Chevrolet Pokes Holes – Literally – In Ford F-150’s Aluminum Pickup Bed In New TV Spot
What a commercial. :suprisedn: Already talk of going back to steel in some areas. Especially the bed. The toolbox drop hole is going viral. Turns out there is little mileage difference with the weight change.
All Replies
Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
I have the poly ribbed bed liner and a rubber mat on the bottom too for sliding but I see these commercial vehicles often have nothing (in the budget). The F250 Platinum for 2017 went aluminum but they really beefed it up better with heavier or more steel. Overall it lost little weight in total since they took the weight savings and beefed the drive train and other areas. They added six steel cross-braces to beef up the frame more, heavier axles, etc. In the marketing announcements they are bragging about the additional steel they could add to critical areas from the weight savings so they are learning. The new F250 is definitely a reduced risk experiment with the aluminum.
They really beefed up the torque in the F250 class base engine after raising the capacity on the high-end F150s so much they were impacting the F250 market. The 6.7L diesel has nearly doubled the torque to 806 ft lbs and has become the standard base engine in the 2017 F250. The original 6.2L gas had less torque than my 3.5 ecoboost twin turbo (425 ft lbs) at 405 ft lbs. I guess the F350 will need the next boost. lol
For max tow on the F150 the 3.5 ecoboost has the highest torque rating for 2016. For best mileage go 2.7 ecoboost. The stripped 2.7s 4x2s get 23-24 mpg on the highway.
Chrysler is still working on getting the towing up to the Ford or Chevy light truck level. I think they top out at least 1200lbs less on tow capacity maxed out. 10.8 vs 12.1.
I looked at ford, Chevy and Ram, reading a pile of reviews. Went for a quad-cab Ram. So far, no complaints. What’s really upping the mpg is the 8 speed auto transmission. I really like the ability to manual shift if needed. Posi-track rear. I’ve been seeing a huge uptick in the number of Rams around here; now, I know why.
Aluminum worried me because of all the salt used on the roads here, during winter. Yeah, it corrodes steel, too, but you can get outrageous galvanic corrosion with water, salt and dissimilar metals.
To be fair, if your planning on banging the crap out of your truck bed, get a ribbed poly liner, plywood … anything!
LOL I was hoping for a challenge. Yea – they get a bit better – especially with the 2.7L. My 2014 steel gets better mileage than my old 5.4L too and weighs a bit more and has a lot more torque when you hit the gas but it has the 3.5 twin turbo. It is weird to hit the gas going up a hill – like a rocket compared to my old f150 Lariat 5.4L. The new one gets 20-21 on the highway with that engine at about 65 mph even though they claim 22. I think the engines are doing most of that improvement. My old F150 5.4L was lucky to get 18-19 going maybe 60.
My 2010 Ford F150 with the 5.4L would get 18 to 19 MPG highway. My 2015 5.0L will get 20 to 22 MPG highway. I took my 2010 over to the grain elevator and weighted it and it weighted 5,700 lbs then I took my 2015 with the aluminum body and weighed it and it weighted 4970 lbs. BOTH had 36 gals of gas in the tank and both were 5.5′ beds.
Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
The “350” class Rams, with the 6.7 Cummins will pull over 31,000 lbs. the “250” class diesels handle up 18,000 to 22,000, depending on dually or not. Mine’s a lighter weight, “150” class for light hauling, beach fishing trips, etc. I have an old ’98 Chevy diesel for a serious workhorse, but it’s light enough for beach use, too. The mileage on both are great, for trucks. Heck, the Ram gets about 23 hwy, better than my old nissan 4 cyl. (which I’m selling).
I’d opt for diesels, but am waiting to see what the urea injection does to reliability and engine life-too new to know.