F150 Ecoboost vs F250 Diesel mileage

[Groover]

I have been pulling my equipment trailer for my business with an F150 3.5 Ecoboost for 3 years now and averaging about 8.7mpg on 87 octane. I got rear-ended last week and the Ecoboost will be in the body shop for at least two weeks so yesterday I rented a brand new F250 diesel to fill in. Does anyone want to hazard a guess on the what my fuel economy with the diesel will be? I am sure that I will find it very interesting.

The trailer is a 22' flatbed deckover with 60hp tractor, stump grinding attachment and front end loader. The tires are water filled. I have never weighed it but I am pushing the 11,200lb tow rating of the F150. I mostly drive 2 lane county roads with rare forays on the interstate and then only for a few miles.

Both trucks are crew cabs with 6.5ft beds and 4wd so fairly even there. I am going to try my best to drive the same. The EcoBoost was never power limited and don't expect the diesel to be either.

[Grit_dog]

librty02 wrote:
The cost difference between 87 gasoline and diesel fuel is the closest it's ever been in the last 15 years in my area with 87 around 3.12 and diesel at 3.69. Gasoline prices have risen alot the past 3 months here from 2.5 to the 3.12 it is today while diesel fuel cost has not changed at all. When 87 was 2.50 per gallon diesel was 3.69 per gallon and that is the norm for the past 15 years here. That over a dollar a gallon more for the diesel fuel could never be made up in mpg difference.

And on the west coast where fuel is even more expensive than east coast, diesel is cheaper than gAs. If that’s a person’s measuring stick to buy a truck , get a Prius!

[Groover]

librty02 wrote:
The cost difference between 87 gasoline and diesel fuel is the closest it's ever been in the last 15 years in my area with 87 around 3.12 and diesel at 3.69. Gasoline prices have risen alot the past 3 months here from 2.5 to the 3.12 it is today while diesel fuel cost has not changed at all. When 87 was 2.50 per gallon diesel was 3.69 per gallon and that is the norm for the past 15 years here. That over a dollar a gallon more for the diesel fuel could never be made up in mpg difference.

Your tax is $0.31 higher than in TN but that doesn't come close to accounting for the price difference. Gas a mile from my house is $2.39/gal. Pennsylvania has the highest fuel taxes in the nation. Don't you feel special?

State Gasoline tax Diesel tax
Pennsylvania 57.6 74.1

It has been my observation that diesel prices are much more stable than gasoline for some reason so you have to watch the long term trends.

[librty02]

The cost difference between 87 gasoline and diesel fuel is the closest it's ever been in the last 15 years in my area with 87 around 3.12 and diesel at 3.69. Gasoline prices have risen alot the past 3 months here from 2.5 to the 3.12 it is today while diesel fuel cost has not changed at all. When 87 was 2.50 per gallon diesel was 3.69 per gallon and that is the norm for the past 15 years here. That over a dollar a gallon more for the diesel fuel could never be made up in mpg difference.

[bartlettj]

Slick Rick wrote:
I own both engines, Ecoboost in a 2018 Expedition and a 2015 F350 PSD/SRW. I use the truck to haul a 3000lb truck camper, no towing. I get about 10-12 mpg. But of course diesel is more expensive than 87 octane.

Not everywhere... I get B20 diesel for $2.89 but 87 is usually around 3.29 in Oregon right now.

[ktmrfs]

Slick Rick wrote:
I own both engines, Ecoboost in a 2018 Expedition and a 2015 F350 PSD/SRW. I use the truck to haul a 3000lb truck camper, no towing. I get about 10-12 mpg. But of course diesel is more expensive than 87 octane.

actually here for the last several months diesel has been near the price for 87 octane. currently less than 87 octane, occasionally maybe a nickel more. Quite a change! And B20 is about $.25 less per gallon than 87 octane, no state fuel tax on B20.

Last summer diesel was about the same price as premium, quite a drop.

[Groover]

Well, I did 70.7 miles today and stopped at 3 customers. The trip computer is showing 1:59:40 for time so I wasn't hotrodding with an average speed of just over 35mph. It is also showing 11.1 mpg. At 15 miles into the trip I got on the interstate with the computer showing 10.1mpg. I did 10 miles of fairly hilly road with the cruise control on 66mph and the mileage increased to 10.7mpg so I was pushing 12mpg for that stretch. It seems like the diesel has more advantage at speed than it than it does going slow. The fuel cost per mile is about a wash so far but I will have the truck for about another 3 weeks so I collect more data. All of my trips are different but this one was fairly typical.

So far my favorite advantage of the 3/4ton is not have to mess with the torsion bars when hitching the trailer.

[PNW_Steve]

A bit over 4000 miles on our last trip pulling a 29' TT. We averaged 15.7 mpg for the trip with our Ram 3500 5.9 and 6 speed manual transmission.

[twodownzero]

I am willing to bet the F250 gets better mileage pulling the same trailer than the ecoboost.

[Slick_Rick]

I own both engines, Ecoboost in a 2018 Expedition and a 2015 F350 PSD/SRW. I use the truck to haul a 3000lb truck camper, no towing. I get about 10-12 mpg. But of course diesel is more expensive than 87 octane.

[Grit_dog]

Same guess 11-12mpg. Potentially a shade better if you're driving economically (tough to do with a truck that will smoke some cars from a dig, while towing the tractor!)

[Grit_dog]

philh wrote:
Does your rental agreement permit towing?

Who cares....myob imo

[Groover]

philh wrote:
Does your rental agreement permit towing?

Yes, I rented from Enterprise Commercial and specifically asked for a truck that could safely tow 12,000lbs. I left the parking lot towing my Ranger on a dolly. They even helped me hook it up.

[philh]

Does your rental agreement permit towing?

[Bigfoot_affair]

I just did a 800 mile trip through the rocky mountains hauling a similar load to yours (18' trailer, skid steer with implements. My SRW 3500 returned 12.2 mpg.

I am with ShinerBock, 11-11.75 mpg

[ShinerBock]

11.25 mpg