Real World Fuel Economy – 2024 Ford F350 6.7 Diesel (Jolene Build)
- Dan
- Mar 9
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 14
Before buying our new truck, one of our most searched questions was:
How good is the 2024 Ford F350 6.7 fuel economy in the real world?
The problem is there isn't a clear answer.
Ford doesn’t publish fuel economy numbers for heavy-duty trucks, and most of the information online comes from forums where everyone tracks fuel differently.
So instead of guessing, we decided to track every litre ourselves.
This post breaks down the real-world fuel economy of our 2024 F350 “Jolene” overland build during the first month of ownership.
And the results honestly surprised us.
The Truck: Our 2024 F350 Super Duty
Before we get into numbers, here’s the exact setup.
Truck specs matter a lot when it comes to fuel economy.
Our truck is:
2024 Ford F350 Super Duty
6.7L Powerstroke Diesel (Standard Output)
3.55 Rear Gears
XLT Off-Road Package
Factory towing prep package
Fifth wheel / gooseneck prep
Important note:
This truck is completely stock.
No tuning. No deletes. No aftermarket modifications affecting fuel economy.
At the time of recording these numbers, the truck had just under 6,000 km on it.
Why Fuel Economy Matters for Our Build
We built this truck with overlanding and long distance travel in mind.
Living in rural Alberta, almost everything we do involves long drives. Grocery runs, work, hunting trips — it all adds up quickly.
So understanding real fuel consumption matters for:
Trip planning
Overlanding range
Travel cost
Long distance reliability
Instead of relying on the truck’s onboard computer, we track fuel using manual Excel calculations based on actual fill-ups.
This keeps the numbers consistent and accurate.
Worst Fuel Economy Recorded
The lowest fuel economy we saw during the first month was:
13.7 L / 100 km
For you Americans, that works out to roughly:
17.7 MPG
This happened during a period of mostly:
Short drives
Stop-and-go town driving
Multiple cold starts
Errands and work commuting
During this time we also saw the truck perform a DPF regeneration cycle, which temporarily increased fuel consumption.
At one point during the burn cycle we saw fuel usage jump by roughly 1 L / 100 km, which shows how much those cycles can affect short-term fuel numbers.
Even with that included, 13.7 L/100km is still impressive for a 7,000+ lb diesel truck.
Best Fuel Economy Recorded
Now for the number everyone likes to see.
The best fuel economy we recorded during September was:
10.2 L / 100 km
Which works out to roughly:
23 MPG
That’s honestly impressive for a truck this size.
To put that into perspective:
Our previous truck, a 2003 F250, managed around 12.96 L / 100 km at best under ideal conditions.
So even at its best, the older truck couldn’t match what the new Super Duty is capable of.
What makes it even more surprising is that this was achieved during normal driving, not a carefully controlled highway test.
Average Fuel Economy for the First Month
After tracking every fill-up, our average fuel economy for September came out to:
11.59 L / 100 km
Which converts to roughly:
20.3 MPG
For a full-size heavy duty diesel pickup, that’s extremely respectable.
Especially considering:
Mixed highway driving
Town driving
Regeneration cycles
Break-in period
This gives us a realistic expectation of what the truck will do in everyday driving.
Monthly Fuel Cost
Fuel economy is one thing — but cost matters too.
During the month of September we spent:
$631 on diesel.
That’s definitely a significant monthly expense, but for the amount of driving we do in rural Alberta, it’s actually not much higher than what our smaller SUV costs.
Which says a lot about how efficient modern diesel trucks have become.
DEF Consumption
Another question many diesel owners ask about is DEF usage (Diesel Exhaust Fluid).
After nearly 6,000 km of driving, we still had 38% DEF remaining in the tank.
The truck was estimating roughly 3,500 km remaining before needing a refill.
Considering the DEF tank capacity is roughly 20–25 litres, the consumption rate appears fairly low so far.
We’ll continue tracking this as the truck accumulates more mileage.
No Towing… Yet
One important thing to note:
These numbers are not towing numbers.
The heaviest load we’ve had in the truck so far has been roughly 300 lbs in the bed.
That means these results represent daily driving fuel economy only.
Once we start towing — especially when we eventually add a truck camper for overland travel — fuel consumption will obviously change.
And when that happens, we’ll be tracking those numbers too.
The Real Test: A 7,000 KM Road Trip
While these first numbers are promising, the real test for this truck was still ahead.
Shortly after recording this data we headed out on a 7,000 km cross-Canada road trip.
That trip gave us the chance to test fuel economy across:
Prairie highways
Rolling terrain
Northern Ontario hills
Long highway driving
And the results were extremely interesting.
*Update: Long Distance Fuel Economy Test*
After publishing our first month of fuel economy numbers, we later completed a 7,000 km road trip across Canada with the truck.
You can see the full results here:
Support the Jolene Overland Build
Projects like Jolene and our older 2003 F250 “Ursula” build are funded almost entirely out of pocket.
If you enjoy the content and want to help support future builds, trips, and testing, you can grab some merch from our shop.
Every purchase helps keep these builds moving forward.
👉 Support the builds here:https://www.thebakeradventures.com/category/overland-build
We’ve got apparel designed around:
Overlanding
Truck builds
Mountain hunting
Life in rural Canada
And every purchase directly helps fund the next adventure.
Watch the Full Video
If you want to see the full breakdown and numbers from our spreadsheet, check out the video below.
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