Why the 7.3L Is the One To Buy

Southeast Michigan may not be Texas, but we have more than our fair share of big trucks around here. Second only to the Escalades and other full-size SUVs that prowl metro Detroit, heavy-duty pickups like the 2026 Ford F-250 Super Duty are still coveted chariots even in some of America’s wealthiest suburban zip codes. But there’s a flip side to that.

When I’m testing a flashy luxury SUV or fancy sports car, the neighbors will often wander past. They want to know what it is, and more often than not, what it’ll do. Something like an F-250 Super Duty, on the other hand, is a known quantity—even if that quantity tends to be quite large.

The Basics

Just days before the truck arrived, we learned that the 7.3-liter “Godzilla” V8 had become the truck’s new default engine. To that, I have one thing to say: Hallelujah.

Don’t get me wrong; diesels are awesome machines, and if capability is all that you care about, the Power Stroke is ultimately going to punch harder. You’ll get no argument from me if that’s your use case. But if you’re going to be driving your truck empty or close to it (depending on what you’re hauling, even a full bed in a Super Duty might qualify as “nearly empty” in terms of actual payload), the 7.3 is the engine to get—period.

It may not look like much, but hey, the average American man has to stand on his toes just to get a decent look at this thing anyway. If you’re the DIY maintenance type, you may want to consider investing in a step stool.

Driving the F-250 Super Duty Tremor

Last year, I tested a monster of an F-350—a dual-rear-wheel behemoth that only cleared the door framing of my new carport by a couple of inches. It took sincere effort (writers don’t typically spend their days hauling construction-grade block around) to even scratch the surface of what that truck was capable of, and driving it around unladen didn’t help it put its best foot forward. With no trailer and an empty bed, the diesel always felt underworked and, at the same time, annoyed that it had been asked to show up at all. Despite the temperament its name might imply, Godzilla simply hums along at whatever pace you desire.

The big V8 may be simple, maybe, but not exactly mundane. Its 7.3-liter displacement is impressive on its own, and it produces 430 horsepower and 485 pound-feet of torque. That’s less than you get from the new LT6 in the 2026 Corvette, which is decidedly not a pickup truck, but the pushrod Ford also isn’t as highly stressed as the ‘Vette engine. Meanwhile, the 6.7-liter high-output diesel cranks out an almost incomprehensible 1,200 pound-feet.

Here’s the thing about diesels (just about anything turbocharged, really): You may not need revs to get gobs of torque, but you do need throttle to spin that turbine. That big turbodiesel may not lag much, but Godzilla doesn’t do it at all—nor does it sound like somebody threw a live goose down a garbage disposal. And even if it may be down on raw grunt, the 4.30:1 axle ratio makes Godzilla feel plenty quick.

This time around, I didn’t have any stress tests for the F-250; the biggest item it brought home was a nine-foot Freeman maple that the township’s beautification commission offered after we lost one of our tree-lawn silver maples to old age. Are you even using a truck if you don’t exceed at least one of its cargo dimensions?

The Highs and Lows

My biggest complaint about driving the F-350 last year was its unladen road manners. When you engineer a truck to haul that much weight on the rear axle (and then stick extra tires on it to accommodate more load), you need a correspondingly stiff suspension so that the truck doesn’t droop in the rear when you max out its payload or tongue weight. Sag out back lifts the nose, which makes the nose light (compromising steering response and feel) and reduces stability at speed.

This single-rear-wheel Super Duty won’t hold as much in the bed, nor can it pull quite as large a trailer, but it rides beautifully by comparison—even this Tremor package, which ostensibly cranks the aggression up a notch. Fortunately, those knobby tires have nice, thick sidewalls that greedily soak up surface imperfections and smooth out what might otherwise be a jittery ride.

The advantage is even more obvious because this F-250, like last year’s truck, was a King Ranch. Named for a sprawling Texas homestead, this not-quite-a-Platinum treatment coats the interior in what is likely enough leather to deplete its namesake cattle herd. It’s not quite a Lincoln, but you probably wouldn’t be disappointed if you were coming from one.

As for lows, there aren’t many. It’s still huge, but you don’t buy a crew-cab pickup with an eight-foot bed because it’s compact and maneuverable. Nor, for that matter, do you buy it because it’s a fuel miser…

Fuel Economy

In a word (or three), LOL. Automakers aren’t required to publish fuel economy figures for their heavy-duty pickups, and given the F-250’s massive 48-gallon tank, getting a meaningful average in the space of just a week is essentially its own speedrun challenge. In short, if you’re buying a truck to be frugal, this is the wrong one. If that’s the case, the F-150 hybrid may be more your speed, and don’t feel bad—it’s more mine too.

2026 Ford F-250 Super Duty Features, Options, and Competition

The full-size truck market is a complex and high-dollar segment to parse. Realistically, the buyer for an F-250 knows better what they need than I do, especially given that my job’s version of “heavy lifting” often involves a ceramic mug and pensive stares.

But as stagnant as this little corner of the market might get, we do occasionally see big changes. Ram’s latest HD overhaul gave it broader aftermarket support for power take-off accessories and introduced a new transmission lineup-wide, bringing the Cummins diesel some long-anticipated upgrades. But loyalty, being what it is among truck buyers, may not matter much.

Given the many ways the Super Duty lineup can be configured (and the wide disparity in use cases), it’s hard to make a definitive judgment call about trucks in this segment. And hey, I’m a city slicker, remember? It’s my job to tell you when you’re enduring a crappy experience just for the sake of pickup squad credibility, but it’s virtually impossible for me to say which truck best fits your lifestyle. If you pick the wrong tool for the job, that’s on you.

Value and Verdict

Value can be a nebulous thing to define in any automotive segment; things get even trickier when you’re talking about heavy-duty pickups with six-figure price tags (after taxes in this case, but still). We’re firmly in the domain of maximalism. More is more; less is unconscionable.

Appropriately, this truck’s name is no less of a mouthful than last year’s: 2026 Ford F-250 Super Duty King Ranch Tremor Crew Cab Long Bed Single Rear Wheel, but the truck itself is a lot easier to wrap one’s head around. It’s still long, but the single-rear-wheel setup makes the whole thing feel manageable. It’s still too long to fit in my smaller suburban garage, but it will fit (albeit snugly) in the gravel space next to it. Of the trucks that are too big for me, this is at least one I could rationalize. It could do anything I’d throw at it and more, and all with a basic V8 under the hood.

Now if only I could justify a second mortgage.

Ford provided The Drive with a seven-day loan of this vehicle for the purpose of writing this review. 

2026 Ford F-250 Super Duty Tremor 4×4 Specs

Quick Take

It’s maximalism incarnate, but it’ll do everything you ask of it.