Couldn't have said it better....being boosted has nothing to do with it if its built to take it....

 

Ford needs to put a little diesel in the F150. A 6 cylinder CDI would be fantastic, and I bet would return low 20's around town.

Sadly the CA environmental ****'s want to outlaw diesels.

 

Ford was extensively testing a 4.4L diesel a while back but shelved it due to costs.

Tim

 

Thats a shame, they should have tried to do it with an off the shelf motor.

Toyota has diesel options in all there trucks outside the US.

 

I've seen Toy's diesels all over central and South America. What a great little motor.

Ford didn't have an "off the shelf" small diesel engine built to pass U.S. EPA standards, that's why they were testing a new one.

Tim

 

The 302 and 351 are also.. Need I mention the 300? Mine has over 212,000 miles.

 

I hope you are kidding...

 

I think a lot of You Guys are forgetting that Most F150's are not used as trucks. They are used as daily commuters, and an occasional Home Depot run.

This is the ideal engine for that type of user.


How many owners of 09 F150's have any scratches in thier bed?

 

I have a bed liner.......... sorry, I had to throw that in there.


You are exactly right. However, I still have this sneaking suspicion that the EcoBoost may have lower tow ratings than its V8 counterparts, and in that case owners who do use their trucks like a truck every now and then will opt for the V8 instead. I certainly can't prove this right now. Time will tell.

 

I dunno about lower tow ratings. 355 Hp/360 tq It should do pretty dang good at towing.

 

Going strictly by the ratings, yes. This just goes back to my concerns that a small power plant putting out that kind of power isn't as well suited as a larger V8 for handling the stresses and heat of heavy loads. However, I'm not an engineer, and you & I have already agreed to disagree on this.

 

The EcoBoost may be the ideal engine when it's new, but I don't think we will really know how successful it is until we see them with 100k, 200k, and 300k miles on them.

My gut feeling is that I'd rather have a modular V8 in a truck that I'm going to drive 200k or more miles, even as a commuter.

George

 

You see Saab, Volvo, Mercedes, BMW, Etc., Etc. turbo engines going 200K all the time.

If You look at the torque curve, the peak torque comes on at 1500 RPM's

Most of the engines lifespan will be spent at 1500-3000 RPM. Where boost levels, heat, and wear conditions are lower.

Also, if the Sport Compact Guys can get 600 HP out of an Honda 2.0L 4 banger, Imagine the possibilities the new EB engines bring to the table.

I recall that GM's 5 cyl was massaged by the Performance Division. They were throwing 500 HP numbers around like it was nothing. If the SVT Guy's get the same chance, with the EB engines, the possibilities are astounding.

 

I see a civic the other dayon tv do some crazy qtr mile time. It had something stupid like 1200bhp through the front wheels from a 2.0l 4 cylinder. Dam thing was road legal as well.

 

BMW has only been using turbos for the last 2-3 years in any kind of number (335i); we have two 4-cylinder bimmers with 110k and 175k miles on them in the family, and BMW builds great motors. But there are no BMW turbo engines with 200k miles on them yet--BMW was adamant about NO forced induction for most of its history. (Exception is the old 2002 turbo, which was really a rare car.)

I wouldn't trust any SAAB, turbo or not, after owning two of them a while back. (Exception would be a 9-2, which is a Subaru.) Volvo and Subaru have done *OK* with turbo lifespans from what I know, but I'd still prefer a normally aspirated engine for the long haul. If nothing else, the extra heat of a turbo engine will make all the underhood rubber parts crispy in short order.

If the EB makes max torque at 1500 RPM's, that is at full throttle, and things will be pretty stressed if you are on the gas. Agreed that if you gently cruise around, the turbo will hardly do any work at all, and lifespan will be improved....but the same would be true for a NA gas motor that is babied. With the turbo, you would also want to be more careful with warmups, cool downs after driving, etc.

Let's talk again in 5 years, and then again in 10 years. By then we will have some knowledge about how the EcoBoost engines really have worked out in the real world. Remember that Ford rates the EB turbos with a 10 year/150k mile lifespan. So they *may* go 200k with really good care. Other questions would be how the headgaskets will do, etc. And I still want to see some official Ford literature that any EB will run on regular gas.

Please know that I want Ford to succeed, but I personally don't have a ton of faith in a turbo 3.5 V6 being the solution for a working truck's gas motor. The Duratecs are pretty complex engines in the first place (we put 107k on a Duratec Sable), and adding turbos will make them more complex. I'd actually prefer a small NA pushrod V8 for an economical truck motor, but have done well with the 4.6 mod in my van.

George