This review will attempt to be a comprehensive review of the F150 as it relates to our recent 3,300 towing trip. It IS a glowing review and, as such, might be of most interest to those who are open to the Ford brand.

Truck: F150 FX4, Ecoboost, Max Tow, 3.73s
Trailer: Surveyor SV235RKS; approximately 5,500 pounds loaded

The Tow: Mostly 60 to 62 mph except for 2-lane 55 mph roads. 3,300 miles from St. Paul, MN to Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and back. Five “big towing” days of 8 hours. Four of those days were into nasty headwinds and crosswinds. One day with some assist from the wind. Significant and numerous grades in NW Arkansas. Lots of big “rollers” through Missouri and Iowa. Easy flat tows in Louisiana.

One Word Summary: Wow!
Five Word Summary: Set it and forget it

Much of forum F150 towing discussion recently has centered around the Ecoboost engine. While it is impressive in use, there is so much more to the F150 that I will try to give my impressions on additional aspects of the truck. Overall, what really is impressive, is how many aspects of the truck are so thoroughly thought out, programmed, and so well integrated. The F150 is a complete package. It really is a “set it and forget it” vehicle. Get to your cruising speed, set the speed control, and the truck does a marvelous job of managing itself with little to no intervention required. It will do anything a sane person asks of it. The only real consideration is speed; safety and fuel use repercussions. So, here we go . .

Ecoboost: Let’s get this out of the way. Tremendous torque curve. Most of the trip was in 6th at 1,600 RPM. It was amazing the hills it would take at this low RPM; staying in 6th with lockup. 5th was 2,000 RPM when needed. Saw 4th gear maybe 3 or 4 times. Overall fuel mileage for the trip was 11.5 mpg. A high of 12.2 and a low of 10.3. I was impressed given the wind we had to contend with; and the hills. IMO, the Ecoboost is about 10% more fuel efficient than my ’05 5.4L FX4; under the same conditions and “expectations” of performance; pulling the same trailer. This IS a powerful engine and, if you use that power, it will take fuel. The engine still has the factory oil in it; 6,700 miles on it; oil is still at the top of the “hatch marks” on the stick; estimate perhaps ½ pint of oil has been consumed at most.

6 Speed Select Shift: Nice; especially compared to my previous 4 speed. Tow/Haul worked nicely. Always torque converter lock in 5th and 6th. Seamless shifts. Descent/braking downshifting worked surprisingly well; rarely fooled. Trans temp managed nicely by the truck; always 195 to 197. 193 is normal for unloaded. Transmission programming is nicely attuned to the Ecoboost torque curve.

Cruise Control: Worked SO nicely with the 6 speed and the Ecoboost. Road speed rarely varied by more than 1 mph; even in the hills. It responded quickly to load; providing downshift appropriately when needed; didn’t over accelerate at the crest of the hill like my previous truck. Just stayed right where I set it. Nice. No driver shifting intervention required. My ’05 drove me crazy by waiting too long to downshift; losing speed, and then over-reacting; so I wound up driving it like a manu-matic. So, this was a lot less tiring. With this better programming, I was a lot happier when DW was the driver.

Suspension/Tires: This truck rides amazingly better than our ’05 did. A LOT less bouncing. I figure that this better ride is due to some combination of the following; the 2,000 payload vs previous 1,600; and the LT tires vs the previous P Metrics; less sidewall flex. There could be other factors of which I am unaware; but the ride was much smoother. Very nice on a long haul like we just did. A lot less tiring.

Integrated Brake Controller: Works very smoothly; a big difference from the Prodigy I used before. I anticipate in my driving so am a “light” user of brakes. I never felt the Prodigy, being inertial, gave me much braking assist from the trailer under light braking. The IBC did a much better job at this. No lockups, no jerking; nice trailer assist.

Electric Steering: Ford’s electric steering compensates for crown of the road, crosswind etc. It took a little getting used to. You know how the vehicle “moves around” a little in heavier crosswinds. But before I could put in a steering input, the truck took care of a lot of it itself. It honestly was a little unnerving for me at first. But after awhile, I realized how relaxing it was to drive and how little corrective steering input was required from me. I’ve grown to like it; but it is different. Makes for a very nice drive. A lot less tiring.

Sync System: There IS a learning curve. Once you get it, it is a marvelous system. I loaded ALL of my music on a 20Gig SanDisk in MP3 form. It would respond to verbal commands for artist etc. My iPhone was linked in by Bluetooth. Any calls were handled verbally. Love this technology.

Odds and Ends:

Loved the 36 gallon gas tank. Drove all the way from just North of Kansas City to St. Paul on one tank! (The tailwind day) No worries when fueling stations were few and far between. On shorter haul days, we could go 2 to 3 days without a fill; and there were more opportunities to fill when the trailer wasn’t attached.

The transmission would sometimes “hang” in 4th gear for awhile when accelerating from a stop; always after slowing and crawling through a town. After about a ½ mile, it would decide to use 5th and 6th again. An oddity that I saw on several occasions. Not sure why this happened but I could have done without it.

I miss the grab handle that they have omitted from the driver side front pillar. What’s up with that?

55mph limits resulted in 1,500 RPM in 6th; not a lot. So in combination with rollers, I would lock out 6th just to keep shifting to a minimum; or I would not use cruise and manipulate the throttle to hold 6th. The faster your towing speed, the better it held 6th.

While the tow/haul provided appropriate engine downshifting, the Ecoboost provides only modest amounts of compression braking. I’ll be taking extra note of this when we do our trip to the Rockies in July. I’m expecting to have to use more brake than I did with the 5.4. Not real happy about that idea.

The Ecoboost is very quiet under normal circumstances. But when pulling a trailer, it is working harder and you know it is a V-6 by the exhaust note. Not unpleasant; just doesn't sounds like a V-8.

IMO, the longer your trips, the lower percentage of your total towing capacity you are going to want to be using. We were at 50%. Very comfortable for a 3,300 mile trip; no struggles.

The Bottom Line: This truck requires very little of you other than to be observant of road conditions and other vehicles. It is a very relaxing, easy, and pleasurable drive. The truck takes care of itself and handles anthing you can sanely/safely throw at it. A lot less tiring!

I hope this was helpful or illuminating to someone!

 

Great review, but you need to read your owners manual and the paragraph about not using the cruise control while towing.

 

I don't care what the manual says - I see no problem using cruise when towing. I do all the time. It's only in there for safety reasons, and anyone with half a brain can disengage it instantly.

 

Great write up!!! Lets see some pics of your setup. I experienced the same as you while towing my Outback that is about 1800lbs heavier than yours. I set the cruise at 62mph and it never skipped a beat! On the steepest hills it never went above 2500rpm's in 4th gear to maintain speed. I just haven't hit 3,300 miles yet. Maybe by the end of this summer!

 

Great review! Glad it went well!

 

Nice review!

 

Well, I tried to attach a photo but the paper clip does nothing. What am I doing wrong?

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/qu...-pictures.html

 

Thanks GLC!