F150 Diesel

Status
Not open for further replies.
As an owner of a 2.7 Ecoboost powered F150, it tows better than any of the older generations of V8's ever did. My previous truck was an '04 F150 with the 3V 5.4. It towed my boat fine, but it delivered terrible unloaded driving fuel mileage, and honestly worked pretty hard to pull the load. Fast forward to my 2016 F150 (same configuration - Supercrew 4x4), and it delivers nearly 34% better fuel mileage in day to day driving, similar fuel mileage while towing, and is all in all way more pleasant to drive both unloaded and towing. If I didn't tell you it was a 2.7 engine under the hood, you'd never know.

The advances in Direct Injection and turbocharging of gasoline engines have significantly narrowed the areas where a small turbo diesel has a lot of advantages in an 1/2 ton truck.

As far as fleet use goes, unless we absolutely need the limits on towing, we spec all our trucks as gasoline engines in our fleet anymore. Way too much downtime and way more expensive repairs borne out by years of fleet maintenance records on comparable trucks using both gas and diesel. Our crews didn't believe it until they saw the same numbers. For our applications, diesel stopped making sense several years ago. (Municipal/fleet use in road maintenance and repair).

Nationally, diesel is running about 3.00 a gallon on average per the the EIA. Gas is running 2.52. Diesel being much more expensive is normal in the vast majority of the US. Tough to overcome a nearly 50 cent premium on pricing if you aren't needing all of the capabilities of the diesel.

I used to be in the camp that I liked the idea of the small turbo diesel in a 1/2 ton. After seeing what has occured with DI turbocharged gasoline engines, there is a smaller window for these diesels to be competitive, and with all the emissions issues on diesels these days, I'd be leery...
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
In comparing the towing economy of an F250 vs. F150, you have to remember that one truck is near its limit, and the other is not even close.

The power of diesel comes from both the turbo, and the drastically different power band. More torque, and lower, even considering turbo and similar displacement.

Certainly a 2.7 Eco can deliver nearly the same fuel economy, but given the specs of both engines, can we really expect it to haul as well as this diesel engine?


Totally agree with running any truck at or even near its limits regularly. Excess capacity is always good if it works hard for a living.

But having seat time in a new 17 2.7 Ford I must say it has torque at just off idle. It has serious power up top. It has it all as far as towing anything goes.

BUT will it last doing it every day? We'll have to wait and see.....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top