Actually my 08 v10 got better mpg than my 13 6.2.
I would be all over that v10.

 

What he said. If it is pretty much a tow vehicle the v10 is what you want. I avg around 8mph. But it barely feels like i have a trailer back there. Hills are no problem.

I have the 5star programmer too. That helps with transmission shifting and holding gears alot.

21k seems like a lot. But have you ever paid what someone was asking? I never do

 

Yes. Yes it is. What gas motor in a 3/4 ton+ truck isn't?

My dually on the highway can barely squeeze 11.5mpg on its own. Never really towed highway but my short trips with the dump trailer are between 6-8mpg. So what. Trucks aren't for mpg, that's what my Escape is for.

The V10 has some stones, plenty more than the 5.4 F250 I had. Oh yea that 5.4 truck did squeeze out about 1.5-2mpg more, unloaded, but stunk to tow with. Just stunk. Granted it had 3.73's which are the worst and the V10 has 4.10's.

You want heavy duty truck mpg, then you need to buy a diesel. But then you'd need to spend $5,000+ more than you want to get better mpg. So that's out of the question for you then.

My point being HD gas trucks are all gas hogs no matter what fairy tale someone tries to sell you about their motor and the magically high mpg numbers they claim. And those are usually unloaded numbers with an eggshell under the accelerator. Once they all hook up to a decent trailer the mpg numbers start to align much more.

Sorry if I come off as being an a$$. Just find the combo you like with the most powerful motor. The couple mpg difference isn't worth less power, it's not.

6.2 or V10. Don't even waste your time with 5.4's. You'd need a 4.30 gear set truck to even make it remotely a choice.

Btw, my mileage driven each year is similar to yours. I crunched so many numbers before my purchase. You know what the numbers came out to be when comparing similarly priced V8, V10, diesel? A total wash. Meaning not one would "save" any money and if it did it was so negligible I'd be an idiot to select the lowest power plant. I did have a year and mileage requirement when looking so a similarly equipped low mileage diesel was just out of the question due to price. A similar price range diesel put me in a 100,000mi rust prone truck. No thanks. Plus the 6.0/6.4 weren't the best choice.