Scooter70

I had a chance to do a Ride and Drive of the new diesel F150 this morning at work. I've had 2011 and 2013 3.5 EB F150s and just bought my 2018 3.5 EB two weeks ago so I was anxious to see what the hype was about. They had a route set up that combined city and freeway driving so that we could get a feel for the truck in different situations. The particular truck that I drove was a 4x2 Lariat supercab. Not exactly apples-to-apples with my 4x4 crew cab but close enough. Overall the diesel is incredibly quiet and smooth. It's quieter than my truck, almost to the point of being too quiet and I wished it made a little more noise. Driving over the city roads it was no different than the gas powertrains. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was no different than driving the non-turbo V6 gas motor. It pulled decently off the line so you could tell that it was making torque but the lack of horsepower was definitely noticeable in the upper rev range before it shifted. Unfortunately we didn't get to tow anything, which is where I think the truck should be able to shine. It may not pull as hard as the 3.5 EcoBoost but it should get a lot better mileage. That said, when I checked the trip odometer on this particular truck it was averaging almost 25 mpg over the last 2500 miles. These test trucks that are used for these event are usually not driven softly since people want to "see what it'll do" so I think this is a great indicator that they're really getting the economy that Ford is touting.

If anyone has any questions, I'll answer what I can. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a photo of the door sticker that showed GVWR/GCWR and towing/cargo capacity until after I had left.



Under the hood





Ford World Headquarters in the background



The trip meter says that this truck is getting almost 25mpg for the last 2500+ miles. I assume that it's being used for these Ride and Drive events a lot so that's pretty impressive.



My 3.5 EcoBoost Lariat in front of WHQ, just for good measure.

BlackBoost

I got passed on the highway by a group of 8-10 of these yesterday on my way home from work. None of them had license plates but I assume they had the in-transit permits. I was doing 5 over the limit and they were doing at least 20+ over (No fear of the photo radar cameras since they have no plates). I was tempted to follow them to see what dealership the were going to but they were long gone. I bet the boss would've liked to see my dash cam footage of them all racing down the highway blowing past everyone...

riptide88

The only place this truck is going to shine is fuel economy. Im purely speaking out of my *** but i dont think this was designed for the guy waffling between an EB or F250, this is more for the guy looking for a 1/2 ton that didnt need the capabilities of the 5.0 or EB.

Napalm

I'm curious to read more "real world " driving MPG values and situations.

Napalm

I slightly disagree. I think it's for the people squarely looking at the 2.7 or the 3.5 and they keep leaning towards the 3.5 bacause they have a trailer to tow but not at the capacity limit. say an 8K lbs trailer.

If you tow every week this is probably not the package for you. Although that could change.

UnkLeRaRa

Yap, I agree.

I think this is for the guy's that tow small to medium loads everyday and want to maintain some good economy #'s.

I'm surprised to hear how quiet the thing is, diesels have come a long way, although Ford's been making this one for other manufacturer's for a # of years now, so they have some R&D behind it.

lawndart

So what are the mpg ratings on the vehicle test driven? Need some context for the 24.8 on the lie-o-meter. Is this one of the models rated at 22/30?

svenny

svenny

Hoss10

Just don't go down a big hill while towing!

I am a Diesel fan (I drive one everyday) but up here in Canada the price difference between the Diesel and the 3.5 EB takes it out contention.