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Need a truck, 5.0 or 3.5 EB?

2018OFPP1?2

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The EB is inherently more complicated than the 5.0 with quite a few more components in it. I has turbos that run very hot and increase the heat under the hood - everything under the hood has to live in a hotter environment. The engine is smaller displacement and more over-stressed.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that - given a power/torque requirement and everything else being equal - a larger displacement engine tends to be more reliable. And a naturally aspirated engine tends to be more reliable than a boosted engine.

I prefer a large displacement NA engine in any pickup - and any other vehicle really. I have a V10 in my Ford pickup. It's 20 years old, but works great. Perfect for plowing and hauling.
Yeah, I guess that's correct, and all the 200k + mile ecos are just flukes.

Look, my opinion is based on my experience, not what I read into internet, or what my buddies, uncle's, dentist told him. I have a 2000 5.4 expy, and a 2001 5.4 f150, and I drove a rental 5.0 f150. I hate to tell ya, the 3.5 eco is the best of the bunch for truck stuff.

BTW, the tow rating of the eco truck is ~3,000 lbs higher than your v10, and the eco gets twice the miles per gallon easy. Genius indeed.
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Shane361

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You should go to the F150 forums and ask the question. I kid you not the answers are far different than these. The 5.0 is having tons of issues, the 2.7 is a beast and the 3.5 is even more of a beast but used more for towing. I couldn't be happier with mine. View attachment 370529
 

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2018OFPP1?2

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You should go to the F150 forums and ask the question. I kid you not the answers are far different than these. The 5.0 is having tons of issues, the 2.7 is a beast and the 3.5 is even more of a beast but used more for towing. I couldn't be happier with mine. View attachment 370529
From what I've been reading lately, the 2.7 eco doesn't give up much to the 3.5 where it counts, and gets even better mpg. Can't go wrong with that one either.
 

Hack

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From what I've been reading lately, the 2.7 eco doesn't give up much to the 3.5 where it counts, and gets even better mpg. Can't go wrong with that one either.
Definitely go to the smallest possible engine with lots of turbo boost. What can go wrong?

Yeah, I guess that's correct, and all the 200k + mile ecos are just flukes.

Look, my opinion is based on my experience, not what I read into internet, or what my buddies, uncle's, dentist told him. I have a 2000 5.4 expy, and a 2001 5.4 f150, and I drove a rental 5.0 f150. I hate to tell ya, the 3.5 eco is the best of the bunch for truck stuff.

BTW, the tow rating of the eco truck is ~3,000 lbs higher than your v10, and the eco gets twice the miles per gallon easy. Genius indeed.
I'm happy with my '99 Super Duty that cost me $5,000. It tows great and I don't really care about fuel economy. I don't use it to commute in. I use it to tow, haul and plow.

BTW the plow company recommends at least an F250. It doesn't have anything to do with the engine, but for "truck stuff" an F150 is weak sauce.

How many years of better fuel economy will it take to pay for a 3.5 EB (must be in a F250 chassis) versus my $5,000 vehicle?

200k out of an EB is great. And expected. Any engine should last at least that long. Hopefully they will continue to run for many years into the future and they will work great when they are 20 years old like my F250 with the V10 with no major and expensive repairs required.

I still like the 5.0 over any of the EB. I understand your argument - even though the EB is more complicated it still works better. I'm just not buying in.
 
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engineermike

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I had a 2011 eb, stock and tuned, and a 2015 5.0, stock and supercharged. The stock eb was uninspiring, but tuned it was a different and exciting vehicle. The stock 5.0 surprised me and obviously the supercharged 5.0 was the power king. The biggest reliability issue I had was spark plugs going out on both. I had to regap them more often than you would think. However, I didn’t keep any of them past about 65k miles, so take that FWIW.

If I had to buy another one today it wouldn't be an easy decision, even with the benefit of experience owning both.
 

Shane361

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Definitely go to the smallest possible engine with lots of turbo boost. What can go wrong?.
Unlike the bigger V6, the 2.7 was actually designed around the turbos. It's an amazing combo ;) Of which is seeing less issues than any other platform out currently.
 

2018OFPP1?2

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I had a 2011 eb, ...The stock eb was uninspiring, ...
That's interesting. What is your frame of reference for a stock truck? A 6.1 0-60 and 14.6 1/4 mile seems pretty snappy for a loaded four door truck that can tow 11,300 pounds. IIRC, it tested faster than any of the other new trucks that year, with the exception of the Raptor.
 

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Prior to the 2011 eb, I had an rcsb tundra. Before that was a Harley sc 5.4, and before that a 2nd gen Lightning. It might have hung with the Harley but couldn’t touch the others even though the power rating was similar. The response was much softer/slower than any of the others, stock. I blame the factory cal, as a 5 star cal fixed all that.
 

2018OFPP1?2

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I would imagine compared to a gen 2 lightning, none of those trucks seem that inspiring :wink:
 

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Hack

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Cool deal. If you get some first hand experience with the 5.0, 3.5, or 2.7 in an F150, let us know.
I've driven the 5.0 and 3.5 in an F150.

So now you know.
 

Timeless

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Two guys I work with have F150s. One is a 2015 with 3.5EB with 105K miles and the other is a 2017 2.7EB with 40K miles. Both love them and have had no engine issues at all.
 

Anthony 05 GT

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I just picked up a '19 Explorer Sport with the 3.5 EB. Very impressed with the torque and I notice zero turbo lag.
 

Hack

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BTW, the tow rating of the eco truck is ~3,000 lbs higher than your v10, and the eco gets twice the miles per gallon easy. Genius indeed.
Been meaning to reply to this for a while. My super duty F250 with the V10 says 16,000 lbs towing capacity on the back bumper. AFAIK the 3.5 EB is 13,200 lbs capacity.

And I paid $5,000 for the F250. If you drive your pickup enough to pay for the difference in MSRP with fuel economy savings then more power to you. I barely drive mine 1,000 miles per year, so fuel economy is not something I worry about in the slightest. I do get about 11 mpg highway with it, so it definitely isn't an mpg ruler. But let me know when you have 24X,XXX miles on your EB and we will see how each vehicle is doing.
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