My good friends own a 2001 Excursion. They had a very serious accident last week in it. A rice grinder ran a red light ( girl on a cell phone ), and t-boned them between the two side doors. The girl was removed by ambulance. The car was junk. The Excursion had some damage but they did drive it home. This is why I drive a Excursion. With all the talk on high price of gas or diesel fuel, you can't put too high of a price on safety.

 

Your post is very timely. I just saw a show on TV about how "uncrash-worthy" the most popular cars are when t-boned by a "simulated" SUV at 31MPH. IOW, the scenario shown on TV was identical to what your friend when thru, however the roles were reversed. Only 2 cars received a "good" rating, while the rest failed because the "accident" would result in trauma to the head.

I'm really impressed that your friend's Ex was drivable after such an accident (and in the same token, I hope the injured driver heals quickly).

I agree. This is one of the key reasons why my Ex is actually my wife's daily driver ;-)

Thanks,
Randy R...

 

I drive one because I have wanted one for about 2 years and they are bad ***! The diesel is just a bonus to me

 

I drive one because I tow a trailer for recreation, have two active kids and two dogs. It goes to soccer games, has hauled a golf team to high school golf matches, we camp out of it and the trailer, we hunt out of it and the trailer, we use it to haul dogs and equipment to the fields for training and hunt test. It has been known to haul groceries, lumber, plants and trees, you name it and mine has probably done it.
Plus it is a very safe vehicle. I have been in two accidents in mine. The first one was when the Excursion was only 3 months old. A person in a stolen car & drunk tried to pass on the right shoulder between my Excursion and a guard rail, hit the guard rail doing over 90 mph and bounced into my wife's door. Put a hole about the size of a baseball in the outer skin on the door. The inside of the door was perfect. It did damage to the right side of the X all the way back to the rear quarter pannel, but the rig was still driveable and none of us or our dogs were hurt. I was doing 70mph and there was heavy traffic, so I was glad that I was in a heavy rig that could take that type of hit and not get pushed around.
Then when my X was about a year old another drunk lost control of her GrandAM and came through the median and I broadsided her doing 65mph. Once again the X held up great and protected us and the dogs. I would have driven it home that night, but the cooling system was toast, the right front bumper was pushed back to almost contact the tire and I hit something in the median and blew the right rear tire. I hope to never get in another wreck like those, but it is nice to know that you are in a safe vehicle when idoits put you in harms way.
Pat

 

Man LabCab !!!!
stay away from the bar neighborhood !!! :-)

but I'm like you BBB...
I drive one because i want to - that's all the justification we need to get one :-)

 

Both happened on the interstate, one at 2:00 in the afternoon, and the other at 10:00 at night. Not a bar in sight either time.
Pat

 

I currently own a 2001 Navigator and my 'X is on order to arrive late May or early June.

Very few people will argue that the 'X (or the 'gator) won't normally have the mass advantage in a crash. If you generally assume that a crash isn't your fault, then this is a reasonable statement. Drive your truck like a truck ... not excessively fast, not dangerously and _not_ like a car.

Certainly, I've heard the argument that I might roll over. Firstly, at 80 inches wide, of all the ford SUV products, the 'X is significantly more stable than the rollover happy explorers. These people even argue that you might be better off avoiding the accident than enduring or 'winning' it.

I take that with a grain of salt. In all my years of driving, my two accidents would not have been ameleorated by enhanced manouverability of my vehicle. Furthermore, with many thousands of of miles of 2 lane roads (or even gravel roads) I travel each year, being able to take a shoulder or ditch at 100km/h with confidence rates highly as an available avoidance manouver. And... taking these roads late at night involves the risk of dunk and stupid drivers popping over the next rise in the wrong lane (either passing or passed out).

If you're in danger of rolling an X, or even at risk of rolling an X ... you might want to take a good long think about what you are doing and why. My policy is that if any avoidance manouver requires more than 50% of the total resources of the vehicle to accomplish ... then you "almost had an accident" ... and you should be going over the situation and deciding why you got in that situation and what you should be doing different.

That all said, back to the origional topic (or a slight modification): Why I've ordered an 'X:

• Having driven the 'gator near it's towing capacity far too often (7000+ lbs on it's limit of 8500 lbs), I needed something with more capacity.
• Having had the 'gator near it's cargo (volume or weight) capacity too often, I required more space
• More than 8' with all the seats down is helpful for lumber
• The 'X has limited slip. I've turtled the 'gator several times in situations where one more wheel spinning would have gotten me out (it's not an offroad truck unless you carry a winch).
• ...But most of all, it's Diesel. I'm expecting better milage for a much more capable vehicle. If the F150 or expadition were offered with a diesel, I'd have a far more difficult choice on my hands.

I'm sick of the wildly swinging gasoline prices and I'm sick of not having enough space or power. I take the train (public transit for my commute) such that my truck is used almost exclusively for what it was designed.

 

Own two Excursions. 5 kids, 3 dogs. Why? Once got hit by drunk running from police. He rear ended my 71 LTD at 80 mph. I walked away. Never looked back, always driven full size Fords or trucks with rear wheel drive. Also travel alot in winter in Michigan, very stable vehicles in snow. Not too concerned about gas price, both are v10's. Just took 1500 mile trip and averaged near 15 mpg with 03 4wd Ex.

 

I'm in the Air Force and I relocate every 3 years or so. Since I refuse to part with either my 68 or 92 Mustangs, I will always need a tow vehicle that can do 75 to keep up with traffic while loaded with a car and trailer.

The safety aspect makes it perfect for my wife and three kids as a daily driver. I choose to take the decapitation-prone 92 Convertible to work everyday.

The 7.3L can't be argued for enough. It's truly an amazing engine. I've had 0 problems in 88K miles. My only repair has been a burned out taillight.

I just consider myself lucky to own such a cool/safe/powerful/reliable vehicle.

2000 XLT 2WD 7.3 Leather

 

These are pics of my wreck a year or so ago...





What she (my wife) hit...



We obviously didn't live in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii then...

 

While driving my "X" last July, I was hit by a small Honda at the rear passenger side door. The Honda left 110ft. of skid marks before impacting with me. Nice thing about a big rig is that the nose of her car went under the "X" bending the running board down and in and popped the upper part of the door out of alignment. It did do $3000.00 worth of damage, but I drove away. The State Trooper that did the investigation had to ask me where the damage was when he first looked. Her car was totaled.

 

I agree they are a very safe SUV. the folks in smaller cars think that they can dart around and be rude at the same time. The cops dont go after tailgaters any more or folks that fail to yeild ect ect. They say they have better things to do than go after traffic problems and that my friends is not keeping the road ways safe. So we need to have Excurions I have a lot of respect for those drivers cause they want to be safe.

 

We own an EX for 3 reasons. 3 little girls. I am a trooper and I have responded to over 1300 accidents in my carrier. We bought a new Nissan Quest minivan in 2000. We thought it was big enough (compared to a car). While working the road one day, I was dispatched to an accident involving a Mercury Villager (sister to the quest). The quest was hit by an older f-150 pick-up and was totaled. The van was occupied by a woman and her 7 year old. The woman was killed. The 7 year old was ok. The driver of the truck was ok, just minor bruised and a head laceration. This accident was head on, on a 2 lane road. Both vehicles going 45+ mph. A combined speed of over 90mph. We sold the van that week and bought an Expedition. We just recently levelled the playing field even more by getting rid of the Expedition and getting a 4x4 Excursion. With all the trucks and suvs on the road these days, we wanted the advantage. As stated before, the price of fuel is by far absorbed by the safety and comfort factor while going down the road. Just my 2 cents.

 

My wife and I have no kids just two labs, we both drive some of the safest vehicles around, she the Excursion and me the F250 Super Duty.

Know of two guys that have been rear ended in there Ford Super Duty trucks, both times the other vehicles were toast while there bumpers were banged up a little. Know another guy who rear ended a little car in a 97 F350, the car was toast while the front bumper on the truck was bent but not very bad.

Seen some pictures on ftd a while back of a Ford truck that rolled 6 times and the driver walked away with only a small cut on his hand.

 

V10X,
Very good point. My son has a Honda Civic that I could drive to work and save like $2.82/day in fuel cost. But I drive 30 miles each way on an interstate and all I can think of when I drive the small car is what if? I will pay the extra $760/year in fuel to drive my Excursion. It has already saved my butt twice from drunk drivers, very safe rig!
Pat