I currently have a 2001 Excursion with 4x4 and 4.30 gears. Looking at a newer one with v10 and 4x4 and 3.73. This purchase will mainly be used for driving my five children to church on Sunday and long trips.

That said: at 75-80 MPH I average between 12 and 12.5 MPG and turn 2700 RPM or so. What difference can I expect from a 3.73 excursion with no other changes in driving habits or use?

To be clear: I don't care about how you drive or what you prefer with ratios. I don't care about your average driving or average fuel consumption. I've read enough gas mileage threads to make my head spin and I realize that there are a lot of different ways to use these vehicles and habits and driving style are pretty big factors in this question. My question is about driving on the interstate across country with the cruise control on 75mph where your bladder can last as long as the gas tank. If you don't drive like this please don't speculate.

 

Keep it at or under 70 and it's much happier. I get ~13-14 hand calculated, on all highway at that speed. Over that a lot and you can watch the gauge fall... Around town, forget it...

 

13 or 14 isn't bad. Our long trips are usually between 4 and 24 hours. I don't care what it costs, I'm not sitting in the car with those children one second longer than I have to!!

 

13-14 mpg under those conditions

 

I am 13 to 14 mpg on my V10.

 

Just drove to CA and back to MO, averaged 18 MPG, 75 mph average. 7.3 diesel =0)

 

My numbers from before my my gear swap miss the mark of your inquiry because my cruise speed was 65 MPH, but I got 15.8 MPG over 500 miles with 6 adults on board in Maine during a 90-95 degree heatwave, mostly all highway with stop offs in 3 or 4 little towns.

 

I drive 1 or 2 times a year from TX to FL with cruise control set around 70-75 mph. I have a V-10, 4x4, with 3.73 gears and according to my calculations, not the lie-o-meter, I get around 12.5 mpg. I highest I ever got was 12.8.

 

13.5 MPG -14.7 MPG Highway, no faster then 75mph. 3:73 4x4 V10. all by hand calculation.

 

I don't have 4WD, but I did swap from 3.73 to 4.30. I lost between 1/2 and 1 MPG. Seems reasonable to expect you might gain 1/2-1 MPG all things being equal. Or you might not with a different truck, different year, different tires, etc etc.

I guess I am saying it won't make an appreciable difference.

 

Sorry can't help you with the V10 but for reference I get almost 16 mpg overall average with 6.0L 4x4 with 3.73 gears. I just ordered a LivewireTS to hopefully improve on that...Monster Truck (Ford Excursion) | Fuelly

 

13mpg @ 55mph; 12-13mpg @ 65 (that's 1900rpm!); 12mpg @ 70; -1mpg if turning front driveline. All corrected for larger tires and fewer rev's per mile. Full or empty (1500lbs) doesn't matter. Windows up/down, A/C on/off - doesn't matter.

 

I've got 3.73's, stock size tires and 4wd. Warn hubs so I know everything is unlocked.
Anything over 70mph and it drops off quick. 70mph will get me 13 ish... 75-80 11-12.
The last trip we took I set the cruise at 68mph and was surprised, on the trip up to the cabin we got 14.8mpg and on the way back 14.2 , I had the A/C running on the return trip, I'm guess that is why the drop.

 

OK...I bought the Excursion from Vasherriff.

First fillup was driving through the mountians, some city and idling too. 11.7 MPG. Second fillup was 2/3 mountians and part flatter ground. 11.9 MPG. Last fillup was from Indiana back to Kansas. Cruise set on 75 MPH and few stops. 13.1 MPG. The highest I ever got out of the old ex was 12.1.

Observations:

1) I see why everyone says to get the 4.30 gears. MPG's in the mountians were about the same between the two. I'd guess city MPG's to be even a little better with the 4.30 gears. Highway MPG was about 1 MPG better from the one fillup I had. The DIC seemed to agree with all this, it registered 13.2 on the last tank and was pretty accurate.

2) I wouldn't want to tow much or drive this in the mountians with the 3.73 gears.

3) The highway driving was much quieter and less stressful with the lower gears. I was running about 2100 RPM at 75 MPG, as opposed to 2600 RPM with the 4.30 gears. Most of the road noise was from the tires, which I'll probably swap between the two as my old Ex has better mannered road tires.

4) I wonder how 4.10 gears would do in these.

5) These vehicles would be awesome with a real transmission in them. Direct with the 3.73 gears was about 3100 RPM, which is a great speed for climbing hills and towing a trailer. Having another gear between second and third and a little lower starting gear would match the engine well, and be more useful.

 

Who?

I was expecting you to get a little better on highway driving. But the best I could ever get in city driving was 8.1 mpg, never drove it at highway speeds much the entire time I owned that cream puff. I would rank my driving as 99% in city driving in all of my vehicles, just never had much need to go anywhere too far from home. Animals to take care of (2 cats and 2 dogs). One dog, German Shepherd, trained to attack, could not hire a babysitter to come in and feed him at all for days on end. The babysitter would end up as the meal. I should have shown him to you, but I didn't trust him to behave.