Ford 6.2 vs 6.8 new vs old

I'm a retired Ford Engine Engineer. I left Ford in 2006 as a senior leader. As part of my retirement package I am allowed 2 management lease vehicles a year.

My wife and I bought a new 25 foot Airstream travel trailer in 2016 and I have leased 6 F150's since then equipped with the 3.5l Ecoboost engine. We generally put about 20K miles on them except when we visited Alaska in 2018.

The trailer weighs in at about 7000 pounds loaded and we fill the bed with miscellaneous cargo. I'm a ex-race car guy and served as Fords Motorsport supervisor in the 80's. As such, I'm very sensitive about performance.

In my experience and opinion, I've not been disappointed with the package. So much so that I elected to keep my current truck instead of ordering the new Super Duty. I pay attention to scheduled maintenance intervals and have only needed tires and brakes after Alaska. That's my testimony. Tom H.

PS…..fuel consumption pulling the trailer averages about 14 mpg. Without the trailer I see about 18 mpg average city/highway. I can't speak to high mileage reliability but I do know the design is verified to 120,000 miles of durability testing.
 
Last edited:
You may not need the 7.3l, neither did I, but I love it. It has all the power I need and gets decent mileage when I commute in it at 75-80 mph. Avg 15-16 mpg. First thing I did was put a dual exhaust on it…man does it sound good.

777e0bb7b7e57fe91a221d1710765562.jpg


f6d7d49588b7bed2c2ac369483064b04.jpg
 
Last edited:
I have a 2019 F250 diesel so I'm no help with the "gassers" but I can't imagine towing with anything else, even if you are towing on the light side. Diesels are still better on grades and at high altitude. Yes, the fuel costs more. At the moment at least.

There's nothing quite like 1,000# of torque.


We're lucky in NV at the moment, diesel is only about 4% more expensive than regular. My diesel Mercedes ML gets about 30-40% better mileage than my Xterra did so I consider myself well ahead. If I didn't have it I'd be in a turboed gasser that needs premium, and at the current prices the phrase "bag that noise" applies. Same for buying a non-turbo vehicle. Driving anywhere from Vegas involves some upness in the journey, either going or returning. Once you start getting into the middle of NV or up into Utah, you can really be up a depth. Turbos rule, in those conditions.
 
Last edited:
Moralem, that's a sharp truck. I'm sure it sounds great with the duals. I'd like to have a 7.3 just because. But I recently retired and as such I'm trying to be thrifty and practical. I've narrowed it down to XL Supercab without the tech option. I won't necessarily buy the cheapest but rather the best deal/value. But it's looking like the 2022 6.2 will win out.
 
So I'm looking to buy a new SD truck. I've been driving GMCs for over 20 yrs. I'm a little disappointed with my current truck. 2020 1500 Sierra. Lots of little problems over 3 yrs. And still an annoying engine light that is on when they scan it but off by the time my service appointment comes around.


Either the service department is incompetent or they are snowing you over some nasty, expensive warranty job GM doesn't like to do. If the light is on and can be scanned, what is the error. If all they say is, "Oh we scanned it, but the light is off now" and don't tell you what the fault was, the stink factor is high, think gag a maggot stench.
 
I had a 2016 F150 with the 2.7 liter ecoboost. It had plenty of power under all conditions. I drove it over Wolf Creek Pass with a moderate load in the bed and it went over without a strain. I liked the throttle response but when it turned over 97,000 I traded it. I had concerns about durability for the long haul and wanted to get a smaller truck anyway.
In regards to towing over mountains and hills when i pulled my Honda SXS on the trailer in the Ozarks mileage dropped down to 14-16 mpg from the usual 22-24. We also had a 2020 Escape with ecoboost that was a nice grocery getter but that little 1.5 ran out of steam at 75mph plus and mileage suffered.
The escape also is gone after the dealer screwed it up badly on a warranty repair gone amuck. Never been told so many lies and treated as rudely in my life as over that episode. Ford corporate service was not much help as the rep i had to deal with was mostly concerned about her pronouns.
We went back to Toyotas. End of story
 
Sounds a bit familiar.
I had a 2000 Buick Century. It's odometer had well over 300K on the clock when it retired to the flatbed. While it's time had come, it made me a fan of Buick. So, we replaced it with a 2011 Regal.
This contrivance made me a fan of Subaru.
While the Regal is back in the shop, my wife is driving my 2006 Forester that I bought as a junkyard refugee I intended to beat to death on the way to a decent car.
Turned out to BE a decent car. Certainly better than the newer Buick. GM quality just isn't there post bailout. I feel your pain. It's a bit of a betrayal.

Knowing the Regal as I do, I made a goal of getting myself into a new soob. When it ate it's timing chains throwing a wild sparkle party, I was signing the line for an Outback XT.
about a month into this saga, the regal is back in the shop, my wife is back in my Forester and I have 260 turbocharged horsepower in an AWD rifle hauler with heated reclining REAR seats. that'll get 30 MPG ... That is ... if I let it:D

The thing that struck me about the Forester was how good it was at being everything it needed to be. It's hard to explain other than saying even as a base model as it was, they built and sold the whole car. No waiting for the next model year for some shortcoming to be addressed that never seems to get fixed.

While a soob might not fit your lifestyle, entertain it's concepts while looking at a Toyota rather than a domestic.
 
My neighbor and I both have 2005 Ford F250 trucks. Mine is the diesel version and his has the V10 engine. He is getting about 10-12 mpg and I'm getting about 18-20 mpg. With diesel fuel being more expensive, I still think I'm making out better than he is.
 
The only gas engined 3/4 ton and up truck I would consider these days is the 7.3 Ford. It was specifically designed for fleet/heavy duty use, and seems to be putting down a pretty good reliability record.

That said, my current truck is a Ram/Cummins dually one-ton. I put a 4500lb camper in the bed and another 8-9k of race car and trailer on the hitch, and deal with a lot of western mountain grades so diesel was the only choice. When I bought it in '17, the equivalently equipped Ford was $20k more expensive, and came with an engine that didn't have a stellar rep for reliability.

As far as dealer/warranty issues, every brand has bad dealers and good dealers. I've heard horror stories about every major brand. You pay your money for want you want and hope for the best.

One other thing: when I've compromised on what I wanted to save a few bucks, I've almost always ended up regretting it. I don't think I've ever regretted spending a little more to get exactly what I'm after. Goes for trucks, guns and a lot of other things... ;)
 
The only gas engined 3/4 ton and up truck I would consider these days is the 7.3 Ford. It was specifically designed for fleet/heavy duty use, and seems to be putting down a pretty good reliability record.

That said, my current truck is a Ram/Cummins dually one-ton. I put a 4500lb camper in the bed and another 8-9k of race car and trailer on the hitch, and deal with a lot of western mountain grades so diesel was the only choice. When I bought it in '17, the equivalently equipped Ford was $20k more expensive, and came with an engine that didn't have a stellar rep for reliability.

As far as dealer/warranty issues, every brand has bad dealers and good dealers. I've heard horror stories about every major brand. You pay your money for want you want and hope for the best.

One other thing: when I've compromised on what I wanted to save a few bucks, I've almost always ended up regretting it. I don't think I've ever regretted spending a little more to get exactly what I'm after. Goes for trucks, guns and a lot of other things... ;)

That's one of the things I like about the new 6.8
It's based on the 7.3 (shorter stroke same bore) and designed for fleet/work applications. Produces tons of torque. IIRC 435 lb ft. And the new 10spd tranny can only help with towing. Although I spoke to a snow plow guy with the 7.3 and 10 spd, and he preferred his old 6spd
 
Back
Top