Best Start/Stop - Ever - 2015 Ford F-150 Long-Term Road Test

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Best Start/Stop - Ever - 2015 Ford F-150 Long-Term Road Test

The Auto Start/Stop system in the 2015 Ford F-150 Lariat SuperCrew is the best I've ever used, to the point where I don't even need to turn it off.

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markinnaples_

That is great to hear.

mojo_mike

Nice to hear that the function can be made to work so smoothly. I had it on my BMW X1 (with the 4 cylinder turbo) and that thing would shake horribly at startup. BMW's implementation seemed grossly underdeveloped.

darthbimmer

To me the problem with engine stop/start is that even if it's fast and well damped, it's still noticeable. A critical part of the act of driving as I've learned it is to be aware of what's happening with the vehicle-- using ALL senses. Well, okay, not my sense of taste, but.... Hearing that the engine has stopped triggers a "DANGER!" alert. Feeling that it has stopped triggers the same. Not all drivers today are as aware of the vehicle as this, but I always am, and it seems that anyone who regards driving as an enjoyable activity is. This reflex is hard to unlearn. Perhaps the generation of drivers earning their licenses today will start out so accustomed to the notion that engines frequently stop and restart that it won't be so jarring for them.

seppoboy

My BMW 325xd has a much-criticized stop-start function, but in practice it's not all that intrusive. If I have to make a left turn in busy traffic, especially at an uncontrolled intersection I will switch it off, though. After decades of driving nothing but manual transmissions, I am having a harder time adapting to the automatic transmission, it's only been a year and 30k miles getting used to two-pedal. As a long-time manual driver I'm more attuned to being prepared for anything, so the engine shutting off and restarting are not that difficult a transition. I don't doubt that big-engined vehicles like the F-150 are easier to set up stop-start systems than with small-displacement four-cylinders, turbo or non-turbo, just like it is easier to drive air conditioning compressors smoothly with at bigger engine.

seppoboy

Typo, that's 328xd of course

desmolicious

This F150 is under-performing w/re. to its fuel economy claims. Can you run a test loop using the stop/start to show the differences?

allthingshonda

Ford has strict criteria for engaging the auto stop feature. Everyone keeps the engine running if the HVAC demand is high or the engine is not warmed up but Ford also won't auto stop if tow/haul mode is on, a trailer is connected, the truck is on a steep grade, 4WD is engaged and if the steering wheel is turned or it will auto start if the wheel is turned even if your foot is still on the brake.

500rwhp

desmolicious said:

This F150 is under-performing w/re. to its fuel economy claims. Can you run a test loop using the stop/start to show the differences?

Driving in California traffic on crappy California gas will do that. My lifetime MPG on my 2015 with the 3.5 ecoboost engine in my 6-1/2' bad supercrew 2WD is up to 19.4MPG over 8000 miles. Probably 30% highway.

500rwhp

craiger6 said:

Worked fine on my 2002 Prius for 13+ years now

A car that is specifically designed to recuperate energy during stop-start traffic (like every highway in LA every day). The Prius is the perfect car (notwithstanding a pure electric) for heavy traffic commutes.. Now go tow something, which is what this truck was designed to do.

gregsfc1

As a rural, commuting driver, I find the auto start/stop function a little annoying at times in the F150. The problem still left to resolve for engineers is that, as in the case of the F150 with the 2.7EB, the shut off function happens too quickly in situations where one simply wishes to stop and then go; like at a secondary road turning right or left onto a highway with no traffic to yield to. I try to follow the law and come to a complete stop at stop signs or turning right on red with no oncoming traffic to yield to, but with the stop/start engaged, the engine will shut off and then immediately restart, saving no fuel, only wearing components and making the system unnatural. In a rural and sparsely populated setting like I live in, this happens alot. Of course one can manipulate this with the disengage button, but then one has to remember to turn it back on (turn the switch off) if he or she is coming to a situation where he or she wants it to do its thing.

The Ford 2.7EB with start/stop might well be the best system out there, but it still needs something to make it do what we want, when we want other than reaching across to the center of the dash and pushing a button, which is an extra step and another event one's brain has to switch to while driving and is an added distraction. I was thinking the other day, if there were a way to control whether or not this event occurs at a stop via the amount of brake pressure applied while stopped, that might work better, since, as drivers, we're already using and maintaining the brake. We can learn this more naturally, would be more seamless and less of a distraction. As one eases up to a stop sign or stop light, keep applying light brake pressure to keep the motor running or apply more pressure to shut it off. But what if you're on a steep grade and must maintain alot of pressure to keep from rolling? Well, Ford's already got that covered, as the system doesn't shut off anyway while on a steep grade. Just add the brake switch, and it's fixed.

gregsfc1

500rwhp said:

craiger6 said:

Worked fine on my 2002 Prius for 13+ years now

A car that is specifically designed to recuperate energy during stop-start traffic (like every highway in LA every day). The Prius is the perfect car (notwithstanding a pure electric) for heavy traffic commutes.. Now go tow something, which is what this truck was designed to do.

Okay, so using that logic, everyone that needs a truck to haul or to tow and the manufacturers who build them, should not worry whatsoever about fuel usage because a truck is about work and the amount of fuel to do the work does not matter and we all just need to buy a second vehicle in a Prius for most of our driving needs, because we all have an extra 28K lying around to own two vehicles a piece. What would be the standard for a 1/2 ton with this attitude? maybe 10 mpg. All of us are so well off financially, that we'll all keep our truck parked except for necessities, and we'll all support parallel hybrid technologies as the "panecea" to our energy woes by purchasing a Prius or Prius-like vehicle that uses at least two motors of two types and two fuel tanks to move one car, because from an economical and engineering sense, it makes the most sense to develop all cars with two energy storage systems and two or more engines to propel it. Of course this is all sarcasm.

I'm a one vehicle at a time kind of person, and I've gone back to a pickup truck, because there are just too many situations where I need one. I had a 1989 F150 that was much less capable than my 2015 F150 with the 2.7EB. One-hundred, forty five horsepower/ 260 foot pounds of torque @ 2500 RPM, versus 325/375 @ 3000 RPM, respectively for the 2015. Doing my very best, I could get 17.5 mpg year around in that '89 commuting and other situations where I wasn't working the truck, which was 85% of the time. In this new truck, I'm going to be able to achieve at least 21 mpg on the same type of routes, driving the same way; only with more refinement. That's a 20% improvement in unloaded fuel economy with at least 100% more usable power and capability when I do need it. It's a good thing the industry didn't have the attitude about how saving fuel doesn't matter in pickup trucks.

There is a law of diminishing returns. As a society, it makes more sense for all of us who need and want a pickup truck to have one that makes more use of the fuel that goes in the tank than it does to save maybe 5 mpg in elaborate systems for compact cars that are already fuel efficient. I think there is still alot left on the table for fuel savings in pickup trucks where 2-3 mpg can make a big difference. Trucks could be more tear-drop shaped, trade exterior mirrors for cameras, self-dampening suspension while highway cruising; removable undercarriage shields to allow more air to flow under and around the platforms instead of getting trapped, and retracting wheel well covers. All of this type drag reduction could go a long way at making trucks slide through the air more easily if we could remove some of the redneck styling preferences ingrained in our culture. And then, once trucks are made more slick, we can engineer ways to help diesels pass emissions more economically and put small diesel power trains in them for mpg @ 30 or so. At that point, we're really going to save alot of fuel in this country and help consumers at the pump simultaneously.

gregsfc1

My wife drives our 2007 Saturn Aura Green Line Hybrid, which does not provide much more than the F150 with an auto, start/stop except for the level of complication in the Saturn. The main difference in the Saturn is that it uses a trio of nickel cadmium batteries and a 36 volt system to operate the start/stop and also, supposedly, apply just a little bit of torque to the drive belt, but does not seem noticeable in either performance or fuel economy, as the very next year GM offered a 2008 Saturn Aura with the same engine that traded the 4-speed transmission for a six w/o the so-called hybrid system, and mpg is roughly the same in the real world. The other main difference is that the Saturn has one heck of an engine brake used to regenerate the nickel cadmium batteries; whereas the EB six cylinder has very little engine brake and no regeneration, which to me is good as it has much less to go wrong with it. The car also has a traditional lead acid battery to power regular car stuff. Surprisingly, one of GMs first attempts at some sort of additional battery component in a car, has been dead reliable after 8 yrs of daily operation; after one recall and a change of the battery trio after only one year. However, irregardless of the recall, we have never had a problem with this system or anything with this car really except for a premature air conditioner compressor failure, which was disappointing considering how we care for car a.c.'s., and I feel it had nothing to do with the car being a mild hybrid. Unlike the Ecoboost auto start/stop, the older Saturn controller almost always shuts the car down at a stop unless it has just been started and still cold, or the reg. a.c. switch is powered instead of the "hybrid a.c." (the latter shuts the compressor off while the engine is off), or if it has set still over two or three minutes, or if it has been over used in a high traffic situation. On the other hand, there is a whole list of things that can keep the 2.7 EB from shutting off. One thing with the EB that is a little concerning for me is that, at least three times (and I've had the truck less than 2mos) I've heard the engine cranking when I've taken my foot off the brake, but have never heard the Saturn have to crank to restart. Don't know if this point if that will be a problem going forward, but it is concerning. The Saturn, on the other hand, has no direct way off overriding the system and so in the car, if you're going to do one of those stop and go maneuvers, you sort of have to pump the brake to prevent the shutoff near the stopping point. While you can do this same, slightly illegal maneuver in the F150, you do have the option of reaching up and pushing the off button, and I like that.

mbitsko

Reality: The computer monitors several parameters to decide when to enable the start/stop feature, and quite often I've found that it's "on the edge" of one or more of those parameters, and therefore the engine will stop and restart SEVERAL times at a stoplight.

You can defeat the system with the push of a button, but you have to push that button every time the engine is started with the key.

I could live with the feature if it would make up its freaking mind, but the constant on-off-on-off-on-off is beyond annoying. I'm going to see if the dealer can shut the thing off permanently. If not, the remaining option is an expensive chip tune. I tried a lighted hitch receiver step that plugs into the trailer wiring, because the START/STOP feature is defeated when the computer detects a trailer, but that just threw constant error codes because the truck senses that the "trailer's" turn signal bulbs are burned out.

If this is the best START/STOP system out then then God help us.

Other than that, I could not love a human baby as much as I love this truck. The 2.7 turbo is BRILLIANT. Amazing. Astounding. Unbelievable. I could go on and on.

mbitsko

500rwhp said:

craiger6 said:

Worked fine on my 2002 Prius for 13+ years now

A car that is specifically designed to recuperate energy during stop-start traffic (like every highway in LA every day). The Prius is the perfect car (notwithstanding a pure electric) for heavy traffic commutes.. Now go tow something, which is what this truck was designed to do.

The perfect car for URBAN commutes, and only if you NEVER tow or haul loads. Those of us who can only afford 1 vehicle, and occasionally tow or haul, need that vehicle to be a truck.

Hybrids are a waste of money if most of your driving is on the freeway, especially on flat terrain. You never brake, and therefore never recoup any energy. The batteries are just ballast. The perfect vehicle for the freeway is a DIESEL. Especially one of the "cheater" Volkswagens, because the "cheating" means your freeway fuel economy can easily beat the EPA estimate by 10 mpg. 55-60 on the freeway is standard in a Passat TDI. No hybrid on the planet can touch that.