Hey guys, my wife talked me into buying a 2011 Expedition EL Limited last year as our family ride. I've always been a foreign car driver. (Reliability and all...) After driving our Expo around for the last 6 months I've been incredibly impressed and now want a truck of my own. Here's my question(s)
I have around $14k to spend on a SCrew F150. I can't decide on whether to buy a 2006 Lariat with 100k miles or a 2009 XLT with 145k miles. I know service history would help the decision, but nothing is really available on these trucks except for clean Carfax reports. Is there anything that would steer me towards the 06 or the 09? Should I be worried about the 06 being less reliable overall? I've read about the Cam Phaser issues on the 06's. Is there anything else to be aware of with either generations? I'd love to keep this truck for as long as possible, so I want something that's going to be reliable and cost the least over the life I own it.

Any thoughts or opinions? Which generation is best? Thanks!

 

So you're saying that these are your only two options? Both trucks have the 5.4L in them? If the '06 had the 4.6L, I'd jump all over that one. 145K for an '09 is a ton of miles on a 7 year old truck and without a service history...........

 

These are the two I'm looking at right now. Still doing my research. Both have the 5.4. I guess the bigger question is which generation is the better choice? In general are the 09+ years a safer bet? Seems like the phaser, spark plug and tranny issues are mostly resolved by then. Is that correct thinking? So even if an 09 had higher miles, it should be more reliable over the long haul if properly maintained? Thanks for the help!

 

I'd say you are correct.

 

The six speed transmission on the 09+ trucks really made the 5.4 come to life. IMHO, aside from the body style upgrades, it's the only piece of hardware that helps these trucks over the previous generation. Other more usable refinements came in the 2010 MY such as the electric cooling fans, bigger brakes and transmission software updates. 2011 was the biggest jump in usable tech but your talking over $20K retail for one of these today.

I wouldn't settle on the 2009 truck, way too many miles for me. I'd go after the 2007 first and take my chances.