Greetings,

I signed off of this site back in Dec. 2016 after totaling my 2013 Lariat and going with a Ram 1500. While I do like my Ram I'm looking at coming back to Ford. I looked at a couple Lariats today but never drove one. My 13 F-150 had the V-6 Ecoboost which I came to despise. Underpowered and lousy gas mileage. Others on here were complaining of the same thing. The dealer I spoke to today was very young and I believe I have underwear older than him. Not sure he's very knowledgable on these Fords but at least he's working and he'll eventually learn. I told him of my dislike of my Ecoboost and he thought the 10 Speed Ecoboosts run better and get better gas mileage. My thoughts though is that I may just go with the larger engine or maybe the diesel. Anyone have thoughts on the 2018 model and its engines?

 

Right off hand, if you did not like the Gen 1 3.5L (Cyclone) EcoBoost, then you are not going to like the 2.7L (Nano) EcoBoost or the Gen 2 3.5L EcoBoost. My 2018 F150 is very close to the motor that is in our 2013 SHO and it behaves in the same manner. The exception is that it has more low end pull because of the gearing and the "truck" tuning performed by Ford to increase the torque.

 

I don't do much if any towing so this is not an issue for me.

 

I just test drove a Raptor this week and a KR with the EcoBoost and really did not care for either. Raptor was always hunting for the right gear and both just lacked pizazz. I ended up going with a KR with the 8. Could not be happier. I can't tell any power difference at all but it sounds a LOT better over the EcoBoost.

 

Get the 5.0. Had it in 4 of the F150's I've had.
I had the 3.5 in an Explorer and didn't like it. Had good acceleration, but it surged occasionally.

 

i had the 5 in my 2015 that i traded (wanted the 2.7 but it was just coming out then). my 18 Lariat was only going to be a 2.7 and so far no regrets, only smiles

 

Get the 5.0 with the 10 speed and 3.55 gearing. If you go Ecoboost I would suggest getting the 3.31 gearing to take advantage of the low end torque. However since you aren't towing I would highly recommend the 5.0 with 3.55 gearing

 

Yeah the 5.0 is sounding better all the time. The Ecoboost I had in my 13 model just didn't do it for me.

 

I can't believe anyone would find the 3.5EB underpowered... if you do, the only thing that will outperform it will be a supercharged 5.0.

 

Really simple: get the 5L. Lesser torture, lesser HP than the 3.5L but bigger engine nose; it could make you happy. Or check out the competition and their NA engine line up.