We know the 2017 Ford Super Duty is being advertised as the “toughest, smartest, most capable” one ever. We know it’ll be made out of aluminum. We know its tweaked Power Stroke diesel V8 will crank out 440 horsepower and an asphalt-rippling 925 lb-ft of torque.
Right now, there’s one big thing we don’t know about it: how it feels to drive.
That’s going to change this Friday. F150online is going up to Denver to drive the 2017 Super Duty through the Rocky Mountains. We’ll also get to tow with it and test out its Trailer Reverse Guidance system and array of up to seven visibility-enhancing digital cameras.
We expect we’ll get a chance to drive two different Super Dutys over the course of the day, so we’ll try to get our hands on a model with the revised 6.2-liter gas V8 that now generates 385 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque, and a truck with the juiced-up Power Stroke.
If you have any questions about our experience in the 2017 Ford Super Duty, feel free to put them at the bottom of this post via Facebook, in the dedicated forum thread below, or on my personal Twitter page.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
