Hi folks, and welcome to the Today, we’re looking at this Ford F250 Tremor Lariat. Now, this truck brings together two things that frankly never came together in trucks before, and those are a luxury interior with serious off-road performance, and we’re going to go out there right now into the forest, into the snow, and see how this thing does.
Powering our F250 Tremor Lariat today is the 7.3 L gas V8. This is the base engine for this truck. It makes 430 horsepower, 485 pound-feet of torque, and that is sent through a 10-speed auto. I should mention that in 2023, the engine here was updated to put out 10 extra pound-feet of torque compared to the previous version.
Now, the truck you’re looking at here today has a lot of the chrome styling and that unique Grill because it’s a Lariat, and then thanks to the Tremor package, we have a 2-in frontend lift and then a much smaller air dam down below. So, it definitely has a unique look to it.
Over here, one of the biggest upgrades on this truck has to be the tires. We’re getting a set of 35 in Goodyear Wrangler dur tras. Some other HD off-roaders now offer 35s, but this was the first one to offer us 35s from the factory. And you know what, again, another update that came to this truck in the 2023 model year is Ford actually made it easier to fit 37s. A lot of people were putting 37s on their original Tremors, and they were rubbing with the front control arms. So, for 2023, Ford came along and updated the truck to make sure you can actually fit 37s on there, which is pretty cool.
As we go down the side, you see we do get this really nice coated step down here, and I like that it’s tucked up quite a bit. So, you know what, you can still use it as a step, but it’s not going to get in the way once you head Offroad.
Let’s take a look at the business end of the tremer. So, this has a 6 foot 8 in bed on it, and a couple of cool features in the bed: LED lights that are controlled by a button back here. Our truck is also outfitted with Pro Power on board, which is a pair of plugs in the bed, and that will use your engine as a generator to produce up to two kilow of power. That is a great system.
Of course, Ford’s classic B step is still here, still a really really useful design for getting in and out of your bed quite easily.
Now, the next thing I want to talk about are the towing and payload numbers. When it comes to Towing off of the conventional hitch down there, you’re talking about 18,200 lbs. The one number I want to dive into a little bit more is payload because if you go on Ford’s manufacturer website, they will tell you that an F250 tremer can have a Max payload of a little bit above 4300 lb. But then you get this truck as it sits here today, which is a Lariat with a whole bunch of options and a crew cab, and this thing has a payload of just over 3,000, 3,50 to be exact.
And the point I want to make here is you cannot trust payload numbers off of Manufacturers websites because those numbers are almost always based on the best case scenario. So, they’re going to take a truck that has no options on it, the smallest cab, the lightest engine, and then they’re going to publish that payload number. So, when you actually look at a vehicle in the real world, you have to check the sticker on your door jam because that’s going to tell you what this vehicle once all the features are added on can actually haul. So, it’s just another point this is the case for every manufacturer but I just want to drive that point home don’t trust the payload numbers you read online trust the payload numbers that are actually on the door jam.
And now, all that being said, £350 for an F2 50 Tremor is still a pretty respectable payload number. When talking about the luxury on this truck, I definitely have to mention the seats first of all. They’re extremely comfortable. I would actually say in the truck segment, Ford has some of the best seats going right now. They’re just so supportive in every area of your body. So, big fan of the seats, but these seats specifically have the max recline function. And yes, that’s all about taking a nap in your truck. You very simply push the seat forward, and then you recline the back. Now, that’s not unique. What’s unique is you’re going to watch the cushion there on the bottom start to lift up and meet the back right here. So, the key is when I actually go and lay down, now you end up getting good support in your lower back, which you don’t normally get out of a regular seat. Just like that, right there, it’s all about what’s going on down there in my butt and my lower back. You get that support; it’s way more comfortable than just a traditional seat. And I could definitely take a nap here, and so I’m just going to do that now.
What are the off-road numbers? Well, ground clearance here is listed at 10.8 in. Approach angle up front is 31.6 degrees. Departure angle is 242 degrees. And the final off-road upgrade I have to mention are the differentials in the rear. You’re getting a locker, pretty standard stuff, but up front, we have a Dana limited slip differential, which should help pull us through some of the slop. So, I like that.
When you go over into off-road driving mode, the cameras come up automatically here, and there’s your first view. And you get those predictive treads to show you exactly where your tires are going to land, which is kind of nice. And we can go through all the views, so there’s your overhead, and that front view. The cool thing over here is you can actually zoom in on specific parts of the truck. So, if you just want to check on that one corner, you can do that. Scrolling through, we get our chime-cam review, looking down into the bed, especially important for hooking up a fifth wheel. There’s your regular rear camera view, front wide angle. There’s your hitch view right there. There’s looking forward at your front tires. That one’s looking back at your rear tires, also looking back at your rears, just a little further down. And then the final camera here is the auxiliary camera, which you could go stick on the back of your trailer. So, loads of camera views here in the Tremor, and there’s actually been more cameras added for the 2023 model year. So, last year, they added more of these. So, not only are they here, and they’re great, but Ford realized on the original Tremor that it didn’t have enough camera views, and now we have them here.
Another technology feature I have to show you is the head-up display. So, this is the normal mode, and I just want to say that not only is it a large head-up display, it’s really crystal clear as well. It has different modes as well, so you can go over here to tow hall mode, and that will show you a different set of information. And then finally, off-road mode, which has the inclinometer there, and your four-wheel drive status, plus your steering wheel angle also changes on the head-up display. So, yeah, tons of great information, and I really like that there’s an automatic mode. If you set it to automatic, the head-up display will simply change to whatever the drive mode is. So, if you have it in tow mode, the head-up display will change accordingly.
Okay, folks, off-roading begins now in the F250 Tremor, and I do have to start with a bit of a negative. So, the first thing I have to talk about are the conditions, especially important with winter off-roading. We don’t have a ton of snow here; it hasn’t snowed in a couple of weeks, and the snow that has is sitting here has been beat down by the rain a little bit in quite a few warm days. So, what we’re left with is this really compacted snow. Now, combine that with the fact that it was minus 6 last night and still minus one right now, everything is rigid. It is absolutely rock hard, which is good for traction. But now, let me get back to my original point: the negative. It’s like driving through a field of loose rocks. So, you’ll see me bouncing all over the place.
And here’s the thing, everybody: this is not just a knock against the F250 Tremor. It’s every heavy-duty off-roader. It doesn’t matter which one you get; the suspension is still pretty stiff, comparing it to some of the half-ton off-roaders we have now. Now, comparing it especially to the midsize off-roaders, yeah, it just, it does beat you up a little bit. And you can see me; I’m all over the place. So, my point here is just to say it’s not really a
