Thanks for the replies. Decided on the 5.0. I don't tow anything anything heavy and, whether i should or not, I just trust it a little bit more in the long run than the Eco.

I'm sure the newer Eco's have a lot of the bugs worked out. But I was only able to get one that was a few yrs older.

 

The one thing about an Eco there are more external parts which can fail. Turbo motors are great for economy, power and torque but more can go wrong. Tough to beat the proven reliability of an NA v8

 

What year and trim did you end up with? The 5.0 is great, I got it mostly for reliability.

 

forced induction applications are always tough in that it's a complex balance of a lot of factors that all need to work exactly as intended. I owned a turbocharged car before my current 5.0 f150 and there was ALWAYS something going on with it (which, a lot of it can be attributed to being a MAF based scaling system as opposed to ecoboost's MAP based system).

Oil is a lot more important in turbo setups, as there is higher temps and more pressure in the crankcase. Turbo failure can take out a whole motor if you're not careful, ecoboosts have two of them and they are prone to failure from what I understand.

All in all, I like the 5.0 over ecoboost because its more reliable, has a smooth powerband and sounds a LOT better. At the end of the day, there's no replacement for displacement.

 

I owned a 2011 EcoBoost for two years and around 40,000 miles. Absolutely loved the truck, but the 6 speed trans was going bad so I traded it for a 2014 5.0 a few weeks back. The same trans is used in both the Eco and the 5.0 so I cannot say this was a specific issue because of my engine type.


The Eco got better highway mileage (around 20 at 70 mph) and never really gave me trouble till the trans issue. The only thing I didn't like was the delay in power while the turbos spun up. As it was my first tubro charged vehicle this took some getting used to. It was fantastic while towing and you could forget you had a trailer if you didn't pay attention.


I have put around 2,500 miles on the 5.0 so far and while the highway mpg is not as nice as the Eco (about 18 at 70 mph) I find it to be a fantastic truck.


If you can avoid getting a 2011 or early 2012, I hear the reliability improved. It was already good in my opinion, but most of the issue I have seen on this site have been at the early production years.


If you are willing to travel I drove 200 miles into Michigan to get a 2014 XLT 4x4 with 31k miles for the same price similarly equipped XLT 2011s and 2012s were going for with 40-60k miles. (I am from the far northwest suburbs of Chicago so cost is usually inflated near us.)


As others have stated, test drive both and see what one sings to you. Then start shopping around for that engine.

 

2012 Lariat. I wanted the bells and whistles (NAV and Sony sound) so to make the budget I had to go with the 12. But it only has 29k on it. So I'm pretty pleased. This is by far the nicest vehicle ive ever owned.

 

Thanks for the input. I too per for the 5.0. Don't think I'll be disappointed!

 

You bought my exact truck, motor and all with the same miles on it when I bought a couple months ago... if you say its race red SCREW too I'll lose my mind! Haha

 

Nope!....although that IS a beauty. I went with the platinum tri-coat. I havent had a white car since I was 16 and missed how less dirty white usually looks.

 

All are reliable and all had had folks who hav had some issues- relatively rare. Every manufacturer has a small failure rate.

All three engines have very different characteristics. An ecoboost has far more torque down low and mid but the 6.2 has more peak hp. The 5.0 is traditional small 8 cylinder and has less low or mid range but really wakes up in the upper mid range and beyond. It's far less expensive than the other engines so that's a factor. Also do you like speed and if so how much? An eco with a tune is the fastest per $ but the 5.0 with a blower is impressive and some can run a 1/4 mile faster than a corvette with reliability and still good mpg.

In short you can't go wrong just have to figure out what you want...