Pickups downshift: Some buyers swap V-8 engines for V-6s

Ford demonstrated the F-150's EcoBoost engine power by towing logs weighing from two to almost five tons in Oregon last November. (Ford)

A series of videos show the extreme testing done on Ford's new EcoBoost truck engine. The videos can be viewed at fordvehicles.com/2011F150. (Ford)

Jim Leath has driven pickup trucks since the 1960s, always powered by V-8 engines beefy enough to tow a boat or carry a load of concrete blocks.

Recently, though, the Missouri man did what for him was once unfathomable. He bought a Ford F-150 pickup with a V-6. And he has no regrets, especially after easily pulling a trailer packed with two horses, a couple of donkeys and a mule.

"This thing has so much power it's pathetic," he says. "I always wanted to get the biggest and the best, but this is the best."

The long relationship between big, thirsty V-8s and pickup trucks -- one of the last bastions for the engines -- is showing signs of cracking. A new breed of V-6s is getting better gas mileage while not compromising on towing and hauling power.

V-8s still top the overall new-pickup market. But the country's best-selling vehicle, the F-150, is leading the six-cylinder assault. In May, for the first month since 1985, more F-150s were sold with V-6s than with V-8s.

Ford restored a standard V-6 to its model line last year, but an enhanced V-6 that it started selling early this year is fueling the surge in sales. It is fitted with the automaker's EcoBoost package, which includes turbochargers and direct fuel injection. Those enhancements keep some of the smaller engine's better mileage while boosting performance.

Higher gasoline prices have made car and truck shoppers look for better mileage, but Ford executives have been surprised with how quickly the V-6 pickups' sales have grown.
"Who would have thunk it?" says George Pipas, Ford's sales analyst.

Automakers, pushed by tougher federal efficiency standards, have offered more hybrids and a few electric cars -- and they have been especially aggressive with improvements to gasoline engines.

Selling fuel economy gets trickier when it comes to larger vehicles such as SUVs and pickup trucks, though, where engine size and power have been so important in attracting buyers.

It was important to Leath, who works for a highway construction company and buys horses and other animals as a hobby. He never thought twice about getting a V-8, and scoffed when he read that Ford was coming out with a V-6 that would be competitive with the V-8.

"I couldn't believe it," he says.

Ford knew other pickup drivers were likely to feel the same. To overcome doubts, it launched a national tour of the vehicles. Leath took one for a spin and became a convert.

Ford executives, who feared they might be "walking to the edge of the plank" with the V-6 options, are breathing easier even as they expect competitors to close the gap.

Chevrolet is taking a different approach, using efficiency upgrades on its V-8 engines. As a result, Chevy says, its 5.3-liter V-8 has fuel economy competitive with the V-6 EcoBoost.

Ford isn't declaring that the V-8 has been dethroned, or that there will be a day when the V-8 isn't offered. But a place for the V-6 also seems assured now in the F-150 lineup.

"We think the trend will continue up," says Pipas, the Ford sales analyst. "We're not by any stretch done with developing that engine."