Ford V-6 beats v-8's in towing competition

[RobertN]

It always sounded a little different, but back in the 70's my Dad had a Jeep CJ5, which I later owned. It had the Buick 225 V6. Jeep used them from '66-71.

Anyways, with a set of Hooker Headers and glasspacks, it sounded pretty good.

My Dad added an Offy 4bbl intake and a thumpy Isky cam to it. It sounded really good then. It took some folks a double take to realize what it was.

Otherwise, the average econo-box v6 does not sound that great. Especially stock, with just a loud muffler added...

Now if Ford can make a V6 SOUND as good as a V8, I'll be interested, but I'm not counting on it.

 

[Gizmo2]

Not totally unrelated. We bought a 2011 V6 Ford mustang with the new 3.7 and all I can say is HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS COOL. The power is simply amazing. To and from work, 28 mpg with a whole lot of playing.

 

[clemsonfor]

It always sounded a little different, but back in the 70's my Dad had a Jeep CJ5, which I later owned. It had the Buick 225 V6. Jeep used them from '66-71.

Anyways, with a set of Hooker Headers and glasspacks, it sounded pretty good.

My Dad added an Offy 4bbl intake and a thumpy Isky cam to it. It sounded really good then. It took some folks a double take to realize what it was.

Otherwise, the average econo-box v6 does not sound that great. Especially stock, with just a loud muffler added...

in college i had a friend with a 90's z71 with the 4.3 v6. That truck was dueled with like 2.5 " pipes and say 3" tips. Nothing just manifolds and pipes no cat or muffler and it was one of the sweetest sounding trucks in the lot at clemson. Wide open not so hot but up to say 3K sounded awsome. Last i saw him a few years ago he still had it, retired to semiduty in the shed.

 

[WH401]

my 4.4 L V8 (6spd manual) in my bmw with 130K miles on does 24mph around town all day long. About 21 heavy footed, and as much as 30 mph cruising with the cruise control on the highway.

Were not comparing apples to oranges. Any small car is going to get better mileage than a truck, no matter how you stack it.

 

[Storm56]

While it is true they compared a V-6 against 2 V-8's, it is also true that a turbo engine of smaller displacement will outperform a normally aspirated engine of larger displacement and cylinders.

Turbo's on gas engines typically bring higher maintenance costs and shorter longevity to the table. Still I have to commend Ford for what appears to be a significant improvement to V-6 performance and if the fuel economy numbers hold up, a nice improvement to 1/2 ton pickup performance.

 

[RobertN]

FWIW, the Jeep I mentionted previously in this thread...

With that 225v6 stock, except headers, my Dad towed a 18' travel trailer a couple times. That V6 handled it easily. At the time, the Jeep only had a 3-spd, with 3.73 gears. That V6 pulled really well; the rest of the Jeep did not; a 18' travel trailer was en exciting ride in that compact little CJ5.

If you consider moving forward 40 years, add FI, computer, turbo, and bigger displacement, the new Ford V6 should do very well.

 

[Baucom]

So far the performance of the Ecoboost is impressive--especially being a V6--but since Ford is selling it as their "premium" truck engine, I would've preferred to see them use GM's "premium" 6.2 in the comparison. It's really no big deal that the Ecoboost walked all over the 5.3, which is more equivalent to the new Ford 5.0.

It would've been much closer with GM's 6.2 (just look how much closer the Ram was with a Hemi and proper towing gears), though I think even with the 6.2 the Ecoboost would've still been quicker in bost tests. IMO, Ford probably didn't want the 6.2 GM in the test because GM is their strongest competition in the truck market and they wanted a very stark performance difference between their new Ecoboost and the GM competition.

 

[Dmace]

notice it says nothing about fuel performance vs the others V8's

Exactly, once those turbos start spooling and building boost the computer has to dump incredible amounts of fuel into the cylinders so it doesn't run lean.

I have built turbo-charged cars for many years and I know my 520 whp Eagle Talon 2.0l 4 cylinder (3100lbs curb weight) gets 24mpg driving easy but when I bring it to the drag track and make a 11.5 sec quarter mile run at over 120 mph it drops to about 9 mpg. I gaurantee that truck's mpg's will plummet when you put a good load on it and try climbing some hills.

It's a great engine for the those who want the quickness and fuel economy unloaded but don't compare it to a truck and engine made for towing. Those turbo's won't last 50k miles with regular towing. I bet it will be a good $1500-$2000 repair too!

 

[davygp38]

my 4.4 L V8 (6spd manual) in my bmw with 130K miles on does 24mph around town all day long. About 21 heavy footed, and as much as 30 mph cruising with the cruise control on the highway.

I guess when BMW starts making 1/2 ton P/Us for sale in the US, I will have to give them a look.

 

[sld]

Turbo longevity aside, I think the main point is that most people drive their truck unloaded 90 percent of the time. If the V6 gets better mileage unloaded there is a pretty big gain.

While towing I would expect the V6 and V8 to get close to the same with a slight edge to the V8's. Those turbos will burn fuel alright.

The only substantial mpg gain I would see with the ecoboost is on a long road trip with an unloaded truck.