2022 7.3 XLT One week review

[Kory04]

Just thought I'd talk about my initial thoughts on the truck. F250 XLT premium, supercab, 7.3, 3.55 gears, camper/plow package, 5th prep, pto provision,

 

It is whisper quiet inside the cab with very little road noise.  All you can hear is the radio, and the 7.3L.  There is no mistaking it..... It definitely sounds like a big V8 should, but it does so without  being loud at all.  The sound of the engine is truly addicting!  I love the power of the 7.3, and in all honesty it is probably quite a bit overkill.  I have yet to really get aggressive into the throttle because there is just no need. Even easy accelerations will really get you going without any effort whatsoever, even with towing light trailers ~4500#.  It will quickly get into 10th gear (around 50 mph driving easy) and ride along at 55 mph at 1200 RPM. I have about 360 miles on the truck so far with a pretty even split of light trailer towing and driving around with just the truck.  (no highway speeds, mainly country roads in the 50-60 mph range).  With cruise set at 60 for a 10 mile stretch of road (Truck only) MPG readout got as high as 17.2, which was NO stop n go, just cruising down the road.  Towing trailer around country roads 55 mph, the readout says around 11. (readout was reset for each type of driving ).  In the end the readout said 12.1 over the whole tank, and upon fueling up, the hand calc was 11.4 for a pretty even mix of empty/towing driving.  That was driving pretty easy and not at highway speeds. I did tow my inlaw's 17' aluminum enclosed trailer about 40 miles with it, which included 10 miles of highway at 70 mph, and the readout was around 9 mpg during that stretch. the rest of the trip with this trailer was 55-60 mph, and it said 10.8 for the trip upon getting home. I was expecting better with such a light load, but I guess you still push a lot of wind with enclosed trailers.   So in summary, It will get acceptable mileage, but I'm sure it would quickly take at least a 10% hit if you drive a bit faster and more aggressively to go the flow of traffic.

 

The truck rides about like I expected...Very stiff over large bumps but pretty smooth otherwise. I have 10000 GVW and 5600# front axle rating due to the plow/camper package.  Being an XLT premium, I have a power cloth drivers seat with heat. It is very comfortable and the seat heats up very quickly - almost instant. I have never liked leather seats, and now that I can have heated cloth, it is absolutely the way to go in my book.   

 

I think the halogen headlights provide pretty good light and I'm satisfied with them.  There is another thread on this forum debating LED vs Halogen and support for LED is almost unanimous.  I'm sure the LED are very good lights and an improvement, but based on my experience, I don't understand why everybody thinks the halogens are so terrible and almost un-useable.  My truck has Auto high beams but they are not working correctly yet, as they flash every car several times, so I had to shut that feature off.  Hopefully they can get that fixed in a few weeks.

 

I have the standard radio, and while its not a luxurious sound experience, it is more than acceptable - (does not sound like a tin can)

 

The plastic steering wheel the truck came with seemed hard to hang on to, uncomfortable, and just looked cheap. I replaced it with a Lariat leather wrapped wheel, and it was worth every penny of the ~$390 including tax, 15 install time.  Bought it on Ebay from a ford dealer that sells lots of them.  The shifter knob and wiper knob seem pretty cheap and still had pretty large, sharp edges that were not cleaned up. Its an easy fix but I think they should have been installed in a more refined condition.

 

I've added a tonneu, drop in bedlinder, console fridge, and in the process of adding plow brackets and wiring now, which is probably somewhere around 300# of extra weight.  Taking off Friday for a 1500 mile trip to Montana with the aluminum enclosed trailer, and driving 1500 miles back home empty, so I should have better data soon regarding that.

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Kory04
spelling

[Kory04]

I forgot to add that the gaps between the box and tailgate seem awful big.  From the outside looking in, the gap looks fine, but from the inside of the box, the gaps are seemingly huge on the sides, and bottom.  Driving down my driveway yesterday, a 3/8 wratchet, extension, and 2 sockets fell out of the box with the tailgate closed.  I looked all over for them and eventually found them laying on top of the frame where the bumper brackets mount. I'd say the gap is over 1"

[Quigs]

Thanks for taking the time to write up a review.  I'm looking forward to getting my XLT in sometime next month.

 

I'm glad you mentioned the steering wheel specifically as it is the only XLT feature that I think I'll be addressing.  My current truck has a molded plastic wheel, but the leather just seems so much nicer for a relatively small cost.  I might push that up higher on the priority list once the truck arrives.

 

I'm also very much looking forward to the heated cloth seats.  I'm not a fan of leather either.

[IUEC135ELEVATOR]

Great review! I totally agree with you on the box gaps...of all the truck I have ever owned this is the nicest and most expensive but has the worst made truck bed ever! (I still love this truck though!?) everything is welded correctly and stamped correctly and straight, it's just plain weak.. I got the factory spray in liner, I would have hate to seeing what it look like before the liner.

 

 

If used as a heavy duty construction work truck I don't know how long one of these beds would hold up.

 

Massive gaps from the bed floor to the sides. I guess since there are no drain holes in the truck for water in the front of the bed the water has to get out somehow?

 

 

[Kory04]

One more thought I've had about the truck..  My 2006 f250 seemed to take a lot of effort steering/maneuvering at slow speeds such as sharp turns in the driveway.  I was hoping the new one would be better, but it too seems like you have to steer a lot to get the truck heading where you want it too.  I've never experienced an adaptive steering truck, but if it fixes that I think it would be worth the money to me and I'd wait out the AS scheduling delays.   Like the headlights, I probably wouldn't go up a trim level to get it though.

[fordmantpw]

16 minutes ago, Kory04 said:

One more thought I've had about the truck..  My 2006 f250 seemed to take a lot of effort steering/maneuvering at slow speeds such as sharp turns in the driveway.  I was hoping the new one would be better, but it too seems like you have to steer a lot to get the truck heading where you want it too.  I've never experienced an adaptive steering truck, but if it fixes that I think it would be worth the money to me and I'd wait out the AS scheduling delays.   Like the headlights, I probably wouldn't go up a trim level to get it though.

 

That is the reason I'm not cancelling the AS on mine.  I will wait it out, as I've got it on my '17 and really like it.  I tow probably 60-70% of the time with mine, and that quicker turning while backing into a campsite or backing a boat down the ramp is worth it.

[Kory04]

11 hours ago, Quigs said:

Thanks for taking the time to write up a review.  I'm looking forward to getting my XLT in sometime next month.

 

I'm glad you mentioned the steering wheel specifically as it is the only XLT feature that I think I'll be addressing.  My current truck has a molded plastic wheel, but the leather just seems so much nicer for a relatively small cost.  I might push that up higher on the priority list once the truck arrives.

 

I'm also very much looking forward to the heated cloth seats.  I'm not a fan of leather either.

Theres a good YouTube video showing the steering wheel change.  Was really only 15 minutes once the tools were gathered. 15/16 on a wratchet, long skinny Allen wrench to push in and release the airbag retainer clips, and I think a 10mm to disconnect the batteries is all that's needed.  New wheel comes with a light grey trim and I removed it and reinstalled the black trim from my wheel