2014 F150 Ecoboost Review
I guess you could call me a truck and car enthusiast and I really enjoy driving different ones and comparing. I always thought I'd buy a car when my truck is paid off, using the truck strictly for towing, snow, and off road use, and the car for commuting. BUT you never know how things are going to go.
I previously have driven quite a few F150 Ecoboost trucks and came away with the experience that they offer better torque at higher highway speeds but don't have the consistency and stop light acceleration I like in the 5.0L.
It does seem that Ford may have finally stopped the condensation problems in the 2014 F150s but some have said the power is reduced. Well since the problem seems to have been corrected, I wanted to test drive one.
What I found is that power does seem reduced from the 2013 Ecoboost trucks I drove but the power delivery characteristics seem the same.
I recently had to pick up a vacuum hose from the dealer and while there, I test drove a 2014 Ecoboost equipped just like my truck. It was the same except it had 3.55 gears instead of 3.73 gears, had leather and center console, and had a backup camera. Otherwise, truck was exactly the same down to color.
I wanted to compare power output in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears and be more critical than I have been previously with Ecoboost trucks.
Now this isn’t a hate review as the Ecoboost was really nice. The key likes, very smooth engine with just enough V6 rumble to know it was not a typical V6 car engine. It also had great 4th gear torque which would do good towing at speed.
The big benefit I seen in power delivery over the 5.0L is in 4th and 5th gears from 2000 to 3500 rpms. It had a lot of torque not needing to shift to accelerate. The downfall is that it didn’t downshift as easy and sometimes felt slower than the 5.0L that downshifted to the next lower gear for greater torque output. The Ecoboost would do the same under more throttle. This trait will likely offer a better towing experience to those who don’t like their trucks to downshift as the greater torque will still accelerate good without a downshift.
The biggest negative was in 1st and 2nd gear where there wasn’t really any power under 2000 rpms. The 5.0L has a lot more power under 2000 rpms and will have much stronger take offs from a stop.
With 1st gear, I noticed power was as I said, pretty low from 1000 rpm to 2000 rpms but power started to build at 2000 to 3000 rpms. It was adequate but still not as strong as the 5.0L up to 3000 rpm. Since I wasn’t racing and I was concerned with driveability, I did not take 1st much over 3000 rpm.
2nd gear seemed to have better performance from 2000 - 3000 rpms, but not quite as much as the 5.0L.
With 3rd gear, I’d say it was a toss up between the 2 motors in most rpm ranges when accelerating moderately. However the Ecoboost was slower to downshift making it feel unresponsive. However with more aggressive acceleration it downshifted quickly but was harder to stay at a speed you wanted without overshooting. 3rd gear was really a toss up with the 5.0L transmission being a bit more responsive.
4th is where the Ecoboost shined the brightest. It seemed to have stronger torque output than the 5.0L between 2000 and 3500 rpms, most likely making it tow a bit easier at lower rpms. However power really seemed to take a nose dive at around 4500 rpm where the 5.0L power kept building.
This 2014 Ecoboost truck doesn’t seem as powerful as the 2013 trucks I’ve driven especially under 3000 rpms in 1st and 2nd gears. It also felt less powerful in 3rd and 4th gear as well.
The 2013 just felt more powerful overall with the same power delivery characteristic as the 2014. I still prefer the 5.0L but the Ecoboost does offer more torque in 4th gear.
This follows what pickuptrucks.com found with higher gears offering great lowend torque and lower gears offering less.
I previously have driven quite a few F150 Ecoboost trucks and came away with the experience that they offer better torque at higher highway speeds but don't have the consistency and stop light acceleration I like in the 5.0L.
It does seem that Ford may have finally stopped the condensation problems in the 2014 F150s but some have said the power is reduced. Well since the problem seems to have been corrected, I wanted to test drive one.
What I found is that power does seem reduced from the 2013 Ecoboost trucks I drove but the power delivery characteristics seem the same.
I recently had to pick up a vacuum hose from the dealer and while there, I test drove a 2014 Ecoboost equipped just like my truck. It was the same except it had 3.55 gears instead of 3.73 gears, had leather and center console, and had a backup camera. Otherwise, truck was exactly the same down to color.
I wanted to compare power output in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears and be more critical than I have been previously with Ecoboost trucks.
Now this isn’t a hate review as the Ecoboost was really nice. The key likes, very smooth engine with just enough V6 rumble to know it was not a typical V6 car engine. It also had great 4th gear torque which would do good towing at speed.
The big benefit I seen in power delivery over the 5.0L is in 4th and 5th gears from 2000 to 3500 rpms. It had a lot of torque not needing to shift to accelerate. The downfall is that it didn’t downshift as easy and sometimes felt slower than the 5.0L that downshifted to the next lower gear for greater torque output. The Ecoboost would do the same under more throttle. This trait will likely offer a better towing experience to those who don’t like their trucks to downshift as the greater torque will still accelerate good without a downshift.
The biggest negative was in 1st and 2nd gear where there wasn’t really any power under 2000 rpms. The 5.0L has a lot more power under 2000 rpms and will have much stronger take offs from a stop.
With 1st gear, I noticed power was as I said, pretty low from 1000 rpm to 2000 rpms but power started to build at 2000 to 3000 rpms. It was adequate but still not as strong as the 5.0L up to 3000 rpm. Since I wasn’t racing and I was concerned with driveability, I did not take 1st much over 3000 rpm.
2nd gear seemed to have better performance from 2000 - 3000 rpms, but not quite as much as the 5.0L.
With 3rd gear, I’d say it was a toss up between the 2 motors in most rpm ranges when accelerating moderately. However the Ecoboost was slower to downshift making it feel unresponsive. However with more aggressive acceleration it downshifted quickly but was harder to stay at a speed you wanted without overshooting. 3rd gear was really a toss up with the 5.0L transmission being a bit more responsive.
4th is where the Ecoboost shined the brightest. It seemed to have stronger torque output than the 5.0L between 2000 and 3500 rpms, most likely making it tow a bit easier at lower rpms. However power really seemed to take a nose dive at around 4500 rpm where the 5.0L power kept building.
This 2014 Ecoboost truck doesn’t seem as powerful as the 2013 trucks I’ve driven especially under 3000 rpms in 1st and 2nd gears. It also felt less powerful in 3rd and 4th gear as well.
The 2013 just felt more powerful overall with the same power delivery characteristic as the 2014. I still prefer the 5.0L but the Ecoboost does offer more torque in 4th gear.
This follows what pickuptrucks.com found with higher gears offering great lowend torque and lower gears offering less.
