All this back and forth banter about which engine is better has me wondering what percentage of us truck owners EVER tow or carry the Max amount of weight?
I have a Lariat because I'm 6'5" tall and the Screw roomyness is tremendous, I never trailer, never haul any weight. I like the look of my truck and the comfort it provides as well as winter driving with the 4x4 if need be. FS

 

I worked with a guy a few years back who bought a 3500 Dodge with a cummins and he put his tool bucket in the box. It was pretty counterproductive. 99% of the members on this site will never max tow but like the idea of having a truck that can do it. I would be willing to bet most of the guys here don't really need a truck but have one anyway. My opinion, to all the people who are wishy washy on engines, go test drive them, find what your needs are and make the decision from there.....

 

If you are going to tow 10k, you are much better off getting a Super Duty. There's more than just the max tow rating to be concerned about - GCWR, GVWR, GAWR, and payload rating.

If you never tow, don't waste your money on any of the towing packages unless you HAVE to get one to get the drivetrain you want.

 

If your going to tow 10k often....

 

The only reason I need a truck is because I own a house. With owning a house comes the semi annual Lowe's/Home Depot runs. Also taking big bulky crap to the dump. I could get away with a base model truck and engine. I find myself at a point in my life and career that I've earned the privilege of driving a better truck than base. I am buying an FX2 with the 3.5, but I am keeping the base rear end and not opting for the max tow. I don't tow anything and I don't have the need for that so the regular tow is more than enough. The interior is optioned out for my comfort as the truck will be my daily driver and not typically used for work.

I will most likely be moving into a newly built house within the next few years and I will be using the truck for what a truck is designed for to move all of my crap as well as the new stuff for the house. Even at that time, I seriously doubt I will need anything close to the capacity of the truck. We actually wanted a Sport Trac, but couldn't see spending about the same amount of money for a truck with considerably less capacity.

 

Agreed, if I was going to tow 10K+ on a regular basis I would buy a super duty as well. Hence why I bought a 5.0 over the other 2 engines.

 

And thats why the Sport Trac(and most midsize trucks for that matter) are not successful. Hard to buy a Sport Trac/Dakota/Colorado when you can get a F150/Ram/Silverado for basically the same money with equivalent fuel economy ratings and more capacity. Also, consider yourself fortunate that you did not get a sport trac. My gf used to have one and the bed on those things is absolutely useless. 4' something on a narrow chassis, uch.

 

Right now we have an Explorer Sport. For the most part it handles what we need it to, but every once in a while we carry something a bit to bulky for the back. Even with the small bed, the Sport Trac would have been able to handled it well.

 

The only reason I am buying with the max trailer tow and 6.5 bed is that if there comes a day when I have to tow my horses I can. And one day we plan on getting a goose neck camper.

 

I just bought a 2011 with the base V6. I really thought that I'd end up getting a "mini" pick-up. I was hoping that Ford was going to do something with the Ranger by 2012. When I read that there was nothing in the works and that the Ranger might be done, I looked into the Tacoma and the Frontier.
The Tacoma and the Frontier are nice trucks and I could get a pretty nice one for what I paid for a basic F150. My problem with them is, they are both a bit low on power, and don't get all that great fuel mileage. Also, I'll be honest, I've always bought Fords and would feel wierd buying something else.

I would rather have a 5.0 or EB but I don't want to spend so much on a truck. I don't "need" so much power. I run empty a majority of the time. The 3.7 is NOT a V8 but does pretty well in my regular cab short bed 4X4. I believe that I'm going to be able to get decent mileage with it too. I've only got about 560mi on it so far but I'm figuring out how to drive the thing so that the readout on the dash gives me better average mpg numbers. It seems entirely possible that gas prices will hang around $3.50gal this summer. I'm not looking at this so much as mpg, but mp$. I'm getting cheap in my "old" age.

 

My 2008 Sport Trac was great with it's independant suspension. It handled better than the F150 and add in the 4.6L 3 Valve engine and 6 speed auto trans, it had a lot of power. It was fun to drive. The suspension was really strong as I had a camper without a WDH hooked to it, and it barely dropped the rear suspension while the previous 2005 Pathfinders rear suspension was squatting with the front end high.

The Sport Trac even had Auto 4WD which the F150 doesn't offer. It was nice, but useless in some situations. Still it was standard and would had been welcomed on the F150.

The 4' bed was really nice with a composite bed that wouldn't rust and had storage trunks in the front and sides, for tools, straps, and other odds and ends. I use the truck bed to carry fire wood, tools, furniture, and lawnmowers. I also had the bed stacked with nearly 1000 lbs of stepping stones and the truck wasn't even squatting. Great suspension strength for sure!

I was going to trade it on another Sport Trac but they were discontinued for the Wussy grocery hauler 2011 crossover Explorer. Since the Sport Trac was a submodel of the truck based Explorer, it was killed off.

The Sport Trac with a 70# factory tonneau cover had a nice 1218 lbs of payload. Without it, to compare to F150s, it would have a 1288 lbs. That's only 140 lbs less than my F150 and equals or is more than some other full size models. I remember while I had it in for oil changes, the dealer had a 2010 Scab 4WD FX4 that had lower payload than my Sport Trac. So for camper hauling which involves heavier tongue weights, the Sport Trac could tow as much as that FX4 F150 since a 1/2 tons payload runs out before it's tow capacity will.

I looked into the Dakota but passed by them in 2008 because of their low payload. I won't consider a Chevy but even with the 5.3L, the Colorado is not a midsize truck, it's still a compact with little strength for tongue weight or payload. No Dodge Dakota I could find and since the F150 with rebates was so good, I jumped on a F150. I have some additional payload, so I can pull a heavier trailer if we ever want to. I doubt it but it's nice having the option.

Technically there is no more midsize trucks with V8 for midsize travel trailer towing, so I was forced into looking at full size. With the fullsizes getting nearly the same mpg, I like having the extra size and capacity. With the F150's great year end rebates, I was able to get into the F150 for only $1000 more than what I paid for the Sport Trac back in 2008.

I didn't go with a left over 2010 Sport Trac because they no longer offer the V8 in the XLT as I had. Now they required the Limited package which is much heavier with a much lower payload, and a $38000 MSRP that mirrors the XLT F150.

 

I chose the same path as Wittom and really like my 3.7 V6. When you get it out of congested areas it returns over 20 miles per gallon and with the 3.73 gear is actually pretty zippy, accelerating faster than the optional V8's did just a couple of years ago. I happen to like the engine sound too.

 

Even if you don't tow, you should get the tow package as the upgraded components can't be had any other way. If you don't get those upgraded coolers and the such, you'll be limited to 5000 lbs towing. This omission could also lower the value of your truck should you want to sell it in the future.

 

Regardless of "max" towing weights, if you tow or not, etc.. The EB gives you best of both worlds. Better fuel economy than all V8's and it has the nuts if for some reason you decide to tow 11K. For $750 it will make your money back in a few years of fuel savings.