I’m getting 24 in a gas-powered, turbo charged, full size truck. My worst tank has been 21.7; best was 26.5. Most are 22.6-24.8. Rated at 19/26/22. No empty-bed, full highway trips have been measured; only measurements are from tank to tank. Mostly empty bed driving. Trip meter corrected, hand calculated; Fuelly…

Yes you must have been hit. Twenty had been the max ever on a full size truck using today’s testing, save one diesel offered by Ram that originally came in at 24 until being accused of cheating on emissions and is currently banned. There was, back in the early 80s, a 6.2L V8, smoky, rattily diesel that probably would…

Please everyone try to understand. This is big news! A pickup manufacturer is finally going to challenge Ford and 2 mpg is huge in this high utility, high sales segment. This is the number 3 selling vehicle in America; just behind Chevy Silverado and a bit behind Ford F150. This is a segment that stayed relatively…

Consider this...The 2018 F150 has an mpg rating in its max FE form at 20 city, 26 highway, and 22 combined. It is the 2.7L Ecoboost. It generates peak hp rated at 325@5,000 RPM and 400 ft-lb peak torque @ 2750 RPM. The starting price for an F150 is at or about $27,600, and it’s an extra grand for the mpg king. The…

Mazda’s upcoming SkyActive was mentioned on here, and just as I have always predicted that, if HCCI ever became reality, the anti diesel crowd will pile on and say there is no need for diesels in the future. But these folks are so wrong headed in there thinking. Diesels are diesels not due to the fuel they burn but by…

Of course the payoff argument is silly. Only higher mpg is held to this sort of scrutiny. For some reason our culture values higher performance, non automotive technology in vehicles, etc much more than choosing vehicles that use less energy to move us and our gear down the road. For example, in this exact vehicle,…

I loved my 1989 F150 Lariat short bed, 2WD with the 300 straight six. Hooked to a Mazda 5-speed manual. Funny how only 150 rated hp did not seem weak in that truck. It wouldn’t accelerate all that well, but hey are trucks really supposed to be like sports cars? It’d hold speed on virtually any hill in overdrive and…

The same old, tired argument, which started out lame, but now is just plain annoying, has got to end sometime. Right? They said... (they being the small block V8 traditionalists that couldn’t stand to just let time tell the tale, because they were afraid of gas-turbo success, as somehow that was going to be a threat…

Yes it does make sense. You would have had to know what Ford’s been up to lately. The author does; you guys don’t. New mpg numbers for the 3.5 Ecoboost are not listed because the 3.5 standard output and high output Ecoboosts are carryovers from MY 2017 and there were no changes from last model year. They’re still for…

We could additionally add two more classes: The high utility performance class. There are only three, since Ram and NIssan have only one high performer. For FE Ford’s 3.5 Ecoboost handly beats out GM’s 6.2 V8 and every 1/2-ton on earth beats out Tundra’s gas-guzzling 5.7 V8. The last class is sport performance class.…

I just found where the General is now quietly claiming “best in class fuel economy” on Silverado/Sierra 1500 for 2018. It’s on a power train that they are calling 5.3 V8 Ecotec eAssist. The numbers are 18/24/20 city, hwy, combined, respectively, but we all know that’s lower than Ford’s 2.7 and 3.5 Ecoboosts. They are…

I disagree that the 5.0 is overlooked. I think it’s use as a pickup engine is overrated and here is why. The two Ecoboosts peak torque at 2750 and 3500 respectively; the latter produces 70 more ft lbs at 1,000 lower RPM. The former generates the same peak torque at 1750 lower RPM. They each get better mpg estimated by…

I’ll get my high rev kicks on a crotch rocket if I feel that urge. A 5-liter si engine turning 4500 may sound like a muscle car, which many enthusiasts like for whatever reason, but a trucker’s truck should make music down low, aka 400 peak @ 2750. Thanks Ford for bringing that character choice back for those who…

You’d have to be really up on Ford power trains for F150 to understand what this article is about. It’s about the engines/power trains with changes only. Specifically, what is new in this article, since the last update from Ford, is the FE ratings are now out, as the other performance info contained here have…

There is also one more factor that’s often missed with regards to turbo-charged, gas-powered vehicles. It’s an issue of amazing refinement. This benefit or aspect doesn’t matter much to those who prefer high revving screaming, linear-power/torque-building-type of performance for their daily driving, and those drivers…

My guess is that the mpg spread between the smallest, lightest, highest geared, and least worked versions of a half-ton truck and the heaviest, most capable, lowest geared and most worked are more profound with regards to a small-displaced, gas-powered, turbo-charged engine. I needed only a compact, standard cab, 2wd…

Your article is reporting this just the same as other sources, so I’m not saying the article is incorrect, but something is amiss about how Ford and/or the EPA is reporting the combined rating on the new 2.7 liter Ecoboost in 2WD and standard payload package. I thought I understood how the EPA arrived at a combined…

These trucks have alot of drag and alot of weight; weight can’t be reduced much more than what Ford has already done and still come anywhere near their advertised towing capacity. Gas-powered power trains have also just about peaked unless some huge break throughs occur in the technology, such as homogeneously-charged…

Just because the trucks used in these demonstrations are generally $50K and up doesn’t mean that’s what one has to pay high dollar to get all this automotive and power train technology.

Coming from a scooter-riding history, the only thing about the NM4 that comes close to it being like a scooter design is that it comes on the verge of being practical transportation and that many scooter enthusiasts are attracted to it for the same reason. But Honda misses the mark on this example due to how extreme…