F150 3.5 Ecoboost Tested by Motortrend [WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[Missmy3/4ton]

i guess the point I was making is if you’re buying a new truck, and trailer, the price of fuel is an irrelevant expense.
Or if the price of fuel does eat into your budget in a material way, then perhaps you’ve overextended yourself.
You do you of course.

I think collectively, the point was if truck X will do what truck Y can do, but truck Y takes premium, then X is the obviously better choice regardless of budget.

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[minirx7]

I think collectively, the point was if truck X will do what truck Y can do, but truck Y takes premium, then X is the obviously better choice regardless of budget.

Thats exactly my point.

 

[minirx7]

i guess the point I was making is if you’re buying a new truck, and trailer, the price of fuel is an irrelevant expense.
Or if the price of fuel does eat into your budget in a material way, then perhaps you’ve overextended yourself.
You do you of course.

Its not about overextending yourself, but just knowing you are dumping an extra $20/tank (CAD$) for premium when you dont have to.

I hated putting premium in our Lexus IS-F and my old G37 coupe when other cars putting down power can run in Reg.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

Always used premium when towing with my 2016 F150 King Ranch 3.5l Ecoboost.

Ford recommends premium gas for the 2020 Ecoboost engines" and the Owner's Manual says "For best overall vehicle and engine performance, premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended."

 

[Antimatter Tremor]

What a joke that comparison was. Complete and total hack piece. But then again, we're talking about Motor Trend here, so I wouldn't expect anything less. I wonder how much Dodge/Ram are paying them off every year?

 

[kmayer]

What a joke that comparison was. Complete and total hack piece. But then again, we're talking about Motor Trend here, so I wouldn't expect anything less. I wonder how much Dodge/Ram are paying them off every year?

I’ve read all the car mags since I was a teenager, and in my mind MT has always had very poor judgment. Mustang 2 car of the year? Just one example of a long history of questionable conclusions. I tend to favor Autoweek, Road and Track, Automobile. Recently, one of my favorites is Haggerty Classic Car which is from Haggerty Insurance.

 

[Knickell]

Good read. I was waiting for a good 3.5L EcoBoost eval.

Due to their own in attention to detail they loaded up the F-150 over its capacity and still gig it for shifting a bit rough, and then praise it again in the same paragraph. Don’t see how that’s the truck’s fault.

I do agree RAM is a fierce competitor these days, but my bias says the Ford should have won! ?

 

[dmac]

Good read. I was waiting for a good 3.5L EcoBoost eval.

Due to their own in attention to detail they loaded up the F-150 over its capacity and still gig it for shifting a bit rough, and then praise it again in the same paragraph. Don’t see how that’s the truck’s fault.

I do agree RAM is a fierce competitor these days, but my bias says the Ford should have won! ?

Yeah me too. The reason I posted was because it shows that atleast to 60 miles per hour all of the extra weight in the Powerboost cancels out any power advantage compared to the 3.5 EB.

This was a fair comparison since both PB and EB trucks they tested were pretty similar in options added, tire size, ect.

 

[Antimatter Tremor]

I’ve read all the car mags since I was a teenager, and in my mind MT has always had very poor judgment. Mustang 2 car of the year? Just one example of a long history of questionable conclusions. I tend to favor Autoweek, Road and Track, Automobile. Recently, one of my favorites is Haggerty Classic Car which is from Haggerty Insurance.

I wouldn't say always had bad judgement (they named the 1969 Roadrunner car of the year and it was/is a bad ass car) But yes definitely they aren't very reputable. Just the fact that they didn't request the best of the best from all 3 shows that. Not having an F150 with the Max Trailer Tow Package just shows their bias towards Ram. They KNEW if they did use an F150 with the Max Trailer Tow Package it would have embarrassed both of the other 2 , ESPECIALLY the Ram. And for some reason (we all know it's $) they've really been on the Ram dick lately.

 

[AutonomousHybridF150]

Yeah me too. The reason I posted was because it shows that atleast to 60 miles per hour all of the extra weight in the Powerboost cancels out any power advantage compared to the 3.5 EB.

This was a fair comparison since both PB and EB trucks they tested were pretty similar in options added, tire size, ect.

1. Unless they owned one, they wouldn’t know to put it in Sport mode and drive it for many miles to max the battery and cool all the things the need to be cooled to run the fastest q mile ET.

2. MT raced the 2009 GT 500 and could only squeeze off a 13.2 and that was the article published. They are terrible with 0-60 and q mile times. Total garbage.

3. The Powerboost does require a perfect launch situation to slam you backwards on launch, and there are many variable in the hybrid vs an all gas EB.

4. They failed to mention the regenerative brake system in the Hubrid can slow the truck from 100-0 without even getting the brake pads hot, and you can do it repeatedly with 0 brake fade. I’ve never driven so fast and slowed down multiple times with 0 brake fade. I’m only talking about the max brake the regen can give, but do the same in a EB and your brakes would be toast after lightly resting your foot on the brakes at 100 a few times.

5. GM Transmissions blow in the real world, and this is a proven thing. Check out TFTL if you don’t believe me. They overheated a brand new GM tranny multiple times. Guess that smooth shifting isn’t all that great after all.

We have kids for mechanics and kids for journalists, who have no clue how to do their job, they just do what the computer tells them. So that’s what the article says.

Lastly, the PB is not a race truck, so I’m not sure why this is even a topic.

 

[F150Eh]

Actually i only got my new F150 to tow my new Jayco Trailer (picking up on Wednesday finally!!) which weighs 7,000lbs loaded at 30Feet.

I suspect that this is going to be BRUTAL on mileage. Spent the entire week trying to rack on t he mileage to break in the truck, and now i hit over 1,000kms in a week!.. In two weeks i will be doing 4,000kms trip in Canada, so premium is going to hurt, if i had to. Now that i read into i think i might have no choice but to run premium.

Note, i am coming from driving a 2018 Nissan Leaf which costed 0 in gas LOL! And my 2018 Odyessy which i returned a day after i picked up my F150 on July 30th, was not too shabby on gas either!..

Very much same for me - bought the truck to tow a 30' Keystone trailer at 6000lbs dry (we maybe get it up to 6500 loaded). From what I've read, its recommended to use premium gas when towing. If you're not towing you don't need to. So yeah, could be a bit of a hit. We're only doing trips an hour out of the city, not 4000 kms though.

 

[AutonomousHybridF150]

Back to the Thread at hand:
I promise you that you can tow with regular unleaded on the EB or PB, regardless of what’s recommended. The truck can’t detonate because it has very advanced knock retard strategies that keep the motor safe.

 

[minirx7]

Back to the Thread at hand:
I promise you that you can tow with regular unleaded on the EB or PB, regardless of what’s recommended. The truck can’t detonate because it has very advanced knock retard strategies that keep the motor safe.
[/QUOTE]
I towed my RV for the first time (on regular unleaded). I didnt efeel i had any power deficiency but man does it suck down gas!! average 10MPG on tow mode. 30feet RV wtih around 6500lbs weight

 

[Administrator]

WARNING TO ALL: THERE IS A NO POLITICS POLICY HERE.

All future politics posts will be removed and repeat offenders will be warned/infracted.

 

[Antimatter Tremor]

Back to the Thread at hand:
I promise you that you can tow with regular unleaded on the EB or PB, regardless of what’s recommended. The truck can’t detonate because it has very advanced knock retard strategies that keep the motor safe.

Yep

I've had 1 Gen1 3.5EB and 2 Gen2 3.5EB I've never ran premium in any of them, and have towed with all 3 of them. Never once did.i feel any power loss or feel them struggling. Same with my 6.2 '14 Raptor. I ran 1 tank of 93 octane in it in 69,??? miles that I had it. The rest was 87. Other than the cost at the gas station, you could not tell the difference between 87 & 93 octane.

 

[Doggy-Dog]

Looks like Ford screwed up by not sending motor trend a truck with a towing package.

.......or enough cash in the back seat or the box.

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