Rumor: New F-150 to Get 2.7-Liter Ecoboost?

According to Ford Authority, Ford is planning to slot another engine into the F-150 lineup for the purposes of power and fuel efficiency. They’re saying it’s a V6 of about 2.7 liters of displacement. Unlike the current Ecoboost, it’ll have sequential turbos instead of twins. Diesel heads should be familiar with this setup as it’s pretty popular over on that side of the gas/oil divide. One turbo would work at low speeds while a bigger one would contribute boost as the engine winds up. They say it could make 320 horsepower and 375 lb-ft of torque! I’ve got to admit, that would be a pretty enticing setup if it were real.

I would love to believe that Ford is actually going in on a sequential turbo system for their trucks, but I have trouble believing it. The first problem is packaging. A sequential turbo system would require both turbines to fed by both exhaust banks at the same time.

Then there’s the issue of reliability. Sequential turbo systems in cars have generally problematic. The Toyota Supra was a notable exception. Even then, performance junkies tend to replace the twins with a single turbo. While the promise of decent gas mileage and variable boost is exciting, I don’t think the complexity of a sequential turbo setup is worth it in a (gas) truck.

What do you think? Will they do it? Should the do it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

UPDATE: I just remembered something last night, when a commenter mentioned his Powerstroke had no problem with sequential turbos. He was right, but for whatever reason I had trouble figuring out how they got around the packaging issue for diesels. Then I remembered this:

via [Ford Authority]