Review on the new 7.3 Ford V*

[wallaceb]

Interested in the latest comments/reviews from owners of the new Ford 7.3 V8 gas engine.

[bobndot]

jimbo4UT wrote:
Have a 2021 Sunseeker 3010DS with the 7.3 engine. I get 11.1 mpg driving 60 mph for the first 1125 miles i have driven her. Has 6 speed transmission. It's hilly here in Virginia, your mileage may vary 🙂

Jimbo

How did you calculate the 11.1 mpg . Is that a Scan Gauge number , while you are driving ?

[Jerseyboy59]

I have a question about that engine a 36’ motor home up the mountains, how did it pull? Hopefully better than 5 mph 

[bobndot]

I met a few small "one-man" rv repair dealerships over the years and they told me how they have to tweak all new rvs that are shipped to them.
If you find an rv on a dealers lot all ready to go, then you have to give the dealership the credit for providing a livable unit, all ready to go. Not all dealers will take that much 'needed step' to provide a concrete unit.

Just a reminder to new buyers:
Expect the additional cost for battery replacement.
Don't forget these rv's built today will drain the chassis battery to zero while sitting idle on a dealers lot. Doing that can lessen the life of a battery.
Keep an eye on your new battery unless you know for sure that it was installed fresh in your rv or if they disconnected the cable allowing to keep its charge ! A good service manager should make sure that is followed through with. But in real rv life...don't bet on it !
They will just throw a charger on a dead battery if they know you are coming to see it, then it becomes your problem when you have to replace it earlier than expected.

[CaptJD]

Gjac wrote:

alvinator wrote:
CaptJD wrote: Well, last Wednesday I've purchased a Thor Coleman 19CM and it came with that 7.3 engine.

The smallest Coleman Class C motorhome on their website is a 22CM. Where were you able to find a 19CM?

That model and size sounds like a rental unit that Thor makes.

They are selling them at Camping World and Gander RV dealerships. I guess it is the same model as what they were called "Majestic" for rental companies. They just changed the model name from Majestic to Coleman and did not improve single thing IMHO..

They chose the most basic of all parts and equipment as they could find. They did NOT include one single extra convenience over whatever the most cheap & basic model of that item comes as.

Quality of the workmanship SUCKS big time!

- 1 out of every 3 screw is either sideways or sticking out in a way that can snatch on to your clothing or was screwed in a way that cracked the material.

- On Day 3 of the ownership of this gorgeous(!) marvel by THOR MOTORCOACH proudly put on the market with a label as "2021 Thor Coleman 19CM" everything inside either flimsy or already cracked or the cheapest of the cheap **** you can find on the market.

- If you press the flushing pedal of the toilet, the whole assembly moves like it is about to get out of its base attachment.

- When water pump turned on water began to gushing out of the City Water connection port. So some sort of one way valve is failed inside I guess and when two weeks ago (on February 9th,2021) we call the dealership to fix it under warranty we've been told that first opening to look at will be Mid April 2021. So, the solution: I capped the city water intake myself to keep the water gushing out so we can use the darn thing!

- None of the dinette seats or the single sideway seat behind the front passenger seat's cushions were attached to their base properly. Some sort of superglued velcro supposed to hold the seats moving but they were all crumbled, tangled and staples holding them attach to the base was worst quality then the ones my wife use to staple her office supplies...

- We've been told under the seats are all extra storage but when we tried to access we noticed they were all screwed in a way which made them permanently shut.

- The fake wood pieces has been used to made the base of the dinette and the single seat are so flimsy and cheap that they were held together with these flimsy staples coming out after 2 weeks and nothing does sit firmly in its place anymore. Every cushion moves whichever way they want to go that day.

- When driven on the smoothest highway surface at 50-65 mph it feels like in the back we are carrying hundreds of pots and pans loose on the floor of the RV.
Between the symphony of tings, tangs, bangs and all other sort of noises I've never heard in my life before my wife and I sitting in the front and screaming at each other to understand what the heck we're talking about.

Before this we owned a 2003 Pleasure-Way Excel which we bought brand new in 2003 and sold it in 2010. My GOD!, Now I understand why they are more expensive than these **** and I was getting 16-18mpg on that compared to 9-10mpg on this. Plus that B class had a V10 Triton engine on it.

My wife wanted something small like our old B class but not as expensive with a little more width inside and she thinks this one is sufficiently wide for her taste.
During the Covid pandemic she was stuck at home almost a year not even able to visit grandkids or go out to do anything for fun at age 71 and that was depressing her.
I fly planes and ride motorcycle and at least was able to get out to do few fun things which she couldn't. So she remembered how fun our Pleasure-Way was for us when we go camping and wanted to get something similar.

So, she saw this at an online ad and loved the cute little toy RV look and wanted it... So I went for it! She is still happy since she is able to get out of the home now and I am happy for being able to take her out camping even if it was just a few miles away to a campground by a lake or river or beach.

BUT the thought of "what a mistake to cough up $67,000 to one of these piece of ****" does not leave my mind no matter wherever we go!

Oh, few days ago for the first time I was standing at a higher elevation like a second floor of a house and for the first time I saw the roof of this POS... I wanted to cry! It looked like was put together by 1st grade students as a school project at elementary level.
If that roof doesn't come apart after a short amount of time I'll consider myself extremely lucky!

So, yes they were not advertised all over or NOT even mentioned in THOR's own website!
I was wondering "WHY?"... Now I know the reason!

[whemme]

The 7.3L V8 engine they are referring to in this thread is a new engine appearing only now in 2021 Fords. The engine you had years ago was probably the 460 cu-in V8 - a totally different engine.

By the way, what is an cerderator?

[pushtoy_2]

if you open up that 7.3 ford and let it breath you will un leach a monster. i had one years ago when they had a cerderator. i opened up the air in take and the exaust i pulled a 33ft 5er. what a differance. it was in a f350 dully

sorry about the spelling

[jimbo4UT]

Have a 2021 Sunseeker 3010DS with the 7.3 engine. I get 11.1 mpg driving 60 mph for the first 1125 miles i have driven her. Has 6 speed transmission. It's hilly here in Virginia, your mileage may vary 🙂

Jimbo

[JaxDad]

bobndot wrote:
I agree Jax, Gjac, Bruce, Ron.. I would buy the floorplan that works for you , its about comfort bc this is our fun time hobby.

I would miss the overhead bed in case we need it as well as the addition storage. Look at the way we spend out time each day. 1/3 is sleeping, so a comfy place to sleep is important. 10 mins each day in a shower is a little less important. I can get by with a little smaller shower to have a full 60x80 QB.

You bring up a good point I’d forgotten about earlier. I use my C very differently than most, I express to my destination (year round) where I stay in it for business. Typically I boondock enroute and find that sleeping over the cab is the warmest (over the engine and with interior space below me) and definitely quieter than sleeping on top of the genset.

[Gjac]

JaxDad wrote:
I think you’ll find the issue of fuel mileage is tied far more to the drivers right foot than it is the aerodynamics.

The ‘sweet spot’ of the drivetrain is also important. For a few years my father & I both had exactly the same make / model / drivetrain Class A’s. He swore up & down that driving slower, 60 mph gave him the best mileage. I disagreed. Then we went to the same place at the same time. He held 60, I drove 65 - 70. Low & behold my rig used less gas to do the trip.

I came to the same conclusion after 100k miles of driving and engine mods. Headers, FF mufflers, CAI, advancing timing improved performance by 30 % or so, but no increase of MPG. When I added a vacuum gauge I had in my garage for 40 years and used it my mpgs went up about 1/2 mpg if I use it. The best mpg was above 10" HG. I could also tell when transmission was about to shift from the gauge so I would just back of the throttle to keep it in 4th gear.

[Gjac]

Ferrari said "Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines". I think an aero front would have a greater impact on a car going 180 mph vs a MH going 60 mph. Kind of like ram air. Every thing is a trade off in engineering terms. I like the lower profile of the B+ and maybe lower CG, but for 1 gal more mpg I would take more storage if everything else was equal.

[bobndot]

I agree Jax, Gjac, Bruce, Ron.. I would buy the floorplan that works for you , its about comfort bc this is our fun time hobby.
I would miss the overhead bed in case we need it as well as the addition storage. Look at the way we spend out time each day. 1/3 is sleeping, so a comfy place to sleep is important. 10 mins each day in a shower is a little less important. I can get by with a little smaller shower to have a full 60x80 QB.

I agree Ron, about 10% difference is a good ballpark difference. I like the aerodynamics of the PC and other rvs like it for crosswind/headwind handling reasons but not for the mpg difference.

It reminds me of all the AirTab vortex rv and OTR trucker threads that say it's a minimal mpg difference. Even if it was as much of a 10% difference for rv use where most of drive 5000 mi each year, It's not worth thinking about it. Its one 55 gal tank of fuel difference each year to run 5000 rv miles.
For OTR trucking companies running a millions of miles on a fleet of trucks is worth thinking about aerodynamics , its a business not a hobby.

[ron_dittmer]

Gjac wrote:
How much difference in mpgs or handling between a B+ aero front end and a C with the overhead bed? Does anyone have any data on this? I think it is logical to believe a B+ is better but how much better. The trade off is more room vs better mpg. If only 1 mpg I would choose more space. If the difference was 4mpgs 10 vs 14 mpg I might choose the B+.

That is a very good question. I have no supporting data, only my gut feeling based on reading years of comments from other people regarding their own fuel economy. Comparing our aerodynamic rig to a typical class C of the same length with bad aerodynamics, the difference is not more than 20%. But there are just too many factors to state a reliable figure. Like others mentioned, aerodynamics are more critical if you cruise at 70 mph versus 60 mph. Some people live close to terrain. We drive across the Great plains under better mpg conditions, factors like that.

There are unrelated benefits to having a seamless B+ cap, primarily avoiding the resonation of the over-hang which encourages seams to leak on a class-C as it ages.

[JaxDad]

I think you’ll find the issue of fuel mileage is tied far more to the drivers right foot than it is the aerodynamics.

The ‘sweet spot’ of the drivetrain is also important. For a few years my father & I both had exactly the same make / model / drivetrain Class A’s. He swore up & down that driving slower, 60 mph gave him the best mileage. I disagreed. Then we went to the same place at the same time. He held 60, I drove 65 - 70. Low & behold my rig used less gas to do the trip.

[BruceMc]

Regarding the mileage difference between a C and a B+, I can only offer anecdotal evidence. Our Sunseeker gets 9 1/2 to 10, where my nephews Chevy pickup with the same engine, a 6.0L, always got 12. And that's just a pickup.
As far as the Ford engines, it's probably a lot of the same story. The V10 is a gas guzzler, no matter what, and I wouldn't expect much different out of the new Ford V-8.
But oh the power difference…