I've owned 3 Fords with the 7.3L: 93 non-turbo F350 Crew Cab, 94 F350 dually first-year Powerstroke and an 02 F250. All were great trucks and I'd put them up against anything in terms of the motor. The 93 would go through a set of tires about every 11k to 12k miles. That got expensive. The 94 just hauled a camper and I only owned it 2 years. Great truck...bought it with 212k on it and it ran like a scalded cat. The 02 was a great truck when I wasn't replacing the POS Ford alternators. Went through 4 of them under warranty and the kept putting the same one in. After the 4th one failed I got tired of it and put in the best alternator I could find and never had another maintenance issue with it. I bought it new in 02 for $29,900. I traded it in 2010 with 51k on it and got $22k in trade from the Elway Chevy. Not bad. They really wanted that 7.3L PS...probably sold it for over $30k.

I now have a 14 Chevy 2500HD with the LML Duramax. Holy crap does it make some power and it's one of the quietest vehicles I've ever been in. But I still have a soft spot for the 7.3L. Too bad the gov't has totally f**ked over the diesel buying public. These engines could do some amazing things if the damn government would get outta the way. Actually, the manufacturers do amazing things with these big diesels in spite of the gov't...certainly not because of the gov't.