2018 5.0 V8 F150 versus 2018 3.5 EgoBoost F150

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

That must be a detuned Coyote as my GT has more torque and horsepower than the 5.0 truck specs. and very easily to add more if wanted.

As to tuning if you looked at Fords hot rod pickup, the Raptor, its 3.5 EcoBoost is putting out 450 hp and 510 lbs torque. Hands down fastest truck they have, but not their best work horse.


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[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Chotch

As to tuning if you looked at Fords hot rod pickup, the Raptor, its 3.5 EcoBoost is putting out 450 hp and 510 lbs torque. Hands down fastest truck they have, but not their best work horse.


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Hi: Chotch... Ford's gonna have to wait some time for my money. I'd like a white 20 something F150 Crew 6 1/2 ' box w/ 3.5 EB 10 spd. with Camel leather saddles and floor shift.
Guess "Sanity Clause" didn't get my appeal in time!!! Shade over 55K CDN on the north shore of Lake Erie. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by escape artist

Hi: Chotch... Ford's gonna have to wait some time for my money. I'd like a white 20 something F150 Crew 6 1/2 ' box w/ 3.5 EB 10 spd. with Camel leather saddles and floor shift.
Guess "Sanity Clause" didn't get my appeal in time!!! Shade over 55K CDN on the north shore of Lake Erie. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

Here you go Alf - a virtual one. I threw in the towing mirrors for free:

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

I don't know if you've looked at tfltruck.com and their tests on the Ike Gauntlet, but they are actual towing tests with comparably equipped trucks and standardized trailer loads.

I wouldn't call those trailers "standardized" - while they sometimes use the same trailer (or interchangeable trailers) for all trucks in a single test, it's hard to find any two tests with the same trailer. As a result, despite the consistent "test track", it's hard to compare trucks that were not driven on the same day.

The Ike Gauntlet tests are useful, but they really focus on speed maintained up the grade, so it they don't provide much information about the type of acceleration scenario which Dale suggested... at least in what I have seen from them.

[rbryan4]

Well yes, I say standardized only to mean same trailer, same load when they compare tows.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by MyronL

While driving through Death Valley a couple years ago I noticed the speedometer on my truck (5.3L V8 Ecotec3, 355 horsepower) had numbers on it up to 140 miles per hour. Since there was no traffic and perfect weather that day in Death Valley it seemed a good time to test and see just how fast this truck would go. I had great confidence in the vehicles' absolute driving stability at any speed. Ego boosted, I then put the petal to the metal.

To my great disappointment and feelings of betrayal by General Motors, the truck absolutely refused to go any faster than 100 miles per hour.

The single most stupid visible design feature in many vehicles (at those still having an analog speedometer) is the range of speed markings. The ridiculously high ranges are certainly chosen to suggest performance, and even if the vehicle could go that fast (it rarely can), there's little if any need for a speedometer up there.

Decades ago NHTSA decreed a maximum of 85 mph for speedometer markings, apparently to discourage high speeds. In Canada we got 140 km/h. While auto enthusiasts almost universally despised them - and some went to great effort to change them (such as using the metric-marked version and changing gearing to make the km/h markings work as mph markings) - I think they were great: you could actually read your speed accurately and easily. It's not as if the end of the markings limited the speed that the car could go, and if you're watching the speedo at 85+ mph you need to look up at the road and traffic instead.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

Well yes, I say standardized only to mean same trailer, same load when they compare tows.

Unfortunately they only compare two or three at a time. With the many variations possible in pickups, unless you've custom-ordered a test from them, you're unlikely to find the trucks you're actually considering tested with the same trailer (or even the same weight of trailer).

In this case TheFastLaneTruck.com hasn't included the F-150 V8 and (any) EcoBoost in the same test. Comparing different years (but of the same generation of F-150):

• 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCab Lariat 4×4 with the 2.7L EcoBoost; Test Load: (trailer + cargo + ppl) 7,700 lbs
• 2016 Ford F-150 Super Crew 5.0L 4×4 Lariat 5.0L V8; 9,000 lbs enclosed horse trailer

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

In this case the trailers don't matter, because TheFastLaneTruck.com hasn't tested the F-150 V8 at all.

That's true, they haven't tested the V8 towing on the Ike. Then again, their method appears to be testing of a particular manufacturer's "most capable" tow, which would be the 3.5L EcoBoost V6 in this case.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by rbryan4

That's true, they haven't tested the V8 towing on the Ike. Then again, their method appears to be testing of a particular manufacturer's "most capable" tow, which would be the 3.5L EcoBoost V6 in this case.

After I posted that, I realized that they hadn't covered all years - the 5.0 V8 was in 2016.

Testing only the "most capable" version only makes sense for people who have decided to buy only the "most capable", and are choosing between brands... and who are planning to tow at the maximum capacity. The way many people buy trucks this is pointless, in some cases because they have already chosen the brand and want to pick the engine, but more commonly because they want to tow a specific trailer regardless of any excess capacity availalble. Also, the highest trailer weight rating does not necessarily correspond to the best performance with a given trailer load... so tests like this are useful to determine the "most capable".

For instance, in the 2016 5.0L and 2015 EcoBoost tests the EcoBoost is faster... but hauling a ton less load, so we really don't know which of those trucks is really the most capable of towing the same trailer (which would need to be under 7,700 pounds gross).

[War Eagle]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I wouldn't call those trailers "standardized" - while they sometimes use the same trailer (or interchangeable trailers) for all trucks in a single test, it's hard to find any two tests with the same trailer.

I need to go back and watch them, but my memory is the "standardized" part is that they test each truck at the top end of it's rated towing capacity. So a truck rated at 6,000 lb is towing close to 6,000 lb while one rated at 10,000 lb is towing close to 10,000 lb. Figuring, I guess, that many people who tow will push the rated limit, so let's see if it can do what the manufacturer promises. Regardless, they also look at fuel economy, cabin noise level, engine/transmission braking on the downhill, etc., so I find them interesting. As for speedometers, I believe it was mostly marketing and aesthetics. The speedometer in my 1970 Dodge Charger with a 383 tops at 140 mph, which makes 70 mph straight up vertical on the dial. Nice cool factor and looked symmetrical driving at 70 mph until "environmental" laws of the mid-1970's choked my 383 high performance with a 650 Holey 4-barrel down to "Stay Alive at 55". Now that was a waste of a good engine in a hot looking muscle car (metal flake forest green, white vinyl top, natural brown leather interior). Still have it. Hasn't run in 20 years. But maybe some day....

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by War Eagle

I need to go back and watch them, but my memory is the "standardized" part is that they test each truck at the top end of it's rated towing capacity. So a truck rated at 6,000 lb is towing close to 6,000 lb while one rated at 10,000 lb is towing close to 10,000 lb.

Typically, but not always. In at least one case, they loaded each truck to the same gross combined weight, regardless of whether that was equal to the truck's GCWR or maxed out the trailer weight rating. In other cases, they used the same trailer weight (actually total of trailer and passengers) for all trucks in the test. About the only thing you can count on is that it won't be the same as a different test day.

Here's the problem with that: you're picking between, for instance, the 5.0L V8 or one of the EcoBoost engines in your F-150... comparing one with a 9,000 pound trailer to the other one with 7,000 pound trailer seems pretty much useless to me. Another example: you're deciding whether or not to follow some forum's "go big or go home suggestion", so you're comparing a mid-size to a full-size, and the tests have the mid-size towing 6,100 pounds and the full-size towing 10,800 pounds.

Originally Posted by War Eagle

As for speedometers, I believe it was mostly marketing and aesthetics.

Yeah, I'd say entirely.

One of my parents old GM wagons had a 120 mph speedometer, making the 60 mph speed limit of the nearest highway straight up the middle, which seemed convenient. The top of the range was useless, but due to the silly straight-line scale with a swinging needle, it was almost unreadable at the ends anyway.

(The illustration from Chevrolet Speedometer Design is for a 1970 Nova, but our 1971 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate looked the same)

[Chotch]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

I wouldn't call those trailers "standardized" - while they sometimes use the same trailer (or interchangeable trailers) for all trucks in a single test, it's hard to find any two tests with the same trailer. As a result, despite the consistent "test track", it's hard to compare trucks that were not driven on the same day.

The Ike Gauntlet tests are useful, but they really focus on speed maintained up the grade, so it they don't provide much information about the type of acceleration scenario which Dale suggested... at least in what I have seen from them.

Think your missing the point. They are trying to stay at a legal speed on grade that many vehicles would not be able to even maintain the 60 mph. The idea that the trucks and trailers are not perfectly matched is just real world. My trailer weight almost always weighs more leaving home than coming home. My trucks working a little harder with 3 250lbs+ friends aboard than with just me. I think these guys do an admirable job testing towing capabilities in real world scenario.

[skiman]

In 1977 I had a black Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am. I can remember sitting in the drive-in watching the movie. Sally Fields says to Burt Reynolds, "Are we really going 110?". The speedometer only went to 85 (A travesty by the way). I just looked at the clip for fun. The speedometer is actually reading 110 kph. A fun car by the way. My 79 was better, faster than the Corvette that year.

[cpaharley2008]

I drove a Mitsubishi GT3000R for about a year before selling it due to many speeding tickets, used to keeping the needle vertical (60 on a 120 mph speedo) does not work on a 180 mph speedo, 60 was like 10 am and 90 was vertical. It was a fast, all wheel drive car.

[David H]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Decades ago NHTSA decreed a maximum of 85 mph for speedometer markings, apparently to discourage high speeds. In Canada we got 140 km/h.

Transport Canada must have dissolved the 140 km/h display limit requirement. My 2016 VW Touareg TDI has 280 km/h as a maximum display value.