First off I want to say thank you to all here who have helped with advice along the way with my Excursion. The information and time put in by this community is by far the best of any web forum I have ever been a part of.

So I decided last month that the need for the family bus is no longer a necessity since all of my kids are now driving themselves and it is no longer cool or acceptable to spend much time with mom and dad. Couple this with the fact that my wife really did not like to drive the EX and it was our only 4x4 and Alaska finally decided to let us have a winter again, we decided that a gas pickup was the route for us to go back to. The EX was a fun project for me while it lasted and is by far more of a "truck" than it's replacement, 2011 Silverado LTZ CCSB with 6.2 V8, (I know....that's why I said dark side X2). The fact of the matter is that we only "need" a truck a few times a year when we tow our toys and go camping. The rest of the time it is just a highway cruiser.

I hear a lot of guys say your either a diesel guy or not. Now I know, although I like the BSEG it gives you, I'm truly not a diesel guy for a few reasons. First off is my career, being gone from home 1/2 my life having my truck sit at home not being driven (last month at 20-30 degrees below zero) is just not healthy for it or me when I have to come home and get it going again. And second, I'm just not that in to working on them engine wise. I have much more experience with gas motors and am comfortable working on them.

Good luck to all of you with your rigs, I still believe they are the BEST SUV ever made! I am sure this time I have owned my last one (it took 2 to figure this out). I'm moving on to smaller and less practical things in my future. Cause I surely could not say "bigger and better" because there aren't any