By Rick Popely
Cars.com National May 1, 2001Vehicle Overview
The Super Duty models are the brutes among Ford’s pickups — heavy-duty trucks designed for serious hauling and towing. The Super Duty line was redesigned for 1999, and though it is based on the F-150, it sports different styling, roomier interiors, and stronger chassis and engines.
All Super Duty models weigh more than 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight — which is the weight of the truck and what it can carry in passengers and payload. This means they are exempt from federal safety requirements for lighter-duty trucks and cars, but a driver-side airbag is standard on all models and a passenger-side airbag that can be disabled by a dashboard switch is optional.
Exterior
Styling differences from the F-150 are most pronounced in the front, where a massive grille dominates the Super Duty’s nose. Models include regular cabs, four-door Super Cabs (with two conventional front doors and two rear-opening rear doors) and four-door crew cabs (with conventional front-hinged doors). Wheelbases range from 137 inches on the regular cab to 172 inches on the crew cab with dual rear wheels.
The Super Duty lineup starts with a gross vehicle weight of 8,800 pounds for the three-quarter-ton F-250 model and goes up to a GVW of 11,500 for the F-350 with dual rear wheels (two on each side) and the 7.3-liter diesel V-8. Ford brags that it has the highest GVW for any one-ton pickup.
Interior
Just because the Super Duty models are beasts of burden doesn’t mean the interiors are all vinyl and steel. Cloth upholstery, leather captain’s chairs and a power driver’s seat are available to coddle front occupants. A split front bench seat includes a folding center armrest that is large enough to stow a laptop computer. A folding three-place rear bench seat is standard or optional on Super Cab and crew-cab models.
Under the Hood
The biggest engine available in the F-150 is the smallest engine for the Super Duty models: a 5.4-liter V-8 with 260 horsepower. A 310-hp 6.8-liter V-10 and a 7.3-liter diesel V-8 with 250 hp (15 hp more than last year) also are available. All engines team with a five-speed manual transmission.
cars.com From the cars.com 2001 Buying Guide |
Additional Reviews
Cars.com Expert Reviews
| Rick Popely | Cars.com National | May 1, 2001 |
Affiliate Reviews
| Tom Strongman | KansasCity.com | May 8, 2001 |
| Tom Strongman | KansasCity.com | May 8, 2001 |
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