I love my 2017 King Ranch--but $80K..no thanks

 

The build and price is up. Xlt base starts at 52k, limited is 62k starting and platinum starts at 72k. Ford locks certain options from the xlt model making you step up to limited trim, otherwise i wouldve been just as happy with the xlt 202. I like how chevy allows you to a la carte many options on its lt trim instead on bundling the features in $3-5k pkgs. I also realize that even though the limited trim and lt trim are somewhat the upgraded pkgs for each vehicle respectively, the ability to get standalone features makes customizing a tahoe easier and somewhat cheaper. Mayb after the 18 my, ford will allow tge features to be added separately.

 

The Japanese brands originated packaging options because it is much cheaper at a manufacturing level, and obviously if they were shipping vehicles from overseas, they were more likely to be bought out of stock.

I ordered a 1978 F100 and remember the thousands of different options available. It was kind of great but if people ordered cars like this and bailed on the orders, dealers would end up with the proverbial green car with purple interior on the lot, unsaleable. I do prefer ordering vehicles but admittedly have not ordered any of the new cars I've bought since 1986 and instead chose a standard in-stock kind of package (actually I bought a couple vans as prior model-year leftovers in March of the following year to get a great deal).

I don't think the trend to separating options is gonna come back although if I was ordering a new vehicle, I would not want power running boards or a sunroof but would want the high-tech safety features like blind spot detection, rear cross-traffic detection, adaptive cruise, and lane-keeping/auto braking just because. Currently to get this kind of stuff on an Edge, you have to order a Titanium and pay $6 grand for the high tech/luxury package and take sunroofs, navigation, etc....and I think yet another $2 grand package for lane keeping. The Japanese brands are putting this stuff on Civics, Imprezas, and Corollas barely above their base models.

George

 

It's weird how almost everything Japanese in the truck/SUV world (except Toyota Tacoma) is so much less expensive than domestic now.

That said, the feature content and platform age in the Japanese truck/SUV offerings is almost a full model cycle behind domestic offerings so it's not exactly apples to apples.

 

For fully loaded suvs here is what your looking at as far as prices go. To get prices and make them fair, i went to the highest trim possible, extra cost paint and interior colors were slected, all are 4/awd and included all options available that pertains to functionality of the vehicle(no extra accessories):

Chevy suburban premier: $84k
Chevy tahoe premier: $81k
Dodge durango srt: 70k
Ford expedition platinum: 82k
Ford expedition max platinum: 85k
Nissan Armada platinum: 65k
Toyota sequoia platinum: 68k

Interesting notes-each manufacturer has a specific way of ordering. Gm is set up al la carte, each option can be selected separate from another. Ford is set up in packages, they bundle their similar options together, easier selection but less customization. Nissan and toyotas highest trim is fully loaded so not much is optional. The durango price is a guesstimate. also, the accessories are extensive for all but the ford(4 obvious reasons). Though it seems the domestics are grossly op, they do offer more features and tech.