Texas .5 Ton Truck Showdown

A little advice, if you plan to by a GM truck make sure to check for any vibration. I speak from experience. Google for info about the vibration. Mine had it and I was in the buy back process when they finally found my problem. Ring and pinion was out of spec. I love my truck now that it's fixed. Mine has the max tow package, there for a while I called it the max shake package.

the1adman wrote:
I would like to hear some experiences with the 2.7 pulling decent size trailers.

Give me a couple of months and I'll report back. We are just starting my daughter's competitive dance season (I know, what an ironic term), so my weekends are booked for the time being ...

Tystevens your impression of the 2.7 is very similar to mine. My personal truck is a Supercrew 4x4 with the 2.7 and my company truck is a 2014 supercab 3.5 ecoboost. The 2.7 feels slightly less torque but a bit faster with plenty of get up and go. I have 1700 miles now and my computer shows 23.1 mpg which hand calculated to 21.5 in all city. My first city tank was 19.5 so it has come up. I would like to hear some experiences with the 2.7 pulling decent size trailers.

Groover wrote:

Tystevens wrote:

tinner12002 wrote:
Just my personal opinion but I don't understand why if someone knows they will be pulling an RV quite a bit why they would even consider a 1/2 ton truck especially over the long haul...too many light duty parts there to get that great mileage for me.

All about the right tool for the job. Yes, someone towing a heavy RV "quite a bit" would probably be better served with a 3/4 or 1 ton. But for someone like me, who drives the truck 18k miles a year not towing and about 1k towing only 6k lbs, it makes a lot of sense. My last Ecoboost was great for this duty, and I expect the new 2.7 to treat me even better.

Only 1/2 way through my first tank, but I'm at 20.7 mpg for my regular commuting according to the dash computer (which in my 2011 was pretty much spot on). Compare that to about 18 mpg for my 3.5 EB, and about 16.5 mpg for my Duramax for the same commute.

I'm glad they are making 1/2 tons that actually tow pretty well when they need to. I bought a diesel years ago in part because towing with 1/2 ton gassers was such a chore (and yes, mostly because I always wanted a diesel). The 3.5 Ecoboost towed exactly like I was hoping it would. Hopefully this 2.7 does the same.

If you get ambitious how about doing your commute several days with the auto engine stop function working and a few days without and let us know how it affected economy and how you feel about it.

The engine should have plent of power considering that it has about 45 more ponies than my '91 F250 with a 460cid V8. As far as I could determine that truck had the highest tow rating of anything made that year: 12,500lbs on a 5th wheel. When I first got that truck I was amazed with the amount of power it had but verything is relative. People expect a lot more power these days.

Yeah, I do plan to run a tank, or a least half a tank with the stop/start disengaged (the tank is so big at 36 gals and the mpg is so good that I'm looking at 700+ miles per tank right now, which is almost a month's worth of normal commuting for me!). It is one of those features that I can't really believe adds that much, but I want to test it out. Kinda like the 4 cylinder deactivation on my Suburban (which I can't turn off to see if it has any impact on mpg).

The HP on these Ecoboost engines is nice, to be sure, but the gobs of torque, and the low rpms at which the torque comes in, makes them great for towing. The 3.5 only had 40 hp more than my 5.3 Suburban, but towed so much nicer due to the fact that it made nearly 400 ft/lb at 1800 rpm or something like that, compared to the 5.3 not peaking in torque until much higher in the rpm range. The 3.5 could tow down the road in 6th gear at 1800 rpm in most circumstances; the 5.3 is almost always above 3k rpm when towing. Operating as designed, yes, but I prefer towing at lower rpm when I can get away with it.

Looking forward to seeing how the 2.7 does with a trailer behind it. Like I mentioned, it doesn't seem to have as much on the low end, but really comes on at about 2300 rpm, where it feels as fast or faster than the 3.5 did. As a result, I'm not sure it will be able to hold 6th when towing as well as the 3.5 did. But I'm sure it will move along just fine nonetheless.

FWIW, if anyone wants a more detailed comparison of the two, I'd be happy to oblige.

Tystevens wrote:

tinner12002 wrote:
Just my personal opinion but I don't understand why if someone knows they will be pulling an RV quite a bit why they would even consider a 1/2 ton truck especially over the long haul...too many light duty parts there to get that great mileage for me.

All about the right tool for the job. Yes, someone towing a heavy RV "quite a bit" would probably be better served with a 3/4 or 1 ton. But for someone like me, who drives the truck 18k miles a year not towing and about 1k towing only 6k lbs, it makes a lot of sense. My last Ecoboost was great for this duty, and I expect the new 2.7 to treat me even better.

Only 1/2 way through my first tank, but I'm at 20.7 mpg for my regular commuting according to the dash computer (which in my 2011 was pretty much spot on). Compare that to about 18 mpg for my 3.5 EB, and about 16.5 mpg for my Duramax for the same commute.

I'm glad they are making 1/2 tons that actually tow pretty well when they need to. I bought a diesel years ago in part because towing with 1/2 ton gassers was such a chore (and yes, mostly because I always wanted a diesel). The 3.5 Ecoboost towed exactly like I was hoping it would. Hopefully this 2.7 does the same.

The 2.7 EB is turning out to be a great performer. In addition I believe the next gen 3.5 EB will be based on the 2.7 platform.

Tystevens wrote:

tinner12002 wrote:
Just my personal opinion but I don't understand why if someone knows they will be pulling an RV quite a bit why they would even consider a 1/2 ton truck especially over the long haul...too many light duty parts there to get that great mileage for me.

All about the right tool for the job. Yes, someone towing a heavy RV "quite a bit" would probably be better served with a 3/4 or 1 ton. But for someone like me, who drives the truck 18k miles a year not towing and about 1k towing only 6k lbs, it makes a lot of sense. My last Ecoboost was great for this duty, and I expect the new 2.7 to treat me even better.

Only 1/2 way through my first tank, but I'm at 20.7 mpg for my regular commuting according to the dash computer (which in my 2011 was pretty much spot on). Compare that to about 18 mpg for my 3.5 EB, and about 16.5 mpg for my Duramax for the same commute.

I'm glad they are making 1/2 tons that actually tow pretty well when they need to. I bought a diesel years ago in part because towing with 1/2 ton gassers was such a chore (and yes, mostly because I always wanted a diesel). The 3.5 Ecoboost towed exactly like I was hoping it would. Hopefully this 2.7 does the same.

If you get ambitious how about doing your commute several days with the auto engine stop function working and a few days without and let us know how it affected economy and how you feel about it.

The engine should have plent of power considering that it has about 45 more ponies than my '91 F250 with a 460cid V8. As far as I could determine that truck had the highest tow rating of anything made that year: 12,500lbs on a 5th wheel. When I first got that truck I was amazed with the amount of power it had but everything is relative. People expect a lot more power these days.

Correction: the 2.7 has 95 more ponies that my '91 460cid.

tinner12002 wrote:
Just my personal opinion but I don't understand why if someone knows they will be pulling an RV quite a bit why they would even consider a 1/2 ton truck especially over the long haul...too many light duty parts there to get that great mileage for me.

All about the right tool for the job. Yes, someone towing a heavy RV "quite a bit" would probably be better served with a 3/4 or 1 ton. But for someone like me, who drives the truck 18k miles a year not towing and about 1k towing only 6k lbs, it makes a lot of sense. My last Ecoboost was great for this duty, and I expect the new 2.7 to treat me even better.

Only 1/2 way through my first tank, but I'm at 20.7 mpg for my regular commuting according to the dash computer (which in my 2011 was pretty much spot on). Compare that to about 18 mpg for my 3.5 EB, and about 16.5 mpg for my Duramax for the same commute.

I'm glad they are making 1/2 tons that actually tow pretty well when they need to. I bought a diesel years ago in part because towing with 1/2 ton gassers was such a chore (and yes, mostly because I always wanted a diesel). The 3.5 Ecoboost towed exactly like I was hoping it would. Hopefully this 2.7 does the same.

tinner12002 wrote:
Just my personal opinion but I don't understand why if someone knows they will be pulling an RV quite a bit why they would even consider a 1/2 ton truck especially over the long haul...too many light duty parts there to get that great mileage for me.

It all depends what you want/need to tow. There's a guy over on the Ram Ecodiesel forum who uses an Ecodiesel 1500 to deliver Airstream trailers. IIRC he's got close to 150,000 miles with no major issues. Airstreams are typically no more than 8000 pounds and have good aerodynamics. Guys use trucks like yours to deliver trailers in the 15,000 pound range, that's no different than using a 1500 to pull a trailer half that weight.

Just my personal opinion but I don't understand why if someone knows they will be pulling an RV quite a bit why they would even consider a 1/2 ton truck especially over the long haul...too many light duty parts there to get that great mileage for me.

It seems the scores between the Ford, GM and Ram were within around 2 percent. Difficult to declare an absolute winner.
Another point of view. This time from Edmunds after driving a diesel 1500 Ram 50,000 miles

"After many months spent comparing our 2014 Ram 1500 to our Ford F-150 long-termers, I'm still in the Ram camp when it comes to cabin comfort, design and overall appeal. Here's why:

A great driving position makes everything work better, and the Ram's setup puts me right where I want to be. I don't have to reach too far for anything and the sightlines aren't obstructed. It's still a big truck, but it doesn't feel that way from the driver's seat.

The seats themselves are great, too. I've done plenty of long trips in our Ram and rarely do I get uncomfortable. The heating and cooling functions in our Laramie trim certainly help.

I also like the way the cabin of our Ram looks and feels. Again, some of that can be chalked up to the Laramie but there's more to it than that. From the gauge cluster to the climate controls to the center console, everything looks purposeful and well-built. I don't always get that feeling in our F-150."