So, I wrote the below while drinking strong coffee and didn't realize how long it got...
I got a 2021 F150 XLT a few months ago.
The 2.7 has been out for awhile, correct? One kind of odd positive for it was a comment by a mechanic... "I don't really know much about them, we haven't seen any in the shop" LOL!
My wife has a 2015 Ford Fusion with an "ecoboost" engine (4cyl something), and it has been flawless for 7 years and 75,000 miles... and the wife has a lead foot.
I haven't heard any issues with the gas turbos - the negative stories I hear are about turbo diesels.
Anyway - FANTASTIC fuel mileage so far. My 2008 F250 5.4l was averaging 10mpg around town and 15ish mpg highway (not towing)... My 2021 ecoboost is 17mpg around town, and just touching 25mpg highway. Huge increase in mpg! Biggest complaint so far is the fuel tank, only 20 gallons. Great fuel mileage, but I am still filling up regularly because the tank is so small for a truck.
I haven't towed our 21ft TT yet, but it is well within the capacities of the truck according to the numbers. The new truck does tow a landscaping trailer just fine, with fuel mileage "dropping" to around 15mpg around town - my 2008 F250 averaged 9mpg. "Around town" mileage is a little tough to figure, because sometimes the truck has one trailer or another attached to it for days on end, other times days go by without a trailer attached. Either way, the mpg has been a huge improvement.
Crazy thing is the rear springs - the truck has a remarkably smooth ride, but a good payload capacity... looking under the truck, it has a long, thin leaf spring that obviously gives it a nice ride, but then just under it is a THICK "helper" spring for weight capacity. It looks like 3/4 inch thick! But it seems to work.
The amount of electronics is crazy, EVERYTHING on the truck is electronic. I know most new vehicles are basically all electronic, but with this truck Ford makes it obvious. Honestly, it has one of the most distracting dashboards of any vehicle I've driven - something is always beeping at me, some new message pops up, etc.
Needlessly complicated to do some things... if I want to adjust where the heat is coming from, I can't just look at a button with lights on the dashboard to tell me what the setting is, and simply push it to change. Nope. I have to find the button with the picture of heat/AC vents, push it, then look up at a message that pops up on the display screen, read the options, then choose an option. This happens with other things - everything goes through the display screen in the middle of the dashboard. Until I got used to most of the system, I seemed to be always looking at the display screen while driving instead of the road.
You use an app on your phone to start the truck if you want. It comes as part of most option packages. Works "good" - about 1 out of 4 times it won't "connect" with the truck, and I have to restart the app. Speaking of which... it is Slow. With my wife's remote, you push the button, the car lights come on, just a couple seconds later the car starts. With my truck, I have to "open" the app on my phone, push the "start" button for about 5 seconds until the circling thing stops circling, then wait... and wait... and wait. I guess the system uses the cell phone system, so the phone and truck have communicate for a bit before the truck decides to start? Usually takes close to 30 seconds. Not terrible, but just used to the sub 5 seconds of aftermarket starters.
I am aware that other vehicles, especially "high end" ones, have had systems like this for awhile, but this is the first time I've owned one that has all this included at what seems to be the "new normal" price for "standard option package" trucks.
Price-wise it wasn't terrible, around $45000. For the level of options and capabilities of the truck, I don't think that is too high. I started buying trucks decades ago, and EVERY YEAR people complain about truck prices, lol!! Yes, the dealership had a $91,000 F350 on their lot, but just on the other side of it was a row of under $50k trucks - loaded with all sorts of what used to be options. Just don't buy one of the gold plated ones if you want to spend less than $90,000!
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2021 F150 2.7
2004 21' Forest River Surveyor
