Looking to buy a new truck

Well hello gents and gals, I am looking to my friends at mac forums to see if anyone has been in the truck buying market as of late to give me some insight. I have had my current truck for around 6 years and its time to trade the ole girl it. I currently have a Dodge 2500 cummins. altho i have loved this truck she has over 95000 miles and starting to have some issues. the most recent is the injecters all need to be changed which is about a 3600 dollar bill i dont want. what i have been looking at is f-150 fords. i know there will be all kinds of people who love fords and hate them but i really am set on a f-150
but here is my question to all that might know more than i or have one of these fine specimans. i am torn between the 5.0 and the 3.5 ecoboost. i am going to be towing a camper a few times a year but no more than 40 miles or so. is the price jump of 1500 or so really worth getting the eco boost for the towing capabilities in my situation? I am looking at getting a brown platinum with all the goodies but the price tag goes from about 51,000 to around 54,000 with the eco boost. even though the motor is only 1500 more there are options that come with the eco boost that dont come with the 5.0 stantard. like the suspention is a little beefier with the eco boost and the tow package is a little better with the eco. i have a deal working right now with a 5.0 which is pretty good they are going to give it to me 900 over invoice plus 3750 in incentives and 18000 for my trade then with my 7500 down the total will be about 18750 for the 5.0 the eco boost i would loose 1000 of the 5.0 incentive and the cost would be about 3750 greater than the 5.0 with the towing package equalling 23500 total for the eco. just looking for a little banter to see what others think.

Hi! We know a bunch of people with a few different trucks(mostly f150/RAM/Tundra/Silverado). I help help around a bit in a landscaping company, and get to drive them with lots of weight in the bed and trailer. The F150 is always the one that surprises me in terms of how it handles when hauling! I like the interior of the RAM, but my dad's friend has one with less than 10k miles, and he already can't wait to turn it in after the lease is over. We go fishing with my dad and some of his friends from work a lot, and we got introduced to his friends new 2011 F150 FX4 EcoBoost. He has had trucks all of his life, and used it to haul average trailer sizes for quarter ton trucks. He's got that, and we have a base 5.0(XLT crew cab 6&1/2 bed) at work. When you're fishing all day and all night long, you're bound to find yourself comparing cars You will notice better hauling abilities when at elevation with the EcoBoost than the 5.0, as well as a quicker buildup of torque from stops. This is what made me instantly like EcoBoost F150.

The EcoBoost give you all the 420 foot pounds of torque at just 2500 rpm, as apposed to the 5.0's 380 foot pounds of torque at 4250 rpm. That will be GREATLY noticeable when towing or hauling heavy payloads.

The only thing I can say that makes me favor the 5.0 is that I've always been a fan of the 5.0s, and the sound your F150 could make. However, for everything else, the 3.5 EcoBoost dominates it.

If $ difference isn't a problem for you, that's what I would go with.

Here are some testing of the F150 EcoBoost. Watch them in order:
1- Dyno Stress: Dyno v. Engine for 150,000 Miles. - YouTube
2- Ford F-150 EcoBoost Torture Test Episode 2: Hauling Timber - YouTube
3- Ford F-150 EcoBoost Torture Test Episode 3: 24 Hours of NASCAR Track Testing - YouTube
4- Ford F-150 EcoBoost Torture Test Episode 4: Head to Head - YouTube
5- Ford F-150 EcoBoost Torture Test Episode 5: Baja - YouTube
6- Ford F-150 EcoBoost Torture Test Episode 6: Teardown - YouTube

Enjoy

Don't forget to add in the cost of the gas milage over the life of the truck. I think the ecoboost gets noticeably better mpg than the v8. If you plan on keeping it for another 100k like your RAM, that difference in mileage can add up quick.

ended up buying a f-150 with the 5.0 after talking with many people seems the eco boost while a good motor get terrible mileage when towing. i love my new truck..


thanks for the insight

Very nice! I think you made the right choice.

The EcoBoost, while an interesting motor, is also several orders of magnitude more complex, given its twin turbos. You can expect that with complexity, comes less reliability. And I personally wouldn't want to have to changes those turbos out.

The 5.0L on the other hand has been widely regarded as a well-built, modern V8. Given Ford's track record in recent years, I think you'll do well with it. Now, let's hope you don't have a "Powered by Microsoft" plaque on your dash for the "MyFord Touch" system

Congratulations on your new Truck! When are you upgrading the exhaust? The 5.0 sounds awesome with a Borla or Magnaflow setup. Also, that's my favorite interior color combo on the F150!

Thanks Fellas!! i don't know if i am going to do anything to the truck to tell you the truth. i love it how it is. the color scheme on the inside is actually partially what sold the truck to me. i love the golden bronze on the outside as well.

caw i have the sony in dash nav and it does have sync. however i don't have the myford touch system.

the one thing that bums me the most about this truck is actually the ford sync. it really stinks with and iphone. i mean really you have to do through 3 or 4 "windows" just to make a call. ugh

a couple more pics

Awesome looking truck.

Clicked on a Mac forum and found truck information.

CanuckBoater said:

Awesome looking truck.

Clicked on a Mac forum and found truck information.

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Hey, we're a multifaceted community! Particularly here in Schweb's Lounge.

ugh ford sync with iphone stinks. also they give you a usb port and a hdd but the only way to transfer music is by cd. sheesh. i am going to have to get cdrw and transfer music from my itunes.. also if you only use bt you dont see all the information from whats playing you have to be plugged in via usb. love this truck but ford sync hegads.

RustProofCorn said:

ugh ford sync with iphone stinks. also they give you a usb port and a hdd but the only way to transfer music is by cd. sheesh. i am going to have to get cdrw and transfer music from my itunes.. also if you only use bt you dont see all the information from whats playing you have to be plugged in via usb. love this truck but ford sync hegads.

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You may want to check with the dealer to see if there's any available firmware updates. I've heard that there's been several since it was released. Perhaps there's been one since the truck left the assembly line.

cwa107 said:

You may want to check with the dealer to see if there's any available firmware updates. I've heard that there's been several since it was released. Perhaps there's been one since the truck left the assembly line.

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So i figured out what i can and cant do with the whole iphone and sync deal. seems either apple has limited the compatibility or sync has but either way basicly i can only make calls and get a couple apps to work. (MOG is the best app with iphone and sync) i had a week moment and actually had a new adroid phone in my cart on att.com just so i can get the other features to work i.e. so sync will read my text and i can voice text. but that went away with the wayside i love my iphone to much. honestly i can text while driving with my legs with the best of them. haha j/k i can wait to text untill i am through driving. i bought a 54,000 dollar truck and honestly i can do with out that over my iphone 4 white 32gb.

Nice looking truck.

Razormac said:

Nice looking truck.

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Thank you sir!!!

RustProofCorn said:

So i figured out what i can and cant do with the whole iphone and sync deal. seems either apple has limited the compatibility or sync has but either way basicly i can only make calls and get a couple apps to work. (MOG is the best app with iphone and sync) i had a week moment and actually had a new adroid phone in my cart on att.com just so i can get the other features to work i.e. so sync will read my text and i can voice text. but that went away with the wayside i love my iphone to much. honestly i can text while driving with my legs with the best of them. haha j/k i can wait to text untill i am through driving. i bought a 54,000 dollar truck and honestly i can do with out that over my iphone 4 white 32gb.

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Wow, $54K - is that the going rate these days, or did you just get a model that has all the options boxes ticked?

cwa107 said:

Wow, $54K - is that the going rate these days, or did you just get a model that has all the options boxes ticked?

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its the platinum. has most everything on it. however i didnt pay that of coarse. talked them down to 43k plus 18k with trade and 5k down

RustProofCorn said:

ugh ford sync with iphone stinks. also they give you a usb port and a hdd but the only way to transfer music is by cd. sheesh. i am going to have to get cdrw and transfer music from my itunes.. also if you only use bt you dont see all the information from whats playing you have to be plugged in via usb. love this truck but ford sync hegads.

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I agree. The Synch system in my truck stayed for three days. I replaced it with an Alpine radio and aftermarket speakers. If you think Synch is bad with an iPhone try it with an iPod Classic. Every time I turned off the truck the Synch system forgot where the iPod was playing and I had to scroll through six menus to get back. I doubt this is an Apple problem, as Microsoft developed the Synch system for Ford. The user interface is terrible.

Mine is a 2011 F150 XLT with EcoBoost. I love that EcoBoost; get 24 mpg highway and the torque is wonderful. I'll find out about the towing mileage in October when I pull my best friend's Airstream to Albuquerque.

RustProofCorn said:

its the platinum. has most everything on it. however i didnt pay that of coarse. talked them down to 43k plus 18k with trade and 5k down

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Well, that seems more down to earth.

I'm looking at one of those Ford Edges for my next vehicle, but outfitted as I want it, it's closing in on $40K, which I can't bring myself to spend. I suppose Ford has a little more padding built into their prices than what I'm accustomed to (I usually buy Honda, but they don't have anything I like this time around).

You could have gotten an awesome f-250 at that price!