Pricing Out the Ford F450 with Class Leading Towing Abilities

The 2017 Ford F450 is the strongest truck in the Class 3 segment with the ability to pull 32,500lbs, but critics will be quick to point out that the F450 is being compared to the Ram 3500 and the Chevrolet 3500 pickups, rather than the 4500 pickups. This is because the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of the F450 puts it in Class 3 with the 1-ton pickups like the F350, Ram 3500 and Chevrolet/GMC 3500, but critics still pick this is a slight to Ford’s claim of the best towing truck in America.

Those same critics will suggest that the “requirement” of buying the 2017 Ford F450 in order to get these segment-leading and class-leading towing capabilities will also come with a much bigger price tag. That is true when you don’t look at anything other than the pricing, but when you look at the F450 compared to similarly-equipped 1-ton pickups – there isn’t a huge price difference.

The 2017 Ford F450 Super Duty Priced Out
The 2017 Ford F450 Super Duty has an MSRP starting at $53,945 in XL trim and climbing up to $77,325 in Platinum trim. That seems like a tremendous amount of money when you consider that the F350 starts at just $32,535, but you need to take a closer look at all of the standard features of the F450 before comparing it to the base price of other models.

The 2017 F450 only comes with the Crew Cab, the 8 foot bed 176” wheelbase), the 6.7L PowerStroke diesel engine, four wheel drive and dual rear wheels, so the biggest cab, the biggest bed, the most powerful engine and the most elaborate drivetrain are all standard for that $53,945 MSRP. For comparison, the base price of the Ford F350 or any of the 3500 trucks from Ram or GM comes with a gasoline engine, a small cab, a short bed, a short wheelbase, rear wheel drive and single rear wheels, so comparing the base price of the F450 to the base price of any of those 1-ton trucks really isn’t a valid comparison.

If you build out the F350 with all of the features of the F450 in standard form, the MSRP starts at $50,585. By the way, that properly equipped F350 will tow just shy of 32,000lbs, so if the extra $3k is somehow too much of a stretch, stepping down to a similarly equipped F350 won’t require much compromise when it comes to trailer towing abilities.

So yes, the 2017 Ford F450 Super Duty costs considerably more than the 1-ton competitors in the Class group when you are basing the comparison strictly on base MSRP, but when you compare apples to apples – America’s toughest towing pickup isn’t all that much more expensive than smaller, similarly equipped pickups.