New guy here. Hope to be joining the community of owners in a month or 2.

Will be paying off the bimmer this month. Promised the Wife a new truck.
Been pretty pleased with the 3 Suburbans I've owned over the last nearly 30 years, but for political reasons, I can't see myself buying another GM vehicle.

Realized that I should have read the forums before I bought the used bimmer, so I'll try to do it in the right order this time.

So I'll be probably be looking at 2011-2012 Expedition ELs. I have about $30k budgeted. Seems like there's a pretty good selection available.

Any known problems I should be looking for?
Any must-have or must-not have features?

It'll just be the new "Mother Ship". No towing or off road.
Wife does home day-care. Truck will be full of child safety seats and crumb crushers.

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Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.

 

StickMon,

I did the same thing. I still own my '96 Suburban (bought new) and it has run flawlessly. A real tough act to follow, of course it only has 157K on it but the only thing I have done to it is replace the fuel pump at about 110K miles. And of course plugs, wires, coil, oil, transmission fluid and front, rear diff oil and water pump.

So now to my 2011 Limited Expedition EL. I bought it for much the same reason you are. Political. I am glad I did, it really is a nice truck.

I have had more troubles with this Expedition than I did have with the Suburban but it is much more complicated with all the goodies so more to go wrong. My biggest gripe is the rear airbag suspension. I would forgo this option if you won't be towing with it. I have had some other small issues so far with the Expy, but they are minor such as lights out in the key pad entry, troubles with power cutting out on left hand turns (fixed with a TSB re-flash)

Overall I am very happy with the truck, I love the 6 speed transmission over the 4spd in the old Suburban, it makes it very easy to tow. The electrically actuated rear seats are a blessing. It makes it easy to change the truck from a people hauler to a cargo hauler. The rear seat is very usable compared to my Suburban.

Good luck with your search. The transmission can be a Achilles heel with bad shifting habits in and out of first gear, based on posts I've read. Mine hasn't acted up but it only has a bit over 15K miles on her, so that might be the biggest problem buying one of these second hand.

Johnny

 

Thanks Johnny.
Just the term "airbag suspension" sounds a little iffy, and after the "spirited debate" I saw in another thread, I'll try to avoid it.
The most weight it will see in the back are some Fat Ladies from Church.

I'm looking forward to rear seats that fold rather than having to heft the 3rd row out and put it in the garage.

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Warning: May contain traces of nuts.

 

The airbags are great for towing, but have always been a problematic part. Honestly the springs will do just fine in towing and less to worry about and much cheaper to fix. Granted I dont have an EL, but the only issue mine has had is its too much fun to drive on a vacation and my wife wonders if she'll ever drive again. I have an issue with my right leg in certain vehicles (Sciatic nerve) that bothers me on long trips and despite my seats showing a bit of age at 73k + miles I was able to make a 6.5 hour trip in complete comfort.

 

The fold flat seats are IMO a huge advantage for the way I wind up using our Expeditions. Kind of shocking that GM hasn't seen the light on this, it is going on 11 model years now since the independent rear suspension debuted in the Expedition which is what makes it possible.