There is no doubt Ford builds a good truck. Sales figures don’t lie, and according to the sales figures the F150 is the king of the truck world. So some time back when Ford decided it would put it’s ecoboost engine into the F150 it drew some criticism even though the ecoboost is a highly touted engine. In case you haven’t heard the ecoboost engine is a 3.5L V6 with twin turbos making 365hp and a whopping 420 torque. While Ford advertises the ecoboost engine as “the power of a V8 with the economy of a V6” the fact is if all out fuel economy is your need then you should stick with the naturally aspirated 3.7L V6 which outdoes the ecoboost by a couple Mpgs. Although if you are truly worried about fuel economy you shouldn’t be buying a truck. So how does Ford’s ecoboost F150 stack up? Hit the jump for a full review.
At first glance the ecoboost F150 looks like any other F150 on the road. Our tester came equip with the 4×4 package and a big shiny chrome grill, bumper, side skirts, and mirrors for towing a trailer. There are only two things that set the ecoboost F150 off from the rest of the F150 family and that is the ecoboost badging and the intercooler tucked up under the lower front opening. You’ll pay dearly for the ecoboost, our testers base price of 43k is hardly something to laugh at and the as tested price of over 48k will take a bite of your wallet for sure. So is the ecoboost worth the extra money over the standard V6?
Keeping in mind the basic truck is the same as all F150s, nicely appointed, comfortable, easy to drive, and a nice ride for a big pick up we will focus on the engine. The ecoboost is silky smooth, quite, and very torquey. You can really feel the 420ft-lbs of torque that peak at 2500 RPMs. You don’t really notice the turbos until about 2000 RPMs when they come on strong if you bury your foot. There in lies the beauty of turbo charged engines. fuel sipping savings at light throttle, and gobs of torque when you need it.
That’s the ecoboost F150. Dare I say it’s fun to drive. Just bury your foot in the carpet and let the turbos do their work. The truck thrusts to life managing a 0-60 in a very respectable 6.1 seconds and the quartermile in 14.6. That’s impressive for a full sized truck. Of course trucks aren’t about 0-60 times they are about getting work done and I think the ecoboost is more then up to the job of light towing and hauling. Of course if you are going to do some serious moving you will still want to opt for the V8 or the diesel but the ecoboost should be more then enough for light jobs.
Now to the big question, is the ecoboost engine worth the extra money over the base model V6? Well I’ve debated it all day and I reserve the right to change my answer later but for now I say yes. It’s a fantastic engine choice for a truck that you need to do a little work but still need to behave civilized as well.