Ford F250 Super Duty 4X4 Review: Performax Lariat FX4
What’s hot: The power and the glory of the 6.7 litre V8 diesel, massive tow capacity, comfortable and easy to drive.
What’s not: Dash trim doesn’t match $100k price-tag; it’s not for the ‘burbs.
X-FACTOR: Behind the brutish excess of that mega-chrome grille, the F-250 is a surprisingly good drive and actually shrinks at the wheel.
Vehicle style: Heavy duty 4X4 twin-cab utility
Price: $105,000 - $134,000; XL to Platinum (five models)
Engine/transmission: 328kW/1166Nm 6.7 litre V8 diesel/6spd auto
Fuel consumption listed: 13.0 l/100km | tested: 13.4 l/100km (highway), 14.4 l/100km (4X4 sand and beach driving)
OVERVIEW
This is one hell of a vehicle - Performax International’s new Ford F-250 Super Duty 4X4 twin-cab.
Big? It’s gargantuan. And powerful? Holy Moses, fire up the 1166Nm of torque nestled behind its 6.7 litres of V8 diesel power, and the surge is volcanic.
And can it tow?
Put it this way: if you’ve got a neighbour who’s giving you the shits, just hitch his house up and drag it into another suburb (problem solved).
The F-250 Super Duty has a 7.6 tonne maximum tow rating, so the caravan, or the back-hoe, or the neddies, won’t have it raising the lightest sweat.
For size, for the amazing on-road presence behind that chromed block-of-flats grille, and for the ease that it does almost everything, the F-250 Super Duty is one incredibly impressive machine.
No question, it’s a vehicle built for a big country. Don’t even think about it for one second if you live inner-city (unless you want to be run out of town).
But it’s like ‘the supercar of utes’. If you’ve got a big job in mind, like bloody big, there’s nothing that will hold a candle to the F-250. “Super Duty” says it all really.
Re-engineered for right-hand-drive in Australia in Performax International’s Gympie factory, the conversion is fastidious and invisible, and comes with a full warranty.
We drove the new F-250 at launch. And we are converts.
INTERIOR | RATING: 3.5/5
- Leather-hide interior
- 10-way power driver’s seat; driver and passenger seat warmers
- Keyless entry with remote start (also SecuriCode touch-pad entry)
- Multi-function reach and rake-adjustable steering wheel (also heated)
- Cruise control and climate-control air-con
- Sony 8-speaker audio with Bluetooth/USB/SD card and MP3 capability
- Full-colour screen display, media hub, multi-function trip-computer and vehicle settings display
- Rear-view camera and reverse sensors
- Anti-theft perimeter alarm
- In-dash trip readout and vehicle status screen display
- Flowthrough centre console (with two 12 volt power outlets)
- Lockable under-seat storage
- Power windows and PowerScope towing mirrors
- Plus, a rear window port, among a host of other premium features.
There is no skimping on gear in this cabin. Designed to cosset American bums in expansive club-chair comfort, there is a lounge-room feel to the F-250’s seating and accommodation.
It’s all nicely trimmed in quality hide leather (none of this mock-leather nonsense), and there is a solid ‘built like a battle-tank’ feel to everything.
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