More and more, I find myself warming up to HD trucks like this 2026 Ford F-250 Platinum. With how big and how expensive "light duty" half-ton trucks are getting, why not go for broke and go all in on the biggest, most powerful, most luxurious truck?
What’s new for the F-250?
Ford’s Super Duty trucks were refreshed in 2023, with another minor round of tweaks coming in 2025. Those changes don’t manifest so much in the trucks themselves, but more in how the trucks are optioned, with changes to the grade walk and standard equipment.
The most notable grade-walk change as it pertains to this truck is the deletion of the old top-skew Limited trim, with this new Platinum Plus - a $7,550 package on top of the already opulent Platinum trim - standing in for it. Whereas a Platinum truck carries of a lot of glossy black and color-keyed trim, the Platinum Plus swaps it all out for a chrome everywhere and quilted leather inside, just like the Limited.
Wrap-up:
The Platinum Plus package replaces the old Limited; otherwise Ford hasn't fixed what wasn't broken
This decked out rig features Argon Blue metallic paint and two-tone Smoked Truffle leather - both are new to the Super Duty, with the latter coming over from the fanciest half-ton. Other than the new colorway and a shorter bed, this is more or less the same truck as the ‘23 F-250 Limited I reviewed a few years ago.
Cabin Impressions
The cabin of this F-250 Platinum Plus is nearly identical to an F-150 Platinum Plus, with the same Smoked Truffle leathers, chairs, trimmings, and tech. Fit and finish are good and materials all feel like quality. The seats are excellent, adjustable every which way, and even include massaging and maximum recline for a power nap.
Tech is handled by a very familiar 12-inch centre screen powered by Ford Sync 4; it’s a known entity that’s easy to live with, and includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Under that screen are an array of physical controls and knobs, with zero essential functions stuck on the screen. A digital gauge cluster and heads-up display augment the touch screen, and an 18-speaker Bang Olufsen sound system provides tunes.
Powertrain
This most loaded of the luxury rigs features Ford’s newer “High Output” version of the venerable 6.7-litre PowerStroke diesel V8 engine, which gets a revised turbo, manifolds, bigger injectors, and more cooling to produce 500 horsepower and an as-yet unsurpassed 1,200 pound-feet of torque. High Output trucks can be spotted by bright red 6.7 badges, which are black on the lowly standard output trucks with only 1,050 lb-ft. of torque.
Towing capacity on this truck is 22,000 lbs via a conventional hitch, 20,500 lbs with a gooseneck hitch, and payload comes in at 3,640 lbs.
Compared to other HD diesel engines, it is slightly noisier in operation (whether this is for better or worse is up to you), but still fairly well mannered, and quiet at idle, which is helpful if you’re gonna leave it running. Powered is managed by a thoroughly beefed up version of Ford’s 10-speed, which is quick to kick down, and smartly geared to offer abundant forward thrust and very impressive fuel economy.
Wins:
Excellent seats, better unladen road manners than you'd think, ferociously powerful and surprisingly frugal on fuel
I still struggle to believe I was able to average 13.1L/100km in mixed driving without really trying to baby it. Over an estimated annual average of 20,000km of driving, this 6.7 will use a thousand fewer litres of fuel compared to a gas F-250, assuming that truck averages 18L/100km. It’ll still take a while to pay off the $15,725 entry fee of this High Output diesel, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
Driving Impressions
For all its French-stitched leather and fine wood appliques, this is still a serious, solid axle rig, and it drives like it. The steering has a fair bit of heft to it, but it’s still light enough to palmed, and Ford’s so-slick-you’ll-never notice-it adaptive steering ratio makes tight maneuvers and U-turns less of a task, but you’re still gonna be spinning the tiller back and forth a lot with its 53-foot turning circle.
The ride quality is quite good for what it is, and noticeably better than the same truck with a longer eight-foot bed that I reviewed previously. On the road, it’s composed, well insulated, and doesn’t feel a like a fish out of water when unladen. It’s a nice truck, and it drives well, but it never stops feeling like a truck. There’s a big step between this and an F-150, but I wouldn’t call it a bad thing, just something to think about.
Money
If you think that a truck that’s this big, and this nice, and this powerful might be a little on the spendy side, you’re right! The sticker price on this regal rig comes out to $129,805, before destination, dealer fees, and taxes. On that note, the dreaded luxury tax applies to “passenger cars and light trucks.” This is not a light truck, and is exempt from that further cost.
If you think about it, this truck, without the diesel engine, is almost the same price as the comparable F-150. So the Super Duty's longer bed, hulking face, and tougher chassis is kind of free, in a roundabout way.
Whiffs:
The most of everything means the most money, is not fun in small parking areas
Whether or not a hundred and thirty-thousand dollar truck is “good value” is hard to say, but it is right in-line with similar offerings from GM and Ram, and you’re getting an awful lot for the money. Let’s face it, if you’re shelling out for a Platinum Plus Super Duty, it’s probably being written off a business expense anyway. Personally, I'd rather have a King Ranch, and the fact that I'd save money is just a bonus.
Wrap it up
A truck like this 2026 Ford F-250 Platinum has to live dual lives. It is a work truck at its core, but it’s not just a work truck. Something like this has to be just as comfortable hauling horses or heavy equipment. It has to be at home on a job site, and at a country club. It’s more civilized than the most beastly rigs Ford offers, but a damn sight bigger and more burly than a half-ton. If you need a spend a lot of time in your truck and you need a truck that can work hard, it's not a hard sell. And, if you don’t need it, but are dead set on a big fancy truck anyway, why not get the biggest, fanciest truck?
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