Eco: Boost or Diesel?

I've been looking to upgrade my Frontier to a larger more towing friendly truck since I've moved to an area with more hills. The EcoDiesel and EcoBoost are two trucks I've been coming back to after searching around.  The Frontier did well on moderate hills but I can tell I'm working it a bit hard by the seals I blew out in the rear end and the slop I can hear growing in the drivetrain -  I will miss that 6-speed manual though.  I'm looking for something with low miles, potentially some factory warranty left, 4x4, around $25k-$28k.  I prefer the extended cab 6ft bed style trucks for size and capability, I still have a car for traveling with folks for long distances.  The trailer is a 2,200lb wood deck steel trailer which will usually have a 3-4,000lb car in tow.  I race roughly once or twice a month when the weather is good, so 6-12 events. 

2014+ RAM Ecodiesel 4x4 

I like the efficiency and capability of the baby diesel RAM, but my experiences with Dodge trucks haven't been too positive.  A friend of mine had an ecodiesel he loved that grenaded its engine with under 50k. Another owns a 2500 cummins with a great power plant but the Dodge around it hasn't been holding up too well (leaks, recalls, ball joints, clutches, etc).   Both trucks were bought new and taken care of, less than 5 years old. So my sample size is small, but I'm trying to believe they are both outliers.  The basic RAM platform is older than what Ford or Chevy is offering, so I would hope they have all the bugs worked out by now.  Does the age lend itself to lego-like modification between trucks?  I'm looking at lower trim level trucks, just above the tradesman with steelies type.

2015+ F-150 Ecoboost 2.7L or 3.5L

The Fords is a bit newer design, lighter, and would be a bit faster unloaded while still being able to tow when needed and exceed what my mini-truck can handle now.  There are a ton of 2.7L trucks on the market, a few 3.5L if I look hard enough.  Mostly XL and XLT trucks.  Ford has figured out how to make a cheap XL look decent with all the options they offer now.  I've given up finding a 2.7L payload pack truck that gets the bigger rear axle from the 3.5L and 5.0L trucks, they don't seem to exist.  The internet says the 2.7L really punches above its weight class and is 'fun' to drive for a truck.  I wonder if waiting for a used 2018 would be a better option though, with the 10-speed trans and added port injection to keep carbon deposits from becoming a problem.  Was the 3.5L a carryover engine from the 2011-2014 trucks?  I know there is a new 3.5L now, but I'm not sure when it became available.

What experiences do you guys have with these trucks and powertrains?

I have a hard time considering the ecodiesel ram and the 2018 f150 as contemporaries. Seems like a full generation gap from where i'm sitting. 

BIG mpg difference in favor of the Ecodiesel, though. I dont think there's much Eco in Ecoboost. I know a guy with a 5.0 averaging 20-22. I don't see the Ecoboosts doing any better. The 2.7 especially seems to underperform against mpg expectations. 

But, I would still probably take the 2.7 over the 3.5 unless you planned a lot of modifications. You're not giving up much of anything stock-to-stock vs a 3.5. 

2.7 vs 3.5 stock drag race.

Isnt Ford coming out with a v6 diesel f150 soon? 

Ford will have a v6 diesel soon but I'm fairly sure if you're looking at used xl and xlt trucks it will be a large price gap. I love driving the 2.7 trucks and I'm sure if you kept your foot out of it, it'd get better mpg. Most of the customers I've talked to aren't able to because it's an extremely satisfying engine to mash the pedal down on. As far as towing, if you need 7k lbs or less go 2.7. More than that 3.5. 

My buddy is shopping F150s right now and I talked him out of the 2,7 to just go a couple years older and get the 5.0. Real world scenarios the ecoboost motors don't make better gas mileage. In fact Ford has been sued a few times over the fact that their EPA test scores are not obtainable realistically. They put small turbos on and optimize them for EPA testing to get fleet numbers up.

Also reading about issues with turbo oil lines and oil sensor senders falling out of motors on the ecoboost  2.7 doesn't encourage me to want to rely on one.

Green diesel engineering has a nice MPG tune for the Ecodiesel but I worry about the reliability of the entire truck.

Ecoboost tows great and there is more performance to be found with aftermarket. I have a buddy with one and with some bolt ons I believe it made 400rwhp. Saying that the MPG sucks. 

IMO, the ecoboost is the better truck motor than the 5.0 in the Ford trucks.  I've only driven the 3.5, not the 2.7 though.  With the 3.5, if you're not wailing on the throttle all the time, it'll get better mpg when empty.  When loaded and making the engine work, it'll suck fuel down just as fast (if not a little faster). 

The ecoboost absolutely has a better powerband for truck use though.  It's like a diesel that revs to 6k, while the 5.0 has to get the revs up before it finds any meaningful power. 

I am partial to ford personally. That being said, I work next to a dodge dealership and every single one of the dodge techs hate the ecodiesel. This, paired with the sheer number of junk ecodiesel motors lying around their shop would make me steer far wide of the dodge. 

Lots of ecoboost trucks leaving the ford dealer across the street... Never heard anyone complain about them other than not really being TOO far above the v8 trucks on gas mileage.

I was looking for a newer truck to tow my race trailer and something bigger in the future.  I found a 2013 3.5L Ecoboost XL used for a good price. Empty the truck will get around 20 mpg on the highway keeping the speed under 70 mph,  It is a 4X2 and not a 4X4 so that helps. I tow an open trailer and when loaded with my race car I would guess I'm towing 5K gross plus the 5K the truck weights. I still get around 15+ mpgs doing 60-65. 

A diesel will get better mpgs but for a higher cost up front and higher cost to maintain and/or fix.  From what I've read at Ford truck forums the 5.0L doesn't get any better mpgs.  It's really how you tow, what you tow, and where you tow that determines that.

I think a lot of it depends on how long you keep your vehicles. If its a new truck under warranty and you are likely to replace it in 5yrs then I might make different choices than if its not going to be in warranty and I want something that I can reliably maintain for over a decade or be able to find easily find shops who actually know what they are doing with it.

Its great that you can put cheap hp mods onto a turbo truck, but why? MPG on the half tons has more to do with 2wd/4wd and the rear end gear ratio than the motor I think

Im a huge dodge fan. My 03 has 300k mikes and has been awesome. My dads 05 had 480k miles. They have been super reliable.

That being saod i am not a fan of the ecodiesel. Oil chnages are expensive, and owners have told me they are dogs and the hemi tows considerably better, about the only thinf they do well is fuel economy.

Im not a ford fan but if those are my two choices id take the ecoboost.

That being saod i am not a fan of the ecodiesel. Oil chnages are expensive, and owners have told me they are dogs 

They are pretty much the slowest of all the modern trucks, running only low 16s in the 1/4 mile whereas even the 3.3-3.7L non turbo base model v6s of Ford and Dodge still are quicker.  Meanwhile my dad's old ~240hp 5.9L gas engine Ram, while making the same HP as the ecodiesel and getting literally half the mpg in a lighter vehicle, wouldn't have a snowflake's chance in hell of running 16.2 at a dragstrip.  Have to take a moment and laugh at the things we complain about in this modern age.  

Strictly colloquial observation (word of mouth) so take it for what its worth:

I have towed about 5500 with the Ecoboost (buddy's F150) and found it to be a wonderful and worthy powerplant.  The Ecodiesel seems to have an internet reputation for frequent small (but annoyingly expensive and frustrating) failures.

I realize that isn't much help and its nothing you couldn't find with a google search.  I think the point I'm making is that a diesel fanboy (me) would probably lean toward the turbo gas engine in this comparison.

Its looks like I should be taking the ecodiesel off my shopping list.  I like the idea on paper, but in practice it seems to be more problematic than the Fords.  As I've read more, people have been describing the 2.7L and 3.5L as diesel-like torque with the ability to rev.  I can work with that.

As much as I like to preach the benefits of diesel (higher BTU content, slower burn and longer peak cylinder pressures, etc), when comparing small turbo engines it's a matter of boost engineering.  I still prefer diesel in general, but when comparing those two, the ecoboost is just what I would consider.

(again, based on internet chatter, not real world experience).

Also, when I preach the beauty of diesel, it usually refers to what manufacturers were able to place on the market prior to the 2008 EPA regs.  The new stuff is mostly crap.  The beauty of diesel engines was their simplicity.  New EPA regs on diesel kinda makes them poopy.