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Well, my family currently has an 03 Expy. We recently bought a larger travel trailer and I know my 03 can do ok with it, but would upgrading to an 07 or later give us that much more to justify such an upgrade?
We have even considered moving up to an E350 or Excursion but that would be a drastic move up in size, etc.
Some people have stated that the extra gears in the trans would help and the extra couple hundred pounds towing capacity may help out as well but just not quite sure.
So if any of you had an 03-06 and upgraded to an 07 - what were the positives you felt for towing, etc?
Thanks and may you all have a blessed, safe, and prosperous 2013!
I went from an '04 with the 5.4 and HD tow to a '12 and I noticed two things:
a) Tow/Haul mode is wonderful - I no longer feel the need to drop out of OD when towing, the tranny is reportedly more robust in this generation, and my mpg when towing increased by 3 (~12 to ~15).
b) At least for me, many new safety features -- airbags all around, stability control, etc., made a big difference, especially knowing we have increased odds of rolling when towing...
How heavy of a trailer are you towing with an expedition? My wife and I currently have three vehicles and are considering trading in two of them, my F350 and her explorer, for just one. We are leaning toward a newer expedition with the 5.4, but we need the new vehicle to be able to tow a 7,000lb trailer. I know the expedition is rated for it, but I wanted to get some feedback from those of you who already are towing.
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2006 F-350 PowerStroke, Crew Cab Long Box, Stock
1990 F-150 351W, E40D, Reg. Cab Long Box,
2002 Explorer, 4.0L, Wife's Car
I no longer have either my '03 Expy or the '08 Nav, but I would suggest to anyone towing with either version/year to have LT tires on in place of the P-metric OEMs. The stability will be a lot better.
Joe
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2009 F450 Lariat CC 4x4
2005 Mobile Suites 36TK3
2011 MKX
The trailer I am going to tow is a 2007 Coachmen Captiva RS. It has a tongue weight of 800 pounds (which is pushing the limits of the Expy in my opinion) and weighs approx 5500 unloaded.
I am looking around for an Excursion but pricing/mileage are playing a big part in that.
I just think that if I go to a newer Expy, that I will still have the rear end softness/tongue weight issue, unless I am totally off base.
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Rob
NW Indiana
03 Expedition FX4
2011 Subaru Imprezza Outback Sport
If you're towing every day, than the benefits of "heavy duty" might overcome the dinosaur drawbacks.
Otherwise, an '07 + should be a more-than-adequate tow vehicle and generally a much more enjoyable vehicle fo all the times you aren't towing.
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1997 F250HD 4wd, 460-5-speed Ext. Cab, Blue
2007 Navigator L Dark Blue Pearl
2003 Mercury Marauder, Dark Blue Pearl, Trilogy Supercharged, 13.1 @ 105
If you're towing every day, than the benefits of "heavy duty" might overcome the dinosaur drawbacks.
Otherwise, an '07 + should be a more-than-adequate tow vehicle and generally a much more enjoyable vehicle fo all the times you aren't towing.
A dino that will out pull any SUV on the planet, properly equipped of course.
I wouldn't go with an '07+ Expy, Ford IMHO severely dropped the ball on this wonderful SUV when they had an opportunity to make it a cutting edge truck. Instead they upgraded the F-150 with the new engines and all heavy towing gizmos and made that one heck of a capable truck.
IMHO, stick with the '03 until you can move past the '07 gen Expy. The 5.4L is nearing the end of it's service life and for very good reason. It's a gas guzzler no matter transmission is behind it.
__________________ Tim SCPO United States Coast Guard Retired
2011 F-150 XLT 4x4 Ecoboost
2010 Ford Focus
2004 Expedition XLT 4x2 FTE Guidelines
Yeah, I'm pretty sure a Peterbilt will out-pull an Excursion too, but that doesn't make it better suited to the OP's needs.
The '07+ is a very capable tow vehicle. I think an Ecoboost option would be very cool, but I also find the 5.4 6-speed combination to be just fine.
I test drove a couple of new F250s back to back years ago... I think an '04 and an '05? Anyhow, the earlier model had old steering and the newer model had incredibly improved steering. The old model drove like my faithful '97 F250 and the newer one was civilized. Ford never added the newer steering to the Excursions. I'm figuring if the old-style steering in the F250 felt primitive that many years ago, an Excursion would feel like a dinosaur compared to a more contemporary alternative.
Granted, the Excursion would likely drag my Navigator across a parking lot though!
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1997 F250HD 4wd, 460-5-speed Ext. Cab, Blue
2007 Navigator L Dark Blue Pearl
2003 Mercury Marauder, Dark Blue Pearl, Trilogy Supercharged, 13.1 @ 105
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