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DRIVEN: Ford F-150 Boosted By Turbo V6
Muscular and refined, no wonder the EcoBoost engine captured 55 percent of the pickup truck's sales this year.
The EcoBoost V6 is strong enough to motivate the Ford F-150 SuperCrew four-wheel-drive pickup truck and its cargo. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
Ford F-150 crossed an unlikely threshold this year, considering the macho image of American full-size pickup trucks.
Here it is: For the past four months, V6 engines have outsold V8s in new F-150 pickups. Sounds impossible, I know, what with the brawny hauling and towing duties generally assigned to these trucks. But on average, 55 percent of the buyers of the top-selling new pickup in the United States opted for the V6.
And here’s the reason why: Ford’s new 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged, direct-duel-injection EcoBoost V6 that produces more horsepower and a significant gain in torque over the most popular 5-liter V8, along with a slight improvement in fuel mileage.
This is a major turnaround for truck buyers, whether they’re hauling heavy loads to the worksite or pulling boats and campers to the playsite. The common line of reasoning has always been: the bigger the V8, the better. But that was before gas prices skyrocketed and even truck drivers needed to conserve.
The EcoBoost V6 truck engine produces 365 horsepower and a class-leading 420 pound-feet of torque, with a maximum towing capacity of 11,300 pounds and maximum payload of 3,060 pounds. All that’s pretty stout, and add in fuel mileage of 16 city and 22 highway for two-wheel-drive models, and it’s small wonder that EcoBoost has been gaining sales.
What’s somewhat surprising about the big push for EcoBoost is that it carries a $750 premium over the standard V8 and offers just a smidge better fuel mileage. The 5-liter is rated by the EPA at 15 city and 21 highway for a two-wheel drive F-150. The V8 has comparable horsepower but just 380 pounds-feet of torque, which translates to more than a half-ton deficit in towing capacity compared with EcoBoost.
You could opt for the beefy 6.2-liter V8 with 411 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque, but you’d be paying for all that muscle at the gas pump.
Ford has always had V6 availability for its light-duty pickups, and it now offers the re-engineered 3.7-liter naturally aspirated engine that generates 302 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque, not exactly weak-kneed but hardly in V8 territory. That engine makes up 15 percent of F-150 sales, going mainly to fleets, while the EcoBoost has carved out a 40 percent share of the pie.
So far, only Ford offers anything like the EcoBoost V6, though I’m sure the rest of the full-size truck crowd – Chevy, GMC, Ram, Toyota and Nissan – are taking notice and will be offering their own versions in short order.
The EcoBoost V6 is available for every model of F-150 except for the Harley-Davidson edition, but it doesn’t coming on the heavier-duty F-Series pickups. Seems that the full-size Expedition SUV might be a good place for one.
The test truck was an imposing XLT SuperCrew with four-wheel drive and all the trimmings, including special towing features such as trailer-brake controls. Since I don’t have anything to tow (preferred object: vintage race car on a trailer), I didn’t try out any of that stuff.
But the truck’s 5,625-pound curb weight seemed like plenty to test out the power and performance of the twin-turbo V6. This is a big truck, and the turbo V6 does an admirable job at motivating the beast. Really, it’s pretty quick despite its heft, with strong acceleration from the get go and smoothly consistent up to fast highway speeds.
The engine is also quiet and refined, something you’d not quite expect from a V6 in a pickup truck, feeling at least as sophisticated as any V8. The six-speed automatic does a good job with no bad habits, and it’s really hard to fault this truck’s performance in any way.
Besides the new engine, the F-150 provides a solid ride with decent drivability. It’s pretty huge, though, and such things as parking-lot maneuvers can be challenging.
Here it is: For the past four months, V6 engines have outsold V8s in new F-150 pickups. Sounds impossible, I know, what with the brawny hauling and towing duties generally assigned to these trucks. But on average, 55 percent of the buyers of the top-selling new pickup in the United States opted for the V6.
And here’s the reason why: Ford’s new 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged, direct-duel-injection EcoBoost V6 that produces more horsepower and a significant gain in torque over the most popular 5-liter V8, along with a slight improvement in fuel mileage.
This is a major turnaround for truck buyers, whether they’re hauling heavy loads to the worksite or pulling boats and campers to the playsite. The common line of reasoning has always been: the bigger the V8, the better. But that was before gas prices skyrocketed and even truck drivers needed to conserve.
The EcoBoost V6 truck engine produces 365 horsepower and a class-leading 420 pound-feet of torque, with a maximum towing capacity of 11,300 pounds and maximum payload of 3,060 pounds. All that’s pretty stout, and add in fuel mileage of 16 city and 22 highway for two-wheel-drive models, and it’s small wonder that EcoBoost has been gaining sales.
What’s somewhat surprising about the big push for EcoBoost is that it carries a $750 premium over the standard V8 and offers just a smidge better fuel mileage. The 5-liter is rated by the EPA at 15 city and 21 highway for a two-wheel drive F-150. The V8 has comparable horsepower but just 380 pounds-feet of torque, which translates to more than a half-ton deficit in towing capacity compared with EcoBoost.
You could opt for the beefy 6.2-liter V8 with 411 horsepower and 434 pound-feet of torque, but you’d be paying for all that muscle at the gas pump.
Ford has always had V6 availability for its light-duty pickups, and it now offers the re-engineered 3.7-liter naturally aspirated engine that generates 302 horsepower and 278 pound-feet of torque, not exactly weak-kneed but hardly in V8 territory. That engine makes up 15 percent of F-150 sales, going mainly to fleets, while the EcoBoost has carved out a 40 percent share of the pie.
So far, only Ford offers anything like the EcoBoost V6, though I’m sure the rest of the full-size truck crowd – Chevy, GMC, Ram, Toyota and Nissan – are taking notice and will be offering their own versions in short order.
The EcoBoost V6 is available for every model of F-150 except for the Harley-Davidson edition, but it doesn’t coming on the heavier-duty F-Series pickups. Seems that the full-size Expedition SUV might be a good place for one.
The test truck was an imposing XLT SuperCrew with four-wheel drive and all the trimmings, including special towing features such as trailer-brake controls. Since I don’t have anything to tow (preferred object: vintage race car on a trailer), I didn’t try out any of that stuff.
But the truck’s 5,625-pound curb weight seemed like plenty to test out the power and performance of the twin-turbo V6. This is a big truck, and the turbo V6 does an admirable job at motivating the beast. Really, it’s pretty quick despite its heft, with strong acceleration from the get go and smoothly consistent up to fast highway speeds.
The engine is also quiet and refined, something you’d not quite expect from a V6 in a pickup truck, feeling at least as sophisticated as any V8. The six-speed automatic does a good job with no bad habits, and it’s really hard to fault this truck’s performance in any way.
Besides the new engine, the F-150 provides a solid ride with decent drivability. It’s pretty huge, though, and such things as parking-lot maneuvers can be challenging.
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