Ford 2.3T vs 2.7TT - opinions?

So funny story about the 2.7.   10+ years ago I’m in Amsterdam airport. My flight is delayed and I’m at the Heineken bar in the international terminal.   If anybody knows that airport, the Heineken bar is like right in the middle of it. Lots of people sit down and have beers.   So I sit down Next to this guy and we start talking about stuff.  It turns out he’s Ford engine development engineer, younger one.   He raves about the 2.7. Tells me that it’s the best engine I’ve ever made. The strongest engine I’ve ever made. The block is the strongest and the best.   Dude wasn’t wrong. 

Out of curiosity, does the current Ford 2.3 share any DNA with the old Lima 2.3?

I spent about 7 months driving a 4 door Black Diamond with the 2.3 and loved it. In fact I'm surprised at how peppy it was. Not a complaint with the 15k miles behind the wheel, and if gas mileage is important the 2.7 doesn't make sense. I haven't driven the 2.7 but honestly didn't see the need. Maybe drive both to see what you like about them.

It's also crazy we live in a world where the power ratings of a 2.3 is "not enough" when it totally is. Are you guys drag racing these? Even on lower grade fuel it's 275hp and 315tq.

The current Ford 2.3 is a Mazda design. There is a lot of parts commonality or interchangeability back to the 2.3 that was in Mazda 3/5/6 20 years ago even.  

I'm a Ford parts guy so I have some direct experience, and short of the 2.5 hybrid I'd say the 2.3 and 2.7 are the two best engines ford makes from a general reliability standpoint. The engines we replace the most lately are the 7.3/6.8 (only in work/Kroger vans usually) and 5.0 in F150s. Most of what we see the Broncos for are wind noise and water leak issues and pinion seal leaks. (and 10 speed issues) 

You can get a manual transmission with a 2.3 engine in a Bronco, would that be a better choice for getting the engine into it's happy range?

Duke said:

Out of curiosity, does the current Ford 2.3 share any DNA with the old Lima 2.3?

 

No, it's a derivative of the MZR/Duratec that Ford and Mazda did together.  But Mazda no longer bases anything off of.

I would say there's not much left, as the block has been altered a lot based on development- sometime between 2022 and now, the engines changed to an even newer version of the I4 family.  That was one of the last projects I helped on.  

In theory, the 2.0l and the 2.3 are the "same" as the duratec/mzr, but I know that the blocks are very different from each other- so not just the increased deck and longer stroke from before.  Those started to diverge about the same time the Mustang 2.3T came out.  

Is reliability similar on these?  I'd much rather work on an inline 4 than a TT V6.  

from what i understand, the 2.7 and to the same extent the 3.5 are built almost like diesel engines.  lots of overhead in their power ceiling to handle abuse.  the 2.7 in particular though seems like the perfect do-it-all size.

that said, i think the V6's are still a wet belt engine and i'm still spooked by that.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

So funny story about the 2.7.   10+ years ago I’m in Amsterdam airport. My flight is delayed and I’m at the Heineken bar in the international terminal.   If anybody knows that airport, the Heineken bar is like right in the middle of it. Lots of people sit down and have beers.   So I sit down Next to this guy and we start talking about stuff.  It turns out he’s Ford engine development engineer, younger one.   He raves about the 2.7. Tells me that it’s the best engine I’ve ever made. The strongest engine I’ve ever made. The block is the strongest and the best.   Dude wasn’t wrong. 

This is the truth, my friend's best friend growing up is an engineer for Ford.  He said that all the Ford engineers were racing to trade in their EcoBoost 3.5s when the 2.7T came out, and that they haven't been disappointed.  I've driven my friend's 2.7T F150 and loved it - great balance of torque and fuel economy.  He towed his '15 Mustang GT to PittRace years back on an open Uhaul (read: heavy) trailer and it did performed above his expectations.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

So funny story about the 2.7.   10+ years ago I’m in Amsterdam airport. My flight is delayed and I’m at the Heineken bar in the international terminal.   If anybody knows that airport, the Heineken bar is like right in the middle of it. Lots of people sit down and have beers.   So I sit down Next to this guy and we start talking about stuff.  It turns out he’s Ford engine development engineer, younger one.   He raves about the 2.7. Tells me that it’s the best engine I’ve ever made. The strongest engine I’ve ever made. The block is the strongest and the best.   Dude wasn’t wrong. 

This is the truth, my friend's best friend growing up is an engineer for Ford.  He said that all the Ford engineers were racing to trade in their EcoBoost 3.5s when the 2.7T came out, and that they haven't been disappointed.  I've driven my friend's 2.7T F150 and loved it - great balance of torque and fuel economy.  He towed his '15 Mustang GT to PittRace years back on an open Uhaul (read: heavy) trailer and it performed above his expectations.

brandonsmash said:

I'd like to point out that it's a weird timeline when the bigger full-size truck engine is still only a 2.7L I4.  

 In fairness, it's the bigger mid-size truck engine. It's the smallest full-size truck engine. But yes, it's still weird that something THAT small is in full-size trucks at all... Let alone doing so with distinction.

ScottyB said:

that said, i think the V6's are still a wet belt engine and i'm still spooked by that.

It has been since 2018, and I am not aware of any failures resulting from it regardless of mileage.

I love the (wet belt) 2.7 in my F150 so much that I started a thread about just that... https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/love-this-engine/237813/page1/

But the 2.3 seems to be a generally solid engine too.

I think which way to go largely comes down to the use case and expectations. For my F150 the 2.7 was the best combination of fuel economy and reliability that matched with my towing needs. But without the towing, my use case and expectations for a Bronco would be quite different. Provided the reliability is similar, unless the driving experience was exceptionally worse, the 2.3 combination of cheaper buy-in and better fuel economy while doing all the same things would probably win out over performance margin in a non-performance vehicle for my money.

I ordered a 2023 Bronco 2 door base with the 2.3T and 7 speed manual. Because manual. Sadly, I had to abandon the order due to a title/seller issue with the ND2 Miata I was planning on trading in on the Bronco.

I always thought the base 2 door Bronco with the V6 would be the hotrod trim. Maybe the Sasquatch package with deeper gears would be faster? I'm unsure.

A coworker has a 2023 Big Bend 4 door Bronco with the 2.7L. He calls it "zippy". I'm sure the 2.7L scoots it along pretty good.

Ford Performance also has tunes for the 2.3L and 2.7L if you want to squeeze more juice out without voiding your factory warranty.

Let's see what James May has to say about the Bronco.