Ford will stop selling the only diesel option available on its full-size F-150 pickup after this week. If your heart is set on an F-150 with a 3.0-liter Power Stroke turbodiesel engine, according to a Ford spokesperson, you’ll need to order it by Friday, July 16.
Why it’s Going
The move is likely a result of improved technology in gasoline engines.
Until recently, there were two reasons to buy a diesel-powered truck: fuel economy and torque. Diesels traditionally outperformed gasoline engines in both measures.
That’s no longer true.
Considering the engines currently offered on the F-150, the most fuel-efficient is now the hybrid powertrain. It earned an EPA rating of 24 mpg in combined driving, even with the 4-wheel-drive (4WD) option. That beats the best the Power Stroke diesel could do, at 23 mpg.
The Power Stroke makes 440 lb-ft of torque. That’s bested by the twin-turbo, 3.5-liter EcoBoost, at 500 lb-ft. The EcoBoost can even out-tow the diesel option. It can pull a maximum of 14,000 lbs, compared to the Power Stroke’s 11,500.
The diesel option still makes more of its torque available at the low end than any gasoline-powered F-150. But that difference apparently isn’t enough to keep many buyers reaching for the green pump.
Ram, Chevy Not Likely to Follow Suit
If you have an attachment to oil burners all the same, you can still get the 2021 Chevrolet Silverado with a 3.0-liter 6-cylinder turbodiesel making 460 lb-ft of torque. Chevrolet doesn’t offer a Silverado with more torque than that, so the Chevy diesel may be safe from the chopping block for now.
Similarly, Ram will sell you a 2021 Ram 1500 with a 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 making 480 lb-ft. That’s the torquiest Ram unless you factor in the 650 lb-ft of the performance-oriented Ram TRX. But the TRX is tuned for speed, not stump-pulling – its 8,100-lb maximum towing capacity puts it near the bottom of the Ram 1500 towing chart. So the Ram diesel is most likely safe for now.
