When did the F-150 become a 3/4+ ton truck? These comparisons between the F-150 and an F-250 are silly.

 

I've got an interesting comparison for you Ford dudes. I am, and have been, a GM owner for 20+ years. I have have owned almost all of their V-8's minus the little ones. I tow 8K#'s through the PA/NY hills, 10+ times a year, and have done it with GM's 6.0, 8.1, and now 6.2. Here's my take:
1. The 6.0/4sp/4:10, did a decent job on anything but the nice size hills, in which it would suffer bad, go to redline, and lose speed to almost 40mph. This is unacceptable to me for safety with the semi's that rule the road around here.
2. The 8.1/4sp/4:10 worked great, kept speed up on anything I could throw at it, here in the northeast. Loved the combo, hated the ride in a 2500.
3. Now own GM's 6.2/6sp/3:42, was skeptical, but it suprised me and did the job in the hills. Lost a little speed, and it is at higher rpm than the 8.1, but since the 8.1 was gone, it was my only option, and it gets the job done.

The torque numbers are as follows (as I remember them)
6.0, 380ft-lb@ 3500rpm
8.2, 430ft-lb@ 2500rpm
6.2, 417ft-lb@ 3500rpm

As you can see the 6.2 basically split the difference between the other two, however, the 6sp makes up the difference. It is a great combo, and in a 1500 which allows me to daily drive it.

Now, why am I saying all this? Because I am done with Governement Motors, and will buy a Ford for the first time in my life, however, they must get their 6.2 in production asap, as I will not buy the 5.4. Need it in the Expedition too please, when I trade my wifes Yukon XL Denali with the 6.2.

 

i agree that comparing an f250 to an f150 is silly(i got told to leave the f150 forum for saying that very same thing, and even got negative reps for it). but the reason we have these comparisons is because someone gets a new f150, talks it up like its the best truck ever made, better than the previous generations 250's or 350's, etc, when they have never owned anything older than about a 2000 model or anything other than a small block.

this comparison though is about nothing more than the engine itself. a 5.4 in a 150 makes the same power as a 5.4 in a 250, so when comparing the 7.5 to the 5.4 on engine alone it doesnt matter whether its a 150 or 250. read through this one thread and see how many 5.4 owners bashed the 7.5, said the 5.4 would pull circles around it, 5.4 has more horsepower, etc, and basically called anyone that said otherwise a fool. so far i have been told the 5.4 will outpull a 7.3 diesel, 7.5, 6.0 diesel, 6.4 diesel, 5.9 cummins, and 454 chevy. when 5.4 owners stop saying it will outpull every engine ever made then we can stop having these comparisons.....

 

glad to have you on the blue oval side now.

 

YES YES and YES. I orig started this as a question about the 460 vs the 5.4. At the time I was still waiting on my new 150 to arrive and I was curious. Well, now I have it and I can honestly say its a powerful engine and the 6sp trans is awesome. IT DOES NOT COMPARE to the 460 in the power catagory but in gas mileage it wins. I don't think I will have any trouble pulling my camper or anything else I need to do, So, ITS PERFECT for what I want in a truck!

 

what sort of mileage are you getting out of yours? ive heard lots of people claiming to get upwards of 25-26 mpg but the best ive seen in actual tests has been around 16 mpg. our 7.5's have always gotten around 14 mpg empty. with the loads we put on them the 7.5's actually got better mileage towing. there was a write up in the latest motor trend comparing the f150 to the tundra with 4.30 gears and both of them got 16 mpg.

 

fun, offroad, all out towing power=460

daily driver, decent gas mileage= 5.4

 

I dont know what forum you have been on where people have been saying they get 25-26mpg as i have never seen anyone say that and im a member of the 3 biggest 09 f150 forums. Best i have had is 22mpg on the flats of SC for about 80miles and normal around my area is 19mpg around the hills of Virgina and i have a platinum 5.4 4x4 6.5ft bed. I have looked many times on the Tundra forums as it's funny to read all the silly problems they have with that truck and they are getting anything from 15-17mpg. Which i dont think is anything special.

 

I just emptied my first tank. I'm still in that break-in time so its hard to say what it will get when I'm able to drive it normal and use the cruise control. my first 600 miles have been a mix of hwy and city driving. I figured it to be about 18 mpg, so far. I'm pretty happy with those numbers. My 460 gets 10-12 empty and 8-10 while towing. So, If my 5.4 gets anywhere above 10 while towing I'm happy. I know I won't be able to run the hill between Franklin and Cherokee NC @ 60, but who cares, even the semis are only doing about 30.

 

I like both your trucks. I see you are a smart man and got 3.73s in the 150. Whos knows the 150 might surprise you towing wise.

 

that 25-26 mpg was from a guy here in town that i know personally. i was telling him i never got better than 16-17 with mine. im not knocking the f150 here or anything, but take a look at that motor trend i was talking about. they compared last years truck of the year(tundra) vs this years truck of the year(f150) in a bunch of different tests. the tundra was a heck of a lot faster unloaded and that much more faster when loaded. tundra had better payload, more leg room, more head room, better road visibility, stopped the same, same gas mileage, etc. it won pretty much every category except dash visibility and steering quickness. somehow the ford won the total contest, but it wasnt even close in most tests. theres a guy in the super duty forum that says for acceleration purposes only he would take his tundra over his v10 any day of the week. i cant speak for durability because toyota is one of the few brands i havent owned, but those tests were pretty impressive.

 

Well if your lots of people means one guy you know in your area then that dont really mean anything does it. All you have to do to see what truck is the better truck is look at what ever forums you want to compaire with. Goto the Tundra forum and 50% of posts are about how they race people and how quick the truck can go from the lights. Come on this forum and you dont see hardly anyone going on about wanting to race their trucks but are using them for the purpose they were designed for. Not to race but to work. No one says the Tundra aint fast, but thats really the only good thing about the truck and if thats all you want then go for it. If that dont matter to you then the Ford wins hands down. If the Ford was a worse truck than the Tundra and you put the 6.2 into it, then it wouldnt make the truck any better than the tundra. All it would do is make is faster. I would rather have the features and quality of the 09 F150 over the Tundra all day long. No matter what the price difference.

 

that's one guy saying 25 to 26, but there are plenty saying 22 or in that ballpark. ford advertises it at 21. either way, every test i've ever seen has been in the 16's, and that's a far cry from 21 or 22. yes, the tundra is faster. no one denies that. but did you miss the part about the tundra beating the ford in almost every other category OTHER THAN SPEED? im a die hard ford man, but ive owned a car or truck of just about every brand for a year or two just so i can compare them to my fords. hands down ill take a ford every time, but thats because of brand loyalty more than anything. but to say fords are the only vehicle out there that are good for anything is just a lie. have you not seen the ford commercials where ford themselves say "we are now equal with toyota when it comes to quality"??? if ford was heads and shoulders above toyota dont you think they would say something other than they are now equal to them?? and by "now" they are even saying that up until now they were worse than toyota. no one is saying your truck is a POS, so lets not get into another argument here, but it does have some shortcomings just like every other truck out there. and its not a crime for us non 09 guys to think its less than a perfect truck, or even *gasp* not like it much at all.

 

I have seen many tests showing the 09 f150 getting low MPG and it amazes me that they can even get the figures unloaded from the models they are using. Test them on the highway and the MPG difference is larger. Mine is quoted at 18mpg highway and i get 19mpg on the highways in virginia all day long. I never seen any Tundras do that even on flat runs and def wont see them hit 22mpg on flat runs. I was well impressed that mine even got figures like that seeings i have such a heavy model. Plus i was pretty loaded up with drag from my bikes in the bed. Also you cant compaire Toyota quality across the whole range. The trucks have been known to be very bad quality wise and Ford have never had a problem beating them when you talking truck vs truck quality. Now cars used to be a different matter. Every truck has it's area it shines. Ford has the quality and features that truck buyers want the most, Ram has nice smooth ride, Tundra has great power and so on. But as a package the Ford cant be beaten. Sales figures dont lie.

 

i know all manufacturers lie or exaggerate when they do commercials, but the 09 commercials rub me the wrong way too. theres a lot of hype making it out to be twice the truck as the other competitors and you have to read the fine print to know better. like payload. they say it has the best in class payload. thats true if you get one specific model. there is one model that has a payload of around 3k lbs, but how many 09 owners got that model? the majority have a payload in the 1200 lb range, which puts it below dodge and toyota. they advertise it at 21 mpg and say it gets the best fuel economy in the class. yeah, but thats one specific model with a certain rear end, set up, etc. how many got that model too? the majority are in the 16-18 range, which is equal to the competition. ford trucks have always been top notch when it comes to quality and best all around truck, but the other brands really arent as bad as we make them out to be(except chevy, ill never own another one even if you gave it to me for free).

i like the looks of the 94-up dodge better than any f150 made since 97. granted, dodges interiors left a lot to be desired until 09, but exterior looks alone its a sharp looking truck. the dodge i owned was dang near bulletproof too. i think the 09 f150 has one of the best looking interiors and is right there with the 09 dodge interior, im just not a fan at all of the exterior(or the auto only option). i dont think you can go wrong with either a ford or a dodge truck though. the chevy i had... i bought it brand new and within a year it had rust holes in the doors and floorboards big enough i could throw a cat through them. and something was ALWAYS tearing up on it.