Considering the General......

1659 Views 38 Replies 15 Participants Last post by Xenon, Sep 8, 2008

T.J.

Discussion Starter · Sep 3, 2008

I am possibly considering buying a GM product. This goes against my tradition of buying all Fords in the past, but the Excursion is getting some mileage on it and with a young family, it does not need to be front line with 150k on it. So I went looking. To my disappointment, Ford dropped the Excursion in '05. I do not trust used vehichles so the Excursion option is gone

I really didn't like the Suburban when I got the Excursion back in '03 but the new one is supposed to be a lot better. How does it compare to the Excursion? Any personal experienses and or info will be appreciated and thanks!

T.J.

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 3, 2008

gto4ibf said:
My family and I took a GM-owned company Suburban on a 5500 mile vacation. It was the best vehicle that we could have gotten. We were only gone for 13 days so we spent a lot of time in it. There is tons of room front and rear. There is an ungodly amount of cargo room if you fold up the third row. We had an LTZ so it was pretty decked out, but the 5300 still got 17.5 MPG on the trip. That is almost all highway though. It handles really well for the size of vehicle and the seats are very comfortable. I think that it is far superior to anything else its size.

Hope this helps.

I have looked inside of it and it just does not seem as big. Does anybody have any official dimensions to compare the Escursion and Suburban interiors?

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 4, 2008

Smaart Aas Saabr said:
All of these vehicles are suitably large, I mean you can use them as a vacation home :lmao: Passenger space is pretty unimpressive, if you want real space go get a Sprinter

A jokester are you? Well, FYI we use the Excursion to pull the vacation home to various spots throughout the course of the year and therefor need its towing capacity. See if a Sprinter van can pull what I need it to pull.

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 4, 2008

eurohazard said:
Are you talking about passenger room or cargo room? passenger room mostly

Just as I expected. The Suburban is smaller in every category. This is my biggest fear, getting a vehichle that is too small. I will have to carry the family to the dealer and try it out, but I am seriously disappointed that neither GM or Ford have maintained an Excursion sized vehichle

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #10 · Sep 4, 2008

The Tow rating is a disappointment as my Excursion tows 4000 pounds more then the new Suburban according to the above link! Why dosen't Chevy make a diesel in the Suburban?

What is the difference in fuel consumption?

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 4, 2008

Xtreme08 said:
I concur, why the hell is the D-Max at least not an option in the Sub?

And why the hell did ford abandon the diesel SUV when they dropped the Excursion( dumb move BTW

)

I guess we should pay the same price for less capable SUVs now...

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #14 · Sep 4, 2008

91 s-10baja said:
i think the suburban in black, or any dark color w/ the top wheels is pure sex

I think that this with a 3/4 ton suspension with a diesel that can actually tow at least 10k lbs would be pure sex. Well, at least more ''bang'' for your buck

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #27 · Sep 7, 2008

F14CRAZY said:
Sprinter is rated to tow 5k lbs if I recall correctly

Yeah, this will be just the thing. I tow horses for my kids with the Excursion. Its a 5k trailer-EMPTY! Add 2 1500 lb animals in there and you easily out do what the extra super high roof long wheelbase Sprinter you all keep talking about. And this dosen't help either...

Only if you don't mind a 0-60 of about 11...minutes

Not going for your cherished Sprinter Smaart Aas Saabr

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #28 · Sep 7, 2008

King Riffle said:
Yeah, if you need space you are much better off with a van.

And what? Lose all off road capability. That is why I went with the Excursion 4x4 diesel. Plenty of power and plenty of off road capability to get the job done. A van would be little more then a concrete hugger. With towing the horses and an occasional boat, as well as the vacation house, I don't need something that has to stay on hard surface if it rains. I'm going to stick with the SUV on this one but at least you all tried. Now, which SUV?

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #29 · Sep 7, 2008

ifcar said:
The Expedition EL has more interior space than the Excursion by every dimension except third-row shoulder room.

Don't know if the link will work, but if it doesn't, I'd advise building your own comparison.

http://www.cars.com/go/compare/trimCompare.jsp?acodes=USB80FOS311A0,USB30FOS011A0

The numbers aren't everything, of course. Definitely try to fit in the family before buying something. But the Expedition EL is definitely the size of the Excursion.

The tow rating does disapoint in the comparrison but it does manage to tow a little more then its Chevy counterpart. So what is the latest on the 4.5 Dmax in the Sub or was that even discussed? I know it was with the Silverado. And I do not want to wait for 2011 to get a diesel Expedition, unless it stands head and shoulders above the gasser in performance. What is the speculated tow rating improvements if any? The Sub and EL look sound but they come a little short in areas where I need them most.

Let me open up a new can of worms: What about the imports? How do they compare in size and towing?

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #32 · Sep 7, 2008

If the Excursion is all that will do and it was retired in 05 that is an extremely sad statement! Why even retire it if nothing could step up and take its place? Why don't they offer a diesel 4x4 large SUV? Anybody? Worst yet, Ford had it and dropped it!

And Smaart Aas Saabr, how do you suppose you are going to park the trailer around the back of the barn and get things from the storage shed where there is no 'dirt road'? I assure you, a 2WD van would stick up fast, you need a 4x4 of some sort

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #36 · Sep 8, 2008

Rest assured that if there are not 4 wheels pulling, even Quigley would stick up at the horse farm. We dump manuer around the woods line and when it rains, it gets really soupy. If it wasn't for the four wheel drive, we would not be able to cross it to get through it. I like that you can get a diesel in the vans, but the lack of 4x4 makes it useless to me.

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T.J.

Discussion Starter · #37 · Sep 8, 2008

Smaart Aas Saabr said:
No I mean it will be fine on a dirt road, I mean I don't know the terrain around your barn and storage shed but where I am I don't have any issues with even a car... or 2wd pickup getting the trailer etc etc

I like to race cars on dirt roads :drive:

Now when there is a foot +of snow on the ground, but even then the 4x4 truck is also stuck, need to get a plow :lmao:

Now the 4x4 tractor, that will go through anything, 4 feet of snow, "brooom!" it goes on top :yup:

4 wheel drive really only seems to be necessary for really bad mud or snow, if you can walk on the ground fine the 2wd is fine

Okay. You really do know what you are talking about. A 4x4 tractor is really what I need for my family vehichle

confused

and I can walk with chest waders through soupy mud or manuer so therefor a 2WD is all I need. You are truly full of insight. Though your insight has aided me so much, I will probably opt to keep an open mind to everyone elses opinion

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