Looking to buy an '11 f150 scab with 3.7 V6. It has about 125k miles. The last new f150 I bought was a '99 with a 4.6 and now has close to 200k miles. How would the 3.7 compare to my 4.6 in terms of power and mainly reliability?

 

Power and reliability are both good.

 

I have a 2014 F150 Supercrew STX with the 3.7 V6, 3.73 rear axle ratio, and the 20" tire and wheel package. I previously owned a 2004 F150 Supercrew 4.6 with the 3.55 rear axle and 17" wheels and tires. There' is no comparison between the two. The 3.7 will literally run away from the 4.6. In most cases, I'll walk away from a 5.4. When they tell you it has 300HP, all of them are there. The 5.4 never made 300HP that I've ever seen on a dyno. That's a stock common 5.4, not a Harley, not an SVT, or any any of the factory modded up 5.4s. Last March I went on a trip to move my youngest girl. Round trip was 3500 miles and I averaged 22.7 mpgs at 75mph + driving a heavily loaded truck on the interstates. I bought this truck not because I needed it or the old one needed a bunch of work. I bought this truck with the 3.7 as this was the last year Ford was going to put the 3.7 in the F150. The engine is near bulletproof. It's a stroked 3.5 EcoBoost without all of the turbo crap on it. They make after market kits that will put a turbo on the 3.7 and the HP numbers are crazy. It's built for a lot more power than it makes. It does, however, struggle at low RPMS. You have to keep it reving if you want to smoke some tires. Anything below 2000 rpms means there's not a lot there. Once past that, git a grip cause she will haul the mail. If you are going to put a steady diet of a heavily loaded trailer behind it, this is NOT the engine you want. It's going to struggle with any trailer over 3500lbs. If you live in the mountains, this is NOT the engine you want. As I was going over the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, the truck struggled to stay with traffic at 75 mph. I'm not one that likes to push any engine hard but it was a weak pull thru the mountains and the gas mileage fell to single digit for that tank. Back home in Texas, the hill country doesn't really bother it all that much so at home and in South Texas, it's dandy engine to have. I intentionally bought the truck for the engine as it is one tough engine. I haven't been disappointed with the purchase yet.

 

So the mileage this pickup has shouldn't be a concern?