Towing fuel economy SD vs F150
 

I keep data logs on all of my long tows with all of my trucks since 2011. Since I am going back to an ecoboost I was looking to see what this would cost me in fuel.

These trips are all with the same trailer and rzrs (approx 7000 lbs) and driving at least 5 over the speed limit from Texas to Colorado. The SD fuel economy advantage was from 19% to 23%. The test that TFL did between the F150 and the Dodge ecodiesel showed a 30% advantage for the diesel. I assume the advantage for the SD wasn't as large because of the weight difference between a F150 and a SD.

13 F150 trip to Colorado pulling both rzrs on 24' trailer - 8.5mpg
15 F250 three trips to Colorado pulling both rzrs on 24' trailer= 10.5-11mpg

Generally the diesel will do better.


The ecoboost is a fine motor and will tow very well.


It will drink the gas though when towing.


I don't think there would be much change over the my 2013 that you listed.

can you also list unladen fuel economy for both if you've tracked it? I would suspect the SD would have significantly worse fuel economy unladen then the F-150 - and lets be honest, the majority of the time your not towing - so the total fuel bill for the F-150 would be lower.

My 2011 F150 and 2015 are close on the highway unladen. But the SD is decidedly better when towing. The F150 Ecoboost also requires premium fuel for towing so the fuel costs for long range towing are much higher. With both trucks I got 20-21 highway 65-70 mph.
Towing I got/get 9-10 and 11-12.

?????? Majority of time not towing?????? I have 18000 miles on my SD, of which 13000 are towing, and of those 13000 miles, 11000 are towing either my 41' Raptor or my 38' enclosed gooseneck!!!😎😎😎 i bought my SD to PULL!! Just saying!! But, you are probably right, *most* people don't tow as much as they drive around empty!!

In city driving my '16 F150 ecoboost would beat any of my SD's by 3-5 mpg. For example a trip to the barbershop (5 miles with 4 stop signs) with a cold engine I could get 19 mpg going and 20 mpg returning. Because the SD took so long to warm up I would be at 14-15 mpg. On longer trips around town the SD would lose by about 2 mpg What kills the SD in city driving is the starting to move again at each stop light. The '16 F150 was aluminum and had 3.55 gears so it would beat my previous F150 eco's by 1 to 1.5 mpg for city driving and about the same to .5 mpg increase for highway.

On the highway the F150 and SD were lot's closer. At 60 mph the '16 F150 would beat the '15 SD by around .5 to 1 mpg. At higher speeds because the SD's are so tall they would typically lose by 1- 1.5 mpg.
Comparing fuel costs is tough because right now diesel is dirt cheap. 87 is $1.99, premium is $2.59 and diesel is $2.29 where a few years ago when gas was slightly over $3, diesel was over $4 which made it higher than premium. I think over the long term diesel and premium run about the same price. This chart has some historical data if you are interested.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_gnd_dcus_nus_a.htm

When I own a diesel I tell myself that the fuel economy is great and ignore the added costs for maintenance. When I own a gasser I tell myself that my towing fuel economy stinks but I don't have the extra expenses of DEF, fuel filters, $20 oil filters and an extra 8 qts of oil.

I have had many trucks (3 NA gasser, 3 turbo gassers, and 4 diesels) and about all I can tell you for sure is that the F150's ride and drive like a Lincoln compared to any of my SD's.

and that's comparing F-150 gas to SD diesel - SD gas to SD gas I would expect the difference to be even more striking.

Never had a SD gasser and never wanted one. You are right, I would expect the SD gasser to do worse than the ecoboost in both city and highway unloaded but probably about the same while towing with the exception that the F150 wouldn't be doing all of the downshifting that the SD gasser would

Out of curiosity are you going to tow the 5th wheel with the F150? Or would the 150 be the day to day luxury truck ride?

I actually traded in a 36' Columbus last year for the lighter 32' Grand Design 29rs because I had the '16 F150. Due to a bad experience towing two rzrs to Colorado I traded for a '17 SD but can't drive it because of the steering. I just bought a Sherline tongue weight scale so I can see what the pin weight is and will make my decision after that. If the pin weight is way over the RAWR I may have to look at a travel trailer

my Fil has an 16' F150 with the EB and max tow. He has yet been able to beat the MPG that my '12 SD gets on the open road with its 3:31 gears.

He has a TT toy hauler that weighs just about 10k. He has a wd hitch and dual sway bars on the hitch.

my current Fiver is a bit heavier but shorter as I double tow at times.

Last year we camped in the Black Hills and took a trip of about 180 one way through western SD. Several long drawn grades of 6% or so between our destination. 1/2 the trip is into a 20mph wind and the other 1/2 is a cross wind.

We both fuel up and leave at the time. Both trucks are set in Th mode and cruise set at 65 mph. I'm in the lead. About 35min in the trip the 150 is keeping up with me but the grades are comming. 1 hour later the 150 is nowhere to be found behind me. I finally pull over and wait 20 minutes for the 150 to catch up. I now let the 150 go in front as there is legitimate concerns that the 150 will not make it to its destination with the remaining fuel on board.

We now are fighting the cross winds and the 150 and TT are all over the road and have unexpectedly changed lanes twice. I'm not having and issue what so ever.

we finally get to our destination. The 150 had an average of 5 mpg. My SD averaged 12 in the exact same conditions.

Interesting. My 2011 F150 Ecoboost could keep up or pass diesel SDs while towing my 10K fiver, even climbing mountains. However, I had a Wagner intercooler and a tow tune which kept my engine cooler and provided more power, respectively. I highly recommend the Wagner CAC to anyone towing with the Ecoboost. The new 17 EB now has the power stock that my 2011 had while tuned. Your FIL's Ecoboost probably reduced power due to the crappy little stock CAC getting heat soaked. Folks who had early and later Ecoboosts have told me that the later models seemed to have less power than the 2011/12 models. Something all EB owners should be aware of is that hard working EBs tend to eat spark plugs. I found my first set completely fried at 40K and replaced at 30K after that. Ford's 100K service interval is not a good idea.
With my 2015 SD, it pulls easier and gets better fuel mileage. On long, hard uphills, I drop my speed from 62-65 down to 55 when the oil temp reaches 245. I will also pay more attention to EGTs to be sure EGT1 doesn't exceed 1000 degrees.

I can't really say what was going on with my Fil eco boost...it's not that old.

Even our old '86 F250 460 with 4.10 gears and a 4 spd got 6-8 pulling similar loads. It may not have been able to pull the grade at 65 be we still got there.