I for one don't trust magazines anymore. I bought my 5.4 F-150 in '99 knowing that all the Magazines were saying the new Silverados were faster and better, but when I had my first encounter with a new Silverado, I thought I was going to lose, but I wasted him pretty bad and then I stopped buying car magazines. According to the magazines I should have had my a$$ handed to me, but it turned out to be the other way around with the Chevy guy getting his a$$ handed to him. I have had so many encounters with vehicles that, according to magazines, I should never even be able to beat or keep up with but for some strange reason I win. Do a real world test on your own with a 5.4 F-150 and 4.8 Silverado and load them up with a 1000lbs and see who wins. My bet would be that the 5.4 will win by a huge margin, because in this case there isn't any advertising money on the line that could skew the numbers to make one make look like it performed better than the other. Get real world results and then you will see that a lot of magazines don't seem all to honest with their data. I have my trucked loaded up every summer with almost 2000lbs and I honestly don't feel like my truck is being pressed one bit. I can still peel out and my truck has little trouble laying waste to would be challengers off the line. The only differences I feel when loaded up is in handling and the ride smoothes out a bit. Don't let the mags make you feel like your truck is underpowered compared to the competitors, because it really isn't.

 

Handed him his a$$, heheh, I like that one.
I'm sure my next truck, with the 5.4L would beat a 4.8, loaded or empty mainly because i won't have 31.8" tires with a 3.55 gear. I'm sure this 4.8L had optional 4.10 gearing which made up the difference.
No doubt the right combo will keep you handing out a$$e$ (heheh!) to various challengers, but any of Ford's 1/2 tons would benefit with a lower set of gears.
Regarding real world data, a friend owns a 1500 supercab 4x4, 350cid vortech (last year with 350cid), with pulleys, chip, headers K&N, 3.73 gears with 235/85-16's. Got spanked by a stock '99 F150 4x4 sc, 5.4L, 3.55's, 255/70-16's. We all saw it, was nice to see.
Better gears, more hp IMO could only make the best 1/2 tons on the market only better, and more enjoyable to drive. I'm sure a loaded crew with 3.73's, 255/16" rubber and a Banks kit will be worlds better than what I have now, and will probably have better milage since it won't be screaming along in 2nd gear when on hills.

 

Better gear options would be nice with the 1/2 tons. It is kinda spendy having to go out and purchase and install a lower gear set on your own, which is something I am planning to do soon. I always want that little extra kick a lower gear set will give you off the line. I'm really interested in how much of a power increase Ford is really going to give the next F-150, because if it is not at least 315-325hp and 370-380ft/lb of torque for the 5.4l I'm going to be a little disappointed. I agree with you that better (lower) gears and more hp would help out a lot. It would probably increase Ford's overall market share tremendously if they led the industry with the most overall powerful lineup of engines in the market. All too many people are swayed by horsepower numbers nowadays.

 

I test drove a 2003 Expedition today, 5.4/3.73 gears, 17" rubber. Maybe my weee 4.6 isn't that bad after all, this 5.4 Exply had nothing on my truck. I'm aware of the weight difference, I just thought it would pull better. Wasn't much better than the F250 CC SWB 4X4 Auto 5.4L 3.73 I drove yesterday. I'm sure the SD would of been much more enjoyable with the 4.10's. Was dead in the water in OD.
Gears and another 50hp=juuuust right....well, make it 75hp, just to be on the safe side

 

i see they dont post the mpg ratings on the new hemi. seen a few at the dealer yesterday. i cant imagine it would be any better than the ford v-10 so put the new hemi up against the ford v-10 and see what ya got then.

 

since the v-10 is a modular engine and related to the 5.4 wich gets crap milage i would imagine the 5.7 does much better than the v-10 and the same or better than the 5.4 . if you are going to compare the v-10 to anything compare it to the v-10 dodge or the 8.1 chevy.
for those that dont believe the numbers do you think ford is sandbagging or that gm overrates, if they overrate why dosent ford point this out as it has to effect sales and the average persons perception. i havent seen numbers lately but i would think that ford truck sales vs chevy and gm have to be close.

 

All manufacturers over exagerate their mpg. Many people on here over exagerate their mpg. It's just human nature.

It's time to admit the real truth. We are "gas guzzlers".

 

I've owned my 03 F250/V10 4x4 with 3.73s and 285 ATs for a month now and have 1200 miles so far. My mileage with the few tanks of gas I've put in it so far has been 11.3 worst and 13.2 best (all interstate). Looks like it's averaging about 12mpg with mixed driving. The 5.4L in a Superduty is lucky to get 2 mpg more than the V10 due to the extra weight. My uncle owns an '02 F250 reg cab long box with the V8 and the best mileage he's ever been able to get was less than 15 mpg empty on the highway, and he's 72 and has a light throttle foot! I traded for a 01 Silverado Z71 with 5.3L and 4.10s and it averaged about 14.5 mpg mixed driving. Not a bad mileage trade-off for an extra 25hp and 100lb-ft torque.

As of right now, it's just about the most efficient gasoline truck motor out there, when you figure the amount of gas it burns versus it's displacment and torque output.

As for the Hemi's mileage; I'll be real surprised if it gets any better than 13-14 mpg. You don't squeeze that much hp/torque from an engine in that displacement class without a price. Plus it has to rev relatively high to get it's max output, which also is not helpful as far as mpgs. Also, Dodge is not known for fuel efficient gas truck motors!

 

I have read in Ward's auto that Ford did indeed star building 3 valave 5.4 liter engines in july of this year for the austrailian market. This engine along with a v-10 will be available with the 2004 model year here in the states. In typical Ford fashion torque
output will be maximized between 2000-4000 rpm. Consequently the horespower number should be around 300. Fuel mileage is up
2-4 mpg depending on how hard one works his truck. A new transmission will help as well

About time fuel mileage was given some priority.

One note on dodge's new engine it is calibrated to use 89 octane minimum. It will run on 87, because of the knock sensor, but mileage drops about 2 mpg, timing is retarded to supress spark knock making it worse than the old 360 engine it replaces.

 

Way I see it, Ford and the truck makers in general are making trucks that drive more like cars.

A shame... a truck should do its work in the low RPMs... not high RPMs.

But THAT's why I'm driving an old diesel instead of a new 6.0L diesel or a new gasser...

The best engines I've seen for pulling (within the years I've been driving--since 1990) have been the 300 inline 6 (pulled better than a '98 F-150 v-6 I had and made V-8s struggle to keep up under load) and my '91 F-350 diesel. The new trucks are rev happy and are designed to act more like cars... a shame to those of us who buy trucks for their intended purpose.


As far as fuel mileage goes... anyone who is concerned with mileage while towing shouldn't even CONSIDER a gasoline engine. I got 7 mpg in my 302-equipped F-150 when pulling 3500 pounds of horses. My V-6 equipped F-150 got 9 mpg pulling the same trailer. My F-350, which is 2500 pounds heavier than the F-150s were, gets 13mpg pulling a 10,000 pound trailer.

 

Dang Mike, I guess we need to start calling you the 'Tomb Raider' being as how you dug this old thread up out of the archives, LOL

 

Who give a damn about racing 6,000 lbs vehicles any way????? These are made to work not race, use them for what they are designed and anyone will tell you a Ford will outwork a Dodge, Chevy, Nissan, Toyota or any other full size pick up out there...Hands Down.

Bitchin'

Adam

 

You guys are missing something here. If you want a REAL work pickup you should get a Powerstroke. They have more power, last longer, and get better milage than gas engines.

I grew up on a farm in a rural community. Everybody and their dog had F250s or 350s with diesels. The place my dad got his pickup from told him that some guy put like 200,000+ miles on his Ford got a new one and put his old diesel in the new pickup.

Hopefully someday Ford will put a Powerstroke in a half-ton.

 

If your braging about a diesel that saw 200,000 miles, big deal.

that is a walk in the park for most the new "gassers" too . . .

I have 245,000 miles on my '96 company pickup and a co-worker just logged 415,000 on his '94