F-150 Ecoboost a no-show for Recreational Vehicle hauling

[xr7g428]

If you are serious about hauling a trailer and you live in Arizona, you will go with an F250 diesel or the Ram equivalent. There are four big factors: heat, elevation, speed, and distance. If you are going to do 75 mph for over 300 miles in temperatures of up to 120 degrees and climb to over 7500' in elevation, nothing gets the job done better than the F250 diesel. With the old 5.4 pulling a heavy trailer at 75 mph at high elevation gas mileage drops to less than 10 MPG even if it is not hot outside. Range with 30 gallons of gas starts to become an issue in some areas of the west. Going up hill, the torque of the diesel is unbeatable, and going down hill you really like the frame stiffness of the bigger truck. No one here trys to do any kind of serious hauling with a Toyota.

[Hemiman]

I think 99% of all Raptors are sold in AZ. They're EVERWHERE. Nice truck, would love one for myself. Just can't fork over that kind of coin right now.

[timmm55]

 

When I was kid in New Jersey - my neighbor had a 1970 Ford Pickup "Camper Special" with a huge in bed camper. I used to stare at that thing and dream of driving around the country.

That would be fun at some of the cars shows like Fabulous Fords, drive up in your camper, all good to go...in a classic way!

[timmm55]

I think 99% of all Raptors are sold in AZ. They're EVERWHERE. Nice truck, would love one for myself. Just can't fork over that kind of coin right now.

I've seen quite a few in SoCal: San Diego, Palm Springs desert area and LA. I saw one Raptor that was Highway Patrol or Border Patrol.

[wildosvt]

One of our old neighbors, An Old chap. Bought a 2011 F150 supercrew with 3.5L ecoboost. It replaced a F250. He used to to haul his 30foot camper all around the country. Never had a hiccup and he loved it. More comfortable than the 250 and handled the load with no problem. For his driving style the MPG was better to boot.

[TomServo92]

Go hang out in RV forums. There are plenty of guys talking about towing their RV's with an F150 Ecoboost.

[fordmantpw]

One of our old neighbors, An Old chap. Bought a 2011 F150 supercrew with 3.5L ecoboost. It replaced a F250. He used to to haul his 30foot camper all around the country. Never had a hiccup and he loved it. More comfortable than the 250 and handled the load with no problem. For his driving style the MPG was better to boot.

 

I've considered replacing my F250 with an F150 for my next vehicle. My fifth wheel is about 9k +/- loaded, so I technically don't NEED the F250. I just feel that I would be more comfortable towing that 32' long, 12' tall trailer behind a slightly larger, heavier truck. If the next F250 comes with IFS and an EcoBoost, then I'm pretty sure I will stick with the F250.

[J-150]

 

I know Ford sells a lot of trucks - my neighborhood is full of them. I am suggesting that by observation they might have not won over the RV towing market yet with the Ecoboost. And they might not even care - but I thought it could be an interesting discussion.

 

 

Maybe they haven't won over the RV crowd. But they certainly won over the construction crowd. Where trucks are worked much harder, more often.

 

More importantly, construction companies buy more trucks than RV owners.

[Hemiman]

I've seen quite a few in SoCal: San Diego, Palm Springs desert area and LA. I saw one Raptor that was Highway Patrol or Border Patrol.

Yes it's the Border Patrol. I saw about 20 of them in a Border Patrol motor pool on Route 8 when I was working in So-Cal.

[theoldwizard]

My guess is that most of the rigs were average to above average in size, so this is not too surprising. Ram and possibly Tundra cost less. Also, I;ll bet that most of those tow vehicles are more than a couple of years old.

 

Besides, most EcoBoost owners know that towing fuel economy is "nothing to write home about".

[fordmantpw]

My guess is that most of the rigs were average to above average in size, so this is not too surprising. Ram and possibly Tundra cost less. Also, I;ll bet that most of those tow vehicles are more than a couple of years old.

 

Besides, most EcoBoost owners know that towing fuel economy is "nothing to write home about".

 

Towing fuel economy with my diesel is "nothing to write home about" either.

[Extreme4x4]

Payson (where I live, in AZ) is a camping destination area, and a go through town for a huge volume of campers / RVers.

 

I see a huge amount of Ecoboost F150's towing trailers of all size and shape, go through town. I do see a fair number of Tundras also. The least common 1/2 ton to see towing RV's is the GM twins. Diesel 3/4 to 1 tons is dominated by the SD, followed by the Dodge, and then the GM twins.

 

Raptors are everywhere. Most of them are filthy, with desert pinstriping. Alot are sold here, and they are not just driveway trucks.

 

Anecdotal evidence is very much influenced by when you are checking. For me, my observations come over the course of years, as our town is small, and the majority of the folks heading to the mid to eastern portions of the high country will come through here.

[Kris Kolman]

We tent camp and as such aren't ready to jump up a large rig... Are looking at smaller rigs (i.e. pop-ups), but are new to this and enjoying "roughing it"...

 

My memory after weekend camping three weeks ago at a state park/reservoir near Steamboat Springs, followed by a 10 day road trip out to Los Angeles and back. I'd say 60% of all of the towing rigs are 3/4-ton or larger trucks, mostly Fords and Dodges with a few Chevys mixed in. Of the remaining they were split between 1/2-ton trucks and a mix of SUVs. Not a real SUV trend other than it was rare for a FWD-based CUV towing anything other than a pop-up sized rig. GM BOF SUVs ruled for sure, but a good many Fords, Toyotas, and Jeeps... Of the 1/2-ton trucks I'd say GM has the majority market share, but Ford was just behind with Dodge and Toyota being a rare sight. Can't comment about the number of Ecoboosts (didn't pay attention), but I know from a couple of friends that it is a popular boating tow platform.

[Hydro]

With the flatbill SoCal dirtbike crowd and sand duners It's mostly SD and GM with the 5th wheel toy haulers. Toyota recently (judging by paper plates) seems to be the more popular 1/2 ton choice then followed by GM . Toyota sponsors all AMA supercross events, so that may have some bearing?? Then again, in ToyotaFornia it's not uncommon to see the imports everywhere. F-150's are mostly company work trucks down here near the port of Long Beach. Personal vehicle 1/2 tons seem to be GM and toyota tundras.

Edited June 27, 2014 by Hydro

[pictor]

far from scientific but I mostly see F series, (lots of sd's), Rams and Chevy's in my travels across the northeast, Toyota's not so much,and Nissan's rarely

[joihan777]

After a financial difficulty, our plans to replace our aging Toyota Sienna was postponed 1-2 years.

However, for our suburban California locale, in a climate that gets pretty hot in summertime yet next to the Sierras;

we figure a 4WD V6 Explorer will be our next family hauler.

We also hope to purchase a pop-up <2500 lbs. to tow... an F-150, Ecoboost or not, is too big for our garage.

Edited June 29, 2014 by joihan777

[theoldwizard]

 

Towing fuel economy with my diesel is "nothing to write home about" either.

Sadly, diesel fuel economy is a thing of the past !

[fordmantpw]

As promised, here is an update on what we saw on our first camping trip of the season.

 

In the campground, there were 3 EcoBoost F150's towing trailers. That was the same as the rest of the half ton trucks combined! There was 1 Tundra, 1 Ram 1500, and 1 GM half ton. There were 2 or 3 other F150s as well.

There was one Silverado dually, a couple Ram 2500's, and 6-7 Super Duties (counting mine). There were quite a few class A diesel pushers as well.

There were a mixture of SUVs, but the bulk was the GM Tahoe/Yukon twins. I don't recall a single Expedition towing a trailer.

 

There's my anecdotal evidence for the discussion!