Ford F250 alternatives?

Ian,

We have a 100 series wagon, converted to dual cab by Creative Conversions in Brissy. Works well, and is good to drive. Seems a little asthmatic after driving a tojo turbo ute, but this could be remedied by adding a/m turbo, or sourcing a 100 TD.

Hooroo...

The May issue of 4WD Monthly has a comparison between the f250 7.2l diesel and the troopie for towing have a look at it, fuel consumption not too bad, heaps of grunt etc, if you can't find the mag let me know at hrk84 at hotmail . com and I will scan it and email it to you
.... Ric

From experience, fuel economy is astonishingly good in the F250 when fitted with the 7.3l International Navistar engine, having done side by side comparisons on long runs with one.

I'm a big believer in a lot doing a little, rather than the other way round.

The F250 is a very big vehicle though for general day to day driving / parking etc and a recent post highlighted some reliability issues. Do a quick search of the archives.

Hi Ian,

i have recently concluded my research into the same issue - What to tow my boat with ? ( it tips the scale at 4000+ Kgs ). I posted on here a couple of weeks ago re the F250 7.3 TD Crew Cab and had many great replies and a wealth of information. I also have good research from other sources that i have collected since Jan this year. I wont bore you with all the detail so heres a summary of where i got and why ?

My need was similar to yours - i needed a vehicle to tow and cater for the wife and kids also. We currently have an 03 V8 Sahara that is more than comfortable but is limited to 3500Kgs towing capacity.

I looked at importing a vehicle from the US and or buying a US vehicle locally here in Victoria but they were too expensive relative to their age and difficult to insure. I spoke with creative conversions in QLD about doind a dual wheel conversion on my cruiser which would allow me to tow upto 4500Kgs BUT i would have needed to add a blower to the V8 engine so that i could pull it all - again expensive.

All my research kept highlighting the F250 - but i was not a fan - i was a Toyota man thru and thru but i kept an open mind relative to the F250.

Many of my journeys over the past 2 years meant that i regularly saw the F250 taking families on their around Australia trips. There were lots of them and in many diffentent configurations. I then looked at the issues raised - wheel alignments, CPS and trans and disovered a great deal of inconsistencies in the information - i then contacted some of the sources of information and spoke with over 12 people who own them and only 1 had any of these problems ( yes i know 12 people is not statisticly bullet proof ).

The issue of fuel consumption also varied except when i spoke with the same owners - the avg fuel consumption was 15L/100Klms and towing ranged between 18L - 23L/100Klms.

Yes they are big and no doubt they will drink fuel when pushed hard. There are some reliability issues but these can be covered with a warranty.

If you buy using an ABN then they are hard to go past on price alone. I basically conluded that if you need to tow and have a family then the F250 is the best choice hands down (subject to specific needs). This months 4wd monthly confirms this.

Hope this helps
Cheers
Ric

Ever considered a Kenworth?

NUTS!

An Iveco Twin Cab ute looks comfortable and is smaller (I think).

Much more room in the second seat from memory and build quality looked fine.

Good economy I believe.

EV700

Thaks everone for your swift replies and info. I must admit, I was somewhat surprised with the fuel figures suggested for the F250. You've given me quite a lot of pointers so I'll go and do a bit more research now.
Happy Motoring!
Ian.

Ian we have just purchased f250 only done 4000 k so far & very satisfid great power very easy to tow with too early for fuel fig .
Regards leon