Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Ford F-150 to counter new GM pickups with 3-mpg improvement

A new battle is brewing among fullsize pickup trucks. On top of boasting horsepower or towing capacity figures, it seems the next generation of pickup trucks will also be getting pretty serious about fuel economy. With General Motors and Ram recently unveiling their latest pickups, Automotive News is reporting that Ford is working on the next-generation F-150, which is expected to include a lighter curb weight and higher fuel economy.

Reports of Ford cutting weight and using aluminum to do so on the next F-150 aren't new, but the AN article is finally putting a possible target fuel economy to go along with the expected 700- to 750-pound weight reduction. Currently, the F-150 with EcoBoost delivers the best highway mileage of up to 23 miles per gallon, which is off the pace of the 2013 Ram 1500 that stands as the fuel economy leader (for now) with up to 25 mpg on the highway. But Ford may be looking at a three-mpg gain on its new truck; official EPA ratings for the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2014 GMC Sierra have not been released yet.

The article also mentions small-displacement (2.9 liters) engines and a shared Toyota hybrid technology, but it isn't clear if either would be used in the 2016 F-150. Until then, AN says that Ford is planning to bring an eight-speed automatic to its fullsize truck within the next couple of years.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/12/14/f...g-improvement/

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Cannot wait for the next F-150. Lighter, more efficient. The competition better be scared when this bad boy bows

spwolf

new Tundra is coming in 2013 too.... I wonder if improvements in mpg will be real or just on paper.

Autobild has tested Golf VI vs Golf VII diesels... while new one is 10hp and 10nm more, it also should be 20% more efficient according to official fuel consumption... so during the test, it proved faster but consumption was exactly the same as before.

This has been happening with many cars these days.... gains in mpg are simply not real in many cases.

ArmyofOne

I know 5 different people with an ecoboost. None are getting advertised MPG claims. They average what I do in my V8. And slap a load on that ecoboost, and you are looking at sub-10mpg numbers. I tow 7,000lbs+ with the Ram and NEVER hit 10 mpg. WIth that load on the highway I can stil touch 15 on flat ground, 12 in the mountains.

I am just saying, MPG is a publicity/advertising stunt, especially in the truck market. I know one thing is for sure, if A new F-150 gets 26mpg and costs $60,000, but a Ram similarly equipped gets 22 or so and I can get my hands on it for under $45,000, guess where I am headed. Just sayin'

Now, where they need to be going with the half-tons is Diesel-Electric.

J.P.

" guess where I am headed. Just sayin' "

back to the dealer for service work like it has been

UberNoob

i just rented a ford edge ecoboost i4 for a week and put on over 700 miles on it
a mixed bag of driving roads and speeds on the Big Island (Hawaii) and only averaged 20.1mpg
it was not the claimed mixed MPG so yeah, even hulling nothing but standard weight passengers can still be underachieving its targets

so far, ecoboost has been great on paper but a bit disappointing in a few applications, Edge for one
and edge isnt even a truck, its only a crossover

mmarshall

Makes sense. In most cases, a V6 has to work harder than a V8 to haul the same load....so you're driving with more pedal-pressure and/or in lower-gears to compensate. And the turbo on the V6, of course, just adds to gas-consumption.

FrankReynoldsCPA

Lol @ people who buy trucks for economy.

I think the Ecoboost was the wrong direction for Ford. They should have developed a little sibling to the 6.7 Powerstroke for the F150. Maybe a 4.X liter?

Toys4RJill

I can't wait to see the new Tundra, I hope its not a let down. My feeling is that we are going to see a lot more availability of the 4.0 V6 engine and I imagine there is a possiblility that the 4.6 will be deleted like in the Sequoia.

I also hope Toyota goes away from their current marketing ploy of "bigger" or "how big it is" because everyone knows that by now.

I can't wait to see what they do with the interior.

Toys4RJill

Just reading some reviews on the Ecoboost. Pretty impresive at TorqueNews that got 20+ on highway driving. The key incentive to buying an ecoboost over a traditional old design V8 is that the ecoboost can do very well with no load. V8 truck engines do horrible MPG in any type of driving.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

there's not a whole lot of rocket science overall to fuel-economy...

weight.
aerodynamics.
power-efficiency.
gearing.
torque curve.

most high efficiency engines don't generate a whole lot of power, so trying to have one handle a lot of weight (let alone a big towing load which requires a lot of torque - something these weaksauce new engines are often woefully short of), is all but futile except under very specific conditions.

there's no free lunch.

spwolf

and thats real life thing everyone experiences....

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

My brothers Ecoboost Focus gets 24 mixed city highway... it also makes over 250hp / 300 tq at the wheels with a tune and downpipe he is not nice to it either....

to only get 20, had to have been ragging on it....

on the highway, with conservative driving, 34-37

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Ford to counter GM's new trucks by offering peek at 2015 F-150 in Detroit?

With the Ram 1500, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra all getting major upgrades recently, there has also been plenty of speculation how Ford will respond as it looks to maintain its title as America's best-selling truck. Last week, Automotive News reported that Ford is looking to make a significant fuel economy gain with its 2015 F-150, and now Reuters is saying that the automaker will be offering some sort of peek at the new truck at next month's Detroit Auto Show.

The report seems to indicate that Ford might have a concept vehicle on display at the show, but when Autoblog reached out to the Blue Oval for comment, Mike Levine, Ford's truck communications manager, told us "we're highlighting our all-new global lineup of commercial vehicles at NAIAS, including the Transit and Transit Connect vans. We have no other news to announce at this time."

Thus, Ford could be showing absolutely nothing related to its F-Series future, or it might clandestinely slip something onto its display – a rendering, perhaps, a cutaway vehicle, a technology display, a concept, or perhaps a full-blown production vehicle, although the latter strikes us as highly unlikely given how far away the new production model actually figures to be.

All reports do seem to point to the fact that the next F-150, which could debut in late 2014 for the 2015 model year, will feature extensive use of aluminum body panels to help shave more than 700 pounds from its curb weight in order to help improve fuel economy by as much as 20 percent.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/12/17/f...50-in-detroit/

spwolf

fight is brewing... yay.