Ford F-150 Ecoboost: MPG test when towing.

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Originally Posted By: JasonC
I wonder how many miles these trucks had on them? It usually takes between 5-10k for any engine to be completely broken in.

From the 3rd paragraph: "The trucks were well-broken in, with both having around 7,000 miles on their odometers."
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike
8mpg isn't that great, but there a few factors here.

-What they're towing and weight.

-How its driven(plenty of hills and averaging 65-70mph).

I honestly think a different driving habit and any other non-brick shaped trailer would have yielded better results.

Empty mpg is hard to argue, some are in the 20's. Not bad at all for a 5500 pound gasoline pickup.

I think Ford has a winner as long as it proves reliable.

I'd personally choose the 5.0, I just love the sound of a V8.

I agree with all your points but especially the one I highlighted. I've rented a few of the older model F150's from places like Uhaul and was lucky to get about 15 - 17 mostly on the freeway with speeds around 60 - 70.
 
I averaged about 9-10 mpg in my 6.0, 4.10 gear. 6100 lbs truck last time out towing my 8000 lbs 5th wheel, Snoqualmie pass was in the mix. Having said that 8 mpg towing 9000 lbs is not bad at all. Unless you pay a preimum for the the diesel because you tow often, 8 to 10 mpg is acceptable.
The empty MPG is pretty good, so if you tow occasionally like a couple of times a month for camping and the like, the F-150 Ecoboost should do fine. Lets face if you are going to tow often you are going to step up to some sort of HD larger displacement, larger brake, heavy frame etc etc truck for that kind of weight.
 
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The eco-boost will tow a 9000 lb load once in awhile, but how would it stand up to constant use like that? I'm betting a diesel would last far longer, under frequent hard work. For a recreational tow vehicle, a few times a year, I think the eco-boost would be a real winner in Colorado. Gas V8's lose a TON of power at 10,000 feet, the turbo 6 would be the ticket out here.

Recreation tow vehicle = F150 ecoboost
Frequent heavy towing/work truck = Ram 2500 Cummins 6 speed.
 
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: panthermike
8mpg isn't that great, but there a few factors here.

-What they're towing and weight.

-How its driven(plenty of hills and averaging 65-70mph).

I honestly think a different driving habit and any other non-brick shaped trailer would have yielded better results.

Empty mpg is hard to argue, some are in the 20's. Not bad at all for a 5500 pound gasoline pickup.

I think Ford has a winner as long as it proves reliable.

I'd personally choose the 5.0, I just love the sound of a V8.

I agree with all your points but especially the one I highlighted. I've rented a few of the older model F150's from places like Uhaul and was lucky to get about 15 - 17 mostly on the freeway with speeds around 60 - 70.

Welcome to the new generation! We are talking about a 2011 F-150 and I know it can attain 22MPG and likely 24/26MPG if driven properly. This was the 3.5L Ecoboost in a 4x2 with 3.55 gears.
 
It would have been interesting if they had tested two loaded trucks, one with the EcoBoost and one with the big V8. It's obvious that a heavily loaded truck is going to use more fuel than an unloaded one.
 
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: panthermike
8mpg isn't that great, but there a few factors here.

-What they're towing and weight.

-How its driven(plenty of hills and averaging 65-70mph).

I honestly think a different driving habit and any other non-brick shaped trailer would have yielded better results.

Empty mpg is hard to argue, some are in the 20's. Not bad at all for a 5500 pound gasoline pickup.

I think Ford has a winner as long as it proves reliable.

I'd personally choose the 5.0, I just love the sound of a V8.

I agree with all your points but especially the one I highlighted. I've rented a few of the older model F150's from places like Uhaul and was lucky to get about 15 - 17 mostly on the freeway with speeds around 60 - 70.

Welcome to the new generation! We are talking about a 2011 F-150 and I know it can attain 22MPG and likely 24/26MPG if driven properly. This was the 3.5L Ecoboost in a 4x2 with 3.55 gears.

When I said "older models" I was referring to 2008 - 2010 models. FWIW I was agreeing with you so I guess I don't see the point to your last post.
 
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Shocking. Loaded up the gas engine gets poor fuel mileage. Never would have guessed...

What I see with the ecoboost is a vehicle that works well for the occassional puller than can't justify the bigger 3/4 ton and up diesel truck, but still has a need to pull heavy at times. The power is on tap. When running unloaded, much better mileage is possible, which is a good thing considering everyone who councils why are you driving such as gas pig when when you only tow every so often. This lessens the blow...
 
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: panthermike
8mpg isn't that great, but there a few factors here.

-What they're towing and weight.

-How its driven(plenty of hills and averaging 65-70mph).

I honestly think a different driving habit and any other non-brick shaped trailer would have yielded better results.

Empty mpg is hard to argue, some are in the 20's. Not bad at all for a 5500 pound gasoline pickup.

I think Ford has a winner as long as it proves reliable.

I'd personally choose the 5.0, I just love the sound of a V8.

I agree with all your points but especially the one I highlighted. I've rented a few of the older model F150's from places like Uhaul and was lucky to get about 15 - 17 mostly on the freeway with speeds around 60 - 70.

Welcome to the new generation! We are talking about a 2011 F-150 and I know it can attain 22MPG and likely 24/26MPG if driven properly. This was the 3.5L Ecoboost in a 4x2 with 3.55 gears.

When I said "older models" I was referring to 2008 - 2010 models. FWIW I was agreeing with you so I guess I don't see the point to your last post.


I think you're trying to say that you were agreeing with what I posted. Just making sure you aren't mixing people up
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: 2010_FX4
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: panthermike
8mpg isn't that great, but there a few factors here.

-What they're towing and weight.

-How its driven(plenty of hills and averaging 65-70mph).

I honestly think a different driving habit and any other non-brick shaped trailer would have yielded better results.

Empty mpg is hard to argue, some are in the 20's. Not bad at all for a 5500 pound gasoline pickup.

I think Ford has a winner as long as it proves reliable.

I'd personally choose the 5.0, I just love the sound of a V8.

I agree with all your points but especially the one I highlighted. I've rented a few of the older model F150's from places like Uhaul and was lucky to get about 15 - 17 mostly on the freeway with speeds around 60 - 70.

Welcome to the new generation! We are talking about a 2011 F-150 and I know it can attain 22MPG and likely 24/26MPG if driven properly. This was the 3.5L Ecoboost in a 4x2 with 3.55 gears.

When I said "older models" I was referring to 2008 - 2010 models. FWIW I was agreeing with you so I guess I don't see the point to your last post.

Sorry, I did not catch that...my mistake!!
 
Originally Posted By: panthermike


I think you're trying to say that you were agreeing with what I posted. Just making sure you aren't mixing people up
smile.gif



Yes I was agreeing with you - sorry got too many posts all together there.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
Towing kills your mileage on a diesel too.

Nobody expects even into the double digits of MPG when towing over 6,000. What is nice is that the v6 can get the job done with some weight behind it, and provide decent fuel economy empty, which for most people is what they want out of a daily driver.

I have almost no fuel economy expectations with a trailer behind me, but the truck sure needs to be able to do the job.



I tow 5600 pounds with my diesel at 75mph and get 15mpg doing it.
My 6200 pound truck gives me a consistent 19-20 mpg in normal stop and go driving.
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: calvin1
Towing with a gasser kills your mileage, film at 11.


:-) No duh. Their test was a little silly, if you're going to only test 2 trucks, load them the same and make one of them a v8.

In another thread some people have theorized that the Ecoboost would have an advantage due to thermal efficiency, others have theorized that it would over-fuel to avoid melting itself and the v8 would win. It would be nice to have the actual answer.


I was also wishing that they had put a V8 in the test, but it is interesting to see the difference in mileage on the Ecoboost running free and with a trailer.

On the other thread, I was predicting that the V8 would have better fuel economy while towing. I don't think the difference would be more than ~2mpg, though. If the Ecoboost was giving 8mpg while towing, the V8 may give 10mpg.
 
Sweet! I'm going to show up with our 4.6L expedition. It's rated to tow 8900 in 5.4L trim, but the only difference is the engine (Slight difference in tranny). I bet I trump all
laugh.gif


j/k of course.
 
Originally Posted By: oldmaninsc
Originally Posted By: panthermike
8mpg isn't that great, but there a few factors here.

-What they're towing and weight.

-How its driven(plenty of hills and averaging 65-70mph).

I honestly think a different driving habit and any other non-brick shaped trailer would have yielded better results.

Empty mpg is hard to argue, some are in the 20's. Not bad at all for a 5500 pound gasoline pickup.

I think Ford has a winner as long as it proves reliable.

I'd personally choose the 5.0, I just love the sound of a V8.

I agree with all your points but especially the one I highlighted. I've rented a few of the older model F150's from places like Uhaul and was lucky to get about 15 - 17 mostly on the freeway with speeds around 60 - 70.



I've routinely gotten 18 MPG@ 70 MPH in our 08 Ram 1500 quad-cab (4.7L) and have gotten as high as 22 @ 70 a few times when the ambient temps were low enough that the AC cycled a lot. And that's over a whole tank of gas, not a spot reading on the trip computer, either. My advice is don't EVER judge performance of a class of vehicles by anything you rent from U-haul! :-p
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum

I've routinely gotten 18 MPG@ 70 MPH in our 08 Ram 1500 quad-cab (4.7L) and have gotten as high as 22 @ 70 a few times when the ambient temps were low enough that the AC cycled a lot. And that's over a whole tank of gas, not a spot reading on the trip computer, either. My advice is don't EVER judge performance of a class of vehicles by anything you rent from U-haul! :-p



First you are comparing apples and oranges.
Second - why does the fact that I rented from Uhaul have anything to do with it? UHaul pickups are all low mileage. The dealer said Uhaul only lets them keep the pickups for about a year and then they are replaced with brand new trucks.
Some of these trucks had under 5K miles on them, some had about 15K. Either way they all got about the same MPG, which also coincides with various family members/friends who have owned NUMEROUS F150's over the years!

My advice is not to comment on something that you know little about!
smile.gif
 
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I thoroughly agree that Uhaul is not representative of a well maintained properly driven vehicle!

I have definitely rented vehicles there that were older than one year, too. Usually "rode hard and put up wet"!
 
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