How does the new 2018 Ford F150 Diesel perform in the real world on TFLtruck’s highway MPG Challenge? We ran the truck on our 98-mile highway loop twice to find out. We ran this fully-optioned F150 Lariat crew cab long-bed 4×4 empty at a steady 70 MPH. We also hooked up a 7,000 lbs CM Trailers Cargo Mate trailer and did the loop again at the same speed.
Under the hood of this truck is a 3.0L Power Stroke V6 with a rating of 250 horsepower and 440 lb-ft of torque. It’s mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. This 4×4 truck has a towing package with a 3.55 rear axle ration. We run all of our efficiency tests in 2WD mode.
We wanted to find out how the real-world unladen truck fuel efficiency compares to the 25 MPG highway EPA rating. Can we do better or worse than the EPA suggests? Also, how does the truck perform with a 7,000 lbs 20-foot long trailer?
TFLtruck is the only organization out there that does consistent towing fuel economy testing. We have tested dozens of trucks and full-size SUVs on this exact loop with the same 7,000 lbs trailer. In fact, we ran F150 trucks with the 5.0L V8, 3.5L EcoBoost V6, and an F-150 Raptor using this truck/fuel stop and the same procedure. Calculated 9.1 towing MPG was the best we could manage in an EcoBoost-powered truck. How much better will the F-150 Power Stroke be?
Get all of the details in the video below.
