FORD 150 VS. CHEVY SILVERADO

[Mr. Chevy]

I just traded in my 2008 Ford F150, STX, 4x4, extended cab truck with the 4.6 V8 for a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado with a 5.3 V8, extended cab, 4x4 with the Z71 off road package as well as the towing package..

I hate to say this, but comparing the two new trucks Chevrolet offered much more for the money than did Ford. I have been either leasing or buying Ford F150 trucks and trading them in every 2 years since about 1995. This is my first Chevy and so far I love it!! Ford makes an awesome and durable truck that is no doubt, but when I test drove the Chevy I fell in love with it.. I have to say I NEVER had an issue with any of the Fords I had...

The road noise is less and the ride is smoother than the Ford.. Fuel economy will be better also, so I'm told..

Any feelings or opinions from anyone out there?? Most all my friends have Chevy Silverado Trucks and like them...

Rich

[ORIGLS6]

Good luck with the gas mileage. My 5.3 gets worse overall mileage than my previous 5.7 Silverado. And it absolutely HATES my trailer. I've never gotten better than 9 mpg pulling a 20' trailer, and on most trips it hovers closer to 7 mpg.

Now, I will admit other than the mileage they have both been very dependable trucks. I drove the '97 5.7L truck 206K miles with nothing more than a slight oil leak at the rear of the intake. (except for a few fuel pump issues <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/rolleyes.gif) and the current truck has over 100K with the speedometer being the only problem to date.
I'll be looking at a different truck in 2011 and may consider a 2500 series or another 1500 with the 6.0 engine.

[Mr. Chevy]

Thanks Dennis... Could be the new 5.3 will get better gas mileage due to the cylinder shut off... Don't know if your motor had that on it or if that is something new..

Rich

[ORIGLS6]

I ran almost 600 miles last Saturday, the majority of it open road at 65 - 75 mph. Mileage ran around 17.3 mpg with this truck. It would have been at or over 20 mpg with the previous truck.

You're right, I feed all eight cylinders all the time. I'll be interested to see what your mileage is.

[SS427]

I have bought nothing but 1500 Silverados every 2 years for the last 15 years and have had great luck with all of them other than minor issues (fuel pump, steering column clunk, driveshaft, etc). Very happy to say the least. Several years ago I tried to convince myself that Ford and Dodge had nice trucks and went out of my way to buy one. Still came back to the Chevy in the end. My biggest complaints on the other two were road feel and room in the extended cabs. I did not feel that either Ford or Dodge came anywhere close to the roominess that the Chevy's had especially in the rear seat and that included crew cab trucks. All of my trucks have averaged about 16-17 mpg including my crew cab and did not do all that bad even with trailers. I made NUMEROUS trips from Mpls to Springfield with my last crew cab 1500 pulling a 24' enclosed trailer and averaged around 10 mpg. Without a trailer I might be able to sqeak out 19 mpg. I am a Chevy guy to the core but when it comes to a work truck I was not afraid to drive anything that would get the job done. The Chevrolet always came out on top in my opinion.

[Don_Lightfoot]

Our '07 is essentially identical to what you just got Rich. Ride and feel are excellent, much better than all the previous Silverado's we have owned. Hauling my open trailer with the Chevelle on it is much more stable and smooth than previous models. Think it has something to do with the new frames being used.

However, mileage with our 5.3 sucks. It's not much better than the SS we had before it which was a real gas hog. Agree with Dennis, previous 5.7's had better mileage.

[x Baldwin Motion]

I was consistently getting about 17.5 MPG with the 5.3 over the last 70,000 miles. (considering the other cars in the garage, I thought this WAS good mileage). I am driving the 2011 crew cab with the flex fuel option now and have not bothered to calculate the gas mileage. This truck rides like a Lincoln, I love it.

As far as full size Chevy pick ups go, I have been buying new ones since 1985 and most recently found out they were safe in a roll over. It's not likely I would switch to a Ford (and I did have a new 2011 as a rental for a few weeks recently..yuck, the ride sucked and it handled like a dump truck)

[njsteve]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SS427</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I have bought nothing but 1500 Silverados every 2 years for the last 15 years and have had great luck with all of them other than minor issues (fuel pump, steering column clunk, driveshaft, etc). Very happy to say the least. Several years ago I tried to convince myself that Ford and Dodge had nice trucks and went out of my way to buy one. Still came back to the Chevy in the end. My biggest complaints on the other two were road feel and room in the extended cabs. I did not feel that either Ford or Dodge came anywhere close to the roominess that the Chevy's had especially in the rear seat and that included crew cab trucks. All of my trucks have averaged about 16-17 mpg including my crew cab and did not do all that bad even with trailers. I made NUMEROUS trips from Mpls to Springfield with my last crew cab 1500 pulling a 24' enclosed trailer and averaged around 10 mpg. Without a trailer I might be able to sqeak out 19 mpg. I am a Chevy guy to the core but when it comes to a work truck I was not afraid to drive anything that would get the job done. The Chevrolet always came out on top in my opinion. </div></div>

Don't mean to hijack the thread but...

Pulling a 24 footer with a 1500? Are you able to stop effectively with the brakes on the 1500? do they have big enough brakes? The one reason I've been using 2500 suburbans for decades was that they had much bigger brakes than the 1500s. I still have the 1995 diesel K2500 suburban I bought new 15 years ago. I pull a 24 footer as well. Not a whole lotta power with the 6.5 diesels but they seem to hold up pretty well. They were cost effective back when diesel was cheap but nowadays I wouldn't waste the extra 10 grand.

[SS427]

It occured (remembered) to me after I wrote this and too late to edit. Most of the recent travels from MPLS to Springfield were with the 1 ton dually NOT my 1500. However, I did pull a trailer around town several times as well as short 2-3 hour trips with the 1500 and with electric trailer brakes I had no issues with the 1500. My only concern was actually with the rear axle as they had service bulletins on them regarding too close of tolerences and the rears being ruined by too much heat when towing though I never had an issue.

[Chevy454]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Pulling a 24 footer with a 1500? Are you able to stop effectively with the brakes on the 1500? do they have big enough brakes? The one reason I've been using 2500 suburbans for decades was that they had much bigger brakes than the 1500s. I still have the 1995 diesel K2500 suburban I bought new 15 years ago. I pull a 24 footer as well. Not a whole lotta power with the 6.5 diesels but they seem to hold up pretty well. They were cost effective back when diesel was cheap but nowadays I wouldn't waste the extra 10 grand. </div></div>
If a guy tows/hauls very much at all, just about any diesel made within the last decade will make you throw rocks at anything else you've owned before...

Re. 5.3 versus 5.7...look at the numbers...255hp @ 4600rpm and 330lb-ft @ 2800rpm for the 5.7L to 295hp @ 5200 335lb-ft @ 4000 RPM for the early 5.3L...the 5.3's power is higher up in the rpm band. The 5.3's move out better because they have a bit more horsepower, but the higher rpm peak makes better use of gearing...and being from the LS family means the aftermarket for the 5.3L is ENORMOUS!

[Jeff H]

Anyone getting bad gas mileage with the 5.3 may want to look into the Diablsport Predator programmer. My 2001 Z71 stepside reg cab was getting 14.8 mpg when I first got it in March. I had an old Predator sitting around that was VIN locked that I used to monitor my 2000 SS Camaro and it worked to monitor the 5.3 as well. I could tell it was running really rich so I bought a new Predator for $275 shipped and installed their performance tune and tweaked the fueling, overtemp, shift speed and pressure and now I'm getting around 17 mpg with better performance as well. The GM trucks with the 5.3 and automatic are set up to pull timing between shifts(torque management) and that also hurts the economy. Oh yeah, I'm running bigger tires (295/75/16) vs the stock 265/75/16 and it's slightly lifted.

http://home.comcast.net/~jeffhansbury/pwpimages/silv2_nm.jpg

[Justbad Joe]

Are we all running 4x4 or 2wds? I had an 02 that on its best day got 13 mpgs. Just bought a 10 with the fuel mgmt. with 6sp auto and have 1300 miles on it and the best is 17. What are you guys doing to increase mpgs.?
Joe

[1970Bluel78]

I would like to know more about the new Ford Eco Boost engines. I heard that there new turbo V6 is like 365 hp and gets great gas mileage. That would certaily change things for the Dodge,Ford Chevy wars I would think...

[flyingn]

would it be fair to compare an 08 with (im guessing 100k miles on it) to a new 11? Compare an 11 150 to a Silverado.

[jasonL78]

Just bought a new 2011 Silverado with the 5.3 and the Fuel managment system. I have 650 miles on it and I am averging 17.8 miles per gallon. I had a 2007 with the same motor option and loved the truck. But at 62k it started burning/loosing oil, not leaking. I was really let down when it started loosing 1 Quart of oil every 2k. Gm said it was normal to loose 1 quart of oil in 2,000 miles. I disagree! So since I am a chevy guy! I just couldn't go with another make. I hope they have resolved this problem with my new truck. From what I have read on-line this problem was with the 2007-2008 models? I will let you know how it pulls with the new six speed transmission in another month. I am trailering the car to Tenn.

Jason

[ORIGLS6]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Justbad Joe</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Are we all running 4x4 or 2wds? I had an 02 that on its best day got 13 mpgs. Just bought a 10 with the fuel mgmt. with 6sp auto and have 1300 miles on it and the best is 17. What are you guys doing to increase mpgs.?
Joe </div></div>

Both the trucks I mentioned were 4x4s. The only thing I did to the 5.7 truck was add a K&amp;N filter. I DO think those help some, although I have yet to get one for this truck.

[Jeff H]

Mine is a 4x4. I've heard about the oil burning problems with the 07 from other people as well. Another thing to increase mileage is to switch from the stock clutch fan setup to the newer (I think 2005 and up) electric fan and radiator. I heard it can help pick up 1-1.5 mpg but it's not the easiest/inexpensive upgrade so I haven't done it yet. My truck is actually pretty loaded with power seats, power windows, power windows, etc. which is a little odd for a reg cab pickup. The other thing that is actually cool about getting a programmer is that with the automatic with the tow/haul mode you can give it 2 different tunes and use the tow/haul mode for better performance at just the touch of the button.

[Tommy]

Dad and I pulled an empty trailer with a Z71 6.0 liter to Mississippi to pick up a 69 Camaro last year and even empty the truck was constantly downshifting on small hills. With the Camaro it was worse of course. Gas mileage was about the same as flushing a toilet... Dad bought a 2500 with Duramax and it was night and day.... I pull a 24 ft trailer 500 miles a night all week with a 97 Dodge with the 12 valve cummins and love it. I was using a ford with the 5.4 and it was like the chevy 6.0, revved out of control on hills.... I still pull 16x8 1/2 haulmark with my 95 silverado (5.7, 4L60E) with no problems but it also struggles compared to any diesel...

I'm not much of a Dodge fan but I sure do like the Cummins engine and to be honest, how much of the truck is Dodge?? Not that much in my opinion. Cummins engine, Dana Rear, New Venture trans... I think the Frame may be possible outsourced as well because the same upside down numbers are on it as Dads 2500 Duramax.... It leaves me to believe that only the sorry electronics are Dodge <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif



Tommy <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif

[Sportyworty]

The 2010 F150 is a much better truck than the 2008. I also trade every 3 years and the new 6 speed trans and a few new engine updates get the truck to 18 mpg. I can get 20 mpg towing because the speed limit is 55 in California. Featherlite 14' open with a 3000lb car. Gears make a huge difference regarding mpg.

[Jeff H]

I think most of these trucks downshift too soon with the factory computer setup. Another good use for a programmer, you can adjust the downshift speed setting and/or the throttle position before downshifting. But that's talking about the 4 speed automatic, the newer 6 speed autos probably make it a completely different combination that doesn't have that bad behavior.

[Chevy454]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Tommy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
I'm not much of a Dodge fan but I sure do like the Cummins engine and to be honest, how much of the truck is Dodge?? Not that much in my opinion. Cummins engine, Dana Rear, New Venture trans... I think the Frame may be possible outsourced as well because the same upside down numbers are on it as Dads 2500 Duramax.... It leaves me to believe that only the sorry electronics are Dodge <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif

Tommy <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif </div></div>
Well, unfortunately the front end suspension and interior *are* made by Dodge! Otherwise, I'd be inclined to own one...

[CDNL-78]

I drive a 08 Chevy crew cab short box 6.0 L for work, good truck, very little problems, but it sucks for pulling my 32 ft holiday trailer around, always revin high when pulling the hills. My personal truck is a 06 crew cab short box duramax with the 6 spd allison, night and day between the both of them. I would spend the extra $$$ for a diesel anytime for the hp and torgue. You can load up with quads and a loaded trailer, and dont lose hardly any mph pulling hills. But it does like its fuel when you load it up. Just my 2 cents. Have a good day all.

[Tommy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Chevy454</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Well, unfortunately the front end suspension and interior *are* made by Dodge! Otherwise, I'd be inclined to own one... </div></div>

I'm not big on the interior either... I am having to replace a few front end components as well but I would relate mine to miles and the weight of the engine in the truck. It is the roughest riding truck I have ever owned but I suffer through it... I would like to find a mid to late 90's Chevy truck and swap in a 12V Cummins and a 10 speed Eaton/Fuller Road Ranger Trans. That would really be something. The NV4500 trans I have now is strong but I find myself needing more gears as 1,2,3 are close and strong but 4th and 5th are a long stretch and something in between would be really nice... I will say this, between the Powerstroke, Duramax and Cummins engines, they all work well but the Cummins sound IMO has the perfect sound. The Powerstroke sound has never been anything special to me. I have a 4 inch diameter straight pipe on my Cummins and I get caught up in listening to it as much as I do my small and big block chevies <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif


Tommy <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif