Here's a response to a question I posted over at Blue Oval forums. The poster's name is Hugh Jorgan and he works on the line. Exciting news!.

From Hugh on 2/4/2010:

"We started building the 2011 units in Body yesterday afternoon. The first units were shipped from Body to the Paint Shop at about 11:30 or so last night. The plan was to balance out the current production during afternoon shift today, put a gap in the line to swap out stock to new model,and then fill up the lines with 2011 units. I would think it will be fairly late in the shift tonight on the current model balance out. The plan for the rest of the week will include total system fill, and they are going to run 50 units off the chassis line on Friday. These will be sellable units, not PP (pre-production) units. I have had a chance to play around with the 6.7 Liter Scorpions a little bit around the plant property and these things are bad *** !! Quick pedal response, they don't have the turbo lag at launch,very smooth and quiet at idle. They will light the tires up in manual tranny mode through first and second and probably third if you hit the buttons right. The fence was coming at me a little too quickly to get too brave. Guys I work with that have driven the units for evaluation are telling me the dually models are getting mileage in the low 20s right out of the gate with them running them hard. They have some really nice seat and interior packages."

 

Notice the comment on mileage in the low 20's for a dually. For serious?

 

That's hard to believe...But I hope I'm wrong

 

empty on the highway maybe? That's the sort of mileage you would see from the 7.3, and 5.9 Cummins - basically all the big diesels before the tougher emissions. If Urea solves the problem of clean emissions without getting crappy fuel economy like the promise is, then it should get more than 20mpg. Also, Ford says it's the most fuel efficient PowerStroke diesel. So I'm starting to believe it. If it's true, then the same will be true for the new LML Duramax

 

well maybe it also has to do with the new transmision also having 6 speed with 2 that are overdrives

 

It was the poor mileage of the 6.4L that kept me in my V10 Excursion and out of an F350. I had such high hopes back in '08 but I just couldn't justify the expediture for a little more power.

Looking at the list of new features and the rumors of huge mileage improvements and performance, this will finally be the year. Ford has really taken charge with the all new powertrain and I have high hopes for their future. It's all I can do to not run straight over to Ed Kenley Ford and order one. The money is all saved up and ready to go...

 

yeah, i hope they are not letting us down with all that MPG

I saved up enough to get one too! Buying mine with cash!
But i was hoping for some kinda 0% deal in march, that way i can buy new seadoo's LOL

 

Hugh Jorgan. Really. Or was is Dick Gozinya. Or late hungarian ice skater Sonya Rotchyacockoff

 

Yeah, it's hard not to think of all the other things you could do with the $$$. I'm not sure when I started to think $60K all in for a truck was ok but I guess that's the way it is nowadays.

 

YES! I'm like MANNN....thats a lot of money!! I never thought i would spend that much,but the hell....
Then i also figured, you only live once! I plan on keeping truck for a LONG time. Plus i'm really OCD on my stuff and i can't bear to stand if i bought a used one of how the other person treated it.
so, thats why i spent extra money on a new one, then i know for sure. I even told the dealer...you pull truck off truck..NO ONE drives it anywhere until i get there or he can keep the thing!

 

"NO ONE drives it anywhere"... LOL. I did the same thing on a 99 Expedition 11 years ago (just sold it last month, btw). I ordered it and waited for it to arrive like a kid at Christmas. I actually had the dealer call the trucking company who delivered it to the dealership to report their ETA. I wanted to be there when it arrived. Then I was a pain in the butt to the poor detailing kid making sure he didn't scratch anything during the pre-delivery checklist. I know... I'm a retard but I'm ok with that. There's just something about getting that new truck that takes me back to simpler days.

 

Guys i hate to burst your bubble on the fuel mileage but lets use some common sense here. If we say the 6.4 averages 16mpg (which is better than most) in stock form on the hwy with no load. Now per this guy in assembly lets say he did get 21mpg (which he says was driven hard) and calculate the % improvement. By doing this we see over a 37% improvement in mileage. This is by looking at the better mileage 6.4's driven easy and the new 6.7 driven hard. I say no way in hell.....
However, i sure hope its true cause I'll be buying one in 2012 for sure.

 

Did most of you miss the OP's source? Big Ruth pointed it out.

Hugh Jorgan = huge organ

Tough to take a guy with a name about dicks that serious.

 

Elongate - LOL, I completely missed that one. Call me naive. Having said that, I can see that a person with your handle - ELONGATE - would have a natural pre-disposition to "point-out" such things.

On the mileage thing, yeah, I'm a bit suspicious of such a large increase as well. One can hope though, can't he? I'd be totally satisfied with 18-20 unloaded and that seems reasonable compared to the 6.4L. Mr. "Jorgan" went further by saying it was a dually getting pushed hard that did the low 20's. Ok, if it's only half true, then there is sufficient reason to hope for 20 in a stock SRW on the highway. Anyone who wants to argue with that logic is splitting hairs. Would a 25% improvement in mpgs with an entirely new drivetrain with a 6th gear, removing the 9th injector, and 800 pound lighter truck be unreasonable? Maybe, maybe not. We sure will find out soon. 20 mpg's for a current model HD truck would indeed be the modern equivalent of a holy grail quest. If attained, Ford would have a massive game-changer and a market share dominator for the next decade.

 

I have read 3 different times,each i've heard low 20's now....BUTT (lol) we will find out soon enough.
I also did read another one just the other day, where dealer got to drive 2011 superduty down to autoshow. SRW i would believe,city driving,he said it got 19mpg on the way down there.