Ford F150 3.5 Ecoboost vs. Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 for tow vehicle

[Bar01]

Hello - new to the forum and am learning lots as I do the research to get my first tow vehicle and travel trailer. I don't want to have regrets right out of the gate so any advice from you seasoned campers would be greatly appreciated.

Right now I'm looking at these campers:
Scamp 16 ft Deluxe - Approximate weight 2200-2600
Hitch weight 165-225 pounds
GVWR 3500

Escape 17 ft - Approximate weight 2170
Hitch weight 250
GVWR 4000

Airstream Sport 17 ft - Approximate weight 2860
Hitch weight 350
GVWR 3500

Right now I have a BMW 328i drive that I would have to sell to get a tow vehicle. The new tow vehicle would be my daily driver. So needing to take that into consideration.

Thanks for any advice you might be able to provide!

[Borrego Dave]

Welcome to FGRV Bar. Don't think the BMW will work for a tug . One thing about TT's or boats and such, they are all the extra things in life and end up costing us more bucks to enjoy them, I'd go with the Ford as I'm a truck guy.

[Jim Bennett]

Welcome aboard.

Either vehicle would be more than enough to tow the trailers you are looking at. You could even downsize a fair bit too, to a mid-sized SUV. I have the Ford 3.5 EB to tow my Escape 5.0TA, and it is more than adequate. I wanted the 2.7 EB, but could not get it in a SuperCrew with 6.5' box.

I would definitely try to nail down what trailer you will be getting first, as these trailers outlast many a tow vehicle.

[thrifty bill]

I think you must be using dry weights. Actual weights will be much higher as will tongue weights. F150 is a fabulous TV, be sure to get one with the towing package including Fords brake controller. I have a 2010 SC Lariat myself. Love it!

And trailers tend to grow over time. We have gone from a 17 foot Casita to a 19 foot Escape. In fact, if you are looking at an Escape, I highly recommend you consider a 19 instead. Check out the two floor plans: bigger bath, bigger bed, bigger dinette. The extra two feet adds a lot and an EB F150 would tow it fine.

My F150 is my daily driver. Either the Supercrew or the Supercab make good daily drivers with plenty of passenger room.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by thrifty bill

I think you must be using dry weights. Actual weights will be much higher as will tongue weights...

A great source for realistic on-the-road weights of various molded fiberglass makes and models is the thread Trailer Weights in the Real World. Post #297 links to a spreadsheet of the data you can filter by size, make, and model and it calculates average weight and tongue weight.

[steve dunham]

I like towing with a truck . Ford's F150 is a great truck and tow vehicle . Even though I own a Ram , I take my hat off to Ford for building a first class vehicle.
You will quickly learn how fast your vehicle and trailer fills up with "stuff" and with "stuff " weight comes along for the ride.
Plan accordingly !!.

THANK YOU for not asking about towing with a Geo Metro or something else just as insane.

[Radar1]

We just bought a new tow vehicle last month. Was a tossup between another truck (we have a Dodge Dakota V-8) and a SUV. I liked the ride of the Ram pickup, but pickups have grown so much in size lately that it would be stuck in our driveway instead of our garage.
We tried the Dodge Durango with the V-6 and was really surprised at the power and flexibility of the 8 speed transmission. The same engine and transmission is available in the Grand Cherokee as well, so you might want to try that combo out before deciding on the thirstier but more powerful V-8, especially since it will be a daily driver. The Durango V-6 can tow up to 6200 lbs so I suspect the Jeep Grand Cherokee might be similar and should easily handle any of the trailers you mentioned.
I understand the Ford now comes with a 10-speed transmission with the 3.5 so that should be a pretty smooth combo as well.

[Darwin Maring]

With the pickup you could pull a 5th wheel should you decide to purchase one of them someday. With the Jeep, you are limited to Tagalogs only.

[Raspy]

The OP listed the Grand Cherokee with the V8 as one of the options and that, in my opinion, would be a much better engine choice than the V6. I have a Pentastar V6 and I would not like to have it as a towing engine. With the right engine, the Grand would certainly tow any of your trailer choices and there are some options in which AWD system design suits you best. Different transfer case designs that are better than the simplest 4WD setup.

After that it becomes a choice of a pickup or an SUV. I tow with a Ram and the bed always has a lot of stuff that I would not want in a Grand Cherokee and stuff I don't want in the trailer. Things like an extra cooler, lawn chairs, barbeque, fuel cans and a generator, for example. Plus, we end up finding things along the way that the truck is a must to carry. Last trip we brought home a large cactus, for instance.

My vote is for a pickup as the most practical. If length is the issue, look at a short bed or a standard cab design. Mine is a standard cab and it works out well for the two of us.

[steve dunham]

I've had two trucks with V6 engines . Neither one got better MPG's when towing or not towing than my Hemi 8 speed . The V6 trucks would have to rev way up and were constantly shifting when going up the slightest hill. Since we are retired and not commuting to work , we bought a tow vehicle .
I have never found a vehicle that makes both a great daily driver and a great tow vehicle . The vehicle either does one well or neither well.
My wife has a Pontiac G6 with the 3.5 liter V6 . It works well as a grocery getter.
Some people are truck people while others like small sporty vehicles , it's just personal preference.

[thrifty bill]

Daily driver really depends where you live. In a large urban area, say Charlotte for example, a pickup truck is a PITA to park, due mainly to overall length. Myself, even when we go downtown Asheville, we grab my wife's Element for convenience (I don't go downtown Asheville much). Now when we are going to Asheville but not in the heart of the downtown area, the truck works just fine, and is more comfortable. So it depends where in Missouri you live, and where you do most of your driving. Downtown St Louis? Truck would be a PITA. Most other parts of Missouri would not be a problem.

Consider the length of most trucks, 20 feet +/-. Parking it on an urban street, not so user friendly. Ditto fitting it in some modern garages. When we were shopping for a house, I took a tape measure with me. A lot of newer houses, builders scrimp on garage spaces. I used to say our garage was three cars wide, but only a half car deep (18 feet). Height can also be a problem if you install a tall canopy (I have an ARE TW canopy, its cab height in the front, but taller on the rear). So of course, it won't fit in my garage with a door under 7 foot high....

Many people rave about the towing capability and fuel economy of the Ford Ecoboost. There are a couple of F150 forums out there. My F150 has a 5.4V8, which was the only engine offered in the 2010 Lariat. That has changed.

We are also amateur pickers. A pickup is a must! We leave on our trips with the truck close to empty and by the time we get home, its full.

My dad's generation had the Lincoln Town Cars or the Buick Park Avenues for size and comfort. My generation it has now become a pickup truck. Check out some of the fully loaded trucks sometimes. Very plush! I've owned a pickup of one kind or another for the last 40 years. I cant imagine not having a truck.

[hwdornbush]

We have a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the V6 and 8 speed transmission and it tows our Escape 19 nicely. We get about 17 mpg towing, and about 27 mpg on the highway when not towing. My wife uses it as her daily vehicle and has nothing but good things to say about it except that the interior is smaller than her minivan, but what SUV interior is not smaller than a minivan? We have the front storage box on the Escape 19 and we find that we only have a few things we need to keep in the back of the Jeep, like the Weber Q1000 grill. And, no, it doesn't smell. We always leave the gas burning for 5 minutes after taking the meat off the grill, and that burns off all the residue, just like we do at home.

We debated the V6 vs. the V8 and settled on the V6 for its better mpg. We have not been sorry at all. We have towed over the Sierras, the Rockies, and more, and are quite happy with it. We thought briefly about a truck but my wife prefers driving the Jeep to a truck for her daily travels.

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

THANK YOU for not asking about towing with a Geo Metro or something else just as insane.

Like this?

The poster did say "The metro and scamp are mine and the picture was just for fun the day I brought it home. I towed it 1/2 mile at speeds less 20 mph."

[Mike Magee]

Really it comes down to what you want in a vehicle. Pickups and SUVs are vastly different. If you go for the pickup, for the trailer sizes mentioned I think the 2.7L ecoboost would be the one to pick due to the better daily-driver fuel economy. I almost bought a JGC with V8, and they are nice but I would also have bought the mfr's lifetime max care warranty (and planned to keep the GC forever to get value)... my confidence in their long term reliability is not so high. I ended up buying a Lexus GX instead.

[hwdornbush]

Originally Posted by Mike Magee

I almost bought a JGC with V8, and they are nice but I would also have bought the mfr's lifetime max care warranty (and planned to keep the GC forever to get value)... my confidence in their long term reliability is not so high.

I had the same concern, and bought the lifetime max care warranty. So far, in three years and 40,000 miles, the only defect or repair I had was one electrical problem with initial delivery. All else has been problem free so far.

[Tom 72]

These eight & ten speed transmissions are astonishing. I skimmed all the posts but didn't see mention that one of Ford's secrets In the Ecoboost is the turbo. I think turbos have become a reliable way of boosting power when needed. Fuel consumption jumps when the turbo kicks in, but drops if you are able to drive like an egg is under your accelerator foot. The turbo makes all the difference with my small diesel 2.7 liter 5 speed auto. Sprinter. I can get 25 mpg if I baby it. It will also accelerate uphill on I-70 in mountains West of Denver. I'm not sure I'd buy a new diesel, with the DEF - Diesel Emissions Fluid, but I like mine. It doesn't sound like a diesel is among your choices. Some Jeeps offer them.

[padlin00]

I have a 3.5 Ecoboost, for the trailers your looking at I'd suggest you check into the smaller 2.7L in whatever bed and cab combo you like, or can get. I'd also suggest you wait till you figure out exactly which trailer you really want. 2' itis can hit at any time, you might end up with a bigger trailer then you think.

[thrifty bill]

Great point on the 2' itis! We bought a 17' Casita two years ago. Two small for us. So we just bought a 19' Escape. Two years from now, we'll probably be looking at 21' Escapes!!

In the past we had a 22' fifth wheel, equivalent space wise to a 25' pull behind trailer. So we are still smaller than that. Escape forum is full of people that started with a 17' trailer, moved up to 19' and are now at 21' trailer. It happens, a lot. If you start using the trailer frequently, you'll start noticing what you missed. Tiny bathroom? No storage? No place to sit unless you take up the bed? No room for guests to visit (table space)?

Fiberglass trailers tend to be a compromise space wise that drives features or the lack of. Not only are they shorter than most stick built trailers, they are also narrower and not as tall. Hitting your head on entry is the norm.

Camp in a trailer on a long trip, say two or three weeks, and something will bug you! It's just a matter of whether it bugs you enough to move up in size. Our last three week journey, 6,000 miles, did it for us!

[rdickens]

We live in the Kansas City metro and recently (last fall) bought Ford F-150 XLT Supercab 4x2 2.7L 3.31 E-locking axle, Bakflip tonneau cover, and Sport 20" wheels.

In mid-February, we drove up to Backus to pick up our new 2017 Scamp 16 Deluxe Layout A with front sofa & bunks (instead of the front dinette).

When we got up to Backus, the dash mpg meter was reading over 27 highway mpg. City mpg is usually 21-22 mpg. I. know that a F-150 2.7L, 4x4, 3.55, and 18" wheels will probably get at least 2-3 less mpg.

We recently took the Scamp16D-A down to the GE&H rally (Montgomery, Al), on down to Ft Pickens (Fl), over to Perry (Ga), and back home. With only 5K-6K miles on the truck, we were towing in 5th gear (using the PRS transmission setting) at 60 mph and got 19+ towing mpg.

The 2.7L has plenty of torque and power, but Ford does suggest using premium (or at least mid-grade?) fuel when towing and/or hauling with the Ecoboost engines. When you get into hills and headwinds (and the twin turbos kick in), the mpg does go down noticeably. However, I still like that better than having the transmission downshift to get the needed additional torque/hp.

If I were to buy an F-150 this year, I might have to give serious consideration to the 3.5L with the new 10-speed transmission. (Since this is the 1st year for the 10-speed transmission, I guess that I might have some reliability concerns about that component?)

As a tow vehicle, the 2016 F-150 is considerably more comfortable to travel in than our 2014 Ford Escape. We also appreciate the covered truck bed for bringing along our CLAM screen room/tent, our bicycles, and other miscellaneous chairs and camping gear (including the somewhat dirty water/sewer hoses, electrical cords, etc.)

IMHO - For towing, I believe that the "high torque at low RPMs" aspect of turbocharged engines or Diesel engines offers advantages .... especially in headwinds and hills/mountains. YMMV. [emoji6]

Good luck with your decisions! [emoji4]

Ray

[Bar01]

Thanks Ray. So based on your experience, the 3.5 ecoboost might be overkill for what I need? And also concerns regarding the 3.5 ecoboost engine?


Off topic, but since you live in KC area, could I come check out your 16' Scamp sometime when it's convenient?