{"id":111430,"date":"2019-03-14T13:22:42","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T17:22:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/\/?p=111430"},"modified":"2021-03-30T09:11:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T13:11:32","slug":"2020-ford-super-duty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.automoblog.com\/2020-ford-super-duty\/","title":{"rendered":"2020 Ford Super Duty: An In-Depth Look At Dearborn’s Big Slugger"},"content":{"rendered":"
Meet the 2020 Ford Super Duty. It’s bigger. It’s badder. And in one striking way, it’s a little familiar. Glancing over the specs, one item will stand out immediately for Ford fans: that is the return of the 7.3. Although this new version differs from the near-immortal\u00a0Navistar T444E engine of the 90s and early 2000s in one way: it’s a gasoline plant.<\/p>\n
I know. I got excited too, thinking when Ford said 7.3, they meant diesel. But we’ll take the nostalgia factor.<\/p>\n
When the 6.7-liter Power Stroke debuted in 2010, along with the TorqShift Transmission, Ford promoted them as being “designed in-house.” The move, at that time, was a departure from the partnership with Navistar International Corporation. That association supplied Ford’s diesel trucks over the years with the 7.3 (1994-2003), the 6.0 (2003-2007), and the 6.4 (2008-2010). However, only the 7.3 Power Stroke really held a solid reputation in terms of reliability and performance.<\/p>\n
Today, some owners recall the 6.0 Power Stroke with little fondness, being sidelined with numerous service bulletins and unforeseen mechanical problems. Head gasket failures, sensor malfunctions, and EGR clogging were among the primary issues. According to Power Stroke Hub<\/em>, the 6.0 can be transformed into a reliable machine<\/a>, but the replacement parts do not come cheap. In Ford truck circles, this is often called “bulletproofing,” According to many who have gone through this process, it works. The result, I am told, is a radically different 6.0 Power Stroke.<\/p>\n The 6.4 was admittedly better, and the dual sequential turbo design (not duplicated in Ford’s HD trucks since) held promise. Power Stroke Hub<\/em> notes that although the 6.4 was a solid performer, the emission controls significantly hindered fuel economy.<\/p>\n When the 6.4 hit the market, I was a sales consultant at Sioux Falls Ford in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Looking back, it was slightly easier to sell a 6.7 Super Duty than a 6.4. Any used 6.0 Super Duty on our lot didn’t have a chance. They would sit, sometimes for weeks on end, without an interested buyer. To us at the dealership, the word on the street was Ford is doing everything internally since the 6.0 and 6.4 had not yielded the intended results.<\/p>\n The trouble was, at least back then, everything was quite subjective. Some customers raved about the performance of the 6.0 Power Stroke. Others cursed its very existence. There was even debate among the sales consultants, with some saying the 7.3 should have never left; others maintaining it was outdated and time to move on. Only when the 6.7 hit the lot were the majority of comments positive all around. And while the 7.3 returns to the Super Duty family for 2020, the 6.7 still holds the top position as the veritable king of Ford’s big truck mountain.<\/p>\nTwo Sides To Every Story<\/h2>\n