My nearby dealer never has any in stock, so I finally took a road trip to check out an Expedition.
It was much smaller than I was expecting.
Compared to the Suburban I also looked at today, it was smaller in every way save for drivers shoulder room.
Compared to the Wife's Gr. Caravan it was noticeably smaller in every dimension, save maybe length.

I don't see this being a viable vehicle for my family in 5 years as my kids grow, and I still daily drive a 14 year old vehicle.

I was really counting on this vehicle being my future. At this point, I don't see buying one.

 

Go check out an Excursion instead.

 

Maybe if they still made the excursion.

I'll be looking at a 2020 van or suburban

 

Did u look at a max or a regular wheel base? The max is only 2.5" shorter then a suburban but is wider and taller. The regular expedition is the tahoe competition.

 

My 15' EL is plenty for my family of 5. Even with a couple of them being teenagers. We went on a 6 day road trip with room to bring home souvenirs. And I've owned Suburbans, an Excursion and a minivan. The Expedition EL is the best do-it-all I've had.

 

What year are you talkin about? My 18 swb blows away any other vehicle ive tested or sat in terms of room and space, esp in sec and third row legroom and hip room. My dads 15 escalade swb doesnt even compare and the armada and sequoia barely match it as well. My 09 nav though roomy is way smaller than my 18 in terms of people space as well. Sat in a new toyota sienna minivan, also doesnt compare to my expy in terms of ppl space. I know the max expy doesnt match the suburban in cargo room behind the third row, but the load floor is higher and the leg hip and shoulder room in the sec and third rows are a joke compared to the expy.

 

For all of you people personally insulted that I called the rear of the expedition puny, I could sit comfortably in the 2nd row of the Suburban (better than the first actually), not the 2nd row of the expedition. I'll admit that the 2nd row was acceptable for most adults (just not not me) but the 3rd row for the expedition is kids only territory. There is no headroom at all. Hip and shoulder room is irrelevant as I would normally have only 2 people in the 3rd row. maybe it is fantastic for 3 midgets, but I probably won't be hauling around 3 midgets any time soon. I'll go so far as to say the 3rd row of the Expedition is less useful than the 2rd row of my Jeep TJ Wrangler. I can fit 2 adults back there. I can't say the same about the Expedition's 3rd row. I'm 6'2" and my wife is 5'11". I am looking for a vehicle that is going to fit the family for the next 10 years, and the 2019 Expedition std I looked at today sure ain't it. I'll admit the max was not in stock, so I haven't seen that, but the specs look like all they do is stretch the 3rd row back a bit and give more cargo room. That isn't going to help the headroom deficiency in the slightest.

The 2019 Suburban was actually a surprise. I had written of GM after the 07 headroom chop, but I see they undid that. My only problem with the Suburban was the B pillar. I'm not sure I can hold out for the next redesign, now kicked back to 2021.If I had to buy either the Suburban or the Expedition today, I've got to say the Suburban is in the lead. I am shocked it is so, but that is what I experienced. Maybe an Expediton max without a sunroof will change that, but I have my doubts. I'm probably going to put my energy looking into 4x4 or AWD vans now.

 

 

Sorry I had to, yes I agree a 4wd van would be awesome but as a daily driver I need the high teens mpg that this ecoboost gets.

 

I drove full size conversion vans (Ford flatnose, couple GMC's, a Chevy, last one an E150) for 30 years (1986-2016); they have about 250 cubic feet behind the front seat (with the rear seats out) in regular length. A minivan has about 150 cubic feet. An Expedition has 121 cubic feet in the extended version and 105 cubic feet in the regular length version. I don't think the Suburban and Tahoe have any more cubic footage than the long and short Expeditions. Legroom/headroom/seat access are a design choice and I can't begin to throw statistics around.

My son grew to 6'4" tall and had friends that tall and they always fit in our big vans, no problem. I am 6'1" (shrunk an inch or two) and headroom in big vans was always great too. He did Boy Scouts and was a competitive bicycle racer and we always carried a lot of people and stuff around (like 4 people and 4-6 bikes plus camping gear inside the van).

A traditional full size van has about the same footprint as a short Expedition. It has less ground clearance and more height, as well as a shorter hood. If you are looking for max interior room with the most reasonable footprint and cost, big vans are the way to go. When I finally moved down from full size vans (my son is long gone from our house and vehicles) I moved down to a minivan although I like a small 4WD/AWD SUV as my daily driver and am waiting for the Bronco. Your Town and Country or my Grand Caravan both have more room than an extended Expedition inside.

Traditional full size vans are gone except for the GM stuff, but the low roof Transit is a reasonable size. There is rumor that Mercedes will bring a 4WD Metris (a nice mid-sized van) to the US but not sure how that's going.

Toyota does an AWD Sienna minivan; very low ground clearance. It will go thru snow and rain but not off road. Their mid row slides back and gives limo legroom but you give up the 3rd row. AWD van has no spare tire (uses run flat tires).

I generally invested in a limited slip/posi for the big vans and kept good tires on them, and always got thru Michigan snow and did some amazing stuff on muddy campground and fire roads.

Anyone who thinks a 3-row SUV is a replacement for a van in terms of REAL cubic footage has never had the experience of driving a full size van for years...

George

 

Noones insulted, if your not comfortable, your not comfortable. But this is a expy forum, and most of us chose an expy over the gms for one reason or another, and passenger space and comfort is usually a big one. There had to be one or two ppl who feel the gms are more roomy then the expy lol.

For me, i just stated mine and my familes views on the subject. Noone but my nephew is over 5'9" in my family, unlike your fam. My fam and i took a trip to myrtle beach together where i took my expy and my dad took his slade, however whenever we went anywhere, we used mines mostly because his wasnt as comfy as mines is. Also, this was my family members decision, and mind you they ride in his truck more due to being more accessible than mines and therefore are more acquainted. Granted, the max version of the expy wont rele feel more different than the swb model. Unlike the sub, both versions of the expy are mainly the same btw all three rows. With that said, the escalade third row is a joke. Ive sat in the newer subs, yukon xls, etc. And compared to my truck, again it's far from being as comfy, but this is my personal feeling.

Have you sat in the other trucks as well, like armada and sequoia? Were you able to move the sec row seats in the expy? Did you recline the third row sear when you sat in the expy? Only the sequoia and expy has that and makes the third row feel more roomy. The only thing that feels less than it should imo is sec/third row headroom in the expy.

If full sized passenger vans rode better And had better seats, i think they would be more convenient. Minivans also have pretty good room as well. If you like the suburban, have you looked at the traverse? It has more measured 2nd row room than sub and not much less room in the third row. Also, me and my spouse looked at the hyundai palisade, thats a nice truck as well. Its her new third option after the expy and cx9.

 

The main reason for the Thread is just that I was so shocked how small this vehicle was that was basically touted as the next thing to the Canyonero, but luxurious (not that I want the luxury)

Shoulder room is what was lacking on the Suburban. The Traverse is even worse in that regard.
The Expedition was narrower between the B pillars than the Suburban (look at the 2 vehicles. The GMs are much more upright above the belt-line while the Fords tip in pretty severely), but the B-pillar was far enough back I could scoot up in front of the B pillar on the Expedition. Not quite with the Suburban.
I didn't recline the 3rd row. I don't really consider that an overly viable option. Think about what would happen in a crash if you reclined to make up for a drastic lack of head-room. I would crush my face and break my neck in a minor head-on like that. It would be a possible solution for the lack of visibility out of something like the Explorer, that actually has enough headroom...just that the windshield stops too low.

 

How wide are you exactly? These vehicles are roughly 80" wide (the limit for pretty much everything sold as a personal vehicle) and need enough width in their body sides to accommodate side air bags and crush zones. And some concessions to styling aka "tumblehome". They have ~65" of shoulder room.

You say you drive a Jeep? How is the shoulder room in that, exactly?

Here is a comparo between the Expy and Suburban and it looks like they are within an inch of one another in shoulder room, but the Expy Max has much more 3rd row legroom (due to independent suspension, which the GM biggies will be getting for 2020 or 2021). Basically, get a full sized van if you want really big width all the way up. Go check out a passenger Transit, although they usually set the seat rows too close for much legroom. Again, conversion vans (I've had 5 over 30 years) have the most room of the kind that you want. Find someone doing luxury conversions in Transits, Sprinters, or big GM vans.

https://www.garberautomall.com/blog/...hevy-suburban/

ps as your kids grow into teens, they won't want to go anywhere with you anyway....parents are uncool. They'll be going to the beach with 6 friends, in a Camaro.

 

I dont think the reclined seats would be bad in the expy let alone the max. Minivans are smaller and offer the exact same feature. As large as the truck is, the crash would be almost completely absorbed by time it gets to the third row. Also, the expy is a safer vehicle then the gm as well according to the nhsta.

If you can, def wait for the new ones. The new gms should atleast be on par wit everything else in its class, expy included. Then again, the new gm pickups arent doin so well critically or commercially and a new f150 is comin out next yr as well so expect a refreshed expy by 2023.

 

Hmm, interesting...we traded a ‘17 Tahoe for a ‘19 Expedition specifically for the increased space.