I’ve been watching. Yes, I see them. Everywhere. Here in Colorado we seem to be sort of at a crossroads for people traversing the country from West to East and South to North. And the other way around too. A lot of those people are in trucks. Big trucks. And bigger trucks. Some small trucks too, but mainly big ones. There’s a lot of area to traverse and a lot of stuff to take along that needs to get from wherever it was to wherever it needs to be. The locals use a lot of half-tons for commuting and hauling toys such as boats and campers around. The people from really far away with the really big trailers with horses or a few cars use the huge 1-ton trucks with the dual rear wheels and almost always diesel powered.
But there’s also the middle of the road. Those that need something more powerful than a half-ton for work (think roofers and construction crews) or play (bigger boats that stay in the water much of the year and campers you’d be willing to live in for longer than a week but not permanently). That’s where the 3/4 ton class comes into play and with fuel prices low and likely to stay that way coupled with increasing technological complexity of diesels, gasoline power is coming back into style. Hence we have here a large semi-luxury Ford F-250 Crew Cab with Ford’s new 7.3liter V8 gasoline engine.
The Lariat trim level of this truck marks sort of the beginning of the owner-operator levels – the base XL is definitely for the Home Depot rental truck or your work crew, the XLT you might purchase for your supervisor level field employee but the Lariat and above (there are several higher levels) are for those that will themselves use what they are paying for.
We all like to think and post that we’d buy and be happy with the basic white truck with rubber floors but if you’re buying it new and spending the $42,065 that the F-250 XL in 4×4 CrewCab starts at with the weak sauce (comparatively only of course) entry level 6.2l engine, you’re not stopping there, don’t kid yourself and the rest of us.
Of course you’re not made of money either or more likely didn’t get to where you are by spending foolishly and so instead of ponying up for the diesel engine, it can make much more sense to save a whopping $8,250 and only upgrade to the new 7.3 gasser for a $2,045 premium to the 6.2. That also covers the mandatory 10-speed automatic transmission as opposed to the old 6-speed. Note that many commercial operators around here will easily put in excess of 50,000 miles a year on something like this and sell it a few years later with intergalactic mileage figures.
Ford marketing had a masterstroke of an idea when they named their heavy-duty line the “Super Duty” and has it emblazoned on the front, back and below the doors of the truck along with on the glovebox cover inside it. The font is as large as the truck itself, you know what you’re getting into from a distance.
The truck itself is larger than the half-ton line but as tall as it looks I (at 6’1″ with a 32″ inseam) was still able to stand flatfooted next to it and reach over and touch the bed floor. It’s still tall and my armpit was clamping the bedrail but it’s not completely ridiculous. As a positive aspect, if you keep your chainsaw or whatever in the bed and pop into Dunkin Donuts for a coffee it most likely won’t have walked off by the time you return. This particular truck was also equipped to haul gooseneck and fifth-wheel trailers as well so it wasn’t any kind of weakling spec to begin with.
Of course the running boards were welcome and were used by me to enter and exit the cab along with everyone else I had ride along with me. Once on the wide step and rotated into the cab, the big leather seats are cushy, there’s knobs, buttons, and gauges galore along with a not unexpected vast amount of space.
In this case, mirror controls alone accounted for about ten separate buttons, with adjustments for the mains as well as the little convex ones, powered extend and retract, separate buttons to turn the mirror mounted lights on and off, and also to control the heating for them. Oh, and to decide whether or not you’d like them to fold in or not.
That was just the mirrors. There’s a knob for the 4WD system, controls for the integrated trailer brake, the normal HVAC controls, then seat heating and ventilation, audio, camera system including specific sets having to do with whatever trailer might be being towed this week, and seemingly a million more.
The gauges immediately ahead of the driver have physical ones for the speedometer and tachometer and all the others are digital renderings that were just as easy to decipher as the larger ones. The whole center portion (known as the 8″ productivity screen in Ford parlance) changes depending on which tab is selected, currently it’s set to the Trip/Fuel tab but there are others to do with the truck, trailer, general settings, and more. And of course the main touchscreen in the center stack takes care of even more.
Most people are likely somewhat familiar with Ford’s SYNC3 system by this point although it is apparently due for an imminent upgrade. I mentioned recently that I was impressed by GM’s current system (and have always liked RAM’s), especially in regard to the Navigation and this week was able to compare them back to back – the main difference is the font is less readable in the Ford, the typeface is a bit fuzzier and not as crisp while the rest of the imagery is similar.
Ford will apparently also be upgrading their screen sizes soon, the 8″ as here was fine but you sit kind of far away from it, it’s starting to look a little small which is more a function of the size of the truck than anything else. Still, it got the job done and is easy to intuit and figure out how to get the information you want or adjust stuff as needed.
Below the center stack is a large center island (that’s really the best word for it) with cupholders and at the front a bin with a wireless charger for the phone. Good idea, but the execution could be better in that it’s physically difficult to retrieve the phone once it’s dropped in there and the edges have some pretty sharp-edged plastic present. The main issue is that it is tilted toward you which seems good, however the aperture is not very large and if you grasp the top edge (side of the phone) there isn’t enough room to rotate it out and it’s difficult to get in there and grab the bottom edge (other side).
So in the end you sort of awkwardly grab one of the ends (top or bottom of the phone) and try to wrest it out while making contact with the surrounding edges. For reference my phone is a standard iPhone 11, which is a very common sized device these days and hardly the largest out there. If you’re still rocking a flip-phone, my apologies, you’re not getting that time back. I ended up not using the charging pad unless and until my battery was low, which sort of defeats its purpose in my eyes.
The dual cupholders with a large open space to their left have a cool party trick, the top quarter inch of the cupholders is actually a sliding panel that can move to the left and thus give you two more cupholders. So you and your passenger can each have a drink as well as a backup at the ready. That’s of course in addition to the bottle holders in the door panels as well. Gloveboxes number two, one bin style and another above it shelf style. And of course the center console bin under the elbow pad is ginormous. There are various charge/connection ports including a household socket in the dash for pretty much everything you’d need.
In general it’s quite functional, if plasticky. I did take a look at the Home Depot rental truck last weekend based on the same platform and the XL base interior is really plasticky, this is significantly better but not on the level of some of the competition. Durability is good and well-advised, however at some level it’s not just one’s careless employees thrashing on things, some people can be responsible and care for things too.
There are different levels of durable plastics too; too many of Ford’s buttons have a bit of a loose feel and hollow sound to them, they just feel kind of cheap, there’s lots of room for improvement there. In the Lariat trim you get a bit of imitation wood trim, mainly on the door panels where the latches are as well as the bin lid for the phone cubby, it could look more convincing or better yet, actually be real veneer for the price premium. I had to also verify that the steering wheel was in fact leather covered as there was a stitched cover on it, but it felt and looked just like textured urethane. The shift lever was bare plastic.
The back seat seems even more spacious than the front and the seat bottom can fold up in a 60/40 split format. Under it is a foldout cargo organizer than can either be erected to form sort of a fence or folded down to create a not quite flat load floor. But overall there’s plenty of space to put stuff away and keep it organized.
It’s hard to overstate just how much room is back here. This, along with most every full-size truck on the market is now just as comfortable in the back seat as in the front and in some cases even more so. The fact that it starts with the 6 3/4 foot bed as the base and that you can option an 8footer is just icing on the cake, as opposed to the half-tons there is no 5 1/2 foot bed option.
To those still wondering why one would need something this large, this is the entry point to getting a full crew cab to carry, well, the whole crew and also be able to get an 8foot bed attached to it, it’s not offered on any half-ton. Sometimes that alone makes the difference between having to bring a trailer or a second vehicle to the job.
This truck had the 6 3/4 foot bed (as stated an 8footer is an option) and was equipped with the preparations to mount a gooseneck ball or a fifth wheel apparatus. The bed had plug connectors for those trailers built into the left side close to the tailgate. The tailgate is electrically actuated and folds down under power by either pressing the latch, a button in the cab or one on the key fob, however closing it again is a manual affair. One of the crew can do that for you.
This one had the “Man-Step” built into the tailgate which does make it much easier to get in and out of the bed but would really only be used if there were repeated trips into it necessary, to just get in once you’d more likely curse a little, clamber up and hop back down. Or tell your boy to get you whatever you may need.
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While this is more pickup than I can envision myself needing, it would be narrow-minded of me to disparage its existence because of that. Rather, I am quite happy Ford is making these. It certainly gives more choice to the prospective buyer and, let’s be honest, pickups have more versatility, utility, and economy than ever before.
That 7.3 speaks to me. Having driven an example with the 6.2 it is no slouch so I am happy to read about your enjoyment of the 7.3. The fleet manager at work ordered a new F-550 with the 7.3 early this year but I have yet to see it due to that stupid virus.
You’ve got a great point about buying from stock versus ordering something specific to one’s needs. Oddly enough there is a dealer about an hour south of me which specializes in ordering tailor-built pickups. They also do a decent job of having examples in stock built for local needs. However, I cannot imagine this being anywhere near a uniform trait among all Ford dealers. There are simply too many variable needs with these pickups, particularly in larger areas.
I would imagine this was quite the contrast parked next to your Tesla.
Minor detail, but in its use in the bigger trucks this engine is de-rated to a mere 350 hp.
So it won’t blow up. From working first hand as a service advisor, I’d feel very confident in saying one should only tow 75% of the maximum rating if one wants to avoid breaking things like transmissions.
For the first 5yrs and 60k miles any powertrain issue would end up being on Ford’s dime. If one chose the diesel, the engine is warrantied up to 100k but still 5yrs.
They’ll all break or wear out eventually, working it (or anything mechanical for that matter) harder will make it last less long.
Speaking from the point of view of fleet operator, in a light duty vehicle the big gas motor is the way to go. For one thing, it’s like $10,000 cheaper than the diesel. The diesel will never save that much in fuel.
The diesel just has too much that can go wrong and cost a fortune to repair. These are not heavy duty commercial motors. The gas motor is, by all accounts, built simple and strong like bull. When you guys are paying $2.00 a gallon for gas, I say go for gas motors and avoid the cost and headache of the diesel.
Yes there is a five year warranty. I expect a vehicle to be reliable out to ten years. Light duty diesels are challenged by this.
I feel vindicated. When Ford needed a new, more powerful gasoline engine, they did it old-school. No turbos, no multi-valve setups, no fancy alloys. Just a big-assed cast iron block, an intake and exhaust valve for each cylinder, and lots and lots of cubic inches.
I find it interesting how diesels have become less and less of a paying proposition, with ever increasing cost and more maintenance headaches – the two things that used to work in a diesel’s favor.
And did I read that correctly – a 4:30 axle? That thing must have multiple levels of overdrive among its ten transmission gears, or else you would have been seeing 10 mpg at 80 mph on the highway, too.
Yes, 4.30. And the transmission’s 7th gear is 1:01 but 8, 9, 10 are overdrives. (In the old 6-speed, still available with the 6.2, 5th and 6th are overdrives).
Well, these trucks are of course exempt from CAFE, so why bother trying to make it more efficient? For that matter, no one in this class has gone that route (downsized/turbo/etc.) with gas engines.
Regarding that 4.30 axle ratio: those wheels and tires are of course enormous, so one can’t exactly equate that ratio with the ratios of yore, when the circumference of tires was typically vastly different.
Back in the pre-war era, ratios were also typically very low, and big wheels and tires were a key reason.
The better metric would be rpm per mph.
Looking it up it appears that 10th is .63 to 1. So those 4.30 gears in OD are going to be equivalent to a set of 2.70 to 1 gears and direct drive.
Using the 653 rpm /mile for the tires that Jim posted below.
653*4.3*.63 = ~1770 rpm/mile or 1770 rpm at 60mph.
Stick a set of 35″ tires on it, like you get with the Tremor package, which many dealers and buyers will do and you are down to ~1600 rpm at 60mph.
One thing to keep in mind is that it is wearing tires with an actual measurement of over 33″ tall, though one of the reasons that the 4.30 gears is even an option is that they know a lot of buyers are going to go straight to the tire store for a set of 35’s.
Close, actually they are just over 32″ tall. Your point stands though.
“The 275/65R18 Continental ContiTrac has a diameter of 32.1″, a width of 10.9″, mounts on a 18″ rim and has 653 revolutions per mile. It weighs 53 lbs, has a max load of 3415 lbs, a maximum air pressure of 80 psi, a tread depth of 12/32″ and should be used on a rim width of 7-9”.
Oops I thought it had the 275/70’s on it which are 33.2″.
No matter how much time I spend behind the wheel of a new F-series, I never get used to the sea of identical little buttons on the instrument panel. The two 3×3 panels of buttons require you look down at them to tell what you’re pushing. Just the lower climate control area has 15 buttons and 2 knobs, and requires too much attention be taken off the road. Some of them need to be differently sized or shaped.
Very gorgeous truck! I would never have a need for a truck like this but it’s appealing – very cool and I agree that I like the proven and low tech manner of this engine. Hopefully it does well for Ford.
I wonder if the 7.3 displacement was somewhat intentionally re-used to bring buyers back from the old Powerstroke days…
I’m sure the displacement is no coincidence. But found it interesting that there is no badging whatsoever to denote it. Every other truck maker seems to display something showing at least the top engine trim on either the side or on the hood itself.
This is the truck I would seriously consider but with less creature comfort options. I’d get the 8 foot bed and that engine. The main reason to buy is the aluminum body. The mileage isn’t bad as its the same as my 1999 Ram 1500 with a 318.
Yes COVID19 is screwing up vehicle deliveries here I was reading that only recently yet I see transporters loaded with new cars and pickups every day distributing them to dealers all over the country and drive past the stockpiles of unsold new cars regularly there doesnt seem to be anything resembling a shortage over here and the roads are clogged as usual as are the new and used dealer lots
Nice ute though it just manages to fall into the car category here unladen so no restrictions on licence when used for work though at $2 per litre revenue would want to be going well to keep it fed at those mileage figures diesel is more advantagious for that even if the mileage isnt much better here anyway, There are plenty of large F series about though for me its hard to tell which one I see if its just driving by.
It’s a beautiful truck, if I were in the market, I’d much rather have this than a diesel…
My inlaws are one of the customers for these. They currently have a lower trim double cab Tundra with all the HD options (5.7 tow package etc). They pull a 5th wheel that’s close to the max. They spend more then 5-6 weeks a year camping (sometimes alot more). They started shopping for a replacement truck this summer but have switched from new to 3-4 year old car buyers recently and pricing is crazy right now. They don’t really want a Dually and the don’t really need a diesel either (they do use it when not pulling the camper but since they are mostly retired it’s not a ton of miles). So far they have mostly been looking at Chevy and GMC gasser in both 2500 and 3500 trims. They like they idea of a 3500 in case they go bigger on the 5th wheel in the future.
On gas mileage the Tundra gets 14 average and can get 18 on a trip. Loaded with trailer in tow its 9-10 mpg.
I’m not going to buy one new with my current income but, I would love to have a 3/4 gas as a 3rd car. My toy fleet doesn’t require it now but it would be nice to be able to pull a bigger camper with ease when the time comes.
Regarding the 2500/3500 thing it is more important to look at the specific truck’s data plate. As Jim noted this Ford has the 10,000/9,900 lb payload package. In this case it is 9,900 because the badge has a 2. If it had a 3 then the data plate would say 10,000. I’m pretty sure there is zero difference in any mechanical component to give that extra 1% rated capacity. In other words the payload package matters more than if there is a 2 or a 3 on the badge. Ditto for the towing rating, which is based on power train options, and SRW vs DRW. So if you want SRW the 3 is only useful for bragging rights.
This one is weird in that the data plate actually does say 10k as does the window sticker (referencing the 10k package), however when I was in the online configurator trying to figure out the pricing that is where I saw the note re: it only being 9,900 in the 250 line. In the overall scheme of things that’s around half a passenger’s weight so not really any practical difference, just a bit odd. In real life if called on it I’d assume you point to the data plate.
Interesting. When shopping for my current truck it was to replace a old F-350. However when I started looking at them I found that with the optional payload package the 06 F-250 I did end up buying had the 9,900 lb rating on the data plate while the SRW gas engine F-350s of similar year I looked at had the 10,000 lb on their GVW. So I figured I was fine to “downgrade” to the lowly 250.
Forgot to include…
I haven’t really looked into it on the ford’s. On the rams an gm even with the bigger GVWR options a gas 2500 to 3500 SRW, nets you anywhere from 600 to 1200 lbs more payload. Trailer ratings are about the same. Since they are looking at high pin weights with the 5th wheel and having 3 grandkids in the back seat the extra payload is appealing.
For me the only reasons to go SRW 3500 is heavy 5th wheels and slide in truck campers where your often looking for every ounce of payload possible.
I can’t wait until these 7.3 trucks get ubiquitous enough to be had (somewhat) cheaply used. A 7.3/10-speed regular cab SRW F-350 would be the perfect replacement for our current ’08 flatbed. 13 MPG may seem awful, but it’s certainly better than the 6-8 we’re currently getting with the 6.8L V10 and 6-speed manual, even without taking the power difference into account.
Another great thing about the Super Dutys (although this wouldn’t matter for our use) is their lower bed vs. the F-150, to make up for the higher ride height. GM could take a page out of their book.
You raise an interesting question in my mind – what *is* the values of these $60K and up luxury trucks once they have 100K or more on them and move on to the second or third owner? Seems like they would experience steep depreciation to me, especially if a lot of the gizmos are starting to flake out.
Ed, I’ll give you an extreme case example:
My father in law is a serial Ram buyer. In 2013, he decided to move on from his 2006 2500 5.7 HD Ram to a 2013 Ram 2500 Bighorn with the 6.7 Cummins. Well optioned truck, sticker was well over 60k. He drives a lot for work, so in 5 years the truck had a little over 250,000 miles. He decided to get a 2018 Laramie with the Cummins, so its trade in time. Blue Book value at the time of trade in? $12,000
And yes, it had problems with the DEF system and a fender starting to rust. But when stuff cropped up, he would pay through the nose to have it fixed everytime. So it was still in pretty decent shape apart from the odometer reading.
In an interesting version of the pre CC effect on Thursday I got to see my buddy’s 2020 Super Duty Lariat that he purchased the week before. His is the F-450 though so diesel and an 8′ bed is standard.
I had to move a car and rather than just borrow his trailer he brought his truck and trailer. I was surprised at how well it rode with just the trailer behind it or with the trailer+ car which put a tongue weight that is a small fraction of the payload.
We did fill up on the way back to my house and the first tank averaged 15 MPG and that included some previous towing and local driving.
It also showed just how far trucks have come in the last 10 years as this replaced his 2009 F-450 King Ranch. When he got that we thought it was very luxurious with so many bells and whistles, while today’s Lariat has everything it had and more. The only significant difference in “Luxury” is that the old King Ranch (which was higher up in the food chain then) definitely had softer feeling leather.
So I can’t say I was disappointed with the materials since there are 3 trim levels above it they need to leave some room for those higher trim levels.
I kind of want to put this engine/trans combo into a ’73 Country Squire.
And Ford has you covered with a crate engine offering. https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6007-73
I already thought of that Evan! Even a ’73ish Ranchero would be cool.
Great review as always. I have two porblems with this truck. First, why does Ford continue its practice of cheap plastic in the interior, on vehicles like this? Second, that front grill in the second phtoo looks like one truck fell symetrically on another and squashed it!
“Why does Ford continue its practice of cheap plastic in the interior, on vehicles like this?”
Because commercial and farm buyers appreciate an interior they can wipe down, even if it is a higher trim (Lariat and up).
I think that was the conventional wisdom until RAM came out with their nicer interiors a few years back across the lineup. I don’t see why the farmer can’t wipe down a higher quality plastic that doesn’t feel as cheap or with buttons that fit snugly into their apertures instead of wiggling around slightly that feel hard and brittle when rapped with a fingernail. Yes it may seem petty superficially but when you’re in it and have your finger on a button in the center stack to feel it wiggle around slightly left to right or top to bottom just doesn’t scream quality and precision. Maybe that doesn’t matter to some but if I were spending $60-$100k and all other things were equal that might make a difference. After all, the higher trims are the ones that make the most profit and the base XL is even more plastic/vinyl covered but with the same button quality (and there are a lot of buttons).
It is for sure nicer than the prior generation so for “Ford Fans” that won’t look at anything else mission accomplished but I don’t know if people are quite as brand loyal as they used to be and with sales volumes increasing there are obviously continuously new-to-the-market buyers without any specific allegiance in the marketplace. That’s where it matters.
Nobody is advocating suede on the dashboard or Ford’s famed pantycloth on the seats and headliner…. If you sit in a new Toyota Tundra (the oldest of the half-tons) the buttons all feel solid with a very smooth action, are virtually flush fit into their apertures with minimal gaps around them, have a good feel, and the HVAC and Audio knobs have zero slop and wiggle, they just turn with good damping/resistance but are tightly in place.
My niece recently bought a loaded Chevrolet truck. The interior is surprisingly good and much less Rubbermaid like than my buddy’s F-350. I mean, exposed screw heads in a 2019?
I’ve been enthusiastically following Godzilla since the first rumblings about its development. Haven’t seen one in the flesh yet. I can’t believe that another (one last?) brand new, clean sheet, push-rod V8 made it in my lifetime. LoL
First picture: I assume you towed all those wagons to the silos?
Great review and shade of blue, I don’t think I will come across one any time soon. An F-150 would be a more realistic find.
More in general, I can’t explain why specifically Ram pickups (the 1500) outsell the US competitors here for such a long time, by quite a wide margin. Can’t be the dealership networks…
I noticed that traveling to NL in 2012 saw a number of ram pickups one silverado and oddly a 2500 series suburban. I recently started following a german camping magazine on instagram and so far whenever a full-size american pickup is shown it’s a ram. In fact a recent post from the magazine was a test drive of the new ram calling it the S class for cowboys.
Says a lot about me that I have paid virtually zero attention to what’s been happening in the automotive industry until Ford announced this engine. Detroit Muscle > Silicon Valley tech! 😁
But man that front end has a lot going on!
Diesels fell WAY off my radar screen the day they got rid of the strictly mechanical injection system. The one thing that actually made them reliable.
Unfortunately emission regs have turned diesels into very complicated machines. Miss the old days for ease of diagnosis. All you needed was fuel, air and compression, now there’s about 500 possible reasons that it doesn’t run. Hopefully the diesel industry will follow a similar trajectory as the gas engines did.
I started my mechanic career when gas engines were gutless and strangled with pollution control equipment. The diesels just had a lot of new systems strapped onto them to meet the regulations, the old Beta testing by the customer system. Now that they meet the regulations the engineers can work on improving reliability and tighter regs that are coming. Meanwhile they are also working on elec and hydrogen power.
Just too dayum long, tall, wide, heavy & expensive for me.
The 7.3 engine is also a big deal for the medium duty market and for the same reasons. A lot of customers are dissatisfied with the diesels especially in the rental market.
Also a minor chance that a derivative of the 7.3 could end up in the Mustang. Could be a limited edition Boss 429 or a new 428 Cobra Jet or lastly maybe they finally put a 427 in a Mustang.
Great review – I too was amazed at the rear seat space.
If I had the money, time, energy, and fortitude, I’d buy a 7.3 crate motor/10 speed and install it in a completely stock ’67 Lincoln…fun times…
Maybe I should mention that to Jay Leno…:-)
Yes, the next time you and Jay meet up for some Tonkatsu near Shinjuku you should definitely discuss that. 🙂
I did find it interesting that the 7.3 crate motor documentation states the bellhousing bolt pattern is the same as on the 4.6/5.4 and Coyote 5.0. But that 10-speed is a sweet transmission.
Hmm, 7.3 pushrod in my 94 Cougar with its modular pattern Tremec 5 speed… my imagination is running wild 🙂
It’s been bothering me all day but it finally came to me what those fake wood inserts on the door panels remind me of, Paul’s favorite car!