New Truck Performance

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
thought i would share with ya all the performance of this new F150.

I know for many of you, you are married to a brand of truck that you believe to be the best. Let me say i am not a truck or car guy to me its just a tool.

This is also the first ever truck i have driven (its not mine its Lindas i just happen to be the driver :(

But to give you an idea of what this truck is capable of our recent 6000 km round trip explains a lot.

When we left home i stopped in at the weigh scales given we were loaded to the hilt both in the truck and trailer.

I wanted to get a feel for the combined gross vehicle weight. Well the truck gross is only around 20kg heavier than my Jeep with the Hemi engine.

Important to know is that we ordered this truck with what Ford calls a max tow package so it is specifically kitted for towing. I wanted to have lots of headroom between what its capable of and what we are towing.

When we left the combined gross weight was 6000 Kg. Thats the trailer and truck and the two of us as well as all sons kit and kaboodle in the rear of the truck.

That did not stop the truck which only has a v6 3 litre engine from making it feel like there was no trailer behind at all.

In New Brunswick the speed limit is 110Km and i was able to roll at 120km with no issues and even more power if i wanted. Of course there we were lucky in that there was no wind during our journey worth mentioning.


But that is not the real issue, what was a real test was a detour we headed down in a town called Riviere Du Loup. We had stopped there for lunch one day near the river and upon leaving to get back to the highway ended up being on a detour through the town.

Thats when i was faced with a road and gradient i really nearly crapped in my pants over when i saw it. If you interested look up on google the road called Rue Saint Pierre in Riviere Du Loup and check out the gradient from the bottom to the point where you cannot go any more and hit a T junction.

This rig of trailer and truck pulled up that hill like it was a walk in the park. Only hit 4th gear and had loads of power and only hit 2500 revs. If anything sold this vehicle to me it was that hill. I was not stopping once i got going till i hit the top. Was i relived when that was over.


Then another thing was on the way back we hit some wind in Ontario just outside of Quebec border. And the trailer swayed badly. Before i could even react that integrated brake controller took over and activated the abs and corrected for the sway which was stopped immediately and let me know it had done it on the dash info and we carried on without any incident. Was amazing to experience and it worked so well i now fell very safe with towing and this vehicle.

Another thing that was also amazing is the activation of engine braking if you have the tow button engaged on the gearshift. There was a part coming down a mountain in Cape Breton called Smokey Mountain. They have a very steep windy road up and down and on the down route all i needed to do was take my foot off the accelerator and the engine braking kicked in. I never thought with such a small engine it would work out but it did amazingly so with an automatic box.

Meant i did not have to ride the brakes at all and if i needed to further brake it then the engine brake kicked in harder. So i dont see how you can go wrong towing and having overheated brakes unless one does something really stupid.

My only complaint with the truck is the way Ford has the buttons for the speed control layed out but its because i am used to my Jeep and this is not my daily driver, thank goodness because i would not like to be parking a truck all the time. LOL.

Gas consumption was what it was about the same as what it would be if i was towing using the Hemi at the speeds i tow at you dont get good gas mileage. But the plus side is with the ecoboost engine when you driving around the town you getting much better mileage than you would with a V8. We spent $1468 on gas for our 6040 km trip.

Good thing is i never exceeded or even came close to either gross vehicle weight or combined gross vehicle weight ratings and trailer was kept below its gross weight too from a loading point of view.

Something i did this trip which i had only recently discovered was to remove water from the hot water geyser before starting out each time. That lightened the load significantly. Bit of a pain the way i have to do it at present but i will fix that in due course.

One last point the truck comes with tow mirrors if ordered that way and i have to say hats off to Ford for the way they have those configured as well. Was absolutely a pleasure being able to see with the huge split mirrors on both sides.

Them Michiganders sure know what they doing making this truck. :)
 
Something i did this trip which i had only recently discovered was to remove water from the hot water geyser before starting out each time. That lightened the load significantly. Bit of a pain the way i have to do it at present but i will fix that in due course.

How big of a geyser do you carry around? :rofl:

I'm assuming you mean the heater? Does that really make that big a difference in weight? I could see dumping the black/grey/freshwater tanks to lighten the load. A 5 gallon water heater would be what, about 35#?
 
well Brent we have a 6 gallon tank and that's about 50 pounds of dead weight we would be carrying for 6000 km. Weight don't get transported for free but its also at the rear on one side so not distributed over axles.
i think its worth emptying based on these facts.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Do you dump the fresh water tank as well? Just curious. A lot of the camping we've done I have to bring my own water, so that's like 330#. But then again, I probably also overpack the camper a fair amount as well.
 
Yeah Brent i do that is if i have loaded it which i did not have to do on this trip since we stayed in full hookup parks where water is supplied under pressure so onboard tank never sees a drop.


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I have close to the same truck Rob. Granted in don't tow much yet...but it has the power all day long. Wind does suck, one drive I thankfully don't make anymore was into the wind for a while...50-60 miles. I watched the mileage drop like a hot rock. Getting another when this none is done.
 
Heh, Yeah, That's the one thing when I bought a truck. I wanted something that could haul UP as well as down hill. Bubba, my F350 Diesel dually may not have much in the way of acceleration, but with the camper on it and a trailer behind it, I've never had to really worry about dragging on my way up a hill.
 
Have a good friend that works at the plant here in KC. Ford few him to Detroit over several months to setup the plant there and he got a lot of insight into that truck and swears by it. He then setup the plant here as they've continued improvements on it.
 
Do you dump the fresh water tank as well? Just curious. A lot of the camping we've done I have to bring my own water, so that's like 330#. But then again, I probably also overpack the camper a fair amount as well.

I have owned a number of camper trailers over the years and always made it a practice to keep the fresh water tank full. One never knows what emergency one might encounter and, liking out of the way camping spots, sometimes there is no fresh water available at a destination. Heavy, yes, but the trade off is worth it, IMHO.
 
I have owned a number of camper trailers over the years and always made it a practice to keep the fresh water tank full. One never knows what emergency one might encounter and, liking out of the way camping spots, sometimes there is no fresh water available at a destination. Heavy, yes, but the trade off is worth it, IMHO.

I've never hauled a camper trailer, I did have a boat once upon a time and hauled it with a 6 cylinder Chevy... my truck now is a Ford F150 with the power stroke engine (what ever that means - not a truck person per se, but love my truck for the power and what hauling I do.)... back when I was load master on the cargo planes for TWA, I changed a weight slip once for a captain that shifted about 900 lbs from one pallet position to another... his response was, "Thanks, but the hundreds don't count.".... all this to say that if you're running a 4-5K truck with a 4-5k trailer behind, I would think in the final scheme of things 300 lbs would me minimal....
 
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Talking with a friend yesterday who had a 2014 Ford 150 loaded with all the goodies. He liked it except for the fact it would often not start.:eek:
Not good. Had it back to the dealer several times with no effective repair ever made. They finally confided to him this was an electrical problem with that model truck but Ford did not want it publicized for fear of a recall. Friend was a high powered New York executive and knows how to get things done. (No, he is not Donald Trump ;) ) He also is a close friend of the owner of the dealership. He said, "fix it or get nationwide publicity, my New York lawyer on your neck and I'll tell the ower of the dealership". They took it back and gave him a new 2015 model.:thumb:
 
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