Sand between your treads

It looks like a work truck. No chrome, no fancy wheels, no leather-wrapped accents. Yet, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts for the Ford F-250 Super Duty XL 6.7L Power Stroke Turbo Diesel.

When a member of the Ford team first told me about the F-250 XL Power Stroke, he said this particular truck was just as capable as a Super Duty equipped with the brand’s Tremor Off-Road package, designed for the road less traveled. Naturally, I had to test that theory.

How it drives

Before testing the truck’s off-road capabilities, I used it as my daily driver for the week. Navigating a vehicle this size through the one-way streets in my neighborhood isn’t exactly a walk in the park, but the F-250 handled it with ease.

The engine is also quiet compared to the older diesels you’ll hear puttering around town. The Power Stroke turbo diesel won’t wake up the neighbors when work starts before the sun, and the person taking your order in the drive-thru won’t ask you to cut the engine so they can hear you properly. All in all, my daily driving experience with the F-250 Super Duty XL wasn’t half bad.

Then the weekend came, and it was time to test the truck’s 4x4 capabilities at Silver Lake Sand Dunes. The dunes are in West Michigan, about a four-hour drive from my Metro Detroit home.

While it wasn’t equipped with the finer things like power-adjustable or heated/ventilated seats, I wasn’t aching during that long drive—and that means a lot coming from someone with herniated discs.

One thing that was surprising about the Ford F-250 Super Duty XL, however, was that it didn’t have a regular power outlet, which was noticed on the way back because my occupant needed to charge their laptop. Designed as a work truck (even equipped with a stowable work surface), one would think having a 115V AC outlet would be a no-brainer. Go figure.

While driving, I noticed how well the truck handled: first through the tight streets of my neighborhood, then along the crowded Interstate highways, and then through the winding state routes. Though it appears to be a Plain Jane work truck, its suspension is tuned perfectly. It also handled well because—unlike your typical off-road truck with beefy tires—its smaller wheels keep the truck nimble and feeling lighter.

A dune crawler

I have plenty of off-road experience, but I’ll admit I was nervous to take this truck out on the dunes. Surrounded by Jeep Wranglers and dune buggies, the sheer size of the F-250 Super Duty made it seem totally out of place. To make matters worse, Silver Lake Sand Dunes consist mostly of “scramble” areas, which basically means there are NO RULES.

Friends who’d been there before had already shared horror stories about nearly being hit, both when they were inside and outside their vehicles. Other friends shared their stories of a broken window and damaged bumper. As far as I’m concerned, Silver Lake Sand Dunes is Michigan’s Wild West.

But my worries subsided once I got the truck out on the dunes. The weekend crowd had mostly gone home by Sunday afternoon when we got there, leaving plenty of room in the park for my test drive.

The first hill I tried to tackle was a no-go—but that’s likely because of me. The F-250 scaled the first half well, but just before reaching the top, I saw the flag of a buggy coming up the other side and opted to slow down and let it pass. By the time it passed, the truck had sunk too low into the sand, and the only way out was to reverse downhill. Taking another angle, I got it up the hill the second time.

That first hill wasn’t much to write home about, though it was steep. Really, it was the hills that the buggies were gliding over that had my interest.

I had never driven over sand dunes, but I discovered that in a vehicle of this size, navigating dunes requires a perfect dance between speed and control. Speed is required to scale the steep hills without sinking too far into the sand. Yet once you get over the hill, control is required to master all the bumps going down. I’ll admit that there were moments when the hills and dips were closer together than I anticipated, and I crossed them with too much speed. In those moments, I just thanked God for seat belts.

Regardless of the inexperienced driver behind the wheel, the increased weight from the diesel engine, and its long wheelbase, the Ford F-250 XL handled the sand as if it were designed for it.

The verdict

While I do not expect drivers of this work truck to venture onto sand dunes, it was refreshing to know that my friends at Ford don’t mince words when touting their vehicles’ capabilities.

After this experience, I believe this F-250 Super Duty XL can go anywhere the job requires—from the suburbs to the sand dunes.