i say keep it more options are better than less companys will probably buy them for fleet use personally im not sure why you would want one for personal use but to each there own...

 

Basic transportation with some utility. My 03 standard cab short bed 2wd with a 4.2 V6 and manual trans is my only vehicle and it has done everything I wanted and needed for the past 8 years. It's been from coast to coast multiple times. It's a car that I can also make Home Depot runs with and even tow a 5x8 enclosed trailer with. If Ford would once again offer a F-150 with a manual trans, I might buy a new one - yes, standard cab short bed 2wd with base engine.

 

To me, as the owner of a pretty basic XLT, the only allure of the smallest/worst/base motor is gas mileage. When that's not present, and it no longer is, why not get one of the EB's or a 5.0? I'll gladly take an XLT or STX (or however you get an STX package in a '15) and pay the relatively small premium for the better motors. Yes it's a few thousand dollars more, but unless it's a SCSB XL work truck with crank windows that only ever hauls 200 pounds around in the bed and I need the absolute cheapest truck possible, I don't, as a normal consumer, understand why one would buy the N/A 3.5. I made the 5.4 a must when I was shopping because I wanted a V8 and the 4.6 gets negligibly better gas mileage. If I wanted gas mileage, I gladly would've bought the bulletproof 4.2. Those actually got better gas mileage to supplement the lower HP/TQ.

You want to talk about unnecessary, the 5.0, as much as I love it, serves no purpose. It's only available to appease the traditional truck buyers like me that want their "manly V8." From what I've seen and read, it's inferior to the baby EB in the real world. IMO, there should be 2/3/4 CLEAR levels of motors; base, better, (even better), best, and it shouldn't be debatable. Instead, the 4 motors are separated into 2 blurry levels.

 

Betcha the 3.5 does an acceptable job towing anything less than 5000# on relatively level terrain. It has just as much torque as the old 4.2 and a bunch more HP.

The base engine is NOT for you people that buy Screws and load them up with options! It's for people who want a relatively inexpensive BASIC TRUCK, not a fancy car that can go off road and haul a lot of crap.

Let's revisit this thread in about a year when the 2015 MY production/sales figures are in - I'm betting the 3.5 will be around 25%.

 

I'm not "you people" though! It's a 2WD screw with a power windows, locks, and mirrors with a center console versus jump seat, and those are the only options is has. Absolutely as bare bones as a non-XL can get, nothing fancy about it. Yeah, it's lifted and has 35s now, which need power, but I'm talking about if I had left it mostly stock.

Basic is fine, but I'd like basic with more power. I'll pay the few thousand extra dollars for an engine with 100 extra HP and the same MPG. But I won't pay $5-20k more for a Lariat, etc.

But how much of that 25% will be fleet vehicles? I'd bet a very large portion.

 

YOU will, but other than fleet buyers, you may be surprised to see how many other folks won't. I'd also bet a vast majority of them could care less about a F150 forum.

 

I guess whats really funny is that all of us are speculating about a truck that isnt even really selling yet..... but time will tell, hopefully the turbo motors hold up. The latest and greatest is nice when its new, sometimes 10 years down the road is another story........

 

It doesn't cost Ford any more to make a 5.0 than it does the 3.5, so just stick a 5.0 in the fleet trucks while keeping the price the same, problem solved.

I think the motor hierarchy should be 5.0 < 2.7 EB as a lower power but premium motor that costs more and gets better MPG < 3.5 EB for top of the line

This is all for the sake of the argument though. I have no problems with the 4 motors and I'd even like it if the 6.2 was still available.

 

How do you figure it doesn't cost Ford any more to make the 5.0 than it does the 3.5? The 5.0 has 1/3 more cylinders, so you need 1/3 more spark plugs, pistons, COPs, injectors, etc, etc etc.

 

I'll stick to V8's, when that option goes...I'll move onto something else.
I use my pickup as a daily driver and really don't have the need for a truck to be honest.
But I like the size and ride.

 

I should've said it isn't a whole lot more expensive, and it would probably have been cheaper had they not spent money R&D'ing the unnecessary 3.5. When broken down, the cost difference in percentage points is low enough. 3.7 was perfectly adequate, done and developed, and got good mileage.

It's supposedly cheaper for Chrysler to stick a 5.7 Hemi in everything instead of the little Pentastar.

 

The 3.5L was around before the 3.7L. This 'new' 3.5L is a reworked version of the already existing 3.5L

I could see that. The 5.7L is a pushrod engine whereas the 3.6L is a more high-tech DOHC engine.

 

It doesn't have the forged internals that the 3.5 EB has though, does it? I wonder how much they have in common.

The 3.7 was pushrod (right, didn't somebody say that?) and the new 3.5 is new fangled tekno-ology. Chevy was been able to keep pushrod motors viable and competing for way longer than Ford.


Also, I just read that the 3.7 only accounted/accounts for 15% of the market share.

 

No, the 3.7 is DOHC, you are thinking of the 3.8/4.2. It's still offered in the Mustang.

 

Still offered in what Mustang? The Mustangs only have the 3.7, 5.0, and SC'd 5.8 I thought.

Edit: Nevermind, you meant the 3.7 is still in the Mustangs. Which that and it being DOHC is even more of a reason to have just kept it.