The Ford Super Duty offers as much as 1200 lb.-ft of torque on tap, so you know there’s a lot of good to talk about.

What’s Good Omnipresent power from the high-output turbo diesel. Impressive acceleration and remarkable smoothness. Cool tech too.

What Could Improve The base price for a Super Duty Lariat is about the same as a Porsche 718 Cayman. What?!?

My Conclusion The latest technology that Ford stuffed in the Super Duty makes it harder to get things wrong. And the truck drives remarkably civil, given its capabilities.

OVERVIEW

The new for 2023 Ford Super Duty still uses the P558 frame of the previous generation truck (2017-2022), albeit with a few alterations to aid a higher towing capacity. And that makes the Super Duty essentially the same size as well. Bigger changes came under the hood and the technology built in to the truck. And both attributes took steps in the right direction.

FOrget power, let’s talk torque!

Ford showed the base, overhead cam 6.2-liter V-8 the door and replaced it with a pushrod 6.8-liter V-8. That engine is basically a shorter stroke version of the 7.3-liter pushrod V-8 that Ford lovingly named Godzilla. The 6.8 runs smoothly and outputs 405 horsepower and 445 lb.-ft of torque, which beats the 6.2 by 20 HP and 15 lb.-ft, respectively. It’s the engine Ford uses in the base XL trim trucks.

The aforementioned Godzilla makes use of an extra 0.5-liter of displacement to deliver 430 horsepower and 485-lb.-ft of torque. Despite that engine largely carrying over from the last generation truck, Ford managed to squeeze and extra 10 lb.-ft out of it for 2023. That is the most powerful gas engine Ford offers in the Super Duty.

And it’s totally lame compared to what the diesels deliver. The base or standard-output turbo diesel cranks out 475 HP 1050 lb.-ft of torque! And the new for 2023 high-output version puts out 500 HP (the same as the 2007 Ford Mustang GT500) and a jaw dropping 1200 lb.-ft of torque! Those were semi-trucks numbers from not long ago. It’s beautiful insanity and I love it.

Tow up to 40,000 pounds!

Of course, big output figures translates nicely to big towing figures. And the heavy-duty 10-speed automatic transmission doesn’t hurt. If you go with a rear-wheel-drive F-450 with the high-output diesel, you can tow up to 40,000 lbs. Or, you know, a small office building or something. But most Super Duties tow something more in the 18,000-25,000 lb. range, depending on layout, engine, options, etc. My F-350 Lariat test truck officially towed 24,000 lbs. which is plenty.

New and useful technology

The real star of the new generation Super Duty show comes in the form of technology. More specifically, cameras, screens, sensors, and software put to use to automate certain functions, and/or provide more information to avoid mistakes. The video link above about towing, demonstrates many of these, but I’ll quickly list them here: Pro Trailer Hitch Assist, Smart Hitch, Pro Trailer Back-Up Assist, On-board scales, and Rear-tailgate camera.

With these systems, the truck will automatically align the ball to drop the hitch one, back-up with truck easily with the trailer mounted, measure the tongue weight for you (not to mention the payload), and give you a back-up camera view, with the tailgate down for easily loading. All of it is designed to make getting work done easier.

Off road options

Or, forget work completely and go play off-road. There’s a Super Duty for that too. No, we are not talking Ford Bronco or Jeep Wrangler levels of capability here. But You get solid ground clearance, decent approach, breakover, and departure angle clearances, and if you choose the Tremor package, good tires too. My video below goes into more detail on that. There is also a lower priced XL Off-Road Package.

in conclusion

But the Super Duty’s civility on-road surprised me the most. My on-road test truck was the middle of the road Lariat trim, and it offered a big digital screen for the instrument cluster and another one for the center console touchscreen, Ford added a head-up display for good measure. It also included heated and cooled seats, dual-zone climate control, and a lot of other comforts.

It also includes a price tag of $91,740! Granted, that included the $12,495 high-output diesel, but base price for a Lariat trim level F-350 still approaches $70K. And the base price of the base trim truck is still over $45k, sheesh.

The Ford Super Duty provides more capability than ever before, that trend continues. But now it also offers quite a lot of comfort, convenience, and technology too. Yeah, the Super Duty is expensive, but you get quite a lot in return.

Here’s my review of the Ford Super Duty I wrote for Motor1: 2023 Ford Super Duty First Drive

COMPETITORS
Chevrolet Silverado HD
GMC Sierra HD
Ram 2500

SPECIFICATIONS
2023 Ford F-350 Lariat: 4-door, 5-seat, Truck

Base price: $66,685
Price as tested: $91,740

Powertrain:
Engine: Turbocharged 6.7-liter V-8 Diesel
Power: 500 horsepower
Torque: 1200 lb-ft
Transmissions: 10-speed automatic transmission
Drive: four-wheel-drive

Dimensions
Length: 250.0 inches
Width: 80.0 inches
Height: 81.2 inches
Wheelbase: 159.7 inches

Weights and Capacities
Curb weight: 7387 lbs.
Interior volume: NA cu ft
Truck bed volume: 65 cu ft

Performance
Calculated weight to power (lbs./HP): 14.8:1
Mfr’s claimed 0-60 mph: NA seconds
Mfr’s claimed Top Speed: NA mph

Test Car Options:
NA

Looking for a bit more off road adventure? It’s hard to beat the latest, 2024 Jeep Wrangler.