Thor Forums

[The_Breeze]

Originally Posted by Chance

To be clear, all Ford specs I’ve seen show the E-Series and F-53 motorhome chassis will get the 6-speed 6R140 transmission. The 10-speed will be available with the Super Duty pickups. Maybe in a year or two the 10-speed will filter down to motorhomes.

Ford will be installing the 7.3L gas engine with 6-speed in F-650 and F-750 with GCWR up to 37,000 pounds, so they must be very confident of the new engine. I hope it’s warranted.

Some drivers feel you can never have too much power, but if the 7.3L can handle over 22,000-pound combined rigs, I could easily get by with a much smaller engine in a ~ 10,000-pound small motorhome. Unfortunately, even the lighter SRW E-Series won’t have a smaller engine option. The important question for me is whether a 7.3 can deliver up to 12 MPG like the old 5.4L V8 when installed in smaller Class Cs. I know it’s not much of a difference in fuel savings, but 12 MPG (on gas) is a magical number I don’t want to fall under, whether it can be justified or not.



P.S. — One effect of 7.3L/10-speed may be that it cannibalizes some of the pickup diesel sales. I found it interesting that Ford ads are already revising language to reduce emphasis on mega torque ratings used to promote diesel sales.

Ford may be lifting a page from it's ecoboost project for the new offers. It's a game of watch, wait and see.