Plavan

I have a 2013 Ford F150 Ecoboost. I tow a 22' V-nose enclosed trailer with about ~7800 pound load. I towed from Fresno, CA to COTA and averaged 8.2 miles..... and that was drafting big rigs, and taking it easy. I tow around 60 to 65mph. Sometimes I only get 7 miles/gallon......

Its a great truck for around town. But towing MPG is nothing like I was hoping.


Trailer-

Izzone

Towed my 22' ATC encloses once with lollipop f150...returned from track and sold it for 2500 Chevy diesel, it was borderline dangerous....and I have equalizer hitch. Towed 15 months with Chevy, traded Chevy on another Chevy 3500...less sway

Tow ratings are the max a vehicle should do....most tow rating on light duty trucks is intended for the occasional boat tow to a ramp....not hauling

No light duty truck is intended for long highway haul

My 15 Chevy duramax got 10.2 mpg towing to Atlanta last weekend....cruise set at 80

uscarrera

Have been towing with a Crew Cab Ecoboost with max tow package since buying first year model in 2011 20ft v-nose with 993 and race gear probably around 7.5-8K pounds total. It was a compromise truck for me when I bought it as I wanted something I could drive most of time without trailer. As mentioned tow MPG is 10 if lucky that is what I averaged on tow from Tampa to Cota last year. The torque on this truck is great I can pull away from lights with no problem at all, very comfortable ride on long flat highways not much experience on hills so can't comment on that. Just last week drove truck without trailer and no bed load from Tampa to Ft. Meyers on Interstate average MPG 20.3 gotta love that with regular gas.
Rich

Doc GTO

You may want to look at Dodges new Eco diesel 1500. Much better tow vehicle IMHO. Also gets killer mileage unloaded!

I have a great tow vehicle for sale but it only has a 7k max tow weight. Won't work for you.

Doc GTO

I personally tow with diesels myself. I've owned them all up to the newest which was a 2010 dodge 3500. Awesome truck but the new diesels just don't get the mileage the older ones got with the stupid bs emission crap on them and low sulfur diesel fuel. I just picked up a late model 03 dodge 2500 with the 305/555 motor. Edge tow tune and a gross of 17,300lbs (10k trailer) to and from savannah for a Roebling event and averaged 13mpg. Cruise set at 72. This is a 4 speed auto with 4.10 gears, not even 3.73s... Towing the same trailer my 2010 dodge 3500 got a best of 11.5, 2009 Duramax 3500 got 12, and 2007 ford f350 got 12.5. See a pattern? Lol. Unloaded, my 03 gets 15 city and 19.5 hwy. Not to shabby for a truck that will tow up to 16,3k trailer.

XPC5

Take a look at the Ram 2500's. All coil suspensions, tighter handling and smaller turning radius than the Fords or GMs. I came from a 6.4 F250, and the Dodge has much less roll, squat, and quicker steering ratio. Feels much more 1/2 ton like. The mileage empty and towing has been great, as good as any pre-smog truck I have heard of.

Lou D

One thing I noticed with the F-150 from the first time I towed with it, was to turn off the trailer anti-sway setting in the driver assist menu. I learned this as I was driving to WGI on Route 17, the truck was understeering like crazy on the sweeping turns. Once I turned it off, it was smooth sailing from there. The trailer weighed approximately 7500 lbs. Since then, I turn off the anti-sway setting and all has been well thus far.

Doc GTO

I agree! Now that they got rid of the regen and went to the DEF, the miliage is going back up and the ride and steering is superior to the other brands!

raspritz

Chiming in late. I also have F150 ecoboost and use it to tow either race trailer (21') or Airstream (19'). No problem with small hills we have just west of Denver (meaning, Loveland pass over 11,000 feet). Tows the Airstream so smoothly my wife found herself north of 100 mph passing truck down in New Mexico.

ShakeNBake

heh....I'm going to start towing with an X5M as my DD compromise. But it's for short distances, and with a 900lb trailer.

Streak

The only real tow vehicle is an F350 longbed dually diesel. Everything else is a waste of time. And dangerous.

Doc GTO

LOL. The LB DRWs are a nice tow vehicle but for a DD, they can be cumbersome. I've had a few with my last being a 2010 Dodge 3500.

This big "B"


I've had the Chevy 3500 as well:


And my 2007 F350 SRW (not as good as the DRW with a tag trailer):


I now have this: Late model 2003 305/555 2500 with the PacBrake air bag system so it has the capacity of the 3500 with the ride of a 2500 and it gets the best towing mileage of my big diesels. It is only beat out by our X5 35d but that tows only up to 7K and the Dodge will tow up to 16,300lbs. This thing is like driving a sports car compared to my LB DRW trucks and it gets 15.5mpg in town and almost 20 unloaded on the highway with 4.10 rear gears. I love it!

ZX9RCAM

/\ Now that is some usable info......

Doc GTO

If the OP hasn't owned a DRW long wheelbase truck then it is usable for sure. I've owned them all and I can say with personal experience that they tow great but if you tow 6 times a year then having them around as a DD can be a task. Parking, narrow roads, gas miliage, ext.

That is why a dual purpose tow vehicle is sometimes a better option. Like the X5 35d we had. It would tow up to 7K BUT also was my wife's DD and it was the family travel vehicle, got 25-26 hwy mpg and 21 in the city so that is a good option.

I also showed the OP that having a HD truck that is SRW is a good option as well and can tow up to 16K but better fuel economy, better towing manners over a LD truck like the ecoboost or ecodiesel, and a better truck to live with on daily over a DRW.

If you have a JOB that required a DRW also, then go DRW for your tow vehicle and be done. If not, I showed him other options.

I would say usefull

barebodkin

I don’t normally respond here, but somebody needs to. The F150 can tow a 7,000 pound enclosed trailer just fine.

For those of you with the funding and storage space for a dedicated tow vehicle, obviously the F250/350/450 is a better tow vehicle. That’s why they make them. No argument here. For those of us looking for a daily driver that can haul your car to the track on weekends, the F150 is a great choice.

My 2013 F150 has the 5.0 V8 and 3.73 rear end. It gets 10.8 mpg towing the enclosed trailer, which is 24’ with its 4’ V-nose. It gets about 15 mpg around town and 18 on the highway (at 75-80) - and that’s on regular gas.

In this grand compromise, the same things that make the F150 less awesome as a tow vehicle, make it better as a daily driver. Look up the curb weights, the F150 is tremendously lighter, and us club racers know about lightness. It accelerates, brakes and corners much better than the heavier Super Duty. The softer spring rates in the F150 provide a much more comfortable ride. It’s available with the 5.5 foot bed, which the Super Duty is not. The shorter length makes it much easier to maneuver and park.

The tow package in the F150 includes integrated electronic brake control and sway control. Nonetheless, it does help to load the trailer correctly and put some tension on the weight-distributing hitch. The backup camera is indispensable by the way.

Let’s talk engines. Granted, 800 foot pounds of torque is awesome, but the diesel is an $8,000 option in the Super Duty. Ford is pushing the eco-boost in the F150 because the F150 is included in their government-regulated corporate average fuel economy (CAFÉ). The eco-boost is a turbo V6, which has a slightly higher EPA rating than the V-8. Ask any F1 fan about trading a melodious V8 for a turbo V6. The 5.0 V8 has four valves per cylinder and sounds just about like a Mustang GT – which makes sense because that engine is basically the Mustang GT engine with some heavy duty modifications. It pulls the trailer easily. Right about now you eco-boosters should be smacking your forehead going, I couldda hadda V8.

Bill Coulter