Blake wrote:What about that 8.1? Seems that would be nice...
My Uncle had one in his old 2500 (Think it was an '02?). Traded it for a Duramax. It had gobs of power, it actually felt a lot more punchy than the duramax. But... it averaged 9mpg. The duramax gets 16 on average.
So while the 8.1 is awesome for power and torque, I would much prefer a 6.0. Actually, the newer 6.0's have more HP than the 8.1, but a lot less torque (8.1 has 455lb ft). Still wish I had the cash to get an EcoBoost V6 out of a newer F150. 420lb ft of torque at 20+ mpg. And that torque is flat from (I think) 1600rpm to 5500rpm (Going off memory, its around there).
But for you, I would go with the 5.3 or the 6.0.