Fuel efficiency and heavy duty trucks haven’t traditionally been talked about in the same sentence. That’s changed now, thanks to the 2011 Ford F-Series Super Duty®.

Ford recently invited journalists to test-drive the new Super Duty in Arizona. During the program, Ford challenged these reporters to a contest to see who could achieve the best fuel economy while driving a the Ford-built 6.7-liter Power Stroke® V8 on an 80-mile stretch of surface roads and highways. The winning media team on the first round achieved 29.2 mpg and the second an astonishing 34 mpg!

Three-person media teams drove from Buckeye to Glendale, Arizona, in an F-250 or F-350 with 1,000 pounds of payload. Depending on vehicle configuration, media teams were expected to meet targets of 26.5 mpg (pickups with 17-inch wheels and a 3.31:1 axle ratio) or 24 mpg (pickups with 20-inch wheels and a 3.55:1 axle ratio) while driving the 80 miles in a time frame consistent with what Ford engineers achieved.

Drivers were given fuel economy tips from the Ford vehicle energy engineering team and a few ground rules: stay on the specified route, follow the provided turn-by-turn directions and drive at the posted speeds (no speeding and no crawling).

Winning the first wave was the team of Bob Plunkett, Chuck Bowen and Sue Mead. Plunkett, a syndicated auto journalist, drove; Bowen, managing editor of Lawn & Landscape, and Mead, a writer for newcartestdrive.com, navigated. The team achieved 29.2 mpg.


The Ford Story: Journalists Squeeze 2011 Ford Super Duty® For Impressive Fuel Economy

 

Wow.....hard to believe based on my two weeks with my truck.....I have slightly over 525 miles on mine .....obviously not broken in yet.

 

You will never know what tune they were running.

Oldest trick in the book. Give journalists specially tuned trucks to test.

Happended routinely in the HP-crazed 1960s. So much so, Car & Driver actually went to the Mustang plant to watch them build the test car. Turns out, Ford had carefully timed the engine to body section of the line and inserted a balanced and blue-printed 289 sleeper engine so that the C&D car got the HiPo engine.

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

 

That is actually illegal to do.
Press fleet vehicles do get run over with a "fine tooth comb" to ensure the are the best representatives of the fleet, but the days of providing a vehicle with special tunes and/or other modifications that would not make them representative of production vehicle is illegal.


I would suggest that the milage gained in that report is only because of the very specific conditions (i.e. going about 45mph in top gear). I can get close to that milage doing the same thing in my 7.3

 

So is selling crack cocaine and crossing the Rio Grande without papers. . . .

How is enforcing those laws working out?

Better example is all the shenanigans Toyo has been pulling lately.

How about lying to the NTSB?

You're a big boy. You think this still doesn't happen?

 

Seriously?? Guess I need to look for a new job, haha

 

Mileage is always a plus, but...these are TRUCKS made for WORKING, PULLING and CARGO carrying. Buy a Pruis if you want mileage.

 

As soon as a Prius can carry 6 people, tow16,000 lbs down the freeway and drive over other Priuses, I'm all over it.

 

Fixed !!

 

lol, you can also add, "and not look like a fairy" in there somewhere!

 

29 MPG in an 8,000lb truck? Sure if you drive at 45-50mph on completely level ground (wonder if Ford's test route gained or lost elevation?).

 

Having prepared Ford's press vehicles in the past, to my knowledge it doesn't.

 

There was a total elevation loss of not quite 1000' over apprx. 75 miles. No big hills, but not entirely flat either.

 

Mostly downhill. Some 45mph zones. And the 29mpg was done with hypermiling. Drafting mirrors folded in etc. I think the normal non hypermiling truck got right around 25mpg.

 

29MPG was just one reading. The article says someone got $34MPG. Is ANYONE getting close to these numbers????