It is very important to me that I, Doug DeMuro, get to the bottom of every issue, and also sometimes to the top, especially if that issue is a scary-looking spider on my ceiling. This is why I’ve decided to devote today’s column to uncovering the giant marketing scheme that is Ford EcoBoost.

Just to be clear, EcoBoost is not a multi-level marketing scheme, like Amway, or HerbaLife, or those timeshare companies where you pay a little now, and a little later, and eventually you end up crying in a 60 Minutes segment about how you can no longer afford to buy laundry detergent. EcoBoost is just a regular ol’ marketing scheme, like those companies that take old clothes, hang them up in a store with loud music, and sell them for the same price as prescription eyewear.

But before we can discuss exactly how EcoBoost is a giant marketing scheme, we must first explain what EcoBoost is for those of you who have not recently eco-boosted your way into a friendly neighborhood Ford dealership.

Here’s the situation: EcoBoost is a name for engine technology that comes in two parts. There is the “eco” part, which is direct fuel injection, and there is the “boost” part, which is turbocharging. Allegedly, all EcoBoost engines contain these two items. I say “allegedly” because I have not personally verified these claims, and I am now taking all automaker statements with a grain of diesel fuel, following revelations that Volkswagen has been lying to us like a Nigerian e-mail scammer.

So Ford is really happy about their EcoBoost technology, and they’ve been putting it in virtually every car they sell, advertising that it offers small-engine fuel economy and big-engine performance. There’s an EcoBoost V6 in the Ford F-150 and Expedition, there’s an EcoBoost 4-cylinder in the Ford Escape and Fusion, and there’s even an EcoBoost 3-cylinder in those tiny little cars that are roughly the same size as an office copy machine.

Now, at this point, you may be wondering exactly how EcoBoost is a marketing scheme if every EcoBoost engine has exactly what it says: eco-friendly direct-injection, and boost-friendly turbocharging. You are probably especially wondering this if you are sitting in the Ford Motor Company legal department, with your hand on the cease and desist button.

Well, here is the reason: the marketing scheme isn’t in the fact that Ford is lying to us, because in fact Ford is very much telling the truth. The marketing scheme is in the fact that EcoBoost is not unique to Ford. In fact, it’s not even close to being unique to Ford. Everyone has EcoBoost. Subaru has EcoBoost. General Motors has EcoBoost. BMW has EcoBoost. Even Volkswagen has EcoBoost, or so they say. For all we know, their cars may actually be carbureted.

I’m not stretching the truth when I say that everyone has EcoBoost. You can get it in a Chevy Malibu. You can get it in a Hyundai Sonata. You can get it in a Mini Cooper. But in those cars, it is merely called what it is: turbocharged direct-injection. Only in a Ford does it have the mythical name, EcoBoost, which – the more I think about it – sounds like an energy drink they would sell in Portland.

Essentially, what Ford has done here is they have taken a fairly common engine technology, they have given it a catchy name, and they have convinced people that you can only get it if you purchase a Ford product. This would be like Oakley saying their sunglasses now come with SuperVisionShield, which is really just lenses.

And here’s the kicker: people are actually believing Ford’s marketing. There are actually people out there, walking around, insisting that their friends try out this great new thing called EcoBoost. In other words: this isn’t just a marketing scheme. This is a brilliant marketing scheme.

I will give you an example. A couple of years ago, I lived in Atlanta, and the city decided it was time to replace their aging fleet of Ford Crown Victoria police cars with some vehicle that wasn’t designed during the Panama Canal planning phase.

So they bought some Tauruses, and they did a press release announcing they had bought some Tauruses, and then a local news article reported that the City of Atlanta had bought hybrid cars. Then, later, there was a correction: these aren’t “officially” hybrids, the article noted. Instead, these cars use Ford’s EcoBoost engine technology, “which is somewhere right below a hybrid.”

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that’s right: by taking an existing environmentally-friendly technology and giving it a spiffy, green-sounding name, Ford is successfully convincing the general public that EcoBoost is “right below a hybrid.”

I had completely forgotten about this until a few weeks ago, when I overheard some guys in a restaurant talking about what compact car to purchase. These guys weren’t very into cars, and the usual suggestions were being thrown out – Honda Civic, Mazda3 – until someone said: “Why don’t you try Ford? Don’t they have that new EcoBoost thing?”

What new EcoBoost thing? Oh, that’s right. That brilliant new marketing scheme from Ford.


original article : Ford's 'EcoBoost' Is Just A Really Good Marketing Scheme

That article is spot on. The general public is uninformed on pretty much everything and rely simply on the marketing that these companies throw at us. We are all guilty of it in some form or fashion. Ignorance is truly bliss

I had an ecoboost f150. Got 17mpg on the highway. Crewcab short bed 2wd. The v8's were clicking that off with no issues and better. Lots of unhappy ecoboost owners over that and the premium we paid for that "small engine economy and big engine performance."

Still can't get over ford bastardizing the GT by putting one of these engines in it.

I was looking at the Ford Edge Sport with the 2.7L EB in it during my search that eventually ended with the 4R. Coming from a Turbo-direct injection (Sportage) I was not all that impressed with the power it put out. I would have expected a twin turbo engine in a moderate sized vehicle to be very peppy, it was not.

You must give Ford credit for knocking it out of the park with regards to marketing. I wonder if other automakers will try and follow suit and modify their existing systems to sound more appealing?

That's odd. I drove a crew cab 2wd ecoBoost F150 from Arizona to Wisconsin with a loaded down truck bed and we saw 23mpg.

So, this same logic could be applied to ANY marketing scheme in which the underlying technology is the same across manufacturers, like McDonalds saying its food has "Flavor".
I like Jalopnik (nice copyaste btw) but I can't stand Demuro's writing. He absolutely goes nowhere and write about non-topics like he's Herman Melville writing an episode of Seinfeld. Let me tell you about the time I took my 25 year old JDM Skyline to a Nissan dealership and the mechanics didn't freak the **** out about it! How about the time I got a quote to sell my car to CarMax and then didn't sell it afterall, what a h00t!

News flash - companies trying to sell you things give those things fancy names. Next story, man who runs out of kleenex has a snotty wrist.

You got to give it to Ford's marketing team, they are geniuses. Most people are still sketchy of owning a hybrid but they do want something economical. Also, most folks barely know where the gas cap is these days. That is where the Ecoboost steps in. The name sells itself without any understanding what it actually is and most folks don't care or even want to know anything about it.

Sadly, I drank the Ford cool-aid back in 2012 and purchased a F150 ecoboost. I will say that, before 35k, that truck could haul the mail! Pretty damn quick for a truck of it's size (crew cab with 6.5' bed). The best mpg I ever recorded was the tank of fuel right off the dealers lot (20 mpg). Next tank was 17 and the next was 16. I thought ok, it will break in and it will get better. Nope, stayed about the same. Unfortunately, it wasn't very reliable and ate a couple coils, would crack the spark plugs every 10k, cracked the intercooler once.

At about 40k it developed at knock on cold starts and that is when I noticed that the oil level was steadily climbing. It would fill the crankcase with gas but also purge that gas/oil mixture into the intercooler and ultimately into the intake of the engine and try to hydro-lock itself. Well after a few times of that my "eco"boost was smoking pretty bad on cold start to kill mosquitoes within a half mile, with an even louder knock. If that wasn't enough, it started having some electrical gremlins that left me stranded a couple times and it had about the same power as an old 22r. Worst part was during all of this, no codes were recorded and without codes the dealership did not have permission to pursue these issues from corporate but they did acknowledge that "something" wasn't right.

At 45k I traded this mint condition truck that would smoke, knock, shut down, in for my 5th gen 4runner. Disclosed most of the issues to the dealer and advised him to just send it to auction. Took a little bit of a hit on value due to my honesty but I felt better knowing I wasn't hiding the fact it was a POS and I was able to get rid of it.

I know they aren't all like this but there are quite a bit of stories just like mine on the Ford forums. I knew better and I still fell for Ford's marketing, that's how good they are. I've come to the conclusion you have to choose between power, reliability, mpg but you can only have one.

I have a couple friends on the police force here who say the trucks they were issued had the same problems with reliability at first. The ones they've gotten in the past couple years have apparently been better.

I am new to a 4R, but traded in my f150 5.0l for the Toyota. in the search for my truck I drove the raptor, eco-boost, and 5.0l. I can honestly tell you that I could not feel the difference in any of them. I could definitely hear the difference, but power wise..eh.
I have had many 1/4 mile cars, one of my last ones was an Acura RSX Type-S. This was the only 4cyl car I have every had, the rest being mustangs/Camaros. My findings were that it took twice the $$ to upgrade this car, and Turbo's do not last very long when pushed. there are so many things that can go wrong. Now In saying that I am not saying the eco-boost is not reliable in its stock form at all. but if you want to lift it, and go with heavier tires... This engages the boost more often, in turn reliability goes down the drain. Then once the boost engages more often, your so called MPG also fall. I lifted my 5.0l and lost 2mpg with 35" mud tires. the Ecoboost would lose much more than that.

all in all not for me, because I like to customize my vehicles.

I've been driving a 2015 super crew f150 5.0 4wd for the last 15,000 miles. Between normal every day driving, hauling, 2600 miles only stopping for fuel and never shutting the engine off at an average of 95mph, and 14,000 foot mountain passes.

I can honestly say it's one of the best vehicles I've ever driven, and through it all its netted 19mpg.

I'd love to try the 2.7L ecoboost in the same configuration.

I'm calling bs on that until you show me the gas receipt and odometer.

If I could afford to have an ecoboost f150 crewcab platinum 4x4 next to my 4th gen, I would do it in a hearbeat.

Not to this HIJACK thread.

Then I guess maybe Ford is on to something with that aluminum body?? Only time will tell for it?!
I'm not really a Ford fan but that 5.0 is a beast..
And don't care for the 2.7 with its auto stop and start feature.

This the 2015 " EPA Estimated" ratings right from the horses (Fords) mouth.

Attached Images

 

gm talks smack about the aluminum body, and then release there plans for one

Yes!
That commercial with the bear and the guy in the cage is pretty funny.

The body is the only thing thats aluminum!!
The heart of the truck and the strongest is the frame and that is STILL steel!!