Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives FWIW, 10k on an Ecoboost F150

10k got here faster than I expected, after buying in late January. Mine is an 4x4 FX4 3.5L Ecoboost, Supercrew, 3.73 gears, 5.5' bed. It still has the 20" Pirelli Scorpions on it.

With a mix of in-town and freeway driving, I'm getting 15.7 mpg at the moment. On the last road trip, which included everything from light off-road, to city driving, to cruising at 80 on the Interstate, to a couple of fast passes where I had to punch it, it was right around 17 mpg. Steady speeds 70 or less it would run 18 to 19, depending on terrain and wind direction.

A 3.55 axle would have been a bit more economical, but the Eco has considerable mid-range torque, and with the 3.73 it will pull a significant hill without downshifting. The 2wd versions also should do a touch better on economy.

The only real flaw I can point out would be sometimes the Dual zone A/c changes settings, but that's realistically about it. They are expensive trucks, but I am largely satisfied with this one.

I undrstand they have the power of an eight clynder engine with the economy of a six. The better fuel mileage goes out the window if one tows something heavy however. Well, there are no free lunches.
4Wheeler magazine found the engine's computer will reduce their output if they get too warm as in heavy off road situations. E

That's pretty much correct. 365 hp and 420 ft-lbs of torque. The nice part is max torque occurs at only 2500 rpm, which is considerably lower than the V8's. So it has considerable pulling power. Compared to the old 24 valve 5.4L V8 in my older truck, there is a significant difference in power - and it gets about 2-3 mpg better economy, in a similar size vehicle.

Good power numbers, but that's pretty crappy mileage given the 'Eco' part of the truck. My 2005 5.3 did essentially the same as yours on mileage (albeit with less power) and my 2011 6.6 dura max also gets the same mileage as you (albeit with more power, a heavier truck, and higher priced fuel).

I'm thinking either the rim/tire combination is pulling your mileage down or you have a bit of a heavy foot.

Pretty consistent with what I've been hearing. The only guy I know of that gets good mileage with one is an old guy that drives 45mph everywhere. We got 11 on a fishing trip pulling a 19' fiberglass boat with 4 large guys and all of our stuff. Impressive power though.

The overall diameter of the 16, 17, 18, or 20" rims are pretty close to the same, within one inch. I don't think that is the issue I still have a hard time with 20" rims on a 1/2 ton truck, but they seem to work

Not the diameter. I was referring to the weight and rolling resistance.
Mine is the same configuration with the exception of being a '12 XLT with 6.5 ft bed and get considerably better mileage. 18" wheels with goodyear tires.
I do have more miles on my truck but the last 15k I've averaged 18.9 some towing included. Running 55mph unloaded with the wife and I, 21-23mpg is common.

I just bought a new 2014 Platinum Model F-150 yesterday with the 3.5 EcoBoost for "town" driving. My "Ranch" truck is a 2012 F-250 SuperCrew 4x4 6.7 Diesel King Ranch.

Went in to the Ford Dealership to have my F-250 Serviced, and a 18 wheeler "car hauler" was un-loading a herd of new Ford F-150's. Bad thing for me to see....

Anyhow, the one I chose was a new 2014 F-150 SuperCrew 4x4 "Platinum" Edition with the 3.5 Ltr. EcoBoost,except mine came with the 3.31 Locking Rear Axle.
It had 1 mile on the odometer when they rolled it off the car hauler. I put 75 miles on it last night and that little EcoBoost is a damn peppy little engine!

I went with the 3.31 rearend since I have my F-250 for pulling loads.

It feels like I'm riding in a low rider sports car and the handling is much tighter compared to my F-250 Diesel.

Tex n Cal, How are the 20" Perelli Scorpians tires holding up for you at 10K miles? Mine came with the same set of tires.
I went and priced Michelin A/T's for the new truck this morning & Holy SHIITT them bastids are HIGH! I may be driving the Pirellie Scorpians for a while.

Here it is: I went with the White Platinum Metallic color so it would match my F-250.

3.73 is fairly deep for 70+ mph. That's the simple answer to tex n cal's "meh" mileage.

That really isn't bad at all for those gears. I'm betting 3.5-ish gears will bring more consistent 20 mpg hwy and chninstructor's 3.31's should push him into the low 20's.



Nice trucks guys!

My 2013 XLT Screw 5.5' Ecoboost with 3.73's has a lifetime MPG of 16.2 with 25K miles on it. The truck will run mid to low 20's if you keep it around 55-60 mph with the 3.73's.

Yeah, I was originally wanting 3.55's, but 3.73's are nice for power. It does bug me if the transmission has to downshift at every hill. The 6 speed does shift more smoothly than the old 4 speed autos, too. At some point it will pull a bay/bass boat, and likewise it will be nice if it can stay in 6th while towing a moderate load.

CHL, no gripes about the Scorpions so far. No heavy off-road use yet. Some driving in light snow & ice, and they seemed okay.

The Platinums are really nice looking trucks with the brushed finish panels and wheels, and the power running boards give it a very clean look, too. But I do occasionally travel to cold climates, and some have suggested the power boards might get jammed or damaged by snow and ice, so that's a concern.

Unless I get it regeared (heaven knows what that would cost) I may consider replacing the 55 series tires with 60 series - which both Michelin and BFG cover, and would be slightly taller for a lower effective ratio. Gotta watch clearance on the front though. And the 20" tires are damn expensive



At some point I'm going to trade the red truck off on something smaller, and better suited to hard-core off-road work.

Raptor?

its actually better than a v8, I would compare the engine more to a diesel. it got turbos and direct injection so it operates similar to a diesel just on gas. mine also just hit 10k. mine is pretty much the same truck except with 3.55 axle. I would say across the board I am seeing about 2mpg better than you are. I wanted the max tow option for heavier loads but I didn't want all that gear. I have towed up to 12k with it before, yes I know that is over 2k overloaded. it did just fine with the load as long as its loaded correctly and proportioned right on the trailer.

the key is making sure the weight is right on the trailer. I tow a 6k cargo trailer all the time with mine and its got plenty of power for that. mine is just ball heavy so I make sure and don't drive much over 70mph when towing. the ride is night and day better than my old superduty. I got so sick of bouncing all over the place in that truck. this is like a luxary car.

Nah, it is an FX4.

I have not seen many, but I was tempted to get a Tremors truck - which is the regular cab truck with 6.5 foot bed, the Ecoboost, and 4.10 gears. It would be plum sporty, but I never saw one a 4x4 version that was reasonable. Most of them would have cost as much or more than the FX4 S-Crew. For a pure hunting/sport truck, with better off-road capabilities, it would be sweet.

I took that to mean trade the red truck in on a Raptor...

Exactly, get the Raptor.

It would be fun to have a Raptor. But aside from having to pay over $50k for one - they'd be 4-5 mpg worse than the Eco. The Supercab version of the Raptor is 133" wheelbase, so it's only about a foot shorter than the S-crew. And they are wider.

Interesting on the fuel mileage. I would agree that it must be the gearing.