Went to one of the local dealerships today to conduct an extended test drive of a 2015 F-350 long bed 4x4.Truck had 45 miles on it at the beginning and we finished with about 95 miles on the odo. Starting in Ogden, Ut we went up Ogden Canyon and headed over to the Powder Mountain Ski Resort.To access this resort you have to drive up a canyon that has a 16% grade (yes, 1 – 6, that is not a typo)It’s steep, fairly curvy and tops out around8500 feet.
While I don’t currently own a diesel made by the big 3, I’ve test driven a number of Ram and Ford trucks in the past year and I’d like to consider myself a driving enthusiast. I like the feel and experience of driving and am pretty “in tune” with what I drive and operate.My current daily driver is a hopped up Toyota Turbo Diesel 4x4 that has served me well for 19 years. Looks like hell, but it’s fun to drive and sounds cool at full boost. Anyway, here is what I thought of this 2015 Ford.
Off the line, the Torque Management (TM) is still there, but greatly reduced over what the 14’s have and far less than what the Ram’s have. Last year Ford’s was annoying until you hit about 2000 rpm and the Ram’s TM was hit and miss with most being unacceptable and in some the delay was so pronounced it was borderline dangerous. I found the TM in this 15 to be acceptable and could easily learn to live with it. Pedal goes down and things start to happen. No obvious delay between pedal movement and rear tires moving you forward, but you also are not getting full torque until you’ve gained a few mph. Makes sense or most folks would roast the tires off in short order.
Driving through the canyon, the tranny was silky smooth and not a single hiccup. The integration between the engine, tranny and chassis is excellent. Upshifts were smooth as well as the downshifts. While I was driving the salesman was peppering me with questions so I wasn’t looking at the gauges too much. As for comfort, noise and handling, this thing is on par with my wife’s Toyota Landcruiser, perhaps better. We drove over to the base of Powder Mountain and started up the grade. I wasn’t holding much back on the drive up the hill. The power was plentiful and there was more on tap. Probably the quickest run up the hill I’ll ever do in an 8000 lb truck.
Coming down it was time to play with the exhaust brake. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.Not too sure what to think. There was no owner’s manual in the truck to understand how this thing is suppose to operate. In a Ram, you push the button and know it there and it has two modes, On or Auto. When on “on” it’s pretty obvious someone threw an anchor out the back as you can feel the truck slowing down. When on Auto, you slow down to a set speed and it seems to hold that speed. As best I can figure out, the Ford operates like the Auto function on the Rams. We tried a number of combinations and were kinda stumped trying to figure out what makes it work and how it works. It seems to work best when you have the tow/haul engaged (why would you need an exhaust brake without this function engaged)? So T/H engaged, truck is picking up speed going down the hill. Hit EB button and truck is still picking up speed. Use brakes to slow down and now the truck is losing speed and it tended to keep the speed you where at the moment you lifted your foot off the brake pedal.
We ran up and over North Ogden Pass and played with the EB some more and still had questions as to how this thing is suppose to operate. When you do get it to engage, it does seem to work, but it is not as aggressive or positive as the Ram’s.
I then returned truck to the dealership, getting 18 mpg on the lie-o-meter on the freeway. Both the salesman and I wiped the grins off our faces and he went to put another 5 gallons in the tank. All in all, I’m impressed.I’m glad they fixed the TM issues off the line, but wish the EB was a little more aggressive.
Adam
While I don’t currently own a diesel made by the big 3, I’ve test driven a number of Ram and Ford trucks in the past year and I’d like to consider myself a driving enthusiast. I like the feel and experience of driving and am pretty “in tune” with what I drive and operate.My current daily driver is a hopped up Toyota Turbo Diesel 4x4 that has served me well for 19 years. Looks like hell, but it’s fun to drive and sounds cool at full boost. Anyway, here is what I thought of this 2015 Ford.
Off the line, the Torque Management (TM) is still there, but greatly reduced over what the 14’s have and far less than what the Ram’s have. Last year Ford’s was annoying until you hit about 2000 rpm and the Ram’s TM was hit and miss with most being unacceptable and in some the delay was so pronounced it was borderline dangerous. I found the TM in this 15 to be acceptable and could easily learn to live with it. Pedal goes down and things start to happen. No obvious delay between pedal movement and rear tires moving you forward, but you also are not getting full torque until you’ve gained a few mph. Makes sense or most folks would roast the tires off in short order.
Driving through the canyon, the tranny was silky smooth and not a single hiccup. The integration between the engine, tranny and chassis is excellent. Upshifts were smooth as well as the downshifts. While I was driving the salesman was peppering me with questions so I wasn’t looking at the gauges too much. As for comfort, noise and handling, this thing is on par with my wife’s Toyota Landcruiser, perhaps better. We drove over to the base of Powder Mountain and started up the grade. I wasn’t holding much back on the drive up the hill. The power was plentiful and there was more on tap. Probably the quickest run up the hill I’ll ever do in an 8000 lb truck.
Coming down it was time to play with the exhaust brake. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.Not too sure what to think. There was no owner’s manual in the truck to understand how this thing is suppose to operate. In a Ram, you push the button and know it there and it has two modes, On or Auto. When on “on” it’s pretty obvious someone threw an anchor out the back as you can feel the truck slowing down. When on Auto, you slow down to a set speed and it seems to hold that speed. As best I can figure out, the Ford operates like the Auto function on the Rams. We tried a number of combinations and were kinda stumped trying to figure out what makes it work and how it works. It seems to work best when you have the tow/haul engaged (why would you need an exhaust brake without this function engaged)? So T/H engaged, truck is picking up speed going down the hill. Hit EB button and truck is still picking up speed. Use brakes to slow down and now the truck is losing speed and it tended to keep the speed you where at the moment you lifted your foot off the brake pedal.
We ran up and over North Ogden Pass and played with the EB some more and still had questions as to how this thing is suppose to operate. When you do get it to engage, it does seem to work, but it is not as aggressive or positive as the Ram’s.
I then returned truck to the dealership, getting 18 mpg on the lie-o-meter on the freeway. Both the salesman and I wiped the grins off our faces and he went to put another 5 gallons in the tank. All in all, I’m impressed.I’m glad they fixed the TM issues off the line, but wish the EB was a little more aggressive.
Adam
