver when the roads are dry so only put about 10k miles on my good truck per year, about 60/40 empty/towing.

 

I'm sure the numbers would be different hand calculated. I know I will never be able to find a super long flat area to burn up a tank of fuel, but I do believe it gets over 30 mpg many times during a drive. In order for it to average out to 23+ mpg's on average, mostly city driving it has to be getting some good mpg's while on the road. Yes, I can see the gauge jump up 40mpg's, while letting off the pedal, is it getting that, who cares. It is a F-150 4x4,CC,lb automatic, and loaded, it beats my 2014, F-150,4x4, CClb, automatic by 7 mpg's in the type of driving I do. Is it practical to say it gets 30+ mpg's, no I don't think so. But I would say it gets over 23 mpg on a regular basis.

 

I love my baby PSD, paired with the 10 speed its quite amazing. Just has a egr recall, getting it done in a week
I do my own oil changes, Kinda OCD with it lol 20K KM's and done 4 oil changes so far .. I will look at doing a full delete of egr and def, and dpf when warrantee runs out.

 

I bought a 2018 f150 3.0 lariat 4x4 with 37000 miles in 2019. The truck came with a stock 26 gallon fuel tank and I swapped it out with a 40 gal titan and had ford program truck to recognize the upgrade. When I fill up now it shows 850 miles to empty. The truck has been a good truck. I now have 142000 miles with no issues. I had ford program truck to turn off the horn when you leave the vehicle with keys while running, turn off engine shut down when you come to stop,and had the the Bambi lights turned on. The list keeps going I love my truck. Hope this helps.

 

I have a 2018 F 150 diesel and swapped the factory tank for a titan 40 gallon tank. I had the dealer program the truck to recognize the bigger tank.I like it, when I fill up the truck says 850miles to empty.