![]() ![]() ![]() We can guess which one you're going to find doing its work under Mom's Attic. The E-series van, the ancient foundation beneath many a box truck and RV, gets either the commercial tune or lamest possible version of the 7.3, an economy special that ekes out only 300 horsepower and 425 pound-feet. For those of you thinking, "Well, that's still enough for epic U-Haul burnouts," we have sad news. We did get 14 mpg on the highway in an F-350, though.Ĭommercial vehicles-your dump trucks and shuttle buses-get a detuned commercial version of the 7.3 that makes 350 horsepower and 468 pound-feet. The truck in question, a crew cab, four-wheel-drive F-250 with a 160.0-inch wheelbase, also weighs about 6850 pounds with all the options. While towing, we saw an indicated 8 to 9 mpg, and that figure didn't improve much without a trailer-we're talking 12 mpg. We generally assume onboard fuel-economy computers will fudge their numbers upward, but if that's the case here, then the 7.3 could use an umbilical cord connected to a tanker truck. The downside of the 7.3, as you may expect, will be felt every time you fill its fuel tank, which is either 34 gallons or 48 gallons, depending on the truck's wheelbase. The 7.3 upgrade is also $8450 less expensive than the Super Duty's optional 6.7-liter turbo-diesel, which is a sizeable savings for buyers who don't need to move entire mountains in one go. And it sounds good doing it, issuing a bassy V-8 roar that requires no digital enhancement from the sound system. Ante up for the 7.3, drop another $390 for 4.30:1 axle gears, and you've got a leviathan of an F-250 that can downright scamper. While the base 6.2-liter F-250 isn't exactly a weakling (385 horsepower, 430 pound-feet), it's hamstrung by a six-speed automatic in Lariat and below models. That 10-speed transmission is part of the reason why Super Duty buyers will be awfully tempted to pay $1705 for the big-block upgrade. ![]() Maybe if you were approaching the 7.3's max tow rating (21,200 pounds for a dual-rear-wheel F-350 pulling a gooseneck trailer), you might not get into 10th gear quite as often. We towed two different trailers ranging from 4000 to 5000 pounds, and the 7.3 was supremely unbothered by either, loafing at less than 2000 rpm with Ford's 10-speed automatic transmission in top gear as if the truck wasn't lugging five or six tons of gross combined vehicle weight. Fortified by variable valve timing, this big V-8 heaves out more than 400 pound-feet of torque from 1500 rpm until the threshold of the fuel cutoff-as distinct from the indicated redline, which begins at a fanciful 6000 rpm. Don't let that latter figure lead you to think the 7.3 needs a lot of revs to do its job. ![]()
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