Exactly and that's why I never bought a newer Super Duty or F150...

I kicked around the idea late September early October. After I went to the dealer to see how much I'd be up against, I indeed had sticker shock...

Me when they told me how much the payments for a GAS Superduty would be---->

Maybe the dealer I went to was high on the price and maybe something else, but they told me worse case that a Platinum Edition Super Duty would cost $1100 a month. An XLT or Lariat would cost a little less (not much though) but not what I was willing to swallow given a mortgage payment and now a wedding to contend with.

So that's why I bought the low mileage '05 Excursion I have now. I got it for under market value for Houston and am quite happy with my monthly payments of $300.

The '05 or my '01 7.3 may nickle and dime me from time to time, but it's not costing me a mortgage payment on top of fuel and regular maintenance.

 

I keep a log of what I spend on maintenance and mods and repairs and have spent 8200 not counting the cost of ex. That is a total of 52 months and includes a tranny. Sounds like a lot but I wrote a check for the ex so I have never had a payment. And in it at a 1/3 the cost of a new one minus maintenance.

 

I'm with you Joe. I like my excursion, but these things can be a mess with suspension problems and by now most all of them have high miles. I was ready to get a new suburban when I found a low mile excursion to buy instead, but still had to do ball joints, tires, steering box, and leaf springs.

 

There are days I totally agree with you too. We don't have that much trouble with ours honestly, we've done very little in terms of repairs (just a FICM issue) besides regular 6.0 diesel maintenance, which gets expensive!

Ever since the FICM issue, we've lost faith in the car and we're just waiting for it to break down again. That's not really fair to the car, it may never break down again (knocking very hard on wood right now) but once a car breaks down, especially an older, higher mileage complicated diesel car, its hard to forget it. Reading and helping on this forum doesn't help either because you get a very one-sided, generally negative view of Excursions.

I see all the ads for ecoboost F150s with great lease options and those things can tow a lot too. Granted the fuel economy has been controversial and the ecoboost would never replace good old diesel grunt, but it sure is tempting at times. Not sure where our third child would sit.

 

It's really a shame, but the 6.0 Ex guys got the worst of both problems. Between the 6.0 stuff and the steering and wandering issues on all of the Exxes, that's a big repair bill cost. I have a 6.0 too, in a pickup. It's had a few big repair bills, FICM and some turbo issues, etc.

 

Nothing against the OP personally. This is more of a generalized statement

Why would you buy a 10+ yr old rig and not expect there to be issues? At 5yrs old I'm expecting issues to start popping up. Anything over that, poop happens IMO. Going into an old vehicle without that thought in mind is naive.

Sorry you had issues. Hope the new truck is better for you. I've done the new truck route and the $$$$ gets old really quick.

 

It would take a lot of cash to pry the Excursion off my hands.
It's an '02 7.3. Purchased it in February 2013 for 6k with 172k miles on it.
I've sunk around 5k on it last year. That balance, however, includes items that I didn't really have to do, includes maintenance and wearable items replacements, accessories and plow parts as well.
There is still a lot to be done. I could go underneath and find a ton of things that needs replacing or fixing and sink a few more grand.
Every penny I spent on it, although angry at times (consistent power steering leak problem I had late last year comes to mind), only brings me to love it more because it treats me right and it only works better after every part replaced.
Yesterday I replaced the GPCM and she liked it so I'm happy.

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I think a lot of the problem is the attitude that a heavy duty truck with a diesel engine should be good for 300k miles. The engine might last that long but everything else falls apart first.

 

I understand that but the problem is you never know how well the PO treated the vehicle. I know mine was beat up like a stray dog. The PO was actually a mechanic and apparently didn't care for his own vehicle. He wasn't the 1st owner either.
And then you add all the torture put on it by 12 Years of road salt and you can't expect it to not have issues here and there. Everything has its limits and the majority of parts have a life expectancy and scheduled maintenance. Most people miss the recommended maintenance and expect them to not cause any problems.
Jus saying.
Trust me I know very well how it is to be tired to sinking money into a lost cause. Have had several cars like that and, knock on wood, but the Ex isn't one of them. Yet

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I think the Excursion is a one-off special vehicle and there's really nothing else like it. A 7-seater, diesel work horse that will carry a large family and all their stuff and tow 11,000 pounds. There's not really anything else like it.

Having said that, I am not all that happy with all the issues I read about. Fortunately, we've only had the FICM problem. The rest is irritating FORD quality stuff - climate control screen going blank, auto headlights work when they want to, overhead console out, stupid under-engineered suspension, and its just not all that "nice" inside. The early 2000s were a tough time for Ford. They were struggling with build quality and the imports were killing them. Ford now has their act together in a big way. But, alas, they don't offer an Excursion, so we're stuck with what we've got.

I think one big shocker for newbies to diesel Excursions are the maintenance requirements, especially for the 6.0. I spend about $300 a year just on oil changes and fuel filters (which I do myself and throw in some Rev-X too). A normal gasser car needs a $20 oil change each year. Big difference.

But regular maintenance aside, I think the second issue is just how complicated the diesels are. Add that complexity to Ford's quality struggles and it can be a bit of a mess. I'm sure the newer diesels are far better than what we're working with.

Its disappointing that Excursion owners of either diesel variation and the V10 are constantly "bullet proofing" their engines, spending $1000s to avoid what might be coming. I haven't done any of that yet. I've monitored things like coolant temp vs oil temp and they are fortunately perfect, only 2-3 degrees apart. But I shouldn't have to worry about all that.

I have no problem replacing wear items like brakes and fluids and belts but we spend way too much time and money shoring up what Ford did wrong.

I'm hopeful nothing crops up with our 6.0. If it becomes the money pit others have experienced, it'll be up for sale in no time. We love the concept of this car and its capabilities and hopefully we can enjoy all that.

 

I have not spent a dime on bulletproofinv my V-10. We'll, the $30 oil change I guess counts

I'm not sure what quality issues you are speaking of with reguards to early Fords. How many vehicles 10+ yrs old that still sell for >$10,000 and we're just regular run of the mill production vehicles? These things (Superduty as well) hold their value pretty good and they are drop dead reliable. A few things here and there go out with age. It happens! And strangely enough every other brand does the same thing. My X is 13yrs old and every single piece of electronics works 100%. I'd drive it across country tomorrow without a second thought...while towing a trailer.

Not sure what magical vehicle you had prior to your X that never had any issues ever

 

You need to start knocking on wood everywhere you go. I'm glad you have no issues but have you looked at the 1000s of messages posted every week on this forum?

Its a fact these early Fords had build quality issues. Do you remember when Ford almost went bankrupt?

Lets not start a pissing contest about this. But, line up any 10 year old Honda, Nissan, Toyota, probably others I can't think of right now against the Excursion and the differences in reliability will be plainly obvious.

Having said that, its not really fair to compare a Honda Civic with a diesel work truck but you asked. I've driven imports with over 200,000 miles them and they just keep on going.

Congrats on having one of the only Excursions with absolutely no issues. I mean that with no sarcasm. If yours has zero issues and everything works, good for you.

 

How do you bulletproof a V10? Change the heads to add a couple spark plug treads?

You're telling me you think Nissan is more reliable than Ford?

 

Lets not compare 2500lb cars with 8000lb trucks let alone the engines in each.

Don't get me started on people not willing to do their due diligence on understanding the maintenance required on the diesel vs. gas.

You said - "I'm hopeful nothing crops up on our 6.0". You didn't know what you were getting into before the purchase? Problems with the 6.0 started coming up years ago.

Lastly - understand that any internet forum like this is going to have a high happy to unhappy ratio since most people aren't seeking out this forum because ALL they want to do is say "OMG - I LOVE MY EX!". Usually they find this place because they are researching a solution to a problem. There are always going to be more posts on here about problems than people singing the praises of the Excursion.

There is a very short list of Vehicles that hold the same percentage of their value year-over-year like the Excursion. On top of that, there are a lot of them on the road considering how (relatively) few were built.

Everyone needs a reason to justify their purchase or sale. Nobody is going to come on here and admit, "I had no idea about owning a diesel vehicle so I'm selling it".

 

whats the best import car for high millage? hondas? u think them civics are any good? ui thought the last good import honda for longivity was in the 90s?

might be lookng for a second vehicle that is good mpg and runs forever type, to beat in the winter instead of the ex.