Thanks totalrecall. I'm really leaning towards picking up an Expedition. Any goods or bads about them? I know gas mileage will be higher but I'm ok with that. How's getting in and out of the rear seats? How about any lady drivers? My wife will be driving it mainly so she has to like it of course. Any feedback? How is it to work on? Expensive? Any and all info is appreciated.

 

This is my second reply to this thread but I want to tell you how I've been reminded of why I keep the Expedition. I live in Lake effect country in Northern New York, we've had 147 inches of snow since November. This area is full of hills and in the last two weeks there has been two head on collisons with one fatality. I want as much bulk around me as I can get. Scary snowy hilly roads.

 

03's and up they fold flat in the floor.

 

Not just yes, buy Hell Yea!

Our 1997 we bought used in 2000 with just under 50,000 miles. It has never needed anything beyond the normal wear and tear stuff (brakes, exaust, tires, alternator, battery being about all I recall changing). The truck now has 177,000 miles and we are replaced it with a 2000 Expedition with 93,000 miles (it was cheap - $5500 cash and we have a baby on the way so not a good time for a car payment).

The expedition can't trail like a jeep as it is wider and much heavier but it can drive through 2-feet of snow. I have been hapy with the 1997s 4.6 motor for gas miliage but the truck certainly lacked power when pulling a trailer so the 2000 I looked for a 5.4 and power is really great now but the gas miliage went down quite a bit and it takes some self control to baby the gas to prevent getting 12MPG type fuel use. The cruse control is a good help too when you have a heavy foot like I seem to have.

I have three kids and a fourth on the way and the Expedition sure has been the ideal truck for us and I hope that the 2000 is as good to us as the 1997 has been for the past 7-years but I have no reason to expect less so far.

 

I owned a '92 Explorer XLT that I upgraded in 1999 to an 5.4 EB Expedition 4x4. Both vehicles handled well during their lives with ordinary and periodic maintenance.

I always considered the Expy an Explorer on steroids; more power, room, etc. The Expy has excellent towing capacity and was a good vehicle. The gas mileage was somewhat challenging, but that negative was outweighed by the other positive factors. The Expy had the third row removable seat that I had in the vehicle less than 5 times during the whole time I owned it.

In Oct, 07, I took delivery of a 2008 Expedition EL Ltd 4x4. Wow, an even better Expedition! Better gas mileage, towing capacity, an automatic fold down third seat. I have been extremely pleased.

 

i have an 03 FX4. I didn't want air ride. it has been a great vehicle and will run it till it can't run anymore. i picked it up in 05 with 29000 miles. It hasn't needed much a window regulator and regular maint. I like the seats fold flat. We take it to the drive in movies with sleeping bags for the kids and just back in. the ride is good and firm, tows great. I would love a manual transmission but we all can't have the world.

 

I may be the oddball here, but after my recent experiences, I will not buy another Expedition. We have owned two, a 1998, and a 2005. I did not like the fit / finish on the 1998, and the ride was very rough. The 2005, is much better in many regards: fit / finish, power, ride, smoothness, fold flat seeting, etc.

I must say though that we have had far too many problems with the 2005. Brakes went bad after 10k miles (dealer fixed it), had to have tires replaced (dealer), have had regulators go bad (2 of them), had the rear wiper fail, having problems with the tire pressure monitoring system, and now having problems with the steering wheel radio controls, and the battery is very weak. This is a 4 year old, vehicle with 73k on it.

Gas mileage is very poor, 15mpg, compared to a GMC Yukon at 20.

To me, these are major problems, and I will not buy another one. I love the utility, but the cost to maintain is far too high.

 

I have an 01 XLT Sport $x4, bought it brand new...LOVE IT. Im not feeling the new Expi body style though, and doubt i would ever buy one... but i love my body style. The only other truck that has sort of made me jealous over the years are the 02 - 05 Yukon Denalis... those things are sweet. If i bought anything other than my Expi, it would be that.
i WOULD NEVER buy a new vehicle again... such a waste of $$$. I now look for vehicles that are 2-3 years old with 20-30k miles... such a savings and the car/truck is barely even broken in.

 

I'll let you know after I rebuild my front end.. and once the weather warms up..

First experience with an Expy so far.. ball joints need to be done, and it's winter. Winter gas + 100% city driving = 10.1mpg average so far. yay!

 

Depite my name, well even I tend to forget stuff sometimes, so does my 2001 Expedition handle better than my 1973 Dodge Polara - well I don't remember.

I think for it's size, not bad, turns easy and really isn't that long. Seems like you want something large. Newer style Explorers seem nimble in comparison, but the Expedition is large. Do I like mine yes, is it large yes.

I haven't had my used one that long, put some money in normal maintenace just to be sure, anit-freeze, trans flush and a few other things, but it does run, never failed to start and heat and AC work fine. Trans - light duty with 4.6 and 4R70W does just fine. Only have 65,000 miles.

Came with new tires and some level of redone brakes, so all that is ok also. Steers straight down the road. I had to get used to using the running boards again to get in (Same with my 95 F250 Diesel 4X4). The Explorer and my Chevy (I know) pickup are just low enough and I am 6 foot, that I didn't need or want running boards.

Is that enough!

Mike

 

There's no doubt I would buy another one. I have 00 Expedition and my wife has an 00 Excursion V-10. We have four boys nand we like to go on long rides and camping.

I love everything about about both cars - except the MPG.

My Expy has the bucket seats in the middle row two of my kids can get in the back row without climbing over the seats ala my Excursion

The dreaded spark plug blowout- I bought both used. I'm not looking forward to changing them out. I am about ready to pay the dealership to do it...

Both cars ride nicely. Great for long trips!!!

Not much stowage behind the Expy third seat

All in all, I would definitetly do it again. Maybe an Expediton EL next!!!

 

i'm going to say yes. bought my 05 used in february 08 with 52k. i owned it for a week and noticed some wind noise around the top corner of my driver door. took it back, and the dealer replaced my driver door window regulator at no charge. really cool in my book, only problem is that the wind noise is still there. i've located the exact spot where the wind is coming in, so i'm going to take it back to the dealer next week and tell them to not call me until it's fixed. little issues like that bother me, just like my squeaky passenger air bag. it makes much more noise when it's really cold.

i switched from a tahoe that had ABS and tranny issues, so these issues are minute compared to the chevys. after i get these problems corrected i'll be a totally happy camper.

 

I wrote a nice loooong post to this last night, but it got lost when I hit "submit", so here's the "cliffs notes" version:

Absolutely we'd do it again, and here's why:

We replaced our Tahoe with the Expy -- the Expy is heavier duty in pretty much every way, just park both side-by-side and crawl underneath. The Tahoe/'Burban are based on a 1/2 ton chassis, the Expy on a light 3/4 ton -- brakes and all sized accordingly. Our Tahoe lost both rear seals in 25K miles -- we towed the same trailer with it and our Expy and had our brake controller go out on both. The Expy can stop an un-braked 5K trailer down a hill, the Tahoe cannot. We went to a bigger trailer now (about 8k) and have had no problems with the Expy towing it, even with the 3.55 gears (our Tahoe had 3.73s). The Expy does 75% of it's time towing...

We have the air suspension, and while we have had a couple of minor problems, I would without a doubt look for one with it again -- it's that good (and yes I know others hate it enough to have replaced theirs with std suspensions). It's a pretty simple system to diagnose, very heavy duty and pretty sophisticated in what it does. If you tow or go off road in 4 Lo, or have greatly varying loads in one, you'll understand why we like it so much.

I also prefer the 2V 5.4 over the 3V and the SRA over the IRS for towing. If you aren't going to tow and want a more comfy ride, get the IRS version. The 2V will plain out lug the 3V on any day -- it makes it's torque lower (tho you sacrafice higher numbers that the 3V motor has). Note, you either get the 2V with SRA or the 3V with IRS...

We also have a 2000 Jeep Wrangler and these are two totally different animals - bith excellent for what they were designed to do...

Good luck with your decision, that's my $.02 worth.

 

If Ford still offered the same exact Expedition as I factory ordered, I would buy it again, however even though I got it for a reasonable price, I would pound the salesman down on price until I get him to squirm as I had far too many battles with Ford and the dealer over warranty and quality issues. Next time I will persue more legal avenues. I definitely would consider an extended warranty. In addition, I would pay much closer attention to maintenance by doing the work myself and also get in the habit of washing the undercarriage weekly during the winter months here in the Northeast.

 

I would and I will when the time comes. Mine is an '04 4x2 witht he 4.6L and 3.73 rear axle. I get great hwy mileage and crappy in town mileage. My wife drives it, it's our family car.

I can't wait to get another new one with the 5.4L 3v and the 6 speed tranny and 4wd.

Good luck!

Tim