Eats the Chevy, yes.

Eats the Dodge, no.

The Dodge got beaten of the line because the Ford has much lower 1st and 2nd gears. By the time the race was run the Dodge was only three seconds behind. I think the Eco-Boost had heat soak issues.

Don't bother flaming me for supporting Dodge, I have a 2011 F150 5.0 on order. I just won't bother drag racing a hemi.

Greg

 

so all this hate on the 5.4 is annoying. i have a 2010 platinum and i have test driven the new 5.0. the 5.0 was nice it took off nice shifting good and felt good. I didn’t tow anything with the 5.0. it is nice. i am sure the EB is as well.

I was disappointed when i first got my 5.4 in November because it was shifting all weird. so i took it in to the dealer thanks to the Online forum here and had them reflashed it and the truck is as smooth as butter. i have hauled a few things with the platinum and it cruses with ease. i like seeing power low in and lower rpms. makes me feel like i am saving gas when I know I’m not really. haha. but if anyone is buy a truck for get off the line you are buying your truck for the wrong reason. sure it is nice to get off buy that 5.4 still can do that too. not that fast but i let my 1969 Trans Am do that.

 

I hear you, I felt much more comfortable buying a proven 2010. However the Ecoboost has been around longer than the 5.0L but it is tuned differently and never used in truck applications that involve longer idling times, Off Road stresses, and towing stresses. I think I'd feel more comfortable with an Ecoboost 3.5L than a really new 5.0L.

 

It's all good i got a 71 Dodge Dart and plan on putting a blown 6.1L hemi in it. when you look at it a 3.5L vs a 5.7L.thats 2.2L diff. 3 sec. is pretty good. i would like to see what the fuel usage diff is.

 

I bet fuel consumption would be about identical. I really liked the Hemi I dove but the new display between the speedo and tach and the Sync system swayed me to Ford. Those may be odd reasons to buy a truck but those conveniences will be used much more frequently than max towing capacity; at least for me. The reality is that 75% of my miles I'll be driving with just me in the truck and I think the new 5.0 will get better mileage than the Hemi. Pulling a 5,000 or 6,000 pound trailer will probably be about even. I do think the Dodge looks better however.

Greg

 

FWIW - my disdain with the 5.4 started long before there were even rumors of a new engine lineup. I've long complained that Ford had the best truck with the worst engine(s). Drive any of the competitor's trucks and then drive the 2010 or older F150. It's a joke for the most part (engine prowess only).

Ford finally woke up and gave the best truck the best engines.

 

no contest the hemi is a pig on fuel.

 

TX Chris - You and I are in the same boat... I thought going from a 1999 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer 4x4 5.4 2V with 190k miles to a 2005 F150 Screw 4x4 King Ranch 5.4 3V was an upgrade.... NOPE!!! I traded that King Ranch off at 15k miles because the 5.4 3V was GARBAGE!!!! I thought it was just that truck... NOPE... I test drove many other 5.4 3V trucks and they were all the same gutless wonders!
Ford has done the right thing with new engines, however I do believe 100% that folks buying the Ecoboost will regret that decision after a few years. I do not care how many cylinders it has - it is not about that. It is asking an awful lot from a small engine with many high dollar components. If you use that same thinking in your other purchases, you usually go with the beefier choice regardless, right?

Honestly, the 6.2L engine is the only way to go for 2011... just sucks that you have to get into a Lariat with the dumb blonde wood before the 6.2 is even available.

For now, I am quite content with my 2010 Cadillac CTS-V 6spd manual.

 

actually.....the GM 6.2 is 403hp on 91 octane.

 

I have driven several of the new 5.0's my company has in our fleet (which I manage). I currently own a 2008 screw FX4......custom tuned by PHP, exhaust and intake. On my 87 performance tune (or tow tune) my truck feels noticeable stronger on the bottom and through the mid range than the 5.0.......(comparing 3.73 rear-ends).
I am confident my truck would handle 7000lbs noticeably better than a stock 5.0 in comparable truck configuration.
Now I realize it isn't a fair comparison since I am tuned......but stock for stock I would still give the nod to a 5.4 for bottom to mid-range torque. The 5.0 is a screamer but it's not quite the pure truck engine a 5.4 is. Perhaps a 5.0 well tuned would be very impressive though?
I am completely impressed with our 6.2's in our F-250 and F-350's though.....it's a wicked mill with even more wicked potential. My next truck will have a 6.2......in a few years when Ford gives it 3 valves and direct injection

 

I agree Chris 74. While some love their 5.0L, I just wouldn't had been happy with it's lack luster performance next to the 5.4L.

My first impression when giving the 2011 5.0 4WD Screw some pedal, "where is the power that this engine supposedly has". Then after I gave it about 3/4 pedal and rev the crap out of it, only then did it take off. Not impressive at all IMO.

I then test drove a 5.4L and there was the power I was expecting, tire roasting, stump pulling, torque! With the 5.0L, even at 55 mph, I still had to give it a lot of pedal to go from 55 to 70 mph. With the 5.4L, I give it just a little pedal and that monster shoots from 55 to 70 mph like it was puzzin around at 30 mph! Can't say how much I love this 5.4L . It reminds me of the power I had with the 2004 Titan, except this Ford feels stronger off the line.

Now don't get me wrong, the 5.0L is a fine engine, it's just not a muscle car power type of engine. It's more of a road racer type of engine.

When I drove a 4.6 3 Valve 2010 Scab 4WD truck, it felt a lot like the 2011 5.0L 4WD Screw. Same type of throttle response and take off. The difference was where the 4.6L 3 Valve powered leveled off, the 5.0L kept going up in power output.

IMO, I think they just need to retune the 5.0L for a better lower end torque output, and a flatter torque curve. Of course this would be at the expense of Horsepower output. I think to acheive this they would only have to drop HP down to about 335 and maybe torque down 365 lbs, which is still better than the 5.4L HP output. You would probably still have better mpg over the 5.4L as well.

My feeling is that Ford matched the numbers of the Chevy 6.0L with that 5.0L, down to the rpm. My belief is that this type of tuning was done for marketing and competition more than useability.

 

Mike Up, that's a pretty good comparison. I agree about the 5.0 lack of low end lbs. Almost every test drive I've seen or read about was talking about how great the 5.0 was "off the line" with full pedal. Who the hell cares about drag racing them? Well, we all care about that at least a little I guess, but I would like to read more comparisons using real everyday driving techniques.

 

If I was in the market for a new truck, I would take a chance and get the 3.5L EB over the others.

Fuel wise, it's the cheapest way to own a truck that has torque and power.

But you are testing a new engine for Ford. That is a downside to consider.

IMHO the 5.4L gets the job done but feels powerless at the same time.

XLT with the 3.5 EB is a wonderful combination, at a pretty good price.

 

I've owned a 2005 Titan Crew Cab and I have driven a few 2005 and 2007 Ford F150 4x4's with the 3.73 rearend, 5.4 3V engine with the 4 speed transmission and the Titan walks all over the F150 in daily driving and towing. I haven't driven the same 5.4 3V with a 6 speed transmission but I can't see an extreme difference in driveability. I have always loved Ford's and I bought a Titan because a similar F150 was $5K more with less options than the Nissan.

My 2wd 5.0 SCab with 3.55 gears is impressive. No, It isn't a big block 460 in a F350 with 3.73 gears but it is a very nice powertrain combination.

I test drove a fully optioned EB Crew Cab FX4 with 3.73 gears. It was a very nice truck but I will say once again that it was a little heavy for the EB powertrain combination. It felt average off the line at WOT and it passed no better on the highway than my '07.5, 4.6L 2V SCab after 3" cat back and Superchips 87 or 91 tune.

Everyone needs to remember that impressions vary per driver and each vehicle is different. They are man made products and no two are alike in driveability, performance or quality.

My 2001 F150 SCab, XLT, 5.4L, tow pkg. and 3.55LS would tow my '68 Ranchero with ease. In a trip from TX to MS it ran down the road at 60 mph in "D" and still averaged 11 mpg's and I had no issues with lack of power. If I need to tow my Ranchero with my 2011 5.0L I see it handling the same, if not better.

Anyone looking for a new truck should test drive all the body/powertrain combinations to see which one fits your needs and enjoy the one you end up with. Be thankful your driving a new Ford and not something else.

 

I bought the 2004 Titan for the same reason, everything else was so expensive, even with supplier discounters. I was looking a Dodge Ram as my dealer sold both Dodge and Nissan. I was trading in a Nissan Xterra that I loved and up to that point the Xterra was the funnest, more reliable vehicle that I've ever owned. It was just to small to hold all of my camping gear when I did tent camp. I liked to tent camp with a lot of luxury comfort. I'm more reasonable now. The Dodge was just to expensive for me when the salesman told me he could give me my supplier discount rate of 1% under invoice on a left over Nissan Titan they had on the lot. It was a lower end model with less features so it didn't sell as good as the fully optioned models. It didn't have the Tow package that I didn't need at the time, but did have the Off Road package which had the 'better' axle gearing of 3.36:1 .

Anyhow I got the Titan and was disappointed from the first week. Nothing but mechanical, electrical, and build quality problems. JUNK is the most flattering description I can give that truck.

However it was quick and that was the only good thing about it was it's engine and trans. The brakes and differentials were all undersized and failed on many people's trucks as did mine.

It weighed a couple hundred pounds heavier than my 2008 Sport Trac 4WD. It had only a 6500 lbs GVWR also. So it was much lighter than any full size truck around. For instance, they now offer a Crew Cab, 5.5' bed 4WD truck with a 7200 lbs GVWR (as the Ford), with that GVWR is has 1900 lbs of payload where Ford specs it out at 1510 lbs. They beefed it up a bit since 2004 but still almost 400 lbs lighter.

The 2004 I had was 5242 lbs where my Ford is 5770 lbs. The Nissan was 528 lbs lighter. It pulled strong but had much taller gearing for 1st gear, which was 12.87:1 compared to my Fords much better 14.80:1 . Nissan's 1st gear is 3.83:1 where Fords is 4.17:1 and Nissans differential gearing (off road or tow package) 3.36:1 and Fords 3.55:1 . Also the Nissan's tires were 33" tall compared to the Fords 32" tall tires which makes the gearing difference even worse for Nissan.

While the power to weight ratio was in the Nissan's favor, it didn't have as much 'by the seat of your pants' power compared to my Ford. I used to have some fun in this truck after I got mileage racked up so I wouldn't do any damage to the drivetrain. It was rare, but I did enjoy it's power next to the Xterra's anemic 3.3L 170 Hp/ 200 lbs of torque V6. I remember running out of power a few times while passing on the interstate. I also know a few spots where I couldn't even bark the tires if I tried. Perhaps due to their 285 width and taller stance but the F150 just wants to roast the tires at every stop, I have a really hard time trying to tame it.

All I know is that this 5.4L Ford with it's trans seems faster and stronger when accelerating at any speed compared to the Titan. When I pass in this Ford at Highway speeds, I'm often overshooting excessively because I'm not use to the power output this truck offers.