The rumors are true: the bigger, blockier, more industrial-looking 2017 Ford Super Duty will follow the F-150’s lead. It will have a military-grade aluminum body, a change that allows for up to 350 pounds of weight loss. The new Super Duty — the F-250, F-350 and F-450 — will also be more capable, with a fully boxed frame made of more than 95 percent high-strength steel. The new frame is said to be up to 24 times stiffer, an improvement that will give the trucks the most towing and payload capacity of any Super Duty. Ford hasn’t released numbers yet, so we don’t yet know how they compare to the competition. For reference, Chevrolet‘s 2016 Silverado HD can tow up to 23,200 pounds, the 2016 Ram Heavy Duty can tow up to 31,210 pounds and the current Super Duty can tow up to 31,200 pounds.
In addition to being more capable, the new Super Duty is said to have improved fuel economy. The 6.7-liter Power Stroke turbodiesel V8 and 6.2-liter gas V8 will return for 2017, and the 6.8-liter gas V10 will be available in chassis cabs. The turbodiesel is said to offer more horsepower and torque and the 6.2-liter will be backed by a new TorqShift-G transmission in F-250s.
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High-end luxury
When Ford pulled the curtain off the 2017 F-250, it was dressed in Platinum garb, showing the high-lux amenities that will be available. All cabs are bigger: the Regular Cab will be four inches longer, the SuperCab adds six inches of space and the Crew Cab is three inches longer. The truck we saw had power retractable side steps, seven cameras, SYNC 3, the newest version of Ford’s communications and entertainment system and several new safety features including lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control. There are also features that make it easier to tow with these trucks: the cameras are designed to help when connecting a trailer (and an available factory-installed camera can be attached to the trailer itself to make it easier to see when backing up). The blind-spot information system also accounts for the length of the trailer. Adaptive steering adjusts when you are towing and also adjusts when driving at lower or higher speeds.
Ford hasn’t announced pricing, but the trucks are set to go on sale in late 2016. We expect pricing to be announced closer to the on-sale date.
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