Thinking About Upgrading to Full Size Half Ton...Best Bang for The Buck?

[neilsleder]

I have a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Crew Cab and i love it! It gets really good gas milage and handles like a dream on ice in the winter. As for pulling its good, I have a 29' boogie box toy hauler with a generator, 100gallon water tank, fuel tank for quads and put my Brute force inside and it pulls it no prblem. If you buy one of those trucks get the heated stearing wheel, best option ever!!!

 

[Mikew5j]

Yeah I started doing some more research to find out some cons of the ecoboost, the small tank is definitely a down side, now I'm curious to know what kind of RPMs they run at when your towing? This sort of concerns me as well, I would think they would rev high but I mean their HP vs Torque seems quite comparable to a V8 but Just curious....

The tank is only an issue on the 2011. I'm going to investigate putting the 130L tank in mine. I know a few have done it. At 100 km/h I'm at about 1800-1900 rpm with 3.73 axles towing my 7x27 enclosed. I'll also add that it does it effortlessly even with a head wind. Comming from a F350 deisel I can say that the Eco is a lot like a diesel in the way it pulls.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

Ok, thanks for the info. Something is still not sitting right with me on the Ecoboost.. I think with pricing I might have to go the 2011 route and im not sure about the gas tank thing, BUT .. Ed called me today so I am about to return his phone call. See where it goes.

 

[Mikew5j]

Ok, thanks for the info. Something is still not sitting right with me on the Ecoboost.. I think with pricing I might have to go the 2011 route and im not sure about the gas tank thing, BUT .. Ed called me today so I am about to return his phone call. See where it goes.

let me know how it goes. Empty I have a 600 km range. Not too bad.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

let me know how it goes. Empty I have a 600 km range. Not too bad.

I get about the same with my Tacoma. maybe closer to 500 but I think it has even smaller than 90L tank. Would definitely be nice to have bigger, either way Ed thinks we may have to end up ordering a 2012 to get the truck we want regardless if its 5.0L or Ecoboost. So with that, it will come down to the pricing. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Mikew5j]

I get about the same with my Tacoma. maybe closer to 500 but I think it has even smaller than 90L tank. Would definitely be nice to have bigger, either way Ed thinks we may have to end up ordering a 2012 to get the truck we want regardless if its 5.0L or Ecoboost. So with that, it will come down to the pricing. We'll see how it goes.

Ed's price on the EcoBoost option on my Lariat was $880, and I got another $440 discount ordering it with the max tow. The max tow option was also $880. So I got both options for $1320 instead of the retail cost of $2000. May be different for 2012 and a FX4. I love my Eco but you cant go wrong with either engine.

 

[jeremy]

I run a large car dealership in Edmonton, and all brands have good points and negative points. Just a heads up, that your lease buy out does not include the gst that you will need to pay. With a lease you pay the taxes monthly on the payment and only the payment.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

Well, I paid 36K for my Tacoma (GST included), a friend of mine is the manager of the dealership and sold me the truck, and when I called him to ask the exact full amount I would owe if I wanted to buy out the lease right now he said 25K, which is the exact remaining amount from what i've paid monthly in the last 2 years, and I mean I made sure and asked twice to make sure that is the FULL amount and if I sold the truck today and got a check for that amount that would cover my lease buy out and he said yes, so I would certainly hope he wasn't lying to me... but I would think that since the amount of the lease I agreed and signed to was 36K including GST, that there would not be any additional GST charges. But might be worth calling to reassure once more.

 

[Scuba]

Go with the ecoboost, I just ordered my 2012 last night, my old man has one and i was so impressed I bought one. Just have to wait for it now as they haven't started building the '12's yet.

 

[-LadyDirt-]

I know everyone loves their ecoboosts and I agree they sound awesome.. but, I don't like the idea of filling it with premium fuel for starters, and I'm really wondering about the life of the turbos in these things, and what maintenance could be like. They're all still brand new right now so of course they're in mint condition and not having issues.... but i'm just a bit nervous about what happens to turbos after they have a couple thousand kms on em...so although I agree they're probably great and all that but its the unknown stuff that could possibly happen later on with them that is preventing me from buying one I think.

 

[magnet]

I know everyone loves their ecoboosts and I agree they sound awesome.. but, I don't like the idea of filling it with premium fuel for starters, and I'm really wondering about the life of the turbos in these things, and what maintenance could be like. They're all still brand new right now so of course they're in mint condition and not having issues.... but i'm just a bit nervous about what happens to turbos after they have a couple thousand kms on em...so although I agree they're probably great and all that but its the unknown stuff that could possibly happen later on with them that is preventing me from buying one I think.

they have been putting big turbos on small engines in Europe forever now. they work great.
wife is looking at an ego boost right now as well. biggest thing i really like about it is they are so quite in the cab, no engine noise whatsoever, power is crazy for a v-6 and fuel seems ok. 2011 supercrew xlt fx4 otd for 36k price seems ok but will wait and see took it for a couple days to see if it is what she wants, 3 vehicles in the last year getting tired of car shopping. j/s.

 

[Mikew5j]

I know everyone loves their ecoboosts and I agree they sound awesome.. but, I don't like the idea of filling it with premium fuel for starters, and I'm really wondering about the life of the turbos in these things, and what maintenance could be like. They're all still brand new right now so of course they're in mint condition and not having issues.... but i'm just a bit nervous about what happens to turbos after they have a couple thousand kms on em...so although I agree they're probably great and all that but its the unknown stuff that could possibly happen later on with them that is preventing me from buying one I think.

I have yet to put any premium in my truck. Regular is just fine according to the manual. There is a recommendation to use premium when towing heavy in hot weather, but it isn't necessary. Like Magnet said, turbos have been used in demanding applications for a long time. Just use good oil and change it regularly.

 

[skidoo6100]

I have a 11 Super crew ecoboost with a 6.5 foot box. 32,000 on it now. Love it.
Averages 14-15l per 100kms, half city and highway. Best so far 750 kms coming home from golden on 3/4 of a tank. 11.4l per 100kms.

 

[magnet]

I have a 11 Super crew ecoboost with a 6.5 foot box. 32,000 on it now. Love it.
Averages 14-15l per 100kms, half city and highway. Best so far 750 kms coming home from golden on 3/4 of a tank. 11.4l per 100kms.

yeah thats about where the tester is if you do economy tests on it right now in the 11l per 100km range, hopefully will get better. cause that is a far cry from their predicted 31 mpg.

 

[OnlyPolaris]

no need to run premium in the ecoboost. have run nothing but regular in mine.

 

[Bogger]

31 MPG = 7.5L/100km... my wifes little supercharged 1.8L only gets 8L/100km and I think thats still pretty kick-azz...hard to believe a large 4x4 truck is capable of 7L/100km....even my diesel only gets 21L/100km

yeah thats about where the tester is if you do economy tests on it right now in the 11l per 100km range, hopefully will get better. cause that is a far cry from their predicted 31 mpg.

 

[EMANAARON]

31 MPG = 7.5L/100km... my wifes little supercharged 1.8L only gets 8L/100km and I think thats still pretty kick-azz...hard to believe a large 4x4 truck is capable of 7L/100km....even my diesel only gets 21L/100km

It will be 31 Imp. MPG all dealers use Imperial to make the number stand out!

 

[-LadyDirt-]

So unfortunately because we're too picky and can't get a 2011 in the Ford FX4 with the color and options we want we're looking at a factory 2012 order, I priced it out and without the ecoboost and navigation, with the current dealer incentives and the finance rates it comes in a bit too high over the budget so dropping that idea for now. Might be a possibility later on in the new year and if better incentives come out. But, Nissan is having blowout sales on leftover 2011 Titans and Sherwood Nissan has one with the exact same options that we would have ordered in the FX4, the Pro-X trim or whatever it is, and its listed for 56K, they're offering 12g off (Ford is currently only offering 6g off) and they're also offering 0% financing... soooo guess i'm checking out Titans this weekend.

 

[magnet]

So unfortunately because we're too picky and can't get a 2011 in the Ford FX4 with the color and options we want we're looking at a factory 2012 order, I priced it out and without the ecoboost and navigation, with the current dealer incentives and the finance rates it comes in a bit too high over the budget so dropping that idea for now. Might be a possibility later on in the new year and if better incentives come out. But, Nissan is having blowout sales on leftover 2011 Titans and Sherwood Nissan has one with the exact same options that we would have ordered in the FX4, the Pro-X trim or whatever it is, and its listed for 56K, they're offering 12g off (Ford is currently only offering 6g off) and they're also offering 0% financing... soooo guess i'm checking out Titans this weekend.

you need to find a better ford dealer.
Zender ford is 7500 off, factory incentive on the f 150 so i do not understand why yours is only 6, along with zero percent. wife just bought a 201 with the 5.0 the eco we were looking at was a rental unit in ft mac scary. has 4000km on it was a dealer demo. loaded up ok for 32,000 no nav or leather but nearly every other option.
sounds like a good dal on the titan though but cant haul anything still.

 

[phatboy07]

Ummmm Titan has 317 hp and 385 ft/lbs of torque lol. It will haul just fine.