# Ford F-250 with V-10



## Scott Idaho (Aug 20, 2005)

Can anyone give me honest oppinions not dodge, ford, chevy arguments about gas mileage etc on the Ford?  I am really trying to take the advice of these forums and buy a 3/4 ton and have found a great deal on an 05 F-250 with the V-10.  Help?
Thanks Alot,
Scott


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## TexasClodhopper (Aug 21, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I have the V10 in my Winnie 31 ft.

On a trip to Colorado Springs in May this year my mileage went from 6 mpg to 8 mpg.    

Now what does that tell you about that truck you're looking at?  Think about it.  Gas mileage is as individual as drivers.

Your mileage may vary.  :clown:


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## DL Rupper (Aug 21, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Hey Scott, The problem as I see it, is you do not want to accept the truth of the matter.  If you want good mileage, get a diesel.  If you don't care about milage, get a V-8 or V-10.  They all get poor milage towing.   That's the honest truth.

P.S.  Glad to see you took everybodys advice to get the 3/4 ton.  Now do the math.  The V-8/10 costs less initially.  If you plan on driving/towing less than 10k miles/year, buy the V-8/10.  However,at the current cost of fuel, $2.50+/gal ,if you plan on driving over 10k miles, the diesel will probably cost you less over the long haul.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Aug 21, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I agree with the above, If you don't care about gas mileage, go for it.  Ever heard the saying "Will pass everything except a gas station"?  
I used to haul cars for a business.  One time we had to borrow a V-10 from our main dealer because both Ford diesels we had were in their shop.  We towed a 24' trailer and had a dually on it.  We HONESTLY got 4 miles per gallon.  We could litterly watch the needle move.  The sad part is the power was not there to back it up.

It's a sad FACT also.


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## Kirk (Aug 21, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I have a 35' class A motorhome with the 275hp V-10 and with a full Banks performance package. My GVWR is 18K and I drive a very easy 58-60mph. I tow a Honda CR-V and my over all mileage runs about 8.5 mpg. Those are facts.


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## mking (Aug 23, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Hey Scott.I have a 04 Excurisson with a v-10.When i'm not towing I get between 14.5 to 16.5 mpg.When towing I get 10.5 to 12.5 mpg.I pull a 33ft ForestRiver Flaggstaff that weighs 7800lbs.Like stated before if I was going to drive it every day or tow two -three times a month I would buy a deisel.And the bottom line is that the deisel does have alot more torque.I plan on buying a deisel when I retire in 10yrs to pull a fifth wheel.


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## ltj721 (Sep 7, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I own a 99 f-350 with the v-10, 5 spd manual, and a 4.30 rear end. I work it in a landscaping business pulling several trailers loaded with equipment. Driving empty I get around 13 mpg, pulling a 8000# enclosed trailer I get about 9 mpg, pulling a 20000# open trailer I get about 7 mpg. Now I have borrowed an 03 dodge 3500 with the HD diesel and 6 spd transmission. I will be the first to admit it had significantly more power and was a wonderful truck, but running empty I got 18 mpg, with the 8000# trailer I got about 11 mpg and with the 20000# trailer I got about 9 mpg. Assuming the trucks are equal aside from the engine, it seems you'll pay about $10000 more for the diesel engine, so you'll need to drive an additional 104000 miles with the 9.6 cents per mile savings (jumping from 7 to 9 mpg with $3/gal fuel) to cover the additional $10000 purchase price. Neglecting the slightly higher maintenance costs of the diesel.


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## DL Rupper (Sep 7, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Diesel engines cost about $5/6K more than gas engines.  At $3.00/gallon for fuel the diesel isn't too bad if you are going to keep it a long time.  It will easily pay for itself.  Remember it will go 400K miles and the gas engine will be lucky to make 175K miles.  You do the math.


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## Kirk (Sep 7, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

DL, while it is clearly true that the diesel will usually go farther before major work is needed than a gas engine, but 400K? I'd like to see that one documented. There may be a few that do it, but there are a few gas engines that go well past 200K also. But both are very rare. There are advantages, but ................

Since Scott didn't even ask about diesels, why not answer the guy's question? I happen to have one of those V-10's that these guys don't like. It is pulling an 18K motorhome and towing a CR-V. It is equiped with a full Banks package and it will climb mountains with most of the diesel trucks towing fivers on the mountain passes. If you keep your speed down you can regularly get an average of 8.5 mpg. But like all big block gas rigs, as you increase speed, every extra 5 mph will cost you about 10%.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Sep 7, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Kirk, 
How much MONEY did you spend on your Banks set-up?  STOCK the Ford V-10 does not hold a candle to any diesel on the road.  I used to buy gas trucks.  After I went diesel, and I am talking Dodge :bleh: , Ford  , and now GM diesels :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh: , my mileage is double what I got with gas and the towing power is no compairison.  As far as your 8.5 mpg, I get 11-12 towing a 12,000lb. 34' fifth wheel.  With my truck added in, I weigh about 19,000-19,500lb.  When I unhook, I have a vehicle that gets 16.5 locally and 21 on the highway.


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## DL Rupper (Sep 7, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Hey Kirk, The Cummins 5.9L diesel is the same engine they use on commercial fleets.  You don't think they go well over 400k miles before overhaul?  I was responding to ijt721 not Scott and setting the record straight, diesels are $5/6k extra not $10K.  You do the math.  If you keep the diesel long term, at $3.00/gal the diesel will pay for itself and then some.  I won't back down on 400K miles.  Ask anyone that uses a diesel pickup commercially how many miles they get on their engines.  I'm sorry you bought the V-10, but its not my fault.


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## ltj721 (Sep 8, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Perhaps, if we compare new trucks, there is only a $5k increase in the purchase price for a diesel engine, but in used trucks, the diesels command a preimum of nearly $10k. There are good used late model dualie trucks with the v-10 that can be bought for around 8 grand and very similar trucks with the diesel go for about $18k. I'm not knocking the diesels in any way. Like I mentioned, the one I borrowed I really really liked. In fact, I hated to give it back. I loved it's power (torque actually). But sadly, I don't drive it for pleasure, I just need to move equipment, and only drive about 35000 miles per year, plus when I'm done with the truck, it's one tired vehicle, even if the engine were to be like new. But in terms of dollars per mile the best value to simply get the job done with a used truck is the v-10 simply because they have the reputation for getting crummy milage. If we look at the savings in terms of fuel costs (which are only a portion of total operational costs) you'll see that 9 mpg = 33 cents per mile and 7 mpg = 42 cents per mile. 
Therefore, I think that Mr. Idaho will be pretty happy with his purchase paying 23 cents/mile (13 mpg @ $3/gal) vs 16 cents per mile (18 mpg @ $3/gal). Even if his great deal is the standard $5k, he will have to drive over 70k just to break even. He will lose out on resale value though as the gasser will depreciate like a wild thing.


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## DL Rupper (Sep 8, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Itj721, I didn't really think about the difference in price between used gas vs diesel pickups.  I have to admit that 2 years ago I did sell my 8 year-old 95 Dodge Cummins with 210K miles on it for $10K.  However, it only used 1/3 quart of oil between changes(3K miles)so I figured it was worth the higher cost.  It's kind-of-hard to compare it to a gas engine pick-up because none of them had that many miles on the engine.  Most with 100K miles on them were selling for about $5.5K.  But I did more than pay-off the high cost of the engine in 8 years, besides I love the smell of diesel :approve: .


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## C Nash (Sep 8, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Scott, since you only asked about the v10 here is M2cents worth. I have the v10 in our 2002 32 ft Mh and have been very pleased with it and I am a die hard bowtie guy. I get from 8 to 10 MPG towing a 2002 4 door tracker.  Seldom run over 60.  Plenty of power and it is stock. Very smooth running engine and never any overheating problems even in very hot weather. I am not one that cares who gets to the top first.  Save that for the strip.  Think the V10 was improved in late 99 or 2000 with more power.


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## wallacelew (Oct 3, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

quote:_Originally posted by Scott Idaho_

Can anyone give me honest oppinions not dodge, ford, chevy arguments about gas mileage etc on the Ford?  I am really trying to take the advice of these forums and buy a 3/4 ton and have found a great deal on an 05 F-250 with the V-10.  Help?
Thanks Alot,
Scott

hello scott
i just bought a 2004 f250 super 4 door with a v10
love it too
great pulling power lots of room not to bad as millage go's 
im getting 12.5 to 13 mpg 
my old truck was a 94 f250 7.3 des. i only got 8 mpg with it so u see why i love this new 1
hope this helps
wallace


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## Kirk (Oct 6, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

quote:Can anyone give me honest oppinions not dodge, ford, chevy arguments about gas mileage etc on the Ford?
I guess that Grandview Trailer Sales and some of the others just can't read!


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## USMC (Oct 6, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I have a 3500 dodge diesel dully, I use mobil 1 fully synthetic oil in it and have used this oil for years in gas engines also, Most of your truckers use this oil as well as taxi's and police cars.
By using this kind of oil opposed to a regular oil the synthetic remains slick and your regular oil doesn't it breaks down, so when it does this is what causes your engine parts wearing and that is when you start using oil.
I have been told that using the synthetic oil after 100,000 miles and the engine is torn down and parts are micked you can tell no difference from the day it was built.
I use 15w50 all year in my truck, and I change it on a regular basis, however the nice thing about synthetic oil if you run over your due date for an oil change it is not a big deal.
A lot of people that use synthetic oil do not change the oil they just change the filter and add a quart or what ever amount is lost in the filter change.
Also I use synthetic in my differential as well, which most dealers suggest if you do heavy towing.
they also now make a synthetic transmission fluid but it is not recommended for the dodge 3500 automatic but is recomended for the manual.
I have no doubts that using this synthetic oil that I will drive my dogge diesel 400,000 with out an overhaul and maybe more.
Later Jim


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## SnowbirdInFlight (Oct 6, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

As my DH says above we drive a 3500 Dodge. Our milage without towing is apx. 14-16 miles per gallon. When towing it is apx 9-11 miles per gallon. We tow a 38 foot travel trailer.


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Oct 12, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I took a trailer to New Orleans since I last looked at this page.  I filled up in Knoxville and drove 297 miles home.  Put 14.2 gallons in to refill.  You can do the math.  
Kirk, I read just fine.  I read you guys sounding happy with 8-13 mpg.  I get on the high side of that towing.  I'll take my diesel anytime.


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## Kirk (Oct 12, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

Grandview, the point is quite simply that if you actually read the origional post, he specifically asked about one truck/engine. He also asked not to get all of the unwanted advice that has been posted here. Even if you think that he is wrong, why not give the guy what he asked for? This has just become a case of using his request to support the opinions of the posters, not to supply the information he asked for. If I were buying a truck to tow a trailer, I too would go with a diesel, but that was not the information that he requested!

 quote: Can anyone give me honest oppinions not dodge, ford, chevy arguments about gas mileage etc on the Ford?


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## Grandview Trailer Sa (Oct 12, 2005)

Ford F-250 with V-10

I DID give him the advice he asked for.  Go back and READ my first post.  It said if he "did not care about gas mileage, go for it."  I was NOT the first to talk about diesels.  I just agreed, after it was brought up, that the diesel would give BETTER mileage, and that is a fact.  I will admit I talked about my mileage, after it was brought up, sorry I like my trucks.

How about your answer?  The question was about a F-250.  You jumped in about your motorhome... NOT a comparison either, especially with Banks bolted to it.

I was NOT involved with the arguement about the cost of gas vs. diesel, but you again singled me out and said I could not read.  I would not have said anything tonight if I had not read your post.  Sorry you have a problem with me, but all I did was state FACTS.

The fellow has probably bought by now anyway.


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