car and driver half ton shootout
 

did anyone read the halfton shootout and the f150 was last worst handling and slowest. the reason i say this is because we got smoked on the pickup truck.com shootout of 3/4gassers and 1ton diesels. as a owner of an 05 v10sd ford had bettter wake up and they need to fire all the people in the powertrain dept because they do not no how to make horsepower. i think the 5.4 has been at 300hp for like 4 years now and no upgrade even dodges 4.7 makes more hp and almost the same torque. the reason i rant is because i want a new f150 but this truck wont fill the bill for hauling 8000lbs it is a dog in its current form. i bleed ford but i am tired of defending them, i also ranted about the v10 not delivering also on the hp as this is not the first time ford has not delivered on advertised hp remember the cobra fiasco. diesels are not the answer people want horsepower and torque and ford isnt delivering in the gas segment :mad:

I agree in the gas engine dept., Ford lacks.

Mustangs are always behind in HP/TQ and ET lately. The 94-95 GT's had 5.0L 215hp while the Z28's had LT1 275hp 350cid engine. In 96-97, the Mustang got the wheezer NPI 215hp 4.6L SOHC while GM stomped butt with the LS1. In 98 the Mustang GT god 225hp, but really didn't see much better performance. In 99-04 the Mustang got the 4.6L SOHC PI, but it's already too late, GM LSx's vettes, WRX STI's, Mitsu EVO's, all over 300HP 12.9-13.3 1/4 mile range while heavy PI cars ran 14's bone stock. The 03-04 Cobra was 390hp, and comparable, but only a 2 year run - wtf?!

Now in 05-07 we have a 4.6L sohc 3v 300hp, and way over priced SHelby GT500 that dealers don't want to sale you - but GM has LS2's, LS6's, LS7's, Dodge has a 6.1L Hemi, Toyota has a 400hp 5.7L, Nissan has a 5.6L, etc. I watched a 4 door infinity G35 run a flat 14sec pass and that's a V6 DOHC family luxury car.

If you look at the jap cars out there - they make more power in a V6 than Fords does in it's base V8. That Nissan 3.5L V6 is just over 300hp, but Ford with a 4.6L 3v can barely muster 300hp? Why does Ford have to supercharge the Cobra and Shelby GT500 to make the power GM can make n/a with the LSx engines?

The LSx GM's are killing these little 4.6L GT's and the import do everything our V8’s do on less cubes! Ford needs to scrap the whole Modular engine family for something with more cubes via more bore. I could handle a 4in bore DOHC in the 6.2L range for the Mustang GT. The next base V8 should not make less than 400hp n/a in the Mustang and F-trucks. If Toyota and the LSx cars can do it, Ford better step up before we all switch camps.

I mean, what made me a Ford guy was the 87-93 Mustang GT and their performance to $ ratio. If Ford can’t get back on top with a affordable GT that smokes the competition, I will buy the competition. The same goes for the trucks.

I get tired of hearing people cry about how much it costs to build a factory performance car. If it’s so hard and costly, why do all the imports do it with less motor and equal or less msrp? The Shelby GT500 is so fricken over priced with its dealer mark-ups, it alone could turn me away from Ford. I’m sick of the BS when every time Ford makes a REAL performance car, it’s in a low 300 car run, or the dealers mark-up the car to ridiculous amounts. When dealrs do that, 98% of us walk to the competition and buy a car for way less and still just as nice/fast.

Wake up Ford!

/end rant!

Actually, in the Pickuptruck.com test, they picked the F250 V10 as their choice for a 3/4 ton to pull with. Now the F350 w/PSD didn't do so well... But hey, they love the F450!

Amen brother. I owned a 91 LX and 82 Capri RS and loved those cars. As for the GM LS1 cars, Ford still hasn't caught up to GM on this one. Mod for mod, a LS1 Camaro or Firebird will still hammer a new Mustang GT. Stock vs stock it's a drivers duel.

I'm still going to eventually buy a 87 - 95 5.0L again. Great cars and the average Joe can still tinker under the hood. Try changing spark plugs on an LS1 or LT1! :D

But alas, this topic has been beaten to death many times....

:)

this might be the 100th version of 'chicken little' i've read

the sky is indeed falling-my pickup is only rated at 300hp

Did you read that shootout article? Ford was hardly blown away by anyone. Not to mention the Ford Carries 1k more weight then the other diesel trucks. if anyone was close to being blown away it was Dodge. However even that was not a blow out, just bad gearing in the second gear on the the tranny.

yes it did beat the gm only in the 15% grade but how many time do you pull up a grade that steep and it got hammered unloaded by the hemi and 6.0 its a v10 it should win and to think ford can only get 362 out if it is sad it should make about 425 easily i have an 05v10 and its slow and unimpressive for the size

I have been feeling the same way as far as old versus new. I do not like the new mod motors, they just don't have what the old pushrod inline six and V8s had. My uncle has a 98 F150 XL 2wd V6 5 speed, he is over 250k on the clock... still runs fantastic. But it can't compare to either of my I6s in the torque department... not to mention durability. The 4.6 and 5.4 motors just suck...spitting spark plugs out, I hear em with at the stoplights rattling and knocking. That aside of a host of other problems I hear about all the time, and the lack of anything for horsepower and torque. What was so bad about the 302 and 351w? They were tough, they had power, and they held up for hundreds of thousands of miles. And this V10, I don't like V10s to begin with... but those hp/tq numbers are disappointing for what, a 6.8 liter engine? I have a 460 that came out of a 1970 Lincoln, it was rated at 365 hp and 500 lb ft tq... what happened?! I'm tired of being told my truck sucks because it's a Ford, I love my old trucks I can't see getting new one... I would be going backwards!

Good points above. I'll have to go on record and say that it has always been my impression that Ford engines are a little low on power and use a little more gas than a comparable Chevy engine, and either of those two will usually be blown out of the water by a good import mill.

But really, it's so easy to make additional power through aftermarket parts, and the time I need maximum power is probably about 0.1% of the time I drive a vehicle. So I usually buy based on styling and comfortable interior (which I have to put up with 100% of the time I use the vehicle) rather than which truck beat another by 0.1 second in some test that barely measures real world situations.

Good point too Corey, but at the same time it's reassuring to know you have enough umph under the hood if you need it. And not be afraid of hurting it if you have to get a little rough with it. The 300 six in my 84 I will get down right brutal with sometimes, and not even think twice about hurting it. I have pulled stuck vehicles out with this thing.. gotten down right nasty with it and then drove it home, to work where ever I had to go with out a single problem.

2 of my favorite 6 cylinder motors.

1: the Ford 300

2: the Crysler slant 6

Both are tough as hell

I love the inline 4.9L 6cyl. Too bad it's gone. They could have totally redesigned it to be a DOHC all aluminum I6, or iron block with aluminum head. I'm a fan of weight savings in already over weight vehicles, though. :)

Isn't the Car and Driver 1/2 ton story months old? Pick up the new issue. The love the $60,000 8000 lb King Ranch Oil burner 3/4.....

The Vortec 4200 I6 in the Trailblazers is a very impressive motor. I drove a couple of them and it doesn't even act like an inline six. It runs super smooth and pulls like a jackrabbit off the line... stronger than some V8s IMO!

Ops forgot a V6 that is sweet also. the Buick Turbo 3.8 in the GN's and a few select other vehicles.