F350 7000 km Fuel Economy Test – 2024 Ford F350 6.7 Powerstroke Real World Results
- Dan
- Mar 9
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 14
One of the most common questions people ask about heavy duty diesel trucks is:
What kind of fuel economy do they actually get in the real world?
When we first bought our 2024 Ford F350 6.7 Powerstroke “Jolene”, we started tracking fuel economy immediately and shared the results from the first month of ownership.
If you haven’t seen that post yet, you can read it here:
After that initial test, we had the perfect opportunity to put the truck through a much bigger real-world test — a 7,000 km road trip across Canada.
This trip gave us a chance to see how the truck performs across long highway drives, winter temperatures, and varying terrain.
And the results were pretty interesting.
The Trip: Alberta to Ontario
Over the Christmas holidays we made the long drive from Alberta to Ontario to visit family.
In total, the trip came out to:
7,414 kilometers of driving
This included a mix of:
Long prairie highways
Rolling terrain around the Great Lakes
Northern Ontario hills• Highway cruising
City driving once we reached Southern Ontario
It wasn’t a perfectly controlled highway test, but that’s kind of the point.
This is real-world driving, not laboratory numbers.
Total Fuel Cost
Over the course of the trip we spent:
$1,262.51 CAD on diesel fuel
Fuel prices obviously vary depending on region, and Canadian fuel prices tend to run higher than what our American followers are used to.
Still, considering the distance covered and the size of the truck, the cost was fairly reasonable for a one-ton diesel hauling a family of five and all the luggage and Christmas presents that come with it.
Worst Fuel Economy Recorded
During the trip the lowest fuel economy recorded was:
13.68 L / 100 km
This happened during some of the colder portions of the trip when temperatures dropped significantly and we did some additional idling.
Driving across Canada in December means dealing with serious winter conditions. A few mornings we let the truck idle and warm up before loading the family into the cab.
Not ideal for fuel economy, but sometimes comfort wins when it’s -20°C outside.
Even with that included, the numbers stayed pretty reasonable.
Best Fuel Economy Recorded
On the other end of the spectrum, the best fuel economy we saw during the trip was:
10.85 L / 100 km
These numbers were recorded during long stretches of highway driving across the prairies.
Interestingly enough, I actually noticed slightly better fuel economy when not using cruise control.
For whatever reason, cruise control seemed to increase fuel consumption by roughly 1 L / 100 km compared to manually controlling throttle input.
At one point the truck’s dash even showed fuel economy dipping into the 9.5–9.6 L / 100 km range, although that number wasn’t captured during a hand-calculated fill-up.
Average Fuel Economy for the Trip
After calculating every fill-up using our spreadsheet tracking method, the average fuel economy for the entire trip came out to:
11.73 L / 100 km
That’s extremely close to the 11.59 L / 100 km average we saw during the first month of ownership.
For a full-size one-ton diesel truck with 3.55 gears, carrying a family of five and travelling across winter conditions, those numbers are honestly impressive.
DEF Usage During the Trip
Another thing we tracked during the drive was Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) consumption.
Over the course of the trip we used:
19.69 litres of DEF
Which is almost exactly the capacity of the factory DEF tank.
When broken down, the truck averaged roughly:
357 km per litre of DEF
At the time of filling up, DEF was roughly $1.10 per litre, which means DEF adds only a relatively small cost to the overall operating expenses.
Active Regeneration and Fuel Economy
One interesting observation during the drive involved the truck’s DPF regeneration cycles.
During the entire road trip, the system appeared to run almost continuously in what seemed like a mild or ongoing burn cycle.
Whenever the truck entered an active regeneration cycle, fuel economy would temporarily drop, and we could watch the kilometers-to-empty estimate decrease faster than usual.
This reinforces something we noticed during our first month of ownership:
Regeneration cycles definitely impact short-term fuel economy.
Dash Fuel Economy vs Hand Calculations
Like many vehicles, the onboard fuel economy readout doesn’t always match the real numbers.
At the end of the trip, the truck’s dash displayed an average of:
10.8 L / 100 km
But when we calculated the numbers manually using fuel receipts and kilometres driven, the actual average was:
11.73 L / 100 km
That’s a fairly noticeable difference.
For that reason, we continue to rely on hand-calculated fuel tracking rather than the truck’s onboard estimate.
Final Thoughts on the 2024 F350 Fuel Economy
After owning the truck for six months and putting 19,000 km on the odometer, the fuel economy of this 2024 Ford F350 6.7 Powerstroke continues to impress us.
Between daily driving and this long-distance road trip, the truck has consistently averaged right around:
11.6 – 11.7 L / 100 km
For a 7,000+ lb one-ton diesel pickup, that’s pretty remarkable.
And it gives us confidence as we continue building Jolene into a long-term overland and adventure vehicle.
Follow the Jolene Overland Build
This fuel economy test is just one part of the ongoing Jolene build series.
We’ll be documenting upgrades, modifications, road trips, and real-world ownership as we continue building this truck into a family overland rig.
We’re also still running our 2003 F250 “Ursula” build, which continues to serve as our older but trusted adventure truck.
Support the Builds
Projects like Jolene and Ursula are funded almost entirely out of pocket.
If you enjoy the content and want to help support future builds, testing, and adventures, you can check out our merch shop here:
Every purchase helps support:
New videos
Blog content
Vehicle builds
Future adventures
And we genuinely appreciate everyone who helps keep these projects moving forward.
Watch the Full Video
If you'd like to see the full breakdown and hear our thoughts after the trip, check out the video below.
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