I love the power from my 5.0L. I have noticed that my STX respond's differently when I drive with a little more entusiasm than on day's I drive conservatively.

I got on the throttle in traffic the other day and it jumped and moved on down the road. I can only imagine what it's like to drive the new 5.0 'Stang GT.

 

Don't get me wrong, under anything other then very light (conservative) acceleration this new truck is GREAT. But with a conservative approach to driving, it's not as responsive as my 07 was. Maybe it's the difference between a factory tuned truck and my former Gryphon tuned truck. I do know Bill did some nice stuff with the tunes that really changed the characteristics of my 07.

 

Well when Gas hits the roof again this summer I bet well see more new tuner's out there geared for hyper-milers to address the light acceleration issues your talking about. To be honest I really didn't notice it at all when I test drove one a few weeks back it seemed very responsive but it doesn't mean it's not there.

 

^^ You used the term 'hyper-miler' in a truck thread.

Like the expectation that a tune will make any difference mileage-wise - it just ain't gonna happen.

What's really gonna happen is: due to tanking demand, rebates will skyrocket as these things begin to clog dealer lots, in the futile attempt to move what is no longer affordable or justifiable to operate, resale values will plummet, used lots will overflow with 6,000lb "instant dinosaurs" (or even be turned away), and Toyota will sell yet more Yaris, Echo and Corrolla models.

Just like last time. It's as if y'all simply forgot.

Folks are in denial concerning the vast chasm between 'want' and 'need'....

But don't y'all worry - yer Gubmint is, as we speak, working diligently to make owning these tanks socially irresponsible and repugnant - like public smoking. Enjoy while you can - the door is indeed closing.


MGD

 

I didn't forget about the last time fuel prices sky rocketed. I was driving a '05 Titan Crew Cab (12 city/17 hiway) and the wife was driving her 'Stang GT 5 speed (16 city/25 hiway). I guarantee the fuel quality has dropped since then and the addition of E10 gas hasn't helped 99% of the daily drivers on the road.

I have my '11 STX that is driven 42 miles per day, 5 days a week and the wife has her '11 Fusion that she drives 30 miles per day, 5 days a week and 70 miles or so on sunday, back and forth to church.

I recommend using a name brand gas (Shell, Chevron, Conoco) and keeping the tires serviced 2 psic above factory recommended spec and attempt to drive the posted speed limit as much as possible.

A tune or program will help with the performance and it may aid in a fuel mileage improvement but it isn't going to be drastic. My new 5.0 is already averaging better mileage than my '07.5 4.6L ever thought aboout with a SC Programmer, Cat Back and CAI.

Have a good weekend.

 

First tank through the truck.... 16.6 on computer and 16.5 by hand calculation....combination of city/hwy.....truck had 265 miles on it when I filled up.

 

I didn't buy my truck to be my "commuter" vehicle...I bought it in case I need a "TRUCK". The fact that it is pretty well optioned out is just gravy.

I plan on riding my new Triumph 1700 Thunderbird (and joining it a little later this fall a 2011 or 2012 Triumph Rocket III Tourer at 2300cc) for my leisure and commuter needs. Now if it is raining as I leave the house or is just too cold...my "macho" days are pretty much over...I"ll take the truck. I'm not too worried about gas prices and plan on keeping this truck for a looooong time especially if gas prices go higher so I am not too concerned about it's resale value.

I did make the comment in an earlier post on another thread that if (and that is a big IF) I pay this truck off in August (depends on how much I may have to "contribute" to the IRS this year) I may be open to trading my truck in on a blue or a red (same version) new 2012 F150 Lariat so that I can get my "preferred" color choice. But if fuel prices sky rocket and the aforementioned "drop" in value happens I like the silver version I have now well enough that I'll make myself happy with what I have.

Since when I left I was getting around 19 mpg that is better than what the older versions of the F150 were getting and I can easily live with that as well.

I didn't buy the truck as an "investment" vehicle.

Dennis

107 dtg Dubai
108 dtg Home for good!

 

Yup I did, and I probably deserve a good flogging for it! :o To clarify the statement I consider 20 mpg or better to be "hyper mileing" in a truck, my old one got around 12-13 the fact that I'm seeing 17's 18's and better with a V8 is pretty amazing when you compare it to that 1970's truck I grew up and learned to drive on. And the new ones are a heck of a lot nicer, FM stereos and everything!

Sad thing is my 02' Nissan Maxima is only getting around 18 MPG but has to have Premium Gas or it knocks itself apart. So I'm actually gonna pay less with my new F-150 than I am now gas wise. (Of course the tank is twice as big too so I will pay more, just have to top off less often.) Our other car is a hybrid SUV which i what we use most of the time it gets around 35-36 MPG when I drive, less when the wife does. As an IT consultant and Travel agents we work from home so commuting is not a big factor, having a truck is, and quite frankly the F series was the best on paper and the best test drives period. Mileage had little to do with the decision but from what I've seen it's better in the F150's than the competition.

The tuning really was more of responsiveness and feel when driving gently, not gas mileage per se. You can tune the truck to perform better based on your particular driving habits, which if they are more efficient may result in better mileage. Key word is may, but there are a lot of gadgets and gizmos out there that claim they will help improve mileage or give you better info to drive smarter, I have yet to see one actually work. A light foot, Driving slower, and thinking ahead to prevent sudden stops/starts etc do make a bigger difference. (Which is in the instructions with most of the darned things anyways, save your money and just drive more efficiently and you'll get the same or better results.)

Personally I'm not a big fan of the over-inflation of the tires. If you crown the tires yes there's less touching the pavement and you get marginal improvements in gas mileage, you also wear out the tires faster and have less contact with the road surface which results in less traction and braking ability. Now 1-2 PSI won't cause this and since the recommended PSI is usually a bit conservative MGD is probably right on the money with the recommendation, just don't over do it or it will probably cost a lot more in the long run on tire wear or worse accident repairs.

Bottom line though, The numbers I'm seeing are still impressive - once the trucks are all broken in and all I bet we will see averages approaching or exceeding 20 which is fantastic for a full sized truck.

 

For the OP who asked about 5.0 fuel mileage.

My 2011 Screw 4x4 with 3.55 gears now has only 1500 miles on it. I do not drive conservative at all. I made a trip from Dalton, GA to Athen, Ga Friday to watch a game at UGA... I ran 75 to 86mph most of the way... got stuck in Atlanta ruch hour traffic for 45 minutes... stop and go... stop and go...

Drove like a maniac once I got out of the traffic... 85+...

One the way back I set the cruise control at 80mph.... this was about an 300 mile round trip. I averaged 16.8... at times it was above 17.2... I think I may have been driving into a headwid on the way back.

Yesterday I drove to Atlanta and back... 200 miles round trip.... averaged 16.7.... this was also running 80 to 85mph....

Both trips had 4 ppl in the cab and some gear in the back.... maybe 200lbs.

I drove my Tacoma the same way... it would average 16.4 to 17.2 on the same trips.

YMMV...

Greg

 

^^^^^^^^^

Everytime I drive my tacoma like that, I average low 13's.

 

I've set my tire pressure 2 psi higher than recommended spec on all my vehicles since 1983 with ZERO issues. I rotate my tires at every oil service.

The cheap Goodyear Wrangler SRA's on my '05 Nissan Titan wore out at 23,000 miles. I took it in for an alignment concern at 12,000 miles. Of course nothing was found to be out of spec's. I replaced the tires with Firestone Destination LE's and had an alignment performed. At 40,000 + miles I traded for my '07.5 STX. The Firestone's showed no sign's of wear.

 

I have the ecoboost, and my gauge reads 15.8, but with it being so new (180 miles) it should break in right? SO far not impressed, power is great though

 

It should get better after a couple thousand miles

 

Like I said your probably dead on in terms of the sweet spot, 1-2 is nothing to worry about.

What makes me nervous is the threads I read on other sites where they go 10-15 psi or more over in the theory that by minimizing the amount of tire in contact with he road they will gain significant mileage with no side effects. Those kinds of numbers are crazy, yours are not.

 

Yeh, the Titan sucked for mileage. Mixed driving I got 11.2 mpg in the winter and 13.2 mpg in the summer. Summer driving, I got about 11.5 - 12 mpg in the city and whopping 16 mpg expressway driving. I think it may had hit 17 mpg once, but it likely was a glitch.

New F150 is a tree hugger delight next to the thirsty Titan. I had the same Titan configuration as the F150 but the Titan had the Off Road package and the 3.36:1 gearing (still taller than the F150 with 3.55:1 gearing).

Because of the Titan, I was worried about gas mileage with the FX4 along with it's lower payload so I went with the XLT. I like the XLT look better 'without the Chrome package". Chrome package is a bit to much bling bling for me. I see way to much of that around Gary and Chicago.