fwayne

OK its been 2 years give or take.

First up is my 2.7 XLT SCREW. What's really notable is that it is not one ounce different than brand-new. Aside from the loss of tire tread( at 36K miles I estimate tread is still 70% on the stock michelins) and a few rock chips on the front facia, there is no verifiable difference from the day it was first delivered.

Oil consumption is unmeasurable at the dipstick between changes. Everyone warned me it would suck oil...which is false. I change oil every 8K mile. Full synthetic.

Power is perfectly fun, transmission still solidly...well solid. And not a single item of concern. I drive it like I stole it. It gets flat footed almost every day for at least a couple on-ramp mergers. I cruise it for 10-12 miles a day at 70-80mph (Texas common road speed). I've towed in 106 degree temps with the max load being just over 9000 lbs total with trailer. It sucked fuel at a paltry 9mpg on flat ground, but since that only will occur less than 1% of this trucks life, it isn't a negative. No rattles or squeaks. No leaks, no saggy dash, No drips.

Road mileage at 65 mph still tops 25 sometimes 27. daily driving never drops below 20.5

Next the 3.5 eco King Ranch SCREW 4x4:

This truck is loaded, moonroof, Bliss, LED, Seat messagers etc. all the gadgets everyone kept predicting a miserable pile of failures. Frankly its a big load of hogwash. I'm gonna list all of the things that have broken, failed or simply didn't work

No1: two days after buying it leaked oil, turns out a small tube on the return line of the turbo was defective from factory. Dealer fixed, no more issues since.
No2: a tiny chrome strip on the driver door handle popped off. Dealer replaced.

Thats it. period. No hiccups, leaks or even a flaw I can find. My wife drive it primarily. She's a lead-foot. I get 18 around town and 22 on highway she gets less because she varies her speed more than I do. I towed 11,000 pounds once. It will pull it almost diesel-like. Stopping that mass is a whole different matter, I think 11,000 is the limit for sure due to the limit of the brakes. Just like my 2.7, this one also got 9mpg towing. But it does it with authority, better torque, and downshifts are effective. This is where the 10 speed would really shine.

I still complain about the terrible range of the garage door opener. Its a stupid design. I "fixed" it by adding three feet of electrical wire to the antenna on the door opener in the garage. Now it works from the driveway 20 feet out. But the old clip on door opener in my XLT works from a block away now!

The King Ranch only has 24K miles on it, but I see no reason we wont own this truck for 7 to 10 years, and we'll tally 150-200K miles overall. My wife averages 7 years per vehicle if she like em. She loves this one the most of all.

Note: a few months into owning this truck she was rear-ended by a Jeep Compass. The Jeep( which submarined under our truck) was totaled, airbags popped, engine inoperable. My wife's truck drove home. The crazy thing is the aluminum body was untouched! There is a massive steel tube behind the rear bumper. It took all the force (along with the trailer hitch). The only service required was a new bumper, parking sensors, and receiver hitch. Ford knows exactly what they are doing with these trucks!


Now we might add a new(er) truck to the family sometimes soon. I'm looking into a 5th wheel RV and I'm likely going to get a good used F250 or F350. Now I'm in a whole new game trying to decide diesel over gas.

-Fwayne

Napalm

LOL - worried about turbo wear on the ecoboost.

Short of tuning the snot out of it. Keep your oil and coolant in decent nick and the turbo will be fine - it's not working that hard. Despite popular myth.

Sitting is what kills turbo's more so that running. why - sitting still they end up sitting on dry bearings over time. so that start up wear is significant.

run one every day - such that oil flows - and bearings are lubed up even on tomorrow's start up. This isn't the turbo systems of old and you're not using the oils of the 1980's

fwayne

No worries here! I know for a fact these are likely to last longer than the usefulness of the truck itself. They are identical to the models used on diesels around the world, which see a much rougher duty cycle and temps, and they last and last.

Ricklee4570

Great information! Thanks for sharing!

zx12-iowa

Thanks for the update. My wife wont drive my truck as she says its too big.

bassJAM

My wife steals my truck every chance she get's. She's even tried to get me to permanently trade for her CR-V.

Slowtrucker

Ya' gotta worry about it when they think they are smarter than you and try to trick you out of neat things. Be thankful that at least you found a smart one!

jwmustang

Ha! My wife was pissed when I came hm with my truck.
Funny thing is she is now always using my truck instead of her car.

zx12-iowa

I like driving her new Pilot tho. feels like a sports car.

SIPNLIFE205

FWayne, thank you for the post comparing these 2 eco's. I was on the fence about a 2.7, and I currently have a 2014 3.5 SC 4X4. Just completed 120K mile complete bumper to bumper service at dealer. Only issue in 120K is a nagging sunroof leak. Drives me to want to get a new truck without a sunroof. Dealer has 2.7 Lariat, no sunroof, and the test drive was eye opening. But sunroof aside, my 2014 3.5 runs like a scalded dog , is still tight as tick, ride is superb, fuel mileage OK ( Avg 17.5 - I mash it hard) and looks as good as the day I purchased it. I use it in my work daily, have a Leer shell on it and Bedslide and carry around ~ 200 lbs of stuff in it all the time. If I go to a new truck, it will be the 2.7. And I like the fact that the 2.7 engine block is the same metal compound as the new Ford F250 diesels. Again, thanks for the post. You did a good job in the comparison in the sense you explained in very real terms the way most people use their trucks.