2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty Revenge Road Trip: West Coast, The Long Way
Wrapping Up Our Grand Super Duty Adventure.
It's been a wild ride these past four weeks as we send our 2020 Pickup Truck of the Year award winning 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty long-term tester off in grand style. We began our year of testing with the luxurious Ford by setting out on a grand road trip and we've ended it by going even bigger.
Our grand adventure took us through 10 states and covered nearly 5,000 miles. After a year of being cooped up at home, we dubbed this our Revenge Road Trip, as this so-called "revenge travel" has become something that millions of Americans are embarking on this summer. And judging by the number of campers and RVs we saw on the road; millions is probably an understatement.
We spent this time, which amounted to more than 114 hours in the truck (nearly five full days of the trip), giving nearly every feature of the 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty a final evaluation. We towed up and down extreme grades, in below freezing temperatures, in 109-degree heat, and in stiff wind from all directions. We tracked fuel economy and diesel exhaust fluid usage. And we wore out nearly every interior feature, including the truck's adaptive cruise control, massaging front seats, and built-in WiFi modem. While we had some issues arise with our 13-year-old travel trailer, the Ford F-250 Super Duty performed flawlessly during the entire 28-day journey.
The first leg of our trip covered 1,015 miles through California, Arizona, and Utah. During this time, the 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty used 88.96 gallons of diesel and averaged 11.41 mpg. The second leg consisted of 804 miles of mostly two-lane backroad driving through Utah and into Western Colorado. This second jaunt saw the Super Duty consume 59.66 gallons of #2 for a slightly better 13.49 mpg average. The third leg sent our group of explorers north, through Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Montana. We covered the greatest number of miles during this time, churning away at 1,682.4 miles. Burning 129.84 gallons of fuel, the Super Duty achieved an average fuel economy of 12.96 mpg, splitting the difference between the first two legs.
The fourth and final leg of our adventure was certainly more of a sprint than the previous marathon stages. We covered the final 1,183.1 miles in just two days, with the final day being an agonizing 752 miles. This leg took us from just south of Seattle to Grant's Pass, Oregon, and finally home to Los Angeles. We intended to spend one more night camping in California's Central Valley, however, a heatwave with highs of 114 degrees sent us heading for the comfort of home instead. During this leg the 2020 Ford F-250 Super Duty used 92.10 gallons of diesel for an average of 12.85 mpg. We also added another 2.5 gallons of diesel exhaust fluid at the end of this leg.
During our towing adventure, we utilized the Super Duty's adaptive cruise control function as much as we possibly could. On the 2020 and newer Ford F-Series Super Duty trucks, adaptive cruise can be used at any speed and with any load, which proved to be quite the helpful companion on the long and boring highway slogs. We set the speed to 65 mph for the entirety of the journey, which proved a touch fast for the West Coast and a touch slow for everywhere else, but it allowed us to be consistent for testing. While the system worked flawlessly, we did notice that it would typically slow by about 5 mph before downshifting and accelerating on grades. This was no worry, however, as the 1,050 lb-ft of torque from the 6.7L Power Stroke diesel engine made hills of any size a nonissue.
