F150 VS F250
- Thread starter cbking
- Start date
plainjaneFJC
Deplorable
I have owned a few 2500hd's with the 6.0, and one of my current fleet trucks is a 2006 f-250 with the 5.4. IMO the Chevy is twice the truck of the Ford. Having owned both side by side, in the low trim models, the chevy is much nicer. I only bought the Ford because I got a killer deal on it.
plainjaneFJC
Deplorable
My 5.4 ford is a 2wd, and gets around 11mpg with a utility bed and pipe rack on it.
how do the chevy's do gas wise?
Clutch
<---Pass
Thanks, I see the 5.4 come up for sale from time to time cheap...always wondered what they pulled for mpg.
AFBronco235
Crew Chief
Although my ford experience is mainly from 1980-1997, I say you should go with the F250 simply because you'll want the bigger size eventually. If you're wanting to save money, consider an OBS (Old Body Style) ford made between 1980-1997. They're cheaper to maintain, have a proven track record and are easy to fix and upgrade. They're basically a lego truck. You can mix and match parts to get exactly what you want. An older style F250 longbed would be perfect for what you want. Even stock, it will handle everything you've listed and then some. Engine options are good too. Everything from a 302 small block to a 460 big block. The older vehicles tend to be easier to work on as well. Fewer electronics that can go wrong. If you need more gadgetry, you can always add it yourself later.
plainjaneFJC
Deplorable
My plumbers fuel up with a fleet fuel card so I get monthly reports. The 5.4 has been a bit disappointing for mileage IMO.
plainjaneFJC
Deplorable
Not any better than the 5.4 ford, but its twice the motor. LS motor is an excellent design, they will last 250k with decent maintenance.
I had an 06 crew cab f150 with a 5.4 that avg 14.7 mpg driving mostly in town and some highway. Didn't do much towing with this truck besides a few cars on a car trailer since I also have an older dodge diesel I tow with. My dad wanted me to borrow his 09 crew cab f150 last summer for our road trip from western Washington to South Dakota since they were thinking of buying a trailer to tow around with and he wanted my opinion. I will say that I usually tow with my 96 dodge diesel and I average 12-13mpg towing my 26 foot toy hauler. So my opinion on an 09 f150 crew cab with a 5.4 goes like this:
Unloaded- The truck drives great, nice a comfortable ride, decent fuel economy (about 14.5 in town and 16.5-17 on highway,) all around great truck. His truck is absolutely fully loaded so it was great compared to my dodge.
Towing- If all you had to do was tow something on flat ground and more aerodynamic then my box of a tow hauler it may do OK. By the time I got from Tacoma to eastern Washington I was ready to pull into Dave Smith on my way through and buy a diesel and leave his truck there. My wife convinced me not to though and by the time we got home 2 weeks later I think she regretted it. I averaged between 5.5 up to 6.5 mpg if I was lucky. On flat ground it towed good, had the power to pull and was stable. Once you got into any incline forget it. Smaller hills were manageable if I could time it to not lose too much speed before I got close to the top. Mountain passes flat sucked. I tried every combination of gears and towing options his truck had but nothing was good for passes or long inclines. Once it started losing momentum it slowed down so fast. Once the truck slowed down enough it would then kick down and rev to all hell and you would think the motor would blow if you kept it there so then you take your foot off and you slow down even more. Very, very slow was the only way over a mountain without thinking you would destroy the engine on the truck and I saw mpg numbers on the truck computer dip below 3.5 mpg on a lot of the trip, the flats and declines were the only saving grace to get what I even got on average.
I know my trailer isn't what you have in mind for towing so a smaller horse trailer or even a smaller Airstream type will do better due to aerodynamics. This was just my experience with this type of a towing situation and I was not impressed at all. If I was to buy an f150 for towing a lot of heavy loads I would probably be buying a supercharger, intake, exhaust, programmer and regearing the truck.
Unloaded- The truck drives great, nice a comfortable ride, decent fuel economy (about 14.5 in town and 16.5-17 on highway,) all around great truck. His truck is absolutely fully loaded so it was great compared to my dodge.
Towing- If all you had to do was tow something on flat ground and more aerodynamic then my box of a tow hauler it may do OK. By the time I got from Tacoma to eastern Washington I was ready to pull into Dave Smith on my way through and buy a diesel and leave his truck there. My wife convinced me not to though and by the time we got home 2 weeks later I think she regretted it. I averaged between 5.5 up to 6.5 mpg if I was lucky. On flat ground it towed good, had the power to pull and was stable. Once you got into any incline forget it. Smaller hills were manageable if I could time it to not lose too much speed before I got close to the top. Mountain passes flat sucked. I tried every combination of gears and towing options his truck had but nothing was good for passes or long inclines. Once it started losing momentum it slowed down so fast. Once the truck slowed down enough it would then kick down and rev to all hell and you would think the motor would blow if you kept it there so then you take your foot off and you slow down even more. Very, very slow was the only way over a mountain without thinking you would destroy the engine on the truck and I saw mpg numbers on the truck computer dip below 3.5 mpg on a lot of the trip, the flats and declines were the only saving grace to get what I even got on average.
I know my trailer isn't what you have in mind for towing so a smaller horse trailer or even a smaller Airstream type will do better due to aerodynamics. This was just my experience with this type of a towing situation and I was not impressed at all. If I was to buy an f150 for towing a lot of heavy loads I would probably be buying a supercharger, intake, exhaust, programmer and regearing the truck.
Mountainhound
Explorer
Owned a 01 f150 with the 7700# package and the 5.4 motor can honestly saw was not impressed with the truck at all had a driveline vib at 40 mph that drove me nuts. got around 17-18 mpg. Went from that to an 04 f350 with the 6.0l diesel got about the same mpg's absolutly loved that truck push pull tow hual anything asked of it. I know many dis-like or had problems with the 6.0 mine was great 132,000 miles then she burnt in my yard because of bad plow solenoid, would still own if didn't burn. Now I own a 11 f250 with the 6.7 again I get about the same mpg's but the power is wow in this thing. Oh when I went from the 150 to the 350 there was no way in hell I was going to put that 5.4 in a 350 after having in 150.
FordGuy1
Adventurer
We see Ford's 5.4l go 300k all the time. I think the real difference between the LS and the Ford is with the Ford you need to religiously change your oil with good oil, the LS takes a lot of abuse with lack of maintenance.