First hand F150 hybrid experience anyone?
Surely someone in this group has purchased and towed with an F150 hybrid by now. If you are one of those people I would love to hear how you think that the hybrid impacts towing.
Forum Discussion
mkirsch wrote:
aftermath wrote:
Not to start any wars here but, isn't this the same argument for the Eco-Boost? I have a friend who gets basically the same mpg I get while towing with my Tundra. It is sort of a wash until you factor in what he gets while not towing. Wowsa, I am glad that I don't have to use my Tundra as a daily driver. Is this the same kind of thing that hybrid owners are experiencing?
It's because none of the "cool kids" have hybrids yet. Once the "cool kids" started getting into the EcoBoost, it became acceptable.
That said I bet I could get 24 with the hybrid. I regularly get 20 with my 5.3L even running on 7 cylinders.
I don't believe that getting the rated milage is nearly as challenging as Edmunds makes it out to be. In the article I referenced they mentioned that they also came up way short with the 2.7EcoBoost. Everyone I know that has one raves about the mileage. My brother beats the EPA numbers most of the time with his.aftermath wrote:
Not to start any wars here but, isn't this the same argument for the Eco-Boost? I have a friend who gets basically the same mpg I get while towing with my Tundra. It is sort of a wash until you factor in what he gets while not towing. Wowsa, I am glad that I don't have to use my Tundra as a daily driver. Is this the same kind of thing that hybrid owners are experiencing?
It's because none of the "cool kids" have hybrids yet. Once the "cool kids" started getting into the EcoBoost, it became acceptable.
That said I bet I could get 24 with the hybrid. I regularly get 20 with my 5.3L even running on 7 cylinders.FishOnOne wrote:
The impact is reduced fuel economy. The hybrid shines when driving in town only.
Not to start any wars here but, isn't this the same argument for the Eco-Boost? I have a friend who gets basically the same mpg I get while towing with my Tundra. It is sort of a wash until you factor in what he gets while not towing. Wowsa, I am glad that I don't have to use my Tundra as a daily driver. Is this the same kind of thing that hybrid owners are experiencing?- I'm a fan of hybrids, generally. We've had a couple of Prius and it's hard to complain about 60 mpg with all the amenities and reliability that they come with. I was interested in the PowerBoost but the towing mileage is a disappointment. I average 19mpg in my old 5.0 F150. The onboard power supply is a nice feature but you can't get the larger gas tank.... I'm overdue for a new truck but if they become available again before I age out of RVing, I'll probably stick with the 5.0. Still would be interested in your experience if you end up with the hybrid.
Edmonds wrote:
If you are towing a trailer, hauling a heavy payload or drag racing your buddy's Raptor, the F-150 Hybrid's torque is your friend.
It's garbage statements like this is why I dismiss this whole article.FishOnOne wrote:
Some people drive in town 90+% of the miles driven.
The impact is reduced fuel economy. The hybrid shines when driving in town only.- I finally found an article about the F150 Powerboost that strayed away from the rigid testing procedures used by TFL and some others. TFL's testing structure basically prohibits the use of use of the hybrid features and I want some feedback on how they affect the towing experience. So here it is:
Edmunds long term F150 hybrid test
The good:
"That battery-derived torque at low speeds, when the engine benefits from it most, is what it's all about. If you are towing a trailer, hauling a heavy payload or drag racing your buddy's Raptor, the F-150 Hybrid's torque is your friend. For that, we are really digging this PowerBoost F-150."
The bad, maybe:
"A window sticker sets expectations for a vehicle, but now we're finding that the EPA's fuel economy estimates can be just as unrealistic in real life as the MSRP. The EPA rates the F-150 Hybrid (this powertrain is also known as the PowerBoost) at 24 mpg combined (24 city/24 highway). But we aren't getting that in our long-term truck. Not even close.
Our average fuel economy over 10,000 miles, six months and 30 fill-ups is a disappointing 19.3 miles per gallon (excluding towing and performance testing). If we averaged 19.3 mpg in any ordinary full-size pickup, we'd be thrilled. But this powertrain is a $4,000-plus line item, and this truck, to date, has hit an average of 24 mpg per tank just twice and 23 mpg twice. Most fills are in the high 18s."
My opinion is that most professional vehicle testers have lead feet and as a result get worse than average fuel economy. When you have power ready and willing it takes discipline not use it and suck down the fuel. Back when I purchased my 1991 F250 with the 7.5 engine (460 V8) the test results that I could find only showed 8mpg. I never had fuel economy that low, even for a single trip. The closest I came to that number was when I was carrying a large slide in camper AND towing a 22ft offshore fishing boat. I got 8.2 over 1500 miles while doing that. So, I am a little skeptical of the testers. So keep this part of the statement in mind: "If we averaged 19.3 mpg in any ordinary full-size pickup, we'd be thrilled."
The What the Heck?:
"We will admit that our pickup's towing-optimized 3.73 axle puts us at a slight disadvantage with respect to achieving the best fuel economy, but the change shouldn't amount to such a deficit."
The pickup in their picture is clearly a short bed truck. The 3.73 axle is part of the max payload package which I have not been able to configure on a short bed truck. To get the 3.73 axle I have always had to configure the long bed. Regardless, I don't believe that going from a 3.55 axle to the 3.73 is going to affect fuel economy in a noticeable manner. But adding a foot of bed and 200lbs of frame weight would probably have more impact.
Anyway, the bottom line is that it pulled really well and gave better than average fuel economy. Is it worth the extra cost? That might come down to how much you would use the 7.2kw generator feature. goducks10 wrote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXi55b3f7LU&t=90s
Terrible mpg's towing.
All of the towing tests that I have seen are designed in a way that avoids taking advantage of the hybrid capabilities but I believe that the way that I do most of my towing I would benefit. I was hoping to get some results from driving similar to mine.- The impact is reduced fuel economy. The hybrid shines when driving in town only.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXi55b3f7LU&t=90s
Terrible mpg's towing.
