F150 5.0 vs Tundra

[blackgrizz550]

Good Morning!

I have a Springdale 260TBL that checks in a 4890 Dry. We have been towing it with a crew cab GMC 1500 with the 5.3. The truck handles it fine but it is very under powered. The truck has 210,000 miles and its time to replace it.

We have 3 kids so I am totally digging the size of the cabs on both the F-150 and the Crew Max Tundra. We keeps vehicles for a long time. Honestly, I like the look of the F-150 and I know it has more features. I would only be interested in the 5.0 Motor with 3.73 rear end. I'm sure its much better on fuel as well.

I am attracted to the Tundra for its durability. I still see a ton of 2007 models on the road that aren't even rusty.

Is the reliability and resale worth more than the features and high tech design of the new F-150?

[Lumpty]

One more point I forgot to make on payload with the current aluminum F150's. My V8 4x4 SuperCrew has a GVW of 7000lbs and a door sticker capacity of 1984lb. This is within 20lbs of the F250 diesel this truck replaced.

[2112]

One more real world experience for you. I have an '11 F150 EB with about 70k miles. I'm still riding on the original tires and brakes. No repairs needed to date but new tires are due.

My trailer weight is 10,000 and no issues towing. Mileage is around 10 while towing and 18-22 not.

[camp-n-family]

kw/00 wrote:
Either one will be good, comes down to what u want to make a payment on for a few years or one big payment. That being said, my close friend has an tundra with the 5.7 and has over 300k. It's his farm truck and has been used a lot. It shows a lot of dents, and dirt but runs flawless. The only issue has been a starter and the tranny just went out. Not sure what broke in it, but it is a farm use truck and if u would see it, well it speaks a lot of its use. Anyway either one is good, I like the ford 5.0 and the Toyota 5.7. If you get the Toyota then for sure add the 4.30 gears like others have said. I keep saying I wish Toyota would make a 3/4 ton truck.........

4.30 gears are standard on 5.7l Tundras.

[kw_00]

Either one will be good, comes down to what u want to make a payment on for a few years or one big payment. That being said, my close friend has an tundra with the 5.7 and has over 300k. It's his farm truck and has been used a lot. It shows a lot of dents, and dirt but runs flawless. The only issue has been a starter and the tranny just went out. Not sure what broke in it, but it is a farm use truck and if u would see it, well it speaks a lot of its use. Anyway either one is good, I like the ford 5.0 and the Toyota 5.7. If you get the Toyota then for sure add the 4.30 gears like others have said. I keep saying I wish Toyota would make a 3/4 ton truck.........

[blackgrizz550]

spoon059 wrote:

FishOnOne wrote:
My fishing buddy has a 2011 5.7 Tundra and it has impressive power and has been very reliable, but it loves to flirt with the gas pumps. :E

It ain't flirting there Fishie... thats a full blown teenage obsession with the gas pumps! At least while towing! I got about 14 around town empty, as high as 18 on a flat highway with no traffic obstructions, and no better than 10 towing a 6500 lbs trailer.

That is very similar to my mileage on my 2007 GMC 1500 with a 5.3. Only difference is, my truck is a dog, and yours isnt.

[Slate_CM]

One more real world experience for you. I have an '08 Tundra with about 70k miles. It has only needed one set of tires and brakes along with oil changes. No other repairs needed.

My trailer weight is 5600 and no issues towing that. Mileage is around 10 while towing and 17-18 not.

[RinconVTR]

spoon059 wrote:
I got about 14 around town empty, as high as 18 on a flat highway with no traffic obstructions, and no better than 10 towing a 6500 lbs trailer.

Typical city MPG for every 1/2 truck producing 350ish+-HP that I am aware of right now. Ford's auto-shut off might change that a bit.

10mpg while towing heavy box trailers is the high end of average regardless of all things except speed. Keep it around 60 or less and you'll might see 10 or better.

[spoon059]

FishOnOne wrote:
My fishing buddy has a 2011 5.7 Tundra and it has impressive power and has been very reliable, but it loves to flirt with the gas pumps. :E

It ain't flirting there Fishie... thats a full blown teenage obsession with the gas pumps! At least while towing! I got about 14 around town empty, as high as 18 on a flat highway with no traffic obstructions, and no better than 10 towing a 6500 lbs trailer.

[blackgrizz550]

Thanks for all the responses. I guess some test drives are in order.

[Lumpty]

'16 F150 5.0 FX4 SuperCrew owner here. Swapped an '11 6.7 F250 Lariat for it, which itself was an awesome truck but I was wary of long term diesel ownership. I wanted as simple a gas powertrain as could be had, and the choices drilled down to either a F150 or Tundra for me too. I ended up with 3.31 gears, as the truck is not my regular tow vehicle and mostly a daily driver. No complaints on gas mileage. It gets pretty much the same as the diesel: 15 mpg pure commuting, 17 mpg mixed and 20-21 highway.

[RinconVTR]

blackgrizz550 wrote:


Is the reliability and resale worth more than the features and high tech design of the new F-150?

YES X1000.

Just go drive them both WITH the family and they may help make this decision for you, or you may find one just feels better.

[blofgren]

blackgrizz550 wrote:

IdaD wrote:
Given that half tons cost as much as heavy duty trucks these days, I'd advise OP to start shopping the heavy duty options. You get a lot more truck for the same money and the only penalty is a little stiffer ride and marginally poorer fuel economy (assuming you get gas). To me a SRW HD is the best balance between daily user friendliness versus capability.

We were floating the idea of a 3/4 ton gas TBH. I picked one up last Saturday and brought it home. My wife took it out for a 15 minute test drive and didn't care for the size of it. She is the one who drives the truck each day and I think the thought of parking it intimidated her. I drive 70 miles a day in a Toyota Sienna. She drives 10 miles a day. If I were the one driving 10 miles each day, it would hands down be a 3/4 ton.

The body sizes of the trucks you are looking at and a 2500/3500 truck are virtually the same unless you are looking at trucks with the super short (5.5') bed. And even then only 12"-18" longer. My personal truck is in my signature and I drive a 2012 F-150 S/C 4x4 SB (6.5' bed) and honestly I don't notice a big difference between the two other than the fact my Ram is a dually. The F-150 is a plenty big truck as is the Toyota.

The big difference is payload and towing capacity. If you are like most of us on here, your trailer and amount of toys tends to grow a lot over the years. If you have a truck that is maxed out with what you currently have, you are also looking for a new truck. I started out with a Toyota 4x4 PU, then a F-150, then a F-250, then a F-350 and now the Ram. See the pattern? :B

BTW if I were choosing between the 2 trucks you have listed it would be the F-150 5.0L. The F-150 is a great truck and I enjoy driving my work truck daily. I was also broadsided in it the week after I got it and it took the collision very well. Some very good buys can be had on them, and they have some very innovative features in the new models. JMHO.

[FishOnOne]

My fishing buddy has a 2011 5.7 Tundra and it has impressive power and has been very reliable, but it loves to flirt with the gas pumps. :E

[Ron3rd]

Tundra CrewMax with the 5.7 V8 and 4.30 rear end & 6 speed trans is hard to beat IMO. Just sold my 2007 with 106,000 miles. Loved that truck! Plenty of power too.

[RPreeb]

otrfun wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:

blackgrizz550 wrote:
What kind of MPG can be expected with the Tundra? Some say it is horrible, some say not.

My GMC gets 15 city, 17 hwy and 9-10 towing the camper.

My Tundra was lifted with 305/55r20 AT tires and mileage wasn't any worse than others. I would get 17mpg hwy, 14mpg city and averaged 9.8mpg towing our 34' 7600lbs trailer. I could probably get better but tend to have a heavy foot on the highway. All hand calculated, even though the computer was pretty accurate. The 5.7l with 4.30 was a bulletproof tow beast. Pulled way better than my current truck.

The 2016 and newer Tundras have a 38gal tank.

Tundra hasn't changed the 5.7 or the tranny since 2007. The EPA ratings have consistently stayed around 13/17 to 14/18 depending on the year, and whether it was a 4x2 or 4x4.

We used to own a 2012 Tundra 5.7. Got 8-10 MPG towing a 7,000 lb. trailer. Under ideal conditions we got: true stop & go city 12-13 MPG; suburbs 14-15 MPG; interstate 17 MPG at 75-80 MPH.

A friend of mine has a 2015 F150 5.0 V8 with an EPA of 15/21. It consistently gets 2-3 better MPG's than our 5.7 Tundra under the same conditions. HP and torque numbers are very similar even though it's a smaller engine.

I've driven a number of F150 3.5 Ecoboosts. They each got the same MPG's our 5.7 Tundra did. Very interesting in light of the fact the Ecoboost's EPA ratings are 3-4 MPG's higher than the Tundra 5.7.

As I posted earlier, my numbers don't check with yours. My 3.5 EB gets a measured and calculated 17-18 for general driving. Very little is "city" driving. Although it has been to Denver a few times, most of my driving is rural and small city (15,000). My last fill was 29 gallons and 517 miles = 17.8 mpg. At 75-80 on the freeway it's 18-19. Not a huge difference, but slightly better than yours. I like that at 70 mph the engine is only turning 1800 rpm - barely cracks 2000 at 80.