Ot: Ford V10 ?
 

Looking at a Ford F250 Super Duty with a V10. Anyone have one of these and what can I expect for mpg? Please advise both the good and bad of these trucks.


Frank

I've got a 2000 Supercab Long bed - V10, 4x4, 3.73 rear end. Boat + trailer weighs about 7500 pounds. I get 15 mpg highway without the boat, 8 mpg with the boat. A K&N filter and Cat-back exhaust makes a big difference in acceleration. The only negative about this truck is turning radius. You need to think ahead at the boat ramp and strip mall parking lots. I'm keeping it until Ford's four wheel steering is available.

I've got a 2002 F-250 supercab short bed, V-10, auto with the 3.73 rear end. The first 1000-1500 miles are really scary. When broken in(Finally!) I see about 14-15mpg on the highway empty, cruise set at 75mph.

In the city and commuting to and from work I get about 12mpg.

V10 in an Excursion. Just towed 10,000 lbs across the country. Power is great. I traded a F250 Diesel for it. Towing it got 7-9 mpg depending on the tempature and terrain. I average 11.5 city non-towing and the best I ever saw was 14 on the highway driving 65 or less.

Thanks for the input. I am a liitle concerned about mpg because it will be an everyday driver. But I'll feel better towing with it. Using a Ram 1500 for short tow's and ramp makes me a little nervous.

Excursion V-10 here. Never gets better than 10 around town, maybe 14-15 on the highway, tops, depending on speed.

I've got two friends that have had the V-10, one bought a new F-250 and sold it after a few months, due to the gas mileage costing him more than he had ever imagined at the peak of last summers gas price surge, but I dont know if he ever got to 2000 miles before he said enough, and sold it. My other friend has an excursion V-10 and he loves it, but this weekend while driveing from detroit to Colombus Ohio, he lost oil pressure and smoked the motor, It's at the dealer now, and they are saying it looks like an oil pump failure and covering it all under warranty at 24,000 miles. I looked at a 2001 excursion limited with the v-10 a few months ago, it had 10K on it, and exhaust and a K&N filter, I took it for a ride and I realized I need one, great power, but I'm looking for a diesel remembering my friends MPG nightmare. I drive all freeway 30 miles each way and the better the mileage the more I like it.

I've had two-
1999 F250 4x4 Crew cab SWB- nice truck, about 8.5 towing, a little better than 11.5 combined city/highway not towing.
2000 F350 4x4 Crew cab Dually SWB- a little stiffer ride, but acceptable, barely over 7 mpg towing, never broke 10 combined city/highway. A towing animal in every respect.
Very smooth engine with plenty of towing torque, but the mileage was unacceptable to me. I've seen lots of claims to better mileage with this engine, just never saw it with my trucks.
Now have an Excursion Limited with PSD- life is good.

Man I'm impressed with some of these milage numbers. I have a 2001 F350 Crew Cab 4x4 w/ V-10 3.73 gears. I average around 11mpg around town. We usually get around 12-13 highway and 9-10 when towing both cases are around the speed limit. I towed my boat behind my motorhome and my wife followed in the truck all at 55mph and the mileage in the truck was like 15mpg, but who drives 55? I have almost 2 years and 20,000 miles on the F350 and love it, nothing bad to say about it. I added a cat back exhaust and K&N air filter and noticed better acceleration but mostly it just sounds cooler!
Chuck

I have a 1999 F250, V10, 4x4 crew cab, single rear wheels. I added K&N air filter and Gibson cat back exhaust. Normal mileage is 11mpg. The best I've ever seen on the highway is 14 mpg. I went with the V10 because the Diesel was too noisy for the wife.

Sorry it's not a Ford but I just towed my boat home (100miles) with the new ride 2001 2500/Cummins quad cab and got 14mpg at 65-70mph.
Weight is about 6500-6800lbs.
And that was with passing a bunch of slow drivers on a 2 lane road.
There's nothing like a diesel !:p

14????
 

I think a few of these guy's are getting the gas gauge confused with the oil pressure gauge. I just bought a 99' ext. cab with 25k. Truck is cherry. It came equipped a 5th wheel tow package (not my choice but couldn't pass up $20k). I'm not sure what gears I've got but I can't get better than 10mpg. In town, out of town, driving backwards, etc. etc. IT'S ALWAYS 10. My buddy also has a f250 with a normal set-up and gets the same mpg. Good luck. Great power, better ride, and they look cool as hell towin' a go fast. just my .02

Have 2000 Excursdion with 3.73 gears and two wheel drive that I bought in July 2000 and now have 16000 miles on it . In town (freeway and street I get 11.5-12.5) and on the open road I get 14.5 to 15.9 depending on how I drive but usually 70-75. I have not done any mods yet.

Hey Rob, before you jump on the diesel bandwagon, you might want to crunch the numbers. From what I've seen at www.ford-diesel.com (among other places), you need to hit somewhere between 80,000 and 150,000 miles before you break even, given the initial cost of the diesel, the increased maintenance requirements (15 quarts of oil every change, fuel filters, coolant additive, etc...), etc. Not to mention you'll need to plug that block heater in over the winter, and I don't think Detroit Edison is giving away electricity :eek:

Not to rain on the diesel parade - I'd love one myself, but I just can't justify the added cost, maintenance, and hassle. OTOH, the Powerstroke is hands down the coolest beast on the road, and we all know that's worth something!! :D

jr on the board here just bought an Excursion with a powerstroke not too long ago, maybe he'll check in. Jeff, you out there??

Thanks mike, I definitely am one to look into things before I jump on the bandwagon. One of my friends just picked up a 2001 PSD f-250 w/20,000 miles on it. It's only a been a few weeks though, but I'm waiting to see how he likes it after a few months. He doesn't tow anything, & drives about 3 miles to work every day, just felt the need for the truck, which I can understand. I'm a bit leary of the v-10, mileage & reliability related, and the V8 just isn't enough punch, I drive 40,000 miles a year, and tow my boat, and a friends 35 cafe racer all the time, snowmobiles in the winter, and quads in the summer. A diesel excursion seems to be exactly what fit's my needs. I love the look of the truck, enough to be able to live with the crappy looking dash. I have a heated attached garage, but it worries me about stinking my house up with diesel fumes, so there are issues I need to look into still, and my friends input is a big part of it. I just heard from someone here at work that there is a new body style coming out for the excursion and that they saw one yesterday. That should bring the price of the current one down a bit if that is true. I'm finding the best prices at dealers actually, but I'll wait a few more months before I do anything. Just quick calculations I think a diesel will cost about $3000 less in fuel costs per year.

Hey this is somewhat OT, but maybe your friend can clear it up. Whenever I see a station that sells diesel, the price is always listed as "$x.xx, with state sticker" - what the hell is a "state sticker?"

Does this mean that you have to have your vehicle registered as a commercial truck to get that price? If so, what do the rest of us pay?

And I love your choice of vehicle - I'd be driving a diesel Excursion myself if it were up to me. Side note, the Mrs is getting her new 2002 Mercury Mountaineer today. I know it's just a gussied-up Explorer, but she (and me!) like the interior and exterior better than the Explorer. And you don't see one on every corner.

My wife has a 2001 Excursion Limited with V-10 that is her daily driver. She and I will tell it is one hell of a great all around do everything vehicle. It has 3.73 rear end and all the power you could ask for.

But we have never seen mileage as good as some on her have posted. I know of two friends running V-10's and our church has a van with V-10 and none have ever see 14-15 MPG. We pretty much get between 10 and 11 MPG all day long. The only long trip we have taken was pulling the boat (6500 Lbs) to Miami last winter. We run 70 MPH and the A/C some and were between High nine to low ten MPG. I find that the mileage does not change much when towing. The engine sure sounds GREAT.

That's a commercial vehicle price, I'm not sure what the difference is, but there is a place by me that doesn't charge that extra ammount to anyone, I think it's a state sales tax or something, I don't know how they get away with not charging everyone though.

Rob, I just bought a PSD Excursion 4x4 about 6 months ago. A couple of things. I like the truck, size, and towing. The engine has been great. But... the front suspension absolutely sucks. I will need to put on better springs, and shocks inorder to get it to ride right. I have 1 inch clearance between the bump stop on one side of the axle and less than 1/2 on the other. What this means is that I get the feeling of bottoming out on the front. A F-250 HD crew cab here at work has about 3.5 inches. I read somewhere that they use the same springs on the PSD as the V10 and 5.4 but the PSD weights hundreds of pounds more. The crappy shocks also allow way too much movement. Also the rear end needs a sway bar. The ass end gets to rolling around and it starts to drag you around. Pulling the boat around is great. I'm pulling about 8500-9000 lbs. The truck is very happy with it.

If you buy and X, make an appointment with a spring shop and drive it from the dealer to the shop and have better springs, shocks, and a sway bar put on.

You mentioned that you have a heated garage. It will stink up your house. Although not as much as if you had a unheated garage. Mine smokes like an SOB on a cold morning. My neighbor call the first morning we had it and asked if it was on fire. But that settles down in a couple minutes. If you drive 40,000 a year get the PSD if your going to keep it. I don't care how heavy duty a gas engine is made, it won't outlast a diesel.

Would I buy it again. Yes. But I would have the springs waiting when I got home.

I don't like the idea of the garage smelling like diesel fuel, but I'm sure I could seal the entry door better to keep the smell limited to the garage only. Thanks for the input on the springs. I tow a 7000lb boat on an aluminum trailer so it should be great with an X PSD 4x4. How's that for acronyms!!! It's like being here at work, acronyms for everything.

I don't think the smell of diesel exhaust lingers. I have smelled it in the truck after one of the kids climbed in when the truck was running. But when I climb after its been sitting I never smell any diesel. If you spilled some fuel then that would be another story. You have to be alittle careful at the pump. Look down. You can get fuel on your shoes and then into the carpet. The truck is my wifes grocery getter so I don't drive it on a daily basis. So I'm not used to the smell. Now the dead sea otter smell of my pickup is a different story. I don't smell it anymore. I took over driving the pickup from my wife when I bought the X. Its amazing how kid smells linger.:D

If real concerned about the smell/soot on start ups, you could make a sheetmetal "funnel" attached to blower that vents outside. (Like the saw dust control system on a radial arm saw). The large end of the funnel lines up with the tail pipe on the truck, and the blower is controlled by a wall mounted timer next to the light switch by the house door. You'd need to park the truck in roughly the same place each time, but these trucks are so big that happens anyway.

Rob,
Before you make your mind up I will let you drive my truck , you can even pull your boat around for a while . You will definitly want a diesel, smell or no smell !
If you like mine I will let you drive my buddies truck (same as mine but with a chip) It blows mine away !
My friend was a die hard chevy guy , always had big block trucks (duellys etc..) and one ride in mine and within a week he bought a Cummins. Yes he likes the Chevy but aluminum heads on a diesel turned him off plus the $10,000 more price wasn't worth it!

I am a suv guy, pickup's are cool, but I like to cram 10 people in the truck on the way to somewhere. I'm bugging my friend to let me pull my boat around with his f-250 sometime soon.

our of the last 4 chev duallies.... 2 of them 454s' 2 diesels.. and a 2000 tahoe gas .. We prefer the Excursion with the V-10... have also had had a couple Ford PSD'S in the past couple yrs.... great engine.. but as stated cost up front and maint.. can offset what you save in mileage my ford psd work truck prob only got 12 mpg anyhow... but was loaded to the gills... always...in 90k miles the only prob i ever had was a broken flywheel..which isn't good but .. oh well... we average 11-12 all day long with our V-10 no matter what.... have herad a good chip and k-n really waks them up but haven't done it yet.. also stretch out the mpg .. so they say......have fun...... he y something else to consider is ... you can put a queen size mattress in the back of an Ex.. and still have room for the cooler and clothes......

Why has no one tried the Gear Vendors (see their web page) overdrive/underdrive unit? It is electrically controlled, will work on 4x4 or 2wd vehicles (but not in 4x4 mode). This seems like the solution to the low mpg ratings of the V10. Each model is unique to truck manufacturer (not interchangable with adapters) and in some cases may be available as factory installed option.
I found the web site interesting, and it would be less expensive than the diesel, plus could be moved to a new truck of same manufacture when trade in time comes, or remove & sell it outright to OSO!! I personally do not tow my boats much, so mpg is more important to me as I drive 230 miles each weekend to the lake (50 weekends a year, boy what a drag :D ).
But when I did tow, the underdrive would work perfectly for that purpose. Just my thoughts, check it out!:rolleyes:

1999 F-350 4x4 PSD....extended cab.....103,000 mi

Maintenance to date....... one glow plug relay switch and brakes and tires at 80,000 mi.

Starts on cold mornings without smoke.(make sure the glow plug circuit is fully operational...friends have had problems in that area)....definitely no need for a "plug in" block heater.......we don't use them even on the full size tractors anymore.

17.6 mpg lifetime to date.......... 15.8 towing the 28 Skater.

No front end issues (Maybe that's a "250" thing or related to the Excursion)

Jack rabbit starts and incredible acceleration from 40-80 blows the V-10's away.

Buy the diesel and keep it awhile....the engine is good for 500,000 miles................

T2x

1999 F250SD 4x4 Ext cab, short box V10

12mpg all day every day. Got 13 once coming home from Tulsa. I had the truck for 22,000 miles.

My brother has a '99 crew cab that he had reprogramed to the '00 specs. Claims to get up to 14mpg now. Maybe the newer ones are more efficient.

I just bought a 2002 F250 PSD 4x4 SC SB 4spdOD w/3:73 Limited Slip rear end. Awesome truck!

For info on PSD's and Ford Trucks go to:

Ford Truck Forums

:) :) :)

I bought a v-10 F-250 back in november,I have 18000 miles on it already,its a great truck with no problems but it is a little thirsty avg. is 11.7 mpg.