I've been scouring the interwebs for a good 7.3 since June and now that I've got the funds I think I've narrowed it down to 2 good options.

Option A) 2001 4x4 Limited 2 Owner Black with the black bumpers and trim (not sure if that configuration has a name but I like it). It has 144K miles and seems completely stock...checking it out in person tomorrow. Heated seats but only the driver's seat is power. Steering wheel controls are only for cruise. Told me "The turbo pedestal has been upgraded to non-EBV with flapper delete. The fuel system has a regulated return system installed. The cooling system has been serviced with new hoses, coolant and thermostat."

Option B) 2003 RWD Eddie Bauer in White. Title says 2 owner but current owner bought 11 months after sold new and claims initial owner. It has 113K miles and said he has only added a BullyDog tuner set to improve the fuel economy. Had the transmission rebuilt less than 5K miles ago. Both seats are power but not heated. Steering wheel controls are only for cruise.

Both vehicles are southern vehicles with no rust. Both sellers are asking $19,500 and option B has stated he is firm at $18.5K...have not tested Seller A on price. Other than the color and 4x4 vs RWD, are there any major differences I should be considering? Are the 4x4 Xs in significantly higher demand than the RWDs (I need 4WD once a year at best so not that important to me)? I had thought that the 2003 might have more luxuries or features but it is lacking the radio controls on the steering wheel and no seat heaters.

Whichever one I choose, I'll have a mechanic go over it. I'd appreciate any insight you all can offer.

 

The "Eddie Bauer" is not the top of the line in amenities.
Our 2002 Limited has some of the radio controls and AC fan on the steering wheel (and cruise control) and both front seats are power with heaters.

 

OK...so I'm guessing 2002 was the year that they added the extra steering wheel controls to the Limited and also went to the digital AC controls vs. the analog *****. Do the 2002 and later AC controls have different climate settings for driver and passenger?

 

Ours does not have driver/passenger settings, just front/rear.

 

That's good to know. I wasn't sure if the digital ones provided any other benefit besides having a number associated with the temperature setting.

Going to check out option A in 2 hours. It would be the easier of the 2 options as it is much closer to home.

 

I have an '02 Limited and it has dual power heated seats and the radio and climate controls on the wheel, and from what I've seen those are all limited to the Limited. $19k....wow. If someone showed up with half that I'd probably part ways.

 

I do not believe any of the EXs got the split driver-passenger climate controls. We have the analog (***** to control) or the digital (temperature setting). Most all have the front & rear separate climate controls. And even then, the rear always has the ***** to control the climate settings. I believe the SSVs may not have rear controls. Not sure of the XLTs. The digital control is nice in that you don't have to keep changing the setting for cool/hot as you are driving along. The vehicle maintains itself at a comfortable temperature setting of you choice.

The steering wheel buttons for volume, climate etc. was added somewhere in '02 and might have even been an option to upgrade for that year. IIRC, it became standard in '03 - '05. Also, the addition to the power setting for adjusting the pedals front-back came as an option after '03. My '03 has them, and are really helpful for shorter drivers to be able to comfortably reach them.

JMHO. Even if you need 4wd once a year, you may want to pick a vehicle that has them available. Adding them to a 2wd vehicle is possible, but may be cost preventative.

Your location in the usercp says you are in GA. So, you may really not need the heated seats all the time, though it is a nice to have. But you can add heating elements yourself to the non heated seats, if you are handy enough, or pay to get them installed.

Most of these things that you are asking about would be 'cosmetic' to me. Given that you are searching for 17+ year old vehicles, I'd spend my energy to find out more about the motor and how it was treated in the past, maintenance records, modifications - done & removed if any, tuners/chips if they were used & removed etc. Changes to turbo pedestal, fuel system etc. would constitute modifications to stock, IMO. Go over the tech articles in this forum and the 7.3 sub-forum to learn and ensure that you are doing the due diligence in picking out early signs of failures. Take an OBD reader and a computer/phone/tablet to check the codes, if any are stored in the PCM to help make an educated decision. And then, above all, 'feel' the vibes, when you meet the potential EX

 

Thank you @Unleashd for the recommendations. I did get a chance to go drive and look at the 2001 yesterday morning and it was not love at first sight like I had hoped. It was clear that the vehicle had spend most of her 18 years parked outdoors. The DVD player also was not factory...it was a larger unit the seller had installed where they had removed the middle seat climate controls...I wasn't crazy about the installation as it was wired to constant power with an on/off switch and also had a piece of flex-loom run from the edge of the carpet to the side under the driver's seat.

I've only test-driven one other X so don't know if it is typical but this one had a lot of play in the steering...could move the wheel from 11:30 - 12:30 with no steering response. On top of that, the front suspension felt really soft. My wife was very intimidated driving it and I could tell she didn't really like the size of the vehicle.

Given all that, it didn't seem like a vehicle worth $19.5K.

 

Our 2000 Excursion has a little sister, a 2004 Eddie Bauer Expedition. The Expedition has the digital climate control with dual zone so Ford did offer it in their big vehicles in 2004. Don't know if that translates to the Excursion though. (In 2004 Ford was already making plans to phase out the Excursion so they may have saved themselves some time and money by not engineering it into the Excursion.)

 

Ah, yeah, based solely on your post, you would have had to drop a bit of coin into the suspension to get it back up to snuff.

Stewart

 

The Expedition is based on the F150 and the Excursion on the F250.
The Expedition had a makeover in 2003, so a few things were updated, huge was full independent suspension.
The Excursion didn't get any makeovers so didn't change much, other than a wiring redo in 2002.
The Tritons were all 2v,

 

Eldrima, where are you at? We’re thinking of selling our 02, it came from Vegas and has been stored every winter since it got here to Michigan so it’s rust free. By no means is it absolutely perfect but also would be considerably less than 19k. Message me if at all interested. Otherwise in relation to your comment on steering on the first one it sounds like it needs new suspension and significant steering work. In my opinion also both are significantly over priced. By you know what they say about opinions