Actually on the F250/350 differences it is the rear spring block that is the difference. 2" for F250's and 4" for F350's. Pretty much everything else is the same. I've been watching ebay and my local trader mgs at Excursions and F250/350's trying to decide if and/or which one to replace my Expy with. IMO if Ford would made more XLT or even some XL models the X would have sold better. I use mine as a job site vehicle also and don't want all of the EB/LTD options.

 

We've had our Ex for 7+ years now. My wife normally drives our Focus, but has no problem switching to the Ex for local or long distance driving. Unless the Exp will go into the garage and the Exc won't, you won't regret the extra space, and with eiter vehicle, you have to take similar precautions as neither is tiny.

With four kids, you'll want the extra room of the larger 3rd row seat of the Exc compared to a regular Exp. I can't compare to the new extended Exp as I haven't been in one. At 6'2" I'm comfortable in the rear seat of our's, but felt scrunched in the rear seat of the Exp that we test drove before we bought the Ex.

If you have any plans on towing a large trailer, the Exc is the only way to go.

 

Wife speaking here....I've had my 01 X just over a year now and love it. I use it daily for me and my two girls to go to school which isn't a big deal. But the best part about it was taking it last summer on a trip with 8 people ages 9 - 80 on a weeks long trip that took us from central Texas to Colorado to the 4Corners, to the Grand Canyon and then back across New Mexico to home and all the luggage fit in the back and everyone had their own space. When we go camping pulling the trailer and want to take our 2 4legged fuzzy friends with us, we take the back seat out and let the dogs ride in the back. Definately MY vehicle although I let the husband use it on occasion. (especially when its on empy) :-)

 

Thought the original poster got his answer I'll throw my couple of pennies in.

Keep in mind the Expedition changed DRASTICALLY between 2002 and 2003. '03 is the newer body style with independent rear suspension and the "fold flat into the floor" 3rd row.

I had an '03 Expy w/ a 5.4L and really liked it, but mileage sucked (12-14 city/17 highway) and dropped like a rock when towing (around 8-10 or so). I towedm my ~5000 lbs of car/trailer around town and locally fine, but couldn't handle highway hills very well. Spent a lot of time with OD off and on some middle TN area, I had to floor it in 2nd to maintain 45 mph. Quite scary going that slow with your foot in the radiator.

However, it was a great "around town" truck. PLENTY of room in the 3rd row and a decent ride. Parking was never really a problem.

I've only had my Excursion ('00 2WD V10 Limited) a couple weeks and about 500 miles and I LOVE IT. The mileage is worse, it's a biyatch to park and watch those tight drive-throughs (some fast food and newer banks). It feels heavy and is harder to stop. BUT, with all those things, I still like it better than the Expedition.

The ride to me is softer in the Excursion - much nicer over bumps and pot holes than the bone jarring Expedition, but the Excursion feels like it has a lot more body roll in corners (could be the leather Ex vs cloth Expy interior, however) and doesn't feel like it handles as well as the Expy, but that isn't why I bought it.

The hauling room in the Ex blows the Expy away. I hated how little room there was with the 3rd row up in the Expy. You can take 6 friends out to dinner in it, but there isn't any room to take them on a picnic. 95% of the time I had the 3rd row down so I could carry things. Today I took my 35 pound dog to the vet with the 3rd row folded down, but not tumbled forward. He loved it. He could run around behind the seat and then could sit and rest his head on the folded seat back. Cavernous rom back there if you haul things at all.

I haven't towed anything heavy in the Ex yet, but picking up some furniture and stuff around town, I couldn't even tell the load was back there.

I also bought the Ex more for a kid carrier (though I only have one 5 year old) and a tow vehicle, but I don't even drive my 95 Mustang anymore. It gets 15 mph city vs the 10 in the Ex, but I don't care. I like driving the Excursion THAT MUCH BETTER.

For that reason, I'd buy the Excursion over the Expedition on pure "emotion." I just enjoy driving it much, much more. But, some of the quirks like gas mileage and parking issues may be more than some want to deal with.

 

If you are going to da any serious towing, the EXC is the choice. I traded up from a 97 F250 7.3 to a 00 V10 EXC and it out tows the 250 all day long. Smoother, better take off power. And I feel like I am riding in my living room.

 

All you need to do is change out the shocks. I put Bilstiens on and it was a night and day diff. Ride quality did not suffer, but that annoying pogo-like ride went away.

 

Cool - that's something on the list based on many threads I've read here.

 

Billygoat,

Slashing your sons brake lines is probably a little extreme but hey, whatever it takes...

All kidding aside, I've been wanting one for a year and I think from what I read, the expedition might be too small.

If you really NEED the wife to approve this, you may want to consider letting her drive a v10 or sumptin'
It might feel different to her than the diesel.

Good luck

George

 

Hell, I dare anyone to find the $1100 to spend on groceries

George

 

We also went from an Expedition to Excursion.

With 4 boys, you def should go big. We only have 3 tax deductions and it's annoying having to move the 3rd row seat on the Expedition whenever we go to Costco or remove it for more stuff. Not nec yet w/ the Excursion. As others have mentioned, ride isn't as cushy (even w/ Bilsteins and Hellwig), turning circle is huge and parking in compact stalls is not gonna happen. For towing it's def a huge improvement both due to size as well as v10 w/ 4.30 (vs 5.4 w/ 3.73).

It's very interesting to hop from the Excursion into a Miata, talk about 2 extremes...

 

expy98, what kind of excursion did you get?

 

We ended up with the '02 7.3l 4X4 limited....black. My wife has still not driven it (that's okay....cuz I love it!). We've put about 4k on it (with a trip to Utah for the holidays). My only complaint is that I am only getting around 12-14mpg...mostly city. I know it is meant for the long haul, but I thought I would get better on the highway (14mpg on the trip avg 75mph - fully loaded, no trailer).

 

FWIW, just in case the original poster is leaning toward the Expedition (but it sounds like the Exc is more suited to your needs :-)

I've towed a 20' enclosed car trailer with the '98 Expedition, TT weighed prob around 7K lbs. If it downshifts at all, I leave it off OD for hour or more. When going up long inclines, I manually shift to 2nd (to keep it from hunting and keep tranny temp down) and reved it 4500-5000 rpm. Engine purred and I can maintain 55-65 no problem unless I get cut off and the rpm dropped then it took a longggg timeeee to get back to 4500rpm again. Of course the gas needle is spinning in the opposite direction as the tach needle. My Expedition had 100K on miles the clock. Don't worry about the rpm, it needs the Italian tuneup on a regular basis anyway :-).

Same trailer (but w/ more stuff) but w/ the Exc v10 w/ the 4.30, it rarely ever shifts out of OD on mostly flat areas where the Exp did frequently. Haven't gone up the big hills yet though.

 

Yea - that was my experience. It may be able to hold speed for a while, but if it ever drops, you can forget about accelerating back up.

Good to hear how nicely the V10 Ex did. I can't wait to get a load behind mine (because that will mean I finally finished the race car....lol)

 

I thought I was the only one that was in the 14-17mpg group. I have checked and computer scanned and reprogrammed and modified till i not sure what to do next. Still can't bust into the 20's empty or pulling in the 12's? If you have a breakthru please let me know!