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More on Ford and EcoBoost
If you go for a Ford F-150 with EcoBoost, you should see
about 22 mpg highway and get the same power as with a V8 engine. Of course, a
V6 in a truck just isn’t as exciting even if it DOES put out the same power.
There’s one place where you’ll always find an 8-cylinder in the F-150: the SVT
Raptor.
The SVT Raptor has more power than the EcoBoost engines by a fair amount. This means an increase in towing capacity and also overall payload. Ford developed the SelectShift transmission to work great in the Raptor on and off road. For those drivers off road that need precise gears, Ford added a way to dial in the gear using special buttons at the shift lever. Unfortunately, I got some info from a diesel mechanic friend of mine and it sounds like a diesel engine Raptor is probably a long way away.
Now the Raptor isn’t a completely unique vehicle. Much of the Raptor is based on standard F-150 technology from the same assembly plants around the country. The appearance is much more aggressive to match the powerful engine and advanced transmission. The Raptor is also more than 6 inches wider than a regular F-150. This is because of Ford’s custom long travel independent front suspension and the larger, wider off road tires.
Don’t just trust me though. You can find Ford dealerships on the web and also get reviews and recommendations from people you know in the community. You’ll be hard pressed to find someone who isn’t happy with their Ford F-150. After you do your research, you’ll be ready to get behind the wheel of your very own Raptor.
In case you need more convincing, Ford has continually improved their design over the years. There were some major improvements in 2005. There were five different lines and within those you still had a number of trim choices, cab options, and bed lengths. The King Ranch edition was brand new in 2005 and was really an ultimate in comfort and capability.
More major improvements were done in 2009. Ford took a ground-up approach to re-doing the Ford F-150. This resulted in a number of features not commonly found in the truck segment, including great new exterior looks and a large luxury interior. There were even more trim and cab choices added in 2009, including a Platinum option that surpasses the King Ranch of 2005. Rest assured that the Raptor is built on all of these advances. And it has the benefit of still coming with a nice large displacement V8 engine!
V8s Dying a Slow Death
I read the other day that this is the first year that V6 sales will outpace V8 sales in the US. As a truck lover, that makes me sad. I mean, I can't blame people. Gas prices certainly aren't going down. Truck sales overall are down...Ford has only sold like 80% of the F-150s this year as the past few years. That alone was probably enough to tip the scales in the favor of V6s.
Plus, Ford is pushing their EcoBoost now, so in theory even in the F-150s the V6 engines are more popular, albeit the turbocharged variants.
What Ford needs to do is get more serious about diesel engines. They've been pretty good about the big towing diesels...but why not introduce a smaller diesel engine that has output comparable to their regular V8 but with way better fuel economy? Seems like a no-brainer to me...and it seems much smarter than going the gasoline turbocharging route.
But hey, what do I know!