Ford Super Duty 6.2L Mileage?

[jejeosborne]

I have a 2011 with 3.55 gears and a 3.5L. Towing 10,000 pounds and it'll downshift to 5th sometimes 4th gear on hills (consider Minnesota is relatively flatish). Power is ample. Locking out 5th gear gives me a final drive shorter than the option 3.73 final drive and so I see no point in getting a short gear version.

I too have a 2011 ecoboost but have the 3.73 max tow option. I have two friends with the 3.55 rear and we get the same gas mileage because all our driving is mixed. My suggestion is if you drive 75% highway, get the 3.55. Otherwise get the 3.73. My 3.73 shifts up to the higher gears quicker in town allowing the torque converter to lock sooner. Also, I would rather have the gear reduction done in the larger, better supported gears in the rear end vs the smaller gears in the Trans which also removes some stress in the driveshaft supports and u-joints. You will also enjoy fewer downshifts while towing.

 

[Diamondpilot]

After I responded to JJZ's post, all of these other ones suddenly popped up. It seems most folks have similar experiences.

Coobie and Eric, interesting points. My heavy towing (10.5k or so) would not be often nor for more than a couple hundred miles. The RIGHT heavy duty 1/2 ton could satisfy my needs, while providing a better ride for the unloaded times. But for the slight money difference between 1/2T and 3/4T, I am highly leaning towards the max. gasoline setup, as this is how I do things. I learned long ago that having something that is right on the edge of its capabilities is not where I want to be. And I was given a badge by a co-worker that says, "A little overkill never hurt anyone". Ha, ha. Matches my personality.

I have owned a few TC vehicles over the years and have not had them in my thoughts for a heavy duty gasoline hauler. My knee-jerk thought is a 6.2 in a 3/4T could provide more useful towing usage than a small displacement TC'd 1/2T rig when encountering hills and such, with similar upfront and gasoline costs. But I only have practical TC experience with cars. My blueprinted 1987 Buick GN was a really bad ride and my warmed up 1990 Nissan 300 ZXTT was the baddest street car I owned or have driven. And the roots blown 1990 Thunderbird was the smoothest engine I have owned. But I see neither TC engine as working well as a heavy hauler.

However, I know TC engine technology has been improved and a friend's newer TC'd BMW acts more like a direct driven roots type blown engine with no turbo lag. Quite an impressive engine.

Does anyone have any experience with a Ford TC 3.5 in a truck?

I have a 2012 F150 with the 3.5 and 3.73 gears.


10,000# is no problem and gets 9 mpg. 6,000# gets me 13 mpg.

55,000 miles on the truck without a single issue all on 87 octane.

Chris

 

[sdef]

Wow. Numerous heavy duty tows with the Ecoboost and not something I would have imagined.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Wow. Numerous heavy duty tows with the Ecoboost and not something I would have imagined.

It's an amazing motor.

Mine gets about 18.3 mpg on most tanks. Since day one my dash says 15.5 mpg. I tow about 110 miles every weekend from mid May to late October. There are also a few 800 mile trips in there. Last summer I did 5.


Chris

 

[Tomtint]

I had a 2012 6.2 F350 4x4 S&W. I do nor recall what rear end gear ratio was. It averaged 12.5 mpg driving empty and not towing. It had decent power when I needed to pull 11k pounds ( Skidsteer and trailer ) but I don't think it would out pull my 2009 V10 or come close to the 6.7 diesel. I would not hesitate to buy another if need be.

 

[sdef]

I have a 2012 F150 with the 3.5 and 3.73 gears.


10,000# is no problem and gets 9 mpg. 6,000# gets me 13 mpg.

55,000 miles on the truck without a single issue all on 87 octane.

Chris

This is pretty interesting, from a gas mileage/load standpoint especially.

I will purchased used, low mileage gasoline engined in excellent condition, probably 2012 - 2014 with a moderate amount of optional items but certainly with all of the factory HD mechanical items needed for 12k# tow rating.

I started my quest assured I would purchase a little bit older diesel and was very surprised with all of the really nice 6.0 Ford diesels available, many with low miles. After a lot of investigation I discovered all of the problems with the 6.0 and then the poor fuel mileage with the replacement 6.4. I also looked at the Dodge and GM diesels. But these had enough miles on them for me to be concerned about near future injector/pump replacements at premium costs. And for my usage I just can't justify a diesel. And I can justify a lot...

Due to the glowing reviews of the F150/3.5 TC on this post, I did my standard autotrader.com search within 100 miles of my home and found a whole bunch of really loaded F150 3.5s. However, as a whole they are 10% - 15% more expensive than similarly (maybe a bit less) equipped F250s/6.2s. So at least in my area, the better fuel mileage of the 3.5 for my limited use just does not make up for the added purchase cost vs. the 6.2. Not to mention the F250 is a stronger chassis with larger brakes. But thanks to all of the 3.5 TC commenters. Should I stumble across a 3.5 TC that is price competitive with the 6.2, I could end up owning one.

So it looks like I am back to a newused F250 with a 6.2.

 

[Poke]

I have a 2014 F250 CC SWB 4x4 with 4.30's and 16000 on the clock. Overall mileage is 11.6 since day 1. It doesn't get highway driving unless it's pulling my 24 foot gooseneck with my MF 1533 and Ranger on it to the deer lease, so most of that is in town and towing. Mileage will drop to 9.8-10mpg pulling that load, the rare occasions I do drive it on the highway unloaded I've seen 15.6-16 driving about 68 mph. Believe it or not, it gets the worse mileage pulling my Ranger only, 9.5 at times. My old boss had a 6.7 F250 that left him stranded twice for NOX sensors, so he traded for a 6.2 with 3.73's. He drove my truck to town one day from the deer lease, came back and said he was taking his new truck back to get one with 4.30's lol. There's not a big difference in the mileage between the 2, but you can definitely tell it when driving them. The main problem with the 4.30's is finding one, most dealers only stock the 3.73's.

 

[Diamondpilot]

This is pretty interesting, from a gas mileage/load standpoint especially.

I will purchased used, low mileage gasoline engined in excellent condition, probably 2012 - 2014 with a moderate amount of optional items but certainly with all of the factory HD mechanical items needed for 12k# tow rating.

I started my quest assured I would purchase a little bit older diesel and was very surprised with all of the really nice 6.0 Ford diesels available, many with low miles. After a lot of investigation I discovered all of the problems with the 6.0 and then the poor fuel mileage with the replacement 6.4. I also looked at the Dodge and GM diesels. But these had enough miles on them for me to be concerned about near future injector/pump replacements at premium costs. And for my usage I just can't justify a diesel. And I can justify a lot...

Due to the glowing reviews of the F150/3.5 TC on this post, I did my standard autotrader.com search within 100 miles of my home and found a whole bunch of really loaded F150 3.5s. However, as a whole they are 10% - 15% more expensive than similarly (maybe a bit less) equipped F250s/6.2s. So at least in my area, the better fuel mileage of the 3.5 for my limited use just does not make up for the added purchase cost vs. the 6.2. Not to mention the F250 is a stronger chassis with larger brakes. But thanks to all of the 3.5 TC commenters. Should I stumble across a 3.5 TC that is price competitive with the 6.2, I could end up owning one.

So it looks like I am back to a newused F250 with a 6.2.

They hold their value well. My 2012 is in great shape and I was actually offered $31,000 trade on a 2015. My good friend Brian just bought a 2013 FX4 Extended Cab last friday. He had to drive 3 states away to get one with under 35,000 miles and still paid $35,000.

Chris

 

[sdef]

They hold their value well. My 2012 is in great shape and I was actually offered $31,000 trade on a 2015. My good friend Brian just bought a 2013 FX4 Extended Cab last friday. He had to drive 3 states away to get one with under 35,000 miles and still paid $35,000.

Chris

Yep. I am seeing $34k - $43k for 2012 - 2014, most with more miles than the year model would suggest.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yep. I am seeing $34k - $43k for 2012 - 2014, most with more miles than the year model would suggest.

I actually looked mine up today at my bank branch. They had my 2012 FX4 SuperCrew with the EcoBoost and 52,000 miles at $36,350

Not bad considering we only paid $38,000 for it in 2011. It stickered at $45,000 but rebates and such brought it down.


Chris