5.0 vs. Ecoboost Pros and Cons
#46
07-24-2011, 11:05 AM
#47
07-24-2011, 01:47 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Austin TX
Posts: 655
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am probably one of the few people who had both the EB and 5.0L trucks for a fairly decent amount of time to compare to. My dealership was VERY generous with letting me take as much time as I needed to make a decision.
I ultimately ordered a '11 FX2 EB w/ 3.55LSD and 20" wheels, but before I did that I was able to have two other trucks to drive for a week each ahead of time.
First truck was FX4 Crew EB w/ 3.73's. I had this truck for a week before ordering my FX2. The acceleration and agility and ability to move around in traffic and get around people if needed is fantastic. I put nearly 800 miles on this truck in about 5 days and did a good mix of highway and city driving. I got about 17.5mpg all around as I wasn't very easy on it and wanted to see what it truly was capable of. This truck convinced me to order my FX2 for the FX interior options but without 4wd as I do not need it.
When I ordered my truck, they had someone interested in the FX4 they had given me to drive so they gave me their demo for another 8 days while I waited on my FX2 to be finished. Their demo was a 2011 Platinum 4x4 with the 5.0L and 3.73 rear as well. It had about 5,500 miles on it so it was very well broken in. In those 8 days I had a lot of work travel to do and drove almost 1200 miles in that time.
To say I was less than impressed with the 5.0 is an understatement. I previously had a 2005 FX4 w/ the 5.4L in it which is a known SLOW PIG as it is and until the 5.0L gets to about 4500rpm, you wouldn't know the difference between the two. Once you get the powerband up there, it accelerated just fine and had plenty of power, however, it took WAY too long to get there. The 5.0 was just nowhere near what I expected it to be and it was no contest for me to compare to the EB. Of those 1200 miles, probably 1000 of them were highway and I couldn't get better than 16.8-17.2 in that truck. For a 50k truck, I certainly would have expected better.
I've now had my FX2 EB for about 12 days and have already put nearly 2000 miles on it. I am averaging almost 20mpg all around with a good combo of city and highway and the VERY slight turbo lag is far less than a problem than the far too high powerband that the 5.0 has. Having your max torque available so far down low makes all the difference to me. The every so slight lag is easily driven around and easily forgotten once you learn how to operate it correctly.
Hell I have built many 4 digit horsepower Toyota Supra's in my life and you want to talk about turbo lag! Try a 3.0L inline six with a near 100mm turbo on it and makes no power until about 5k RPM. THAT'S LAG!
I ultimately ordered a '11 FX2 EB w/ 3.55LSD and 20" wheels, but before I did that I was able to have two other trucks to drive for a week each ahead of time.
First truck was FX4 Crew EB w/ 3.73's. I had this truck for a week before ordering my FX2. The acceleration and agility and ability to move around in traffic and get around people if needed is fantastic. I put nearly 800 miles on this truck in about 5 days and did a good mix of highway and city driving. I got about 17.5mpg all around as I wasn't very easy on it and wanted to see what it truly was capable of. This truck convinced me to order my FX2 for the FX interior options but without 4wd as I do not need it.
When I ordered my truck, they had someone interested in the FX4 they had given me to drive so they gave me their demo for another 8 days while I waited on my FX2 to be finished. Their demo was a 2011 Platinum 4x4 with the 5.0L and 3.73 rear as well. It had about 5,500 miles on it so it was very well broken in. In those 8 days I had a lot of work travel to do and drove almost 1200 miles in that time.
To say I was less than impressed with the 5.0 is an understatement. I previously had a 2005 FX4 w/ the 5.4L in it which is a known SLOW PIG as it is and until the 5.0L gets to about 4500rpm, you wouldn't know the difference between the two. Once you get the powerband up there, it accelerated just fine and had plenty of power, however, it took WAY too long to get there. The 5.0 was just nowhere near what I expected it to be and it was no contest for me to compare to the EB. Of those 1200 miles, probably 1000 of them were highway and I couldn't get better than 16.8-17.2 in that truck. For a 50k truck, I certainly would have expected better.
I've now had my FX2 EB for about 12 days and have already put nearly 2000 miles on it. I am averaging almost 20mpg all around with a good combo of city and highway and the VERY slight turbo lag is far less than a problem than the far too high powerband that the 5.0 has. Having your max torque available so far down low makes all the difference to me. The every so slight lag is easily driven around and easily forgotten once you learn how to operate it correctly.
Hell I have built many 4 digit horsepower Toyota Supra's in my life and you want to talk about turbo lag! Try a 3.0L inline six with a near 100mm turbo on it and makes no power until about 5k RPM. THAT'S LAG!
#48
07-24-2011, 11:34 PM
X2 about the 5.0 in the new F-150's.I test drove a EcoBoost and a 5.0 Truck both 4X4 Supercabs,3.73 Gears for the 5.0 and 3.55 Gears for the EcoBoost the first of June.I was not impressed with the 5.0 at all after driving the EcoBoost truck and didn't think the 5.0 ran a whole lot better then my 2010 F-150 Supercab 4X4 with the 4.6 3V and 3.73 gears.The same dealership called me back a couple weeks ago and told me they had some good lease rates on the F-150 Supercab 4X4 with the EcoBoost in them.Last Monday i got a F-150 Supercab 4X4 with the EcoBoost there's a picture of it on this site 2009-2011 F-150.With only close to 200 miles on it i'm getting 17.5 MPG back and forth to work 8 miles each way.
Later Mark.
Later Mark.
#50
07-25-2011, 12:01 PM
I am probably one of the few people who had both the EB and 5.0L trucks for a fairly decent amount of time to compare to. My dealership was VERY generous with letting me take as much time as I needed to make a decision.
I ultimately ordered a '11 FX2 EB w/ 3.55LSD and 20" wheels, but before I did that I was able to have two other trucks to drive for a week each ahead of time.
First truck was FX4 Crew EB w/ 3.73's. I had this truck for a week before ordering my FX2. The acceleration and agility and ability to move around in traffic and get around people if needed is fantastic. I put nearly 800 miles on this truck in about 5 days and did a good mix of highway and city driving. I got about 17.5mpg all around as I wasn't very easy on it and wanted to see what it truly was capable of. This truck convinced me to order my FX2 for the FX interior options but without 4wd as I do not need it.
When I ordered my truck, they had someone interested in the FX4 they had given me to drive so they gave me their demo for another 8 days while I waited on my FX2 to be finished. Their demo was a 2011 Platinum 4x4 with the 5.0L and 3.73 rear as well. It had about 5,500 miles on it so it was very well broken in. In those 8 days I had a lot of work travel to do and drove almost 1200 miles in that time.
To say I was less than impressed with the 5.0 is an understatement. I previously had a 2005 FX4 w/ the 5.4L in it which is a known SLOW PIG as it is and until the 5.0L gets to about 4500rpm, you wouldn't know the difference between the two. Once you get the powerband up there, it accelerated just fine and had plenty of power, however, it took WAY too long to get there. The 5.0 was just nowhere near what I expected it to be and it was no contest for me to compare to the EB. Of those 1200 miles, probably 1000 of them were highway and I couldn't get better than 16.8-17.2 in that truck. For a 50k truck, I certainly would have expected better.
I've now had my FX2 EB for about 12 days and have already put nearly 2000 miles on it. I am averaging almost 20mpg all around with a good combo of city and highway and the VERY slight turbo lag is far less than a problem than the far too high powerband that the 5.0 has. Having your max torque available so far down low makes all the difference to me. The every so slight lag is easily driven around and easily forgotten once you learn how to operate it correctly.
Hell I have built many 4 digit horsepower Toyota Supra's in my life and you want to talk about turbo lag! Try a 3.0L inline six with a near 100mm turbo on it and makes no power until about 5k RPM. THAT'S LAG!
I ultimately ordered a '11 FX2 EB w/ 3.55LSD and 20" wheels, but before I did that I was able to have two other trucks to drive for a week each ahead of time.
First truck was FX4 Crew EB w/ 3.73's. I had this truck for a week before ordering my FX2. The acceleration and agility and ability to move around in traffic and get around people if needed is fantastic. I put nearly 800 miles on this truck in about 5 days and did a good mix of highway and city driving. I got about 17.5mpg all around as I wasn't very easy on it and wanted to see what it truly was capable of. This truck convinced me to order my FX2 for the FX interior options but without 4wd as I do not need it.
When I ordered my truck, they had someone interested in the FX4 they had given me to drive so they gave me their demo for another 8 days while I waited on my FX2 to be finished. Their demo was a 2011 Platinum 4x4 with the 5.0L and 3.73 rear as well. It had about 5,500 miles on it so it was very well broken in. In those 8 days I had a lot of work travel to do and drove almost 1200 miles in that time.
To say I was less than impressed with the 5.0 is an understatement. I previously had a 2005 FX4 w/ the 5.4L in it which is a known SLOW PIG as it is and until the 5.0L gets to about 4500rpm, you wouldn't know the difference between the two. Once you get the powerband up there, it accelerated just fine and had plenty of power, however, it took WAY too long to get there. The 5.0 was just nowhere near what I expected it to be and it was no contest for me to compare to the EB. Of those 1200 miles, probably 1000 of them were highway and I couldn't get better than 16.8-17.2 in that truck. For a 50k truck, I certainly would have expected better.
I've now had my FX2 EB for about 12 days and have already put nearly 2000 miles on it. I am averaging almost 20mpg all around with a good combo of city and highway and the VERY slight turbo lag is far less than a problem than the far too high powerband that the 5.0 has. Having your max torque available so far down low makes all the difference to me. The every so slight lag is easily driven around and easily forgotten once you learn how to operate it correctly.
Hell I have built many 4 digit horsepower Toyota Supra's in my life and you want to talk about turbo lag! Try a 3.0L inline six with a near 100mm turbo on it and makes no power until about 5k RPM. THAT'S LAG!
I've got 5k miles on my SC EB w/ Max tow (LS 3.73 gears) and I would call it "over kill." I am a power junkie and decided that I'd rather have a little less economy and plenty of power in the towing department when I ordered. I never though I'd say it, but this truck is a little too much for my daily driving habbits. I've towed 6K with this truck and it's brutal, just a tiny blip of the throttle and it runs up the hills in 5th gear. My last truck was rated at 10K for max towing and it worked a lot harder with the same loads and I was using lower gears than the EB does(I was towing in 3rd vs 5th in EB). My brother has a mint 97 vortec 454 w/ headers and it doesn't even come close to what mine does (4th gear his 5th gear mine same RPM's). My last truck (no offence to anyone) was a tuned 6.0 GMC and it was a little better than the 5.0 and close to the 454. I was towing 6k through the hills (Virginia) I it was either crawling in 3rd gear at 45-50 or screaming up the hills in 2nd at 4500 rpm. I made it home just fine but was frustrated that I couldn't walk over at 55mph without it sounding like I was driving nascar. The EB is quiet and does it with ease all day.
I think the 5.0 is a great engine, I was very pleased when I took it for a test drive and I do believe that the 5.0 and the EB will achieve similar MPG with a 50/50 combination of miles driven; somewhere around 16-18mpg.
But that is where the similarities end:
The 5.0 to me is fast for a stock truck, but the EB is a bit faster. (that's not very imp. to me though).
If you get an EB with the 3.31 gears, or 3.55 w/ and you do mostly highway driving the EB will be 2-3 mpg better than the 5.0. This guy drove teh EB with 3.31 gears and averaged 32mph across the continent.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/v6...nomy-vids.html
Most of all is the boosted factor of the EB, it just keeps going when the 5.0 falls off. This is especially true when towing, see above
To me if you love the v8 sound, drive a lot of mixed driving with a bunch of start and stop, and you don't tow a lot, the 5.0 would be a great truck for almost anyone. (v8 sound clip w/ high revs!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nMZkfRCOI8
If you want a little more of everything with power to spare the EB is way worth the money. Getting as good or better fuel economy AND having incredible towing, with excellent acceleration is worth it to me.(but I would stick to the 3.31 or 3.55 gears if you don't tow a lot)
Good luck with your decision.
#51
07-25-2011, 12:19 PM
Saturday, I test drove the 5.0 and the EB back to back. I drove the same route, mostly heavy traffic on a freeway, for both trucks. The EB had an annoying characteristic that I might be able to get used to, but when I would gas it to pass or change lanes, it would gradually take off and then quick hard and take off. The 5.0 would respond immeddiately. I chose the 5.0 strickly for this reason and was going to buy, but the dealer played a game on me and I walked. Actually, I could not tell that either one was much stroger than my 5.4 with a tuner. Also, I never got over about 3000 rpms, so I never experienced one being stronger on the top end. Most of my driving is highway, with some city and I seldom tow. I drive about 30,000 miles a year, right now.
__________________
Jim
Jim
#52
04-16-2014, 10:44 PM
I know this is an old thread so forgive me.
I'm going to go pick up my EB tomorrow evening after work. I currently have 2004 F150 XLT 4.6L. I've loved the 2004 but just got over 100k miles so worried about it. Only problems I ever had with it was spark plug shooting through the head and costing me $2000 to fix. (known problem).
And maintenance with turbos as people have said is not an issue. I've had turbo cars before and as long as you maintenance them like a normal vehicle everything will be fine. All turbo's I have owned I have used 15w-50 Mobile 1.
Had an AWD Eagle Talon TSi turbo that I finally got rid of after 230K miles... and I ran the crap out of it. I got rid of it I still had factory clutch and factory turbo.
I raced (on interstate not at real track) many of my friends mustangs and they got me on the off the line torque but once the the turbo kicked in good on that 4cyl they were behind me (around 3 gear). I love mustangs but the point I'm trying to make is that technology does make a difference. When my 4cyl turbo could outrun a V8... that is proof
Pegged the speedo on talon at 145 in 5th gear with another 1000rpms to go till redline.
Can't wait for my EcoBoost tomorrow. Any cool easy mods for them like removing the washer from the wastegate regulator to get little more boost (without leaning out)? LOL
Randy
I'm going to go pick up my EB tomorrow evening after work. I currently have 2004 F150 XLT 4.6L. I've loved the 2004 but just got over 100k miles so worried about it. Only problems I ever had with it was spark plug shooting through the head and costing me $2000 to fix. (known problem).
And maintenance with turbos as people have said is not an issue. I've had turbo cars before and as long as you maintenance them like a normal vehicle everything will be fine. All turbo's I have owned I have used 15w-50 Mobile 1.
Had an AWD Eagle Talon TSi turbo that I finally got rid of after 230K miles... and I ran the crap out of it. I got rid of it I still had factory clutch and factory turbo.
I raced (on interstate not at real track) many of my friends mustangs and they got me on the off the line torque but once the the turbo kicked in good on that 4cyl they were behind me (around 3 gear). I love mustangs but the point I'm trying to make is that technology does make a difference. When my 4cyl turbo could outrun a V8... that is proof
Pegged the speedo on talon at 145 in 5th gear with another 1000rpms to go till redline. Can't wait for my EcoBoost tomorrow. Any cool easy mods for them like removing the washer from the wastegate regulator to get little more boost (without leaning out)? LOL
Randy
Last edited by randyriegel; 04-16-2014 at 10:50 PM.
#53
04-16-2014, 11:42 PM
#55
04-17-2014, 11:48 AM
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Colorado Springs
Posts: 98
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Skidood,
You might have purchased a 26 Gallon tank on your FX4, but you are dead wrong on the statement "Only available with 26 gal fuel tank" today. My 2013 FX4 has a 36 Gallon tank as do many, many others. I did not see one on the lot here that didn't.
edit: Just saw your posts were old. Could have been true in 2011, though.
You might have purchased a 26 Gallon tank on your FX4, but you are dead wrong on the statement "Only available with 26 gal fuel tank" today. My 2013 FX4 has a 36 Gallon tank as do many, many others. I did not see one on the lot here that didn't.
edit: Just saw your posts were old. Could have been true in 2011, though.
Last edited by madmaxmutt; 04-17-2014 at 11:55 AM.
#58
04-17-2014, 04:01 PM
Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Danville Il
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#59
04-17-2014, 04:10 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: michigan
Posts: 334
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#60
04-17-2014, 04:14 PM
