I'm looking to buy a SUV for wife.

was looking at the following:

escalade esv - problematic
yukon XL - not reliable
2nd gen sequoia - expensive
excursion - priced right, big, but i don't know much about it. we've owned broncos in the past, and 01 expedition, had minor electrical issues. but was a good suv. we currently have a 1st gen sequoia and its super reliable, but getting too small for us, and higher mileage.

school me on excursion reliability? any things break? issues? recalls? v10, v8 or turbo diesel? hauling kids so want the safest, biggest suv i can afford. which is around 10k. how is it for daily and with kids?

was looking at this one for sale: Link

 

I've been extremely happy with ours. Yes, things break; the newest one on the road is now 11 years old. Issues would depend on the year and engine you are buying, they all have their little qwerks. I have a 6.0 turbo diesel, we bought it because we have a travel trailer and four kids. The kids love it, plenty of room and we can throw the dog in the back with our daily supplies.

I'm assuming that the one you are looking at says V-8 because it is a gas 5.4 liter and not a diesel 7.3, sometimes they list diesels as a V-8. I wouldn't touch a 5.4 with cloth seats and a busted front bumper for $10,000; just my two cents.

 

Every make and model has problems, it's the nature of used automobiles. I've purchased expeditions/excursions that where flawless and run like tops and where maintained well, and I've had ones that are just screwed 6 ways from sunday.

That being said- when you say you want the biggest safest SUV you're right on the mark. I had a little mitsubishi lancer pull out in front of me a month ago, smacked it at 30ish mph, totaled it. I had to replace my bumper (didnt like the small dent it made), neither I nor my father felt a thing. The firefighers complimented how well it did.

$10k can buy you a lot more than a cloth seat XLT 5.4 You can get a fairly nice v10 with limited package, or hell even a higher mile 7.3 for that. You're going to get absolutely crap gas mileage in either gas engine.

The only real common problem I've found in the 5.4/6.8 engines is blowing spark plugs out of the heads, easy quick fix.

 

BigGreenEx is not steering you wrong... here's my 2 cents to add to what he said.

• The trucks are old, so finding one that has verified, regular maintenance should be job one. Don't buy someone else's problems.
• Much like the Broncos, Ex's have certain areas susceptible to rust. Check the rockers, roof around the rack, bottoms of the doors, etc. Apparently the guys that did the pre-97 F-150s and Broncos continued to find gainful employment at FoMoCo
• Drivers seats all tear. It is a when not if issue.
• Any steer wheel other than black will eventually look like crap, if it does not already. Plan to do something there.
• Plan on replacing the door lock actuators - again, it is a matter of when they fail, not if they fail.
• Common consensus is that the Ex was "under sprung" from the factory so that it would be cushy for the soccer moms and/or fit in a normal garage. Unfortuately, this leads to a bunch of ride/handling issues including steering wander, jarring ride and frequently hitting the bump stops (resting clearance is typically under 1"). There are a zillion different ways to address this issue.
• If you're looking at a 4x4, the front vacuum hubs can be a weak point. Lots of folks replace with manual hubs (Warn or similar). When I looked at factory hubs, they wanted something like $700+ for them. Um, no.
• Powertrains - general
• Excursions never got the 3 valve version of the gas engines, nor did they get the 5 spd auto behind any gas engine. You have your choice of 5.4 V8, 6.8 V10, 7.3 Powerstroke (MY 00, 01, 02, and apparently a limited number of 03s - this is really outside my knowledge but I'm sure someone else will chime in), 6.0 Powerstroke (MY 03, 04, 05)
• 5.4, IMO, is horribly underpowered - I would pass no matter what. YMMV.
• 6.8 - reliable as a block of cement. Has an, um, "unusual" exhaust note. All Ford gas motors of this era are known for breaking exhaust manifold studs and occasionally blowing spark plugs out of the heads or breaking them when you try to change them. Various fixes exist for these issues, just expect them at some point.
• 7.3 - the greatest engine ever put in a truck. It can pull the USS Nimitz up the side of the Empire State building, feed your dog, get your kids into Harvard, and increase your length and girth by 250% all while getting 45 mpg at 100 mph and it never, ever breaks in the first 500K miles. Just ask any diesel guy.
  
  All joking aside, this is probably one of the best motors Ford ever put in a truck. It is extremely reliable, likely because Ford significantly detuned it as opposed to what Navistar rated it when installed in a medium duty truck. So it is relatively easy to see some big power/torque gains on this motor with a tuner and other relatively easy mods. That being said, it is installed in the oldest trucks and most of them are showing some high miles by now. Also, it is a diesel and is happiest when worked and worked hard, and it can be less forgiving if not used that way. Plenty of info on this motor here and the various diesel sites.
• 6.0 - after the 7.3, Ford came out with 6.0. Unlike the Navistar 7.3, Ford did the engineering on this motor themselves and it rapidly earned a reputation as problematic, quirky, or a huge POS, depending on who you talk to. What is not open to debate is that the 6.0 had a much greater number of weak areas in comparison to the 7.3, and many of these motors grenaded or cost their owners big money repairs. That beings said, stock it has higher hp/torque than the 7.3 and can be modded into something of a beast. There are also a number of things that can (need?) to be done to bulletproof the motor and these are detailed in multiple places. These steps can also be pricey and some are easiest to do by separating the cab from the frame to get at the motor. Not a super difficult task *if* you have the right equipment. Again, there are lot of folks that have much more knowledge on these matters than I

I'm sure I missed some things, but that is what I've learned by owning one (briefly) and doing research for my next one (in the next 6 months).

I would strongly recommend that you go in understanding that the Ex is a *truck* and comes with the pluses and minuses of a truck. It is never going to ride like an Escalade, and it is built on a chassis that is built to work. Can it be a family truckster for hauling the kids to soccer and the mall? Sure, but IMO there are better choices - the Expedition in regular and XL versions, for instance. If you want to haul those kids and a 8K travel trailer 3 miles off road, well, that is a different story

Good luck with your search and keep us in the loop - nothing we like better than telling other folks how to spend their money

And as always, YMMV on any of these opinions!

 

Thanks I love y'all like brothers...

found a v10. What y'all think?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5900182841.html

 

Two things jump out at me:

1. No interior pics? Why not? (but I'm a cynical old man, so...)
2. The ****** shouldn't be parking in front of a fire hydrant.

 

As a mom that drives an Ex with 4 kids I love it for all it's room. Kids can spread out, have leg room and there's room for our two dogs behind 3rd row. You didn't mention how many kids or if you'd be towing.

We previously had an Expedition and I loved it too but for different reasons. I liked it better as a daily driver. Easier to park and used less gas. The Excursion is big. Parking it on errands is a bit less convenient. Plan to park at far end of parking lots. A pain with little kids.

Expedition was much tighter inside. We did not have an EL. Towing there is no comparison. Excursion wins hands down. We have a 2001 V10 6.8 4X4 with 4:30 gears.

Safety wise it's definitely larger than Expedition. If you have more than four kids no shoulder belts in middle seat positions, No headrests in third row or middle row center seat (although some of us have added them), no LATCH system for Carseats, only two positions have tether hook for Carseat at least in my model.

And of course they are older so updated technology, side airbags, etc.not present although hopefully someone will chime in if later models have any of these features. Of course the Excursion has it's size going for it.

Because of it's size you don't just zip around town in it. I know I'll get some upset here but as a busy mom in a hurry most of time I need to allow a few extra minutes when driving Ex. I don't like to gun engine or go around turns fast in it.

Agree with others that you should be able to find a nice V10 for $10K.

 

My wife drives ours and our daughter has a handicapped placard so parking is not an area I can give you an honest opinion on, my wife is always able to park up front.

 

I'll start off by stating that I am a huge V-10 fan in these giant wagons.


Is 4X4 important to you?
Will you be towing at all? How much weight and miles?
How many miles a year and typical length of daily trips?
Are you at all familiar with diesel engines? And their care and maintenance?


As others have already said the EX is definitely more vehicle than the others you mentioned, and it is the most truck-like of the bunch also. To me that also makes it the most durable over the long haul of that bunch.
But they are getting older now, so don't expect perfection.
The 5.4 is adequate for daily driving duties but I would skip it for any kind of towing or heavy hauling work, it will get the job the done but for the same basic price and economy you would be much better off with the more capable V-10.
When my V-10 was still totally stock it was seeing 14 MPG with my daily driving around town and my 20 mile commute, we did have a 15.5 MPG tank on a vacation trip once. (Not exactly the "absolute crap gas mileage" as described above ) Now with the 4' lift, 4.88 gears and 35" tires it gets 12.5 on the highway running solo, but I don't daily drive it any more as it is now our dedicated tow rig for an 11,000 lb travel trailer. The V-10 can get the heavy work done.


The typical trouble spot on the V-10 (and 5.4 V-8) are the exhaust manifold studs and on the earlier (pre '03) motors the spark plugs. Neither issue is a sure thing, some rigs never see these problems. If the exhaust studs do fail (I had 2 broken studs at 75k miles) they can be tackled by a DIY owner in the driveway, we just had a member do his yesterday and I did mine the same way. The early gas engines (up to mid '03) had too few threads in the spark plug holes, this can lead to the plugs working loose over time and eventually popping out of the head. There is a fix for this that is a very good solution to the problem if it were to ever happen. The chances of a plug ejection can be greatly reduced by changing the plugs and carefully torqueing them with a recheck a few thousand later. Of course if you get a later rig the number of plug threads was increased and this ejection issue is pretty much a non-issue. The earlier mention of the plugs breaking during removal is not correct for these motors, it was an issue with the early 3 valve gas engines that were never offered in EXs.
I have no beef at all with the XLT trim or the cloth interior, both were on my wish list when I was shopping and I was fortunate to find my '05 cloth XLT because so many had all the bells and whistles that didn't want. I think the cloth is more comfortable and wears better than the leather, but if you have small children the leather may be easier to clean.
The V-10 is rock solid reliable, I have logged over 50k miles on mine with the only failure being a fuel pump, which I replaced myself in the driveway. Considering that over 30k of those miles it was towing between 9,500 and 11k lbs I think that is pretty good. Regular fluid changes and fresh plugs is really all I've done to keep it rolling along ( the mods I've done were not required, they were just choices I made mostly to improve the heavy towing performance).
When buying a 12 to 17 year old vehicle be prepared to have to address a few items/issues to get it "just right" for your use, but have confidence as we fellow owners have been down that road before and can offer help and guidance with nearly any repair you may need.
Good luck on your search.

 

I'm starting to find that lots of little things break on my 04 Ex. Pretty much everything has been cheap and easy to replace, but it is still frustrating. Still, it is a great vehicle and the safest thing I could put my wife and kids in.

 

I concur with pretty much everything stated above! I would just make sure the wife is comfortable driving a big truck. It is MUCH different than driving an expedition. When you test drive one, take it to a local Wal Mart and have her park it.

 

Here is another one..

2001 Ford Excursion Ltd

As other have mentioned you should give us plans for how you want to use this vehicle as there are some options, for example, if you plan on towing and you want the V10 check for the 4:30 rear axle ratio.

Also, if you really want to get one of these vehicles you will also need to have the desire to do some work on them. I have had a bunch of fun with all the upgrades and fixes I have done on mine. Weather its installing an updated 2008+ rear bumper to rebuilding my fuel bowl.

This site is also awesome to find any issues you may face. I don't think there is another site that compares to the community of help this site has to offer.

Tim M

 

 

^^^ That's a picture of an EXcursion. ^^^

 

Where are you located?