You can bet that somewhere, someone is sitting on a bar stool or in a construction site debating the life long question, what is better, Ford, Chevy or Ram. For the most part a Chevy man stays a Chevy man, a Ford man stays a Ford Man and a Ram man stays a Ram man. Well we don’t claim this lifelong question is finally answered, but we do claim that you need to open your eyes and your ears to the new Ford Ecoboost. As I sit here and write this article, I can see my 2003 GMC Sierra sitting in the dirt parking lot looking nice and dirty. I have always been a Chevy fan, no questions asked. When I bought a truck in the past, I always just went to Chevy and picked out a truck without ever testing a Ford or Ram, why would I need to. My GMC has 90,000 miles, never had one problem, except the CD player. I don’t really need to do any maintenance to the truck until 100,000. So all and all the truck has been great.
The other day we visited a jobsite and one of the contractors was talking to us about the new Ford Ecoboost. At first I really didn’t want to hear about it. Then my natural instinct was to cut the Ford down and talk up GMC. He started telling me about this 3.5L V6 and I immediately cut him and started laughing. After all what can a V6 really do except pull around some groceries. After he let me have my moment, he started rattling off some figures of this V6. Now I had him right where I wanted him. He started telling me about that the Ecoboost puts out around 400 foot-pounds of torque at 2,500 rpm and 365HP at 5,000 rpms. He then went on to tell me about how the 4×4 payload is 3,060 lbs and can tow 11,300 lbs. I had to stop him right away to let him know I thought you were talking about a V6. I naturally put out my chest and told him he must be thinking of the Ford’s V8, not their V6 ranger. I had to use my one line I could always count on. You Ford guys are not the brightest bunch, but one day you will understand the difference between a V6 and a V8. In fact the only thing he said that made any sense was that the Ecoboost for the F150 had 16/22 mpg.
He then very calmly said you Chevy guys are all the same, big heads with nothing in them. He pulled up Ford’s website and started showing me the Ecoboost. The more he talked, the more I realized I couldn’t even keep up with the conversation. How was I supposed to defend Chevy when the numbers don’t even compare. I started realizing maybe he is right, I have a big head with nothing in it. After looking in the mirror and coming to the conclusion my head was proportional to my body, I just realized what Ford was able to accomplish.
Graph provided by pickuptrucks.com
Ford did a six part series on the Ecoboost. They took the engine and put them under heavy conditions. You can view the Ecoboost Torture Test, which you can see below. They took the Engine and exposed it to high heat conditions and cooled it, time after time. They hooked it up to a dynamometer machine and replicated 150,00 miles of harsh driving conditions and they pulled incredibly large logs which is dead weight. They took it around a NASCAR track for 24 hours and they ran it uphill and compared it to other manufacturers. They ran it in the SCORE Baja 1000 and then ripped the engine apart. They did this all with the same engine, better known as the Ecoboost 448aa. Now we just gave a quick synopsis of the testing, but that didn’t do it justice. We could go into more detail about the tesing, but I am sure the videos speak for themselves.
Ford never asked for or took any money from the government’s recent auto industry bail out. They have been creating some great new cars and after seeing this new Ecoboost, I know I will be owning my first V6 very soon. I am going to say something I thought I would never say, but I am a Ford man now.
Built Ford Tough. My Fathers 2001 F150 SuperCrew 5.4L V8 has over 300,000 miles on it. The only thing that had to be replaced was the battery. That V6 looks sweet and I am sure it will last.