F-150 Eco Boost Towing Vs Nissan Titan

[Diamondpilot]

Well as you know I tow quite often. Today we had to help a family member move so I loaded up my 2008 Nissan Titan 4x4 and my dad had is 2011 F-150 4x4 with the new Eco Boost. We both had identical trailers loaded within what I would guess was 400# of each other according to the scales. I was at 6,100# and he was at 5,780#. We followed each other with me in the lead from Cincy to my house doing 69mph on the free way and 59mph on the state roads. It was a 232 mile round trip.

Truck #1

2008 Nissan Titan 4x4 Off Road Extended Cab 6.5' Bed 2" lift with 4.10 gears and the big tow package rated at 9,500# towing. 56,xxx miles

Truck #2
2011 F-150 Eco Boost FX4 Crew Cab 5.5' bed. 3.73 gears rated at 11,300# towing. 11,xxx miles

Both trailers were identical. Tandem axle 14' enclosed box trailers with surge brakes. Total trailer length with tongue was 20'. They were 8'6" wide and had a 7' tall roll up door on the back. I would estimate the total height at 9'6". According to the rental yard they weigh 2,560# empty but I did not confirm.

We both picked up the trailers at 3 pm yesterday then drove home, 3.5 miles. Today we drove to Cincy at 6:30am, loaded up, and back on the road by 11am. We stopped 1 mile after loading up and filled our tanks and reset the mpg thang a majobs. We got to the destination at 1:30 after stopping for lunch then unloaded and returned the trailers at 3pm about 12 miles.

Once again, when we left this morning once loaded up we zeroed out our mpg thing a majobs on the dash after filling up about a mile down the road and here are the results.

F-150 got 12.6mpg both by the dash and hand calculated.

Nissan Titan got 10.1 by the dash but 10.3 hand calculating.

Long story short the new Eco Boost got 20% better mpg pulling a 6,000# load than a V8 Titan.

I felt both trucks did a fine job and there really was not much difference in pulling feeling from the trailers being empty or loaded other than stopping difference. What I am saying is the wind drag is a bigger issue than the weight.

Chris

 

[two_bit_score]

Well as you know I tow quite often. Today we had to help a family member move so I loaded up my 2008 Nissan Titan 4x4 and my dad had is 2011 F-150 4x4 with the new Eco Boost. We both had identical trailers loaded within what I would guess was 400# of each other according to the scales. I was at 6,100# and he was at 5,780#. We followed each other with me in the lead from Cincy to my house doing 69mph on the free way and 59mph on the state roads. It was a 232 mile round trip.

Truck #1

2008 Nissan Titan 4x4 Off Road Extended Cab 6.5' Bed 2" lift with 4.10 gears and the big tow package rated at 9,500# towing. 56,xxx miles

Truck #2
2011 F-150 Eco Boost FX4 Crew Cab 5.5' bed. 3.73 gears rated at 11,300# towing. 11,xxx miles

Both trailers were identical. Tandem axle 14' enclosed box trailers with surge brakes. Total trailer length with tongue was 20'. They were 8'6" wide and had a 7' tall roll up door on the back. I would estimate the total height at 9'6". According to the rental yard they weigh 2,560# empty but I did not confirm.

We both picked up the trailers at 3 pm yesterday then drove home, 3.5 miles. Today we drove to Cincy at 6:30am, loaded up, and back on the road by 11am. We stopped 1 mile after loading up and filled our tanks and reset the mpg thang a majobs. We got to the destination at 1:30 after stopping for lunch then unloaded and returned the trailers at 3pm about 12 miles.

Once again, when we left this morning once loaded up we zeroed out our mpg thing a majobs on the dash after filling up about a mile down the road and here are the results.

F-150 got 12.6mpg both by the dash and hand calculated.

Nissan Titan got 10.1 by the dash but 10.3 hand calculating.

Long story short the new Eco Boost got 20% better mpg pulling a 6,000# load than a V8 Titan.

I felt both trucks did a fine job and there really was not much difference in pulling feeling from the trailers being empty or loaded other than stopping difference. What I am saying is the wind drag is a bigger issue than the weight.

Chris

Good report.:thumbsup:

3.73 gears vs 4.10 make a big difference in gas mileage.

Looks like the Ford didnt need the extra gearing to pull the weight either.

.

 

[rsewill]

What I am saying is the wind drag is a bigger issue than the weight.
Chris

Good comparo! Maybe the Ford was drafting.

Years ago, when fuel first went up, big trucks reportedly used 150 HP just to push the air out of the way at highway speed. I drove a '64 220 HP Emeryville and I can testify it was a tough slog even with a 4 by 4. Modern trucks do have better aerodynamics but the wind still has to be gotten out of the way.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The extra gear in the Fords 6 speed and the 3.73 combo is very close to my 5 speed Titan and 4.10 gears so there is really no advantage there.

As for a him drafting if anything I got the advantage for about 60% of the trip leading and following behind semi's. I know you were joking but he was on average 100 yard behind me I would guess. My dad is 66 and is a very careful driver, maybe too careful at times.

Chris

 

[Dmace]

More real world data that to me says the EcoBoost is not that impressive. 20% fuel mileage savings is nice but compared to a Titan which is known for poor fuel mileage (puzzling, given its meager power output), it's not that great in my eyes. I've hand calculated 10-11.5 average towing my 27ft 5500lb travel trailer with a 9 year old simple and proven truck (RAM 1500 4x4 HEMI QC 3.73), I bet I could equal that 12-12.5mpg with a small cargo trailer on mostly highway travel. Even a GM 5.3l or old Ford 5.4l should be close to that. I wonder what that EcoBoost could do tuned down to about 325hp/350lb.ft...?

Thanks for the comparo Chris.

 

[JasG]

Thanks for posting your findings.

 

[Storm56]

More real world data that to me says the EcoBoost is not that impressive. 20% fuel mileage savings is nice but compared to a Titan which is known for poor fuel mileage (puzzling, given its meager power output), it's not that great in my eyes. I've hand calculated 10-11.5 average towing my 27ft 5500lb travel trailer with a 9 year old simple and proven truck (RAM 1500 4x4 HEMI QC 3.73), I bet I could equal that 12-12.5mpg with a small cargo trailer on mostly highway travel. Even a GM 5.3l or old Ford 5.4l should be close to that. I wonder what that EcoBoost could do tuned down to about 325hp/350lb.ft...?

Thanks for the comparo Chris.

I am inclined to agree with you on this Mace. While I have never owned a Titan, I have some acquaintances that do. None of them brag about good fuel economy. I bought a new truck this year and considered a Titan, even the dealer was up front with the fact that the fuel mileage was poor compared to the competition. A quick search on the net will support this.

So if the eco can only best one of the known poor fuel mileage trucks by 2 mpg on a comparable tow load, that is not very impressive. I think my new truck, a Ram 1500 crew cab with the Hemi could come very close to matching the eco in this comparison.

 

[jejeosborne]

More real world data that to me says the EcoBoost is not that impressive. 20% fuel mileage savings is nice but compared to a Titan which is known for poor fuel mileage (puzzling, given its meager power output), it's not that great in my eyes. I've hand calculated 10-11.5 average towing my 27ft 5500lb travel trailer with a 9 year old simple and proven truck (RAM 1500 4x4 HEMI QC 3.73), I bet I could equal that 12-12.5mpg with a small cargo trailer on mostly highway travel. Even a GM 5.3l or old Ford 5.4l should be close to that. I wonder what that EcoBoost could do tuned down to about 325hp/350lb.ft...?

Thanks for the comparo Chris.

Who would compare the ecoboost with a GM 5.3 or the Ford 5.4 liters? These engines are not in the same class for HP and Torque so why compare fuel efficiency.

Next time offer up your "9 year old simple and proven truck (RAM 1500 4x4 HEMI QC 3.73)" for the same test and put your money where your mouth is. There is no doubt that the ecoboost will have better fuel efficiency than the Hemi over the coarse of the life of the trucks as well. I would also bet that the ecoboost will also beat the proven Hemi in a drag race towing those trailers as well.

I haven't read too many post online about how great the hemi is on fuel either except from you.

 

[clemsonfor]

The fact is that both those mileages are garbage in my opinion. Yea your towing a big box, and can go fast while doing it. But the reason i dont have a newer tow vehicle is one price is crazy even on 10 yr old trucks and i can get 8mpg towing 5k lbs of trailer and tractor (yea i know a tractor does not have the profile of a box trailer) and implements with my 1980 k10. Its not comfortable as a tighten or as smooth or fast etc but to spend 40K to get 2mpg better is not sound judgement in my case when i travel so few miles a year in it. I keep a car for everyday travel to get 30+ mpg in.

 

[Diamondpilot]

More real world data that to me says the EcoBoost is not that impressive. 20% fuel mileage savings is nice but compared to a Titan which is known for poor fuel mileage (puzzling, given its meager power output), it's not that great in my eyes. I've hand calculated 10-11.5 average towing my 27ft 5500lb travel trailer with a 9 year old simple and proven truck (RAM 1500 4x4 HEMI QC 3.73), I bet I could equal that 12-12.5mpg with a small cargo trailer on mostly highway travel. Even a GM 5.3l or old Ford 5.4l should be close to that. I wonder what that EcoBoost could do tuned down to about 325hp/350lb.ft...?

Thanks for the comparo Chris.

You call the Titan "meagar power" but its not about HP numbers. Its about torque and where it makes that torque. I would rather have grunt in a truck than 500 hp. HP does nothing but sell trucks to the people who really do not know trucks. I could have bought anything I wanted in 2008 when I got this Titan but I did so based on data, not sales gimmicks and claims. I would bet my last pay check that my Titan pulling the same trailer would turn in equal to or better numbers than any 1/2 ton GM, Toyota, or Dodge. Only the Eco Boost will beat it pulling a load.

To me 20% is impressive and as a former Hemi owner and a guy who has a degree in aero space technology I would say there is no way you could match the numbers. Drag goes up by a factor of 4 as speed increases. At highway speed drag is a killer. We both noticed our mpg when up considerably, about 1/2 mpg better, when we drove the last 45 miles of the trip at 59 mph versus the 69 mph on the freeway.

Either way both trucks did well. We never had a issue holding speed on grades that had other trucks down to 40 mph with the hazard lights on, 7%. Granted we were not a max gross weight.

The thing that surprises me ever day about the Titan is it does so well towing. It does awful around town or on the highway with about 14.6mpg average. My best tank ever, all highway, was about 16mpg and my weekly average with about 1/3 towing loads from 2,500# to 9,700# is 12.8mpg. I track every drop of fuel on a phone app so these number are true data, not a guess. It will do 12mph pulling a 7,000# boat on a 800 mile trip and 9.1mpg pulling a 9,700# boat on the same trip. Granted boats pull much better than a box trailer or camper.

The Eco Boos on the other hand has averaged 18mpg with some light towing since day one according to the dash. This trip was the only one I have date on and 12.6mpg seems pretty good to me, granted it was a larger drop in economy versus the Titan.

Look at it this way, the Titan cost about $90 to drive and the F-150 cost $73 to drive. That adds up.:thumbsup:

Chris