5.0 V8 towing test video

[JExpedition07]

My first F150 was a '13 or '14 Lariat scsb with the Coyote. Wonderful motor but back then it had a 6 speed and when towing our 7k pound camper I wished it had a 3-1/2 and a 4-1/2 gear. It would hold 60mph in 5th at about 3500 unless you went uphill at all. Then it would slowly lose speed until about 55 and then drop down to 4th and run at about 4k+ rpm working it's way back up to 60 when it went back into 5th gear. 4000 rpm sounds fantastic until you listen to it for a few hours at which point its simply loud. I often ran it as a manual and picked speeds it like to go. With the 10 speed I imagine it being much less intrusive.

I haven’t hauled a camper so can’t comment, it does great with my boat. The 2014 5.0L was 380 lb ft @4,250 rpm and the 2023 5.0L is 410 lb ft @4,250 rpm so it has seen an 30 lb ft increase in torque since then. In my experience tow/haul worked great with my boat in tow.

The thing with campers is there is a lot of extra aero drag. My boat has a nice deep vee to cut air

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[Samson16]

My first F150 was a '13 or '14 Lariat scsb with the Coyote. Wonderful motor but back then it had a 6 speed and when towing our 7k pound camper I wished it had a 3-1/2 and a 4-1/2 gear. It would hold 60mph in 5th at about 3500 unless you went uphill at all. Then it would slowly lose speed until about 55 and then drop down to 4th and run at about 4k+ rpm working it's way back up to 60 when it went back into 5th gear. 4000 rpm sounds fantastic until you listen to it for a few hours at which point its simply loud. I often ran it as a manual and picked speeds it like to go. With the 10 speed I imagine it being much less intrusive.

I wasn't towing this past weekend, but put over 1,000mi on my Powerboost and loved how with the cruise control set going uphill it just dialed in a little boost to maintain speed. I had it set at 83mph which in 10th gear required 2000rpm and they never changed as the load increased. If I didn't have the boost gauge selected I would never have known. It was so smooth!

You did a great job describing the gear hunt we've all experienced and it reminded me how nice that was.

 

[Chili]

I definitely like my 5.0. I drove 2 2023's of the same XLT's. One with the 5.0 and one with the Ecoboost 3.5.

First one, 5.0. Felt good, lots of power.

Second one, Ecoboost. Lets just say, I knew I was driving a V6, punch it, though, and that motor gets up and moves! I really didn't want a turbo charged engine though.

Looks like you have the same exact truck as mine, but I have the 3.5. Sounds like they did a great job with the 5.0, I was a little sour about my 2020 5.0. Ford really has great powertrain options these days.

 

[Henfield]

I can go from 28MPG babying my 5.0 in "Eco Mode" to 12MPG hauling my trailer in "Tow-Haul Mode".

Personally, I think that's AWESOME!

The guy in the video isn't as knowledgeable as I'd like, but the more I drive my truck (20k miles now) and tow with it (about 10% of the miles) the more I am convinced that the V8 is the all around sweet spot motor for the F150.

 

[JExpedition07]

The guy in the video isn't as knowledgeable as I'd like, but the more I drive my truck (20k miles now) and tow with it (about 10% of the miles) the more I am convinced that the V8 is the all around sweet spot motor for the F150.

Yes he does miss a few points, one being the peak torque. The 5.0 really does not need to rev any more than the competition to hit peak torque like he says, that’s simply an old wives tail for smaller displacement trap that he is falling into. The 6.2 GM is 4,100 rpm, the 5.7 Hemi is 4,000 rpm. The Ford 5.0 doesn’t squeeze out the power with rpm like he says though it can rev much higher by design, it utilizes dual injection, 12:1 compression, and 4-Valve Ti-VCT. The biggest and most important note is the compression ratio-which he completely missed. You can squeeze a lot more power out of a given displacement with these technologies.

 

[gregs150xlt]

Looks like you have the same exact truck as mine, but I have the 3.5. Sounds like they did a great job with the 5.0, I was a little sour about my 2020 5.0. Ford really has great powertrain options these days.

they've did some revisions in the 5.0 in the last few years, including trying to fix the excessive oil consumption issue, and the deceleration rattle.

 

[Chili]

Yes he does miss a few points, one being the peak torque. The 5.0 really does not need to rev any more than the competition to hit peak torque like he says, that’s simply an old wives tail for smaller displacement trap that he is falling into. The 6.2 GM is 4,100 rpm, the 5.7 Hemi is 4,000 rpm. The Ford 5.0 doesn’t squeeze out the power with rpm like he says though it can rev much higher by design, it utilizes dual injection, 12:1 compression, and 4-Valve Ti-VCT. The biggest and most important note is the compression ratio-which he completely missed. You can squeeze a lot more power out of a given displacement with these technologies.

My only experience is a 2020 5.0 with 3.55. Even though it had a 10 speed with a much more aggressive gear than my 2018 5.3 6 speed it did not have more low end grunt, they were very similar. It just boogied in the mid to top range. The new trucks are a tad stronger down low and with 3.73 gears you have decent low end. But not like the 6.2 which only has 3.23.

Is what it is. The 6.2 has a lot more down low. Ford can hide some of it with gears and a slightly lighter truck though

 

[JExpedition07]

My only experience is a 2020 5.0 with 3.55. Even though it had a 10 speed with a much more aggressive gear than my 2018 5.3 6 speed it did not have more low end grunt, they were very similar. It just boogied in the mid to top range. The new trucks are a tad stronger down low and with 3.73 gears you have decent low end. But not like the 6.2 which only has 3.23.

Is what it is. The 6.2 has a lot more down low. Ford can hide some of it with gears and a slightly lighter truck though

2018-2020 5.0 had less low end torque and had the highest peak torque rpm (4,500) of any gen 5.0 put into the F-150 thus far. It had very high lift camshafts and short intake runners which have both since been eliminated and replaced with long tube intake runners and lower lift camshafts for 2021+ 4th gen engine. Both these items flatten out the torque curve significantly.

I don’t think anybody was arguing the 6.2 doesn’t have more torque, but the peak rpm is nearly identical.

 

[dhrandy]

Just towed my 5000 lbs-ish travel trailer this weekend. I honestly haven't had any issues towing in the mountains. If you are towing at 65 mph it runs in 9th gear and gears down for hills, usually skipping 8th to 7th. If I'm running 55 it will gear down to 6th for hills. You definitely do hear the exhaust when it gears down, but you get used to it or just turn the radio up a little. I got about 11.4 mpg on a full tank of gas this past 3 day weekend. I'm happy with it.

 

[Chili]

2018-2020 5.0 had less low end torque and had the highest peak torque rpm (4,500) of any gen 5.0 put into the F-150 thus far. It had very high lift camshafts and short intake runners which have both since been eliminated and replaced with long tube intake runners and lower lift camshafts for 2021+ 4th gen engine. Both these items flatten out the torque curve significantly.

I don’t think anybody was arguing the 6.2 doesn’t have more torque, but the peak rpm is nearly identical.

The more I hear about the current gen 5.0 the better it sounds. Good info, thanks!

 

[JExpedition07]

He has done a follow up with the 5.7 Hemi, it’s pretty wild how much faster the 5.0 was able to accelerate with 8,000 pounds in tow. 9 seconds with the big rig behind the 5.0 vs almost 12 seconds for the 5.7 Hemi.

 

[SpaceWhiteF150]

For the ones commenting about volume of the 5.0, with the factory exhaust setup towing isn’t loud at all. It’s totally different if there is an aftermarket system!

 

[Samson16]

I’m driving my PB up in the mountains for the first time and this powertrain destroys up here. The giant torque and the twin turbo race engine combine in sweet effortless domination.

 

[Mtnman1]

More revs for the 5.0 is not really relevant to towing. The Coyote is designed as such. It loves the RPM. By design. Towing really does not have anything to do with it.

Yup. Coyote loves rpms.

My 22 RCSB.....sport mode. Floor it....shift point is right near 6750 RPM.
Coyote really comes alive at 4000 RPM.

 

[JExpedition07]

Accidentally posted this in my other thread. The 5.0 won out against all the other powertrains for this dudes half ton reviews. Pretty cool. Especially from a self admitted Hemi lover lol.

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