2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty Review and Test Drive

Massive torque, advanced technology, and luxury amenities make the 2025 F-250 Super Duty Platinum an ideal tow vehicle.

Perry Stern | 

May 23, 2025 | 7 min read

Perry Stern

If you need to tow or haul large, heavy loads, it's hard to beat the Ford F-Series Super Duty. The F-Series is one of the bestselling vehicles in the United States — an achievement it has maintained for more than four decades — and the F-250 Super Duty offers some of the best power and capability in its class. The truck also provides advanced technology, a spacious cabin, and premium-grade options.

The 2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty is available in five trim levels: XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum. The XL and XLT are configurable with a regular cab or SuperCab, while four-door Crew Cab models are available in every trim level. Base prices range from around $47,000 to about $80,000, including the destination charge to ship the truck to a dealership from the assembly plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

For this F-250 review, Ford provided me with a Platinum Crew Cab for testing in southeastern Michigan. It had numerous options, the most expensive being a 6.7-liter high-output Power Stroke diesel engine. Other pricey upgrades included a retractable cargo bed tonneau cover, a twin-panel power sunroof, Glacier Gray paint, and Pro Power Onboard technology. Additional options brought the manufacturer's suggested retail price to a lofty $103,915, including the $1,995 destination charge.

Perry Stern

Is the 2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty a Good Truck?

Hauling and towing are the main reasons to buy a heavy-duty pickup truck, and the F-250 Super Duty excels at both tasks. Not only does the Ford top rivals such as the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 and Ram 2500 with its conventional towing capacity and available torque, but it also boasts advanced towing technology and a comfortable, roomy cabin that makes tackling tasks a pleasant experience.

Perry Stern

What's New for the 2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty?

Ford introduced the fifth-generation Super Duty pickup truck in 2023, giving it updated styling; an upgraded interior; and a lineup of powerful, capable engines.

For the 2025 model year, the F-250 Super Duty receives minor design changes, several new features, and technology updates. Catering to truck buyers seeking a higher-end experience, there's a new Platinum Plus package that stands out with bright chrome grille inserts, satin chrome exterior accents, and 20-inch wheels.

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Inside, the Platinum Plus coddles passengers with a Smoked Truffle interior that features leather-trimmed seats. The driver and passenger get Ford's Max Recline option, making the Platinum Plus a nice place to relax as you lie back and gaze through the panoramic sunroof.

Anyone who wants a high-end ownership experience but prefers not to pay the significant upcharge for the Platinum Plus — $6,500 — will find that the standard Platinum trim level also includes plenty of desirable features.

Perry Stern

Advanced Technology Makes Life Easier in the F-250 Super Duty

When I was growing up, our family had a travel trailer, and I learned how to hook it up, tow it, and back it up. That was in the 1980s, and the extent of the technology for completing these tasks was my father guiding me via walkie-talkie or yelling at me from behind the trailer. Now, I could say those were the good old days, but I won't, because the advanced technology in the 2025 Ford F-250 Super Duty makes everything about towing easier — and with considerably less yelling and stress.

One of the greatest towing aids the Ford provides is one of the simplest: a camera. More accurately, several cameras with viewing angles from multiple directions that help with everything from connecting the trailer to maneuvering it out on the road. During my test drive, I found that hooking up the trailer involved a camera view that helped to line the hitch up with the ball. When I got close enough, the view could change so that I was looking directly down at the hitch. Once out on the road, side cameras activated with the turn signal, providing me with a view of the trailer while turning to avoid cutting a corner too close.

Perry Stern

Using Ford's Pro Trailer Assist system was revelatory. When I was ready to hook up the trailer, I pressed the Pro Trailer button. With the rear camera, the system identified the trailer hitch, and while my finger stayed on the button, the truck automatically reversed, stopping precisely where the ball and hitch aligned. Once everything was connected, I loaded the trailer's information into the Pro Trailer system.

To confirm the truck wasn't overloaded, I activated the Smart Hitch system, which uses an onboard scale to show the trailer's tongue weight. Based on the trailer's total weight, the load on the hitch fell within the recommended range.

Backing up with a trailer can be challenging, especially for inexperienced drivers. However, with the Pro Trailer system, a dial on the dashboard allows you to steer the trailer while the F-250 steers itself. For example, if you turn the dial to the left, the tech automatically steers the truck to make the trailer go left. When combined with the various trailer camera views, Pro Trailer makes parking a breeze. This technology was especially useful when backing my 8-foot-wide trailer through a 10-foot-wide gate.

Perry Stern

Going Camping With the 2025 F-250 Super Duty

My test truck had the optional 6.7-liter High Output Power Stroke turbo-diesel V8 engine, adding nearly $13,000 to the pickup's price. It supplies 500 horsepower and a mind-bending 1,200 pound-feet of torque, and bolts to a 10-speed automatic transmission. The F-250 Platinum also has a standard four-wheel-drive system. When properly equipped, the 2025 Ford F-250 can tow up to 22,000 pounds and haul more than 4,000 pounds of payload.

The EPA does not provide fuel-economy estimates for heavy-duty trucks. On my usual evaluation loop without the trailer attached, the trip computer indicated 17.5 mpg. One of the truck's towing features is to keep track of fuel economy while the trailer is connected, and it reported 12.4 mpg during my camping trip.

The F-250 Super Duty stands tall, but thankfully, the Platinum comes with retractable running boards for an easy step up into the cabin. Not to state the obvious, but the F-250 drives like a truck. The ride is stiff without cargo or a trailer, and you feel every pothole and bump in the road.

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While its 1,200 lb-ft of torque is ideal for towing heavy trailers, the Power Stroke turbo-diesel also gives the F-250 strong acceleration. Getting up to freeway speed is effortless, and the cabin remains surprisingly quiet while cruising at 70 mph. Handling is about what you'd expect from a truck weighing more than three and a half tons, but as large as it is, the visibility is good, and it's manageable on the freeway or driving through town.

At 7,000 pounds, my travel trailer isn't exactly a lightweight, but it wasn't much of a burden to the diesel-powered F-250. With the trailer attached, the truck had more than enough power to accelerate across busy intersections and quickly reach freeway speeds. The truck/trailer combination was impressively stable on the freeway thanks to its sway control and integrated trailer brakes. Even with a crosswind, the drive was virtually stress free as the F-250 delivered a confident ride.

Ford doesn't offer its BlueCruise hands-free driver-assistance system on its Super Duty trucks, but my Platinum F-250 came with adaptive cruise control and lane-centering assist. Even with the added weight of the trailer, these features worked perfectly, including bringing the rig smoothly to a stop when encountering stop-and-go traffic and automatically accelerating when traffic moved forward.

Perry Stern

With only a handful of choices in the heavy-duty truck market, the competition among these capable vehicles is fierce. However, the 2025 Ford Super Duty leads the pack with the highest towing capacity of any heavy-duty truck. At the same time, Ford offers advanced towing technology and available high-level amenities, making the F-250 Super Duty an ideal choice for all your towing and hauling needs.

All vehicle pricing includes MSRP plus destination charges (set at the time of publication), and will be rounded to the nearest thousand.

Perry Stern

As a small child, Perry was constantly playing with toy cars and trucks, and that enthusiasm for anything motorized with wheels never faded. After college, he moved to Seattle and began his long automotive career working in an automotive consulting firm, helping customers choose the right vehicle for their needs. In the late 1990s, Perry joined Microsoft to work on CarPoint, part of the new Microsoft Network (MSN). He went on to become editor of the site, remaining on staff for 20 years before venturing out on his own. Today, in addition to his work on Capital One Auto Navigator, he still contributes to MSN, as well as J.D. Power, TrueCar.com, and U.S. News & World Report. Perry lives in the small town of Dexter, Michigan, with his wife and dog, and he still smiles when he sees his 2006 Mazda Miata in the garage.