Manuellabour247

The 5.0 just sounds better to me. The 3.5tt is a great engine, but it won't compare to a blown 5.0. As far as the trailer, I wouldn't be real concerned going 50 miles with it. You should at least have the 3.55 gears if not the 3.73 gears for towing. Might downshift a couple gears going up hills, but again I wouldn't worry about it

G03svt

The 5.0 has 3.73's and the 3.5 has 3.55's. I'm calling the dealer on the 5.0 today since I was leaning that way anyway. Any concerns with it being a '11?

nihilus

Your 3rd and 4th point was just reverse of these so i will ignore them.
In regards to parasitic loss, check out Edelbrocks new E-charger which claims only 13 hp loss. Superchargers are very efficient today. Turbos actually seem to be using more fuel as they are always under boost it seems.
The lag can be a benefit as hit doesn't "shock" the engine as much. The ecoboost still makes alot of low rpm power so it is not much of a factor at all. The biggest benefit of TVS have is that they can produce huge amounts of power with low boost. Another benefit is that system will use the 5.0 - a great sounding motor with lots of room for expansion.

Hmm, that extra $5,000 will get you damn close to a nice TVS. That is, if you can manage to live without the appearance package.

Watt-maker

I would love to see an actual head-to-head test on this.

I think MPG wise it will be a wash either way. As someone who has towed with SC'd GM 5.7s, 5.3s, and 7.4s, the power was great but the MPG sucked. Even worse than my EB towing. No problem with hills though. Unloaded, if I babied them, the mpg was about the same as the EB (excluding the 7.4). It takes more fuel to make more power. The end cost will be about the same as well.

What is the payload rating for each truck (yellow sticker)? How much does your loaded trailer weigh? Hitch weight?

troutspinner

The Eco sounds like the better deal. Same truck for the most part, 2 model years newer. By time you add the cost of the TVS you exceeded the Eco cost.

Lastly, Eco FTW because you have a warranty. You would not need to tune it for your towing needs and when towing large loads is when the Eco comes to life IMO.

G03svt

I'm leaning towards the 5.0 because it's a better deal at this point and with the new '15s coming out later this year I may only keep it a year or two anyway and get one of those. Warranty is not that important, as a good friend of mine is a Service Manager at a Ford dealership and I usually mod my vehicles anyway.

Both are rated at 7200# GVWR, I don't have access to the door sills. The trailer is a 24' Haulmark that a local guy is selling for pennies on the dollar. I don't know the weight but could probably look it up or ask him. I'll be going with the Equal-I-zer 1000/10000 hitch as well.