The 2020 Ford F-series Super Duty trucks get a new engine option that slots between the standard 6.2-liter gas V-8 and the 6.7-liter Powerstroke diesel. The 7.3-liter gas V-8 is a fresh design that uses a proven architecture: pushrods, two valves per cylinder, and a cast-iron block. Variable valve timing helps deliver plenty of low-end torque along with a willingness to rev. But it is thirsty, so you may want to hire a tanker truck to follow you around.
Ford could have made its new gas V-8 any displacement it wanted, but it landed on 7.3 liters, the same as the revered 7.3 Powerstroke diesel from the 1990s and early 2000s. What a coincidence.
The 7.3 is, in a way, a return to basics: out with the Super Duty's previous overhead-cam V-10, in with the pushrod V-8.
For a big truck engine, the 7.3 likes some revs. Its 430-hp peak comes at 5500 rpm.
The 7.3's bundle-of-snakes intake plenum and header-like exhaust manifolds indicate that it has some lungs.
Upgrading to the 7.3 from the 385-hp 6.2-liter V-8 costs $1705.
Ford loves to augment engine sounds through the stereo, but the 7.3 sings its own song without digital backup vocals.
The 7.3's torque curve is more of a gentle plateau that starts with 400 pound-feet at 1500 rpm and climbs to 475 pound-feet at 4000 rpm.
Because its installed vehicles, heavy-duty trucks, are too heavy, the 7.3 doesn't get a fuel-economy estimate from the EPA. But in a four-wheel-drive F-250 crew cab, the onboard computer reported 8 to 9 mpg while towing a trailer weighing 4000 to 5000 pounds.
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