A tow rig discussion

I have a 2012 f150 ecoboost and love it. Lots of bells and whistles and stuff to go wrong. The power is very impressive, much better than the 5.0 that I drive for a week and better than my 5.4. The six speed transmission is great but the way the shifting strategy is leaves room for improvement. I do like the tow haul mode and being able to eliminate gears that it will shift into. I cannot tell if the anti sway works, but that is a good thing I suppose. The built in brake controller and ability to save trailer profiles is nice. I do not like how I have to disable the backup alarm, the old ones I just pushed a button on the dash. my lifetime average mpg is 20.5 and I did notice a 2 mpg drop when it got cold (I bought it in the end of August).

I haven't towed with it much, just enough to know that it handles 5-8k loads very well. I haven't done anything heavier nor gone far enough to get solid mpg readings. it does suck some fuel when you get on it though.

I wanted a diesel but for the amount that I tow vs daily drive it didn't make sense and I didn't want the extra costs. My sticker was 45k and I got it down too 34k so it wasn't too bad. I had also gotten a more expensive fx4 down to the same price.

If I did it again I would have gotten a 4x4 only because it gets a 36 gallon tank vs a 26, completely stupid for ford to have done that. I also would have gotten a 2013 since they put power folding and telescoping mirrors off of the f250. If only I had known....
 
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I bought my truck new in 05. I'm not the type to buy a new car every couple of years so I was planning to buy something I would keep a long time. I also knew that while I would be using this as a DD, towing a jeep was the only reason I was getting it so with that in mind I went with a 2500 Dodge CTD.

I got a basic truck, no frills. The only power option on mine is under the hood where it counts. It pulls great. I regularly haul 2 rigs on my gooseneck trailer and it pulls like a champ. 75-80 on the interstate, just set cruise control a ride.
 
mcannon111 said:
Lets be honest though, the majority of people don't even use a truck to be a truck anymore. I know people who are afraid to put stuff in their bed because they don't have a bed liner and it will scratch the paint on the inside of the bed.
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Haha my grandpaw bought his 2000 Chevy 2500 new & all its ever been is a farm truck the bedliner is a sheet of plywood & hay but sadly your right & he's in the minority of truck of ppl who buy trucks to day oh & he only paid 20k for it too
 
I'll bring this back up, I think I'm gonna start looking for a newer tow rig....
 
After towing with my dads truck for 4k miles if I was getting a new tow rig it would be a Dodge with the factory exhaust brake. Period
 
250f4life said:
After towing with my dads truck for 4k miles if I was getting a new tow rig it would be a Dodge with the factory exhaust brake. Period
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She still getting it!! I just figure its getting about that time for a newer one....
 
I'm a huge fan of the fords. I love the way they look and every time I've ridden in one towing I've been impressed. I'm leaning towards getting one after I graduate next year but all the talk about the 6.0s and 6.4s causing headaches is worrying me. Pulling the cab off to change a water pump is horrible. Might look at a bulletproofed 6.0 and hope for the best. A 6.7 is out of my price range for sure and I want a newer truck so leaning away from a 7.3. But I'm not biased and would drive a cummins or dirty max if I found the right deal.
 
I love my 2000 F250 7.3. Pulls great and still runs like a champ with 175,000 on it. I'd rather have it than any newer truck.
 
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A lot of the newer SUVs have really, really good power. For example, I know a number of guys who tow their 4k lb trail truck with a Land Rover LR3. I know its not anywhere near as good as an american diesel 1 ton, but if you are towing once every other month or so, its quite nice to have a super nice SUV the rest of the time. 300hp, air suspension, tows just fine. Most of these guys are towing once every 3 months so having a usable SUV the rest of the time is quite nice.

Back in normal people world (sorry, I am really hot and heavy on a LR3 right now), the new 6.2 V8 from chevy + the 6 speed auto trans, I can only assume it tows like a champion. I know for a fact that the newest Yukon Denali XL trucks are very, very, very nice (probably out of your price range but I suspect the newer burbs are right there with it). Except for Harlan, seems like most of the other wheeling places these days are pretty close to reasonably sized 4 lane roads. Same story with the ford Expedition. Very good, stout gasser V8s and transmissions.

However I echo what everyone else has said, the diesel brings all kinds of win in the towing department. However anything with less than 100k on the clock still demands a decent amount of coin.
 
Dog piss. 13-14 around town and 11 towing. Completely stock though. I only put between 8-9K a year on it so its not that bad for me. I have heard that there are several solutions to the poor mpg but I have no intentions of modifying this one.
 
VOLT said:
Dog piss. 13-14 around town and 11 towing. Completely stock though. I only put between 8-9K a year on it so its not that bad for me. I have heard that there are several solutions to the poor mpg but I have no intentions of modifying this one.
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6.4 do a lot better using fuel additive... my uncle knows those trucks in and out

Sent from my DROID BIONIC
 
I've had friends with the 6.0,6.4 and 6.7 F250s. All applicable DPF removal and EGR deletes. ,The 6.4 running a SCT live wire with Rudys custom tunes was a absolute beast.... now granted my buddy traded it in for a 6.7 after he found metal shavings in the oil pan but It was abused regularly.. Once raced a Benz up to 145 on 35 inch KM2's yeah the Benz got its *** cut. 6.7 was much quieter even with the same cat less dpf less exhaust setup and I would say pulled better but didn't get as good mileage as the 6.4. We constantly pulled around 10-20k loads and had no trouble passing people on the interstate. BTW it was Chase with the 6.4 and 6.7.

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