Hello and welcome to a series called “Too Big Even For America”, where we explore cars that went out of their way to demonstrate that bigger is not always better and is not always wanted, despite what the stereotypes say.
If the GMT-800 Suburban was the first hit of General Motors during the new millennium, the Ford Excursion represented Ford’s first misstep. Their intentions were in the right place and the logic that brought them to building the Excursion was sound (to a point); unfortunately, they overshot the mark by just a teensy little bit.
When I say that the logic that caused them to make the Excursion was sound, it really was. The Ford Expedition was doing a fine job holding its own against the GMT400 Chevrolet Tahoe since it was released in 1997. The Expedition itself was a considerable leap over its bucking Bronco predecessor, what with it being available with four doors and therefore being competitive with more than one model of Tahoe for starters. As big a leap as it was, however, there was still a hole in the lineup. A gigantic hole. The Suburban was selling in very good numbers in a segment where there weren’t any competitors. Now Chrysler may have been content with letting that market slide and only offering the Durango, but Ford wanted a piece of that pie and they knew that to get it they’d have to out-Suburban the Suburban.
So they set out to make the biggest SUV available on the market. It would have to be longer, wider, taller, more powerful than the competition. If they even considered using the Expedition/F-150 chassis they quickly abandoned that idea, instead deciding to go on maximum attack and use the one used in their bigger Super Duty pickup trucks.
They were also going to out-engine the Suburban. Eight measly cylinders? Pah. Pedestrian, the Excursion was going to benefit from the 6.8-liter Triton V10. Sure the Vortec 8100 may have been bigger, but if you wanted to have ten cylinders in your SUV this was your only option. You want diesel? They had the 6.0 and 7.3-liter Powerstroke V8 to take care of you as well. Although joking aside, they were really going to need that torque and then some.
You see, of all the big numbers with which the Excursion was built the biggest and most disturbing of them all was the weight. Equipped with a gas engine the Excursion tipped (crushed?) the scales at 7,230lbs, and if you decided that you actually wanted to achieve some miles to the gallon rather than the other way around by buying a diesel, it increased to 7,725 pounds. That’s 3,531 more than what a suburban weighted.
For a visual representation, take the Suburban and then on top of it place a similar vintage Chevrolet Malibu. This is still lighter than a Diesel Excursion, to equalize it take a 50kg bag of cement and pop it in the trunk of the Malibu. Now it’s as heavy as an Excursion. For another visual representation, it’s heavier than three 2001 Honda Fits. It simply boggles my mind that it’s as heavy as it is. I even had to double check the weights in different sites to make sure that I wasn’t getting my measuring units wrong or something.
Trying to tip it towards the Ford, I went and compared it to the heaviest Chevrolet Suburban I could find (a 2500-series with the 6.0-liter V8). That lessened the difference but the ‘burb was still 1,556lbs. lighter (7225 vs. 6169). That’s good, we’ve gone from a Chevrolet Malibu to an original Mini in weight difference.
I know some of you may think it’s unfair that I compare it to the 1500-series, but that’s the car it was aiming for. The volume seller wasn’t the 2500-series, GM doesn’t even offer heavy-duty Suburbans anymore due to the low take rates. If the Excursion was targeting the whole Suburban lineup, Ford failed because it tried the overkill approach; if they were only aiming for the Heavy Duty models, they failed because they completely misread the market. In either case, sales reflect the fact that they failed.
In 2002 Chevrolet moved 151,056 Suburbans off the dealer lots; that same year Ford managed to sell 29,042 Excursions. That can only be described as a beatdown in sales, which kept decreasing until its last year where it sold 16,283 units. It should be pointed out that, despite all my beating on it, it seems that the Excursion actually had some loyal devotees. The chancellor of my university had one and used it to haul all his 9 kids around. From what I can recall he seemed to like it even if it didn’t actually fit in the parking spaces of his university. And if you lament they don’t build it anymore, do I have some news!
Since 2011, Custom Autos by Tim, a professional auto conversion business in Oklahoma, has been making new Excursions. All you have to do is provide a new Ford Super Duty pickup truck and $41,000 ($49,000 if you somehow still think it isn’t big enough and you want a six-door model) and they’ll do the rest.
As for Ford themselves, they called it quits on the whole Excursion (pun survived the editor) in 2005 and did what they should’ve done in the first place, they stretched an Expedition and created the Expedition EL. It wasn’t as large as an Excursion and the buyers didn’t need much more than that to warm up to it. But if you think that the Excursion was used as a cautionary tale by other manufacturers; stick around for the next installment in the series. Turns out someone found a way to make the Excursion seem perfectly reasonable.
It seems the mistake Ford made was targeting the Suburban 2500 (the 3/4 ton model), which GM sold so few of, they discontinued it after the GMT800 generation.
Oops.
It must be said, though, that Excursions in good shape fetch excellent money on the used marked… ESPECIALLY the 7.3L diesels.
You are right about this. Used Excursions are and have always been EXPENSIVE. The 7.3 particularly so.
I have a friend who has a 7.3L Excursion (Eddie Bauer white with tan leather just like the top photo except with a roof rack). Contrary to the ‘No one ever uses their full capacity!’ meme, we used it plenty of times that way at deer camps, carrying six adult males (including several +6′) and their guns and gear. He also used it frequently to tow his pontoon boat. He swears he’ll never get rid of it, which I have no problem believing, considering their popularity on the used car market.
Considering the nature of this site, I don’t quite get the hate for these; this seems like a place where unique vehicles are appreciated and the Excursion was certainly unique (albeit in a politically incorrect manner).
The hate is because your friend is in the very, very small minority of those who actually utilize it’s bulk and capacity. We all can plainly see that most of the time these things- and SUVs in general- are nothing more than ego-stroking ginormous thirsty SOLO commuter cars.
No, CUVs took that market. Most people who buy real SUVs anymore tend to actually use them. Escalade excepted of course. The high used prices on these isn’t because of the image they convey. It’s because no other SUV can do what they can.
What does ‘very small minority’ have to do with it?
If the manufacturer can make a profit selling the vehicle at the volume the market demands, why does it have to suit your aesthetic tastes/political preferences?
Seriously, I don’t get the hate – for a few years Ford sold some super duty SUVs and, judging by their enduring popularity in the used vehicle market, many people are more than willing to own them.
I believe I’ve answered that already in other posts that as of now haven’t been censored.
^THIS^. If someone can afford one of these and keep fuel in it, then its his/her right to drive it however they want (within traffic laws of course). High fuel prices and a crumbling economy did these no favors, but enironmentalists did their part to nag, whine and complain these and the Hummers right out of existence. The message seems to be “toe the political correct line and bow down to the enviro nazis, or pay the price.” Im not much of a fan of these, they miss the mark of what old school bobtails (Jeep CJs, Land Cruiser, Ramcharger) were all about but they DO serve a purpose as extreme family/towing/crew vehicles. You could commute in one, even if its overkill. But you cant tow a large camper or boat with a camry.
MoparRocker74 summed it up perfectly. The nearest we had here in Austria (on regular, not grey import) was the Jeep Commander and I can see it would be very useful for someone living in the countryside who likes to take his boat to the Danube during summer but avoid extortionate Vienna Marina rates. Alas, that too disappeared.
I saw one (1) Excursion in the flesh. It sounded and smelled like a school bus. A school bus with leather seats and multi-zone climate control, but a school bus nonetheless. I think this was a major source of what made buyers stay away from the Excursion.
I think that school bus is an appropriate comparison. Their shape really was school bus-like.
Most of the Excursions I’ve seen were gasoline powered.
Yes, the mistake was Ford using the Expedition to compete with the 1/2 ton Suburban and the Excursion to compete with the 3/4 ton Suburban. However, unlike Chevrolet, hasn’t Ford had entirely different chassis for their 1/2 and 3/4 tons since about 1997? That could be the primary motivator for having two different names competing with variations of the same Chevrolet.
The market for a 3/4 ton station wagon is limited.
Big three is always going to squeeze the juice of certain thing ( SUV, or aerodynamic design ) so hard that it turns as dry as tissue paper, then add some lemonade again and keep squeezing slightly lighter.
This is pretty apt.
One of the few Excursions I’ve seen was empty….except for the female driver. I’ve never actually seen one that was overflowing with passengers and/or pulling a trailer (loaded or not).
That goes for the lot of them. Besides all the empty passenger seats and cargo areas, another thing that makes me go hmmm when I watch these monstrosities go by is the driver always seems to have about two feet of headroom in there. I guess I’ve never felt the need to do jumping jacks in my vehicle so I can’t fathom why so many munchkins feel that with anything less they are short on space?
Yeah, how dare they want headroom and a spacious interior.
I know! To haul all that… nothing!
I think it’s rather arrogant for anybody who drives at all to be overly condescending of other people’s vehicle choices. If you want to save the earth, live in a downtown studio apartment and use public transportation.
Realistically assessing the situation isn’t arrogance. Many just take exception (Hey! Another Ford SUV name?) to facts.
Phil, you should have seen how sanctimonious he got when I dared to compare the Geo Metro with the Pontiac (Daewoo) LeMans that my ex and I once owned.
I had a hunch things might get nasty on this one. All too often a discussion of the Excursion, civilian Hummer, Prius or the Volt/ELR ends up devolving into unfair attacks and generalizations of their owners. The merits (or lack thereof) of the vehicles themselves go right out the window.
Thankfully that sort of thing is kept to a minimum here. Let’s keep it that way.
You’re right Mark, I’ll stop adding to it here. I think my points are made.
Mark: You attempted to draw a comparison to vehicles that really were too differently equipped to make the comparison valid. For example, an a/t Tempo vs m/t Tempo gives up about 10 mpg due to it not having OD and locking converter. It would be like driving the m/t Tempo in 4th with your foot resting on the clutch pedal. Be real.
There are some of these in Norway of all places. They were even used by the police. Why? No idea.
Police marked:
http://modelljernbane.internettside.com/thumbs/norge_norsk_politi_politibil_utrykningskjoretoy_04_th.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2db801w.jpg
http://static.vg.no/leonora/bildarkiv/1081153385.54821.jpg
Unmarked:
https://bilder.sivilpoliti.net/medium_f036aec6248d976699531a1f7c13379b.jpg
Suburbans got a piece of the cake too:
http://files.bos-fahrzeuge.info/vehicles/photos/1/4/6/9/190228-large.jpg
http://i45.tinypic.com/w71ja.jpg
I can confirm that the Excursion was a popular vehicle in Norway for a couple of years after it arrived. It sneaked in under the radar of our confiscatory car import taxes just because it was heavy enough to qualify as a commercial vehicle. Today, there are around 20 Excursions for sale on Norway’s leading used car site: http://www.finn.no/finn/car/used/result?sort=0&keyword=excursion
It sold well in Norway because of the tax rules. Cars over 3500 kg was taxed as trucks, and therefore no tax. In the beginning you even could have it equipped wih rear seats and tax it as a truck. A Suburban with 7 seats and taxed as a car costs about 200.000 $ in Norway today. So when you could buy these cars in the 90s and early 2000s many Norwegian did, also the police. But Suburban (and Tahoe) was the best seller, and most of them with the 6,5 TD diesel engine and as a 2500 chassis to be heavy enough.
Imagine owning an Excursion in a country with $10/gallon gas!
$1 per mile just for fuel…
There was an old Punch cartoon showing a huge Thirties car filling up at a gas station. The attendant says to the driver, “Do ya mind switchin’ off? She’s gainin’ on me.”
Now there is a blast from the past, Punch magazine. My father used to bring these home and I would only look at the cartoons. One I still remember to this day.
A guy inquired about the electric bicycle I was riding; in the course of that conversation I mentioned cost/mile and pointed at a nearby SUV (probably his) and noted it probably cost around 70 cents/mile to run it vs the penny for the bike and for that SUV to go down town and back from where we were would cost several dollars. He looked at me like it was the first time in his life the notion of cents/mile cost entered his head cavity.
LOL, electric bike. That explains alot. How much does your electric bike cost per mile compared to my leg-powered bikes? What are your chances of surviving an accident? How does your bike get the kids to the campground?
There’s more to life than cost per mile.
I use bicycle bikes most of all but that electric has a huge basket and racks- better for errands involving hauling stuff. I use the car when that’s most appropriate. Why, I even have a pickup with a 22′ flatbed trailer, but you won’t see me commuting in it.
Ah yes, because having extra vehicles around that are rarely used is also so efficient. It’s not like depreciation is the largest expense to consider when buying a new car. Oh, wait…
It’s interesting that the Norwegian cops got Eddie Bauer models rather than stripped-down fleet specials (which were made iirc).
In Norway it wasn’t the equipment and options that got taxed anymor from 92 (?), it was:
– weight
– horsepower
– engine displacement.
The resualt was quite well equiped (small) cars with 100-120 hp, and trucks who got no taxes (up to 2006) with the biggest engines and most equipment. Even in Norway with gasprices at 10$ gallon many bought Suburbans and other US-SUVs with pertrolengine,after 94 most Suburbans was sold with diesel and the Tahoes only with 6,5 TD. After 2000 only pickups got the new 6,6 Duramax and Tahoe/suburban was with 5,3 or 6 liter, and Suburban 6 liter or 8,1 litre.
After 2006 the trucks got 20% tax, and today these cars don’t sell very well. But the result is that even today, a lot of these Suburbans, pikcups, Tahoes from this era is still on the road. Same with the Cherokees and Grand Cherokees, S-Blazers and Explorers (not trucks, but registered as a kind of commercial vehicle with only 2 seats and only got 20% tax at the time)
I still see a few of them around here (New Jersey). In fact, I may have recently seen one of the “new” custom made ones. Back around ’97-’98, I rented a brand new Ford full sized van with the Triton V10…I loved its effortless torque.
Nice weight comparisons. I had no idea the Excursion was that much heavier than a regular Suburban.
I remember when these came out they were instantly met with way more harsh criticism than admiration. These were too big for most people’s garages and even driveways. I never saw too many, and the only people I ever knew who owned one were family friends of my cousins – a husband, wife, and one kid. I’m sure they really needed the space.
+1 on the weight comparisons.
Confession time: I have suffered from Excursion-lust since these came out. Yes, they were huge. But I tend to like huge. And for comparison, my 94 Club Wagon with it’s 5.8 weighed in at a svelte 5,000 pounds.
Based on the Super Duty chassis, these things were overbuilt for their intended market in a way that the Expedition was not. Used Expeditions were among the least expensive in their segment, where these were the priciest.
I remember looking at these in dealer lots when new, and their sticker prices matched their size. My one gripe about these was for all their size and expense, the third row seat was thin and lacked headrests. Even so, if a really nice one of these plunked itself in front of me for the right price, I would buy one today, even though I have absolutely no use for something that size.
+1
I would add that I would buy one having no use for something it’s size and not feel guilty, sorry, ashamed, or otherwise badly about myself. What a machine!
You have no idea how much that personally hurts. lol
Amen to that, I love this thing. However, a major con of this vehicle (other than fuel economy) is its terrible rollover safety. I remember reading an article on this that showed the fatality rate among the highest in rollovers; probably because its regular roof structure wasn’t built for its heavy weight.
-1
I agree with j.p. I’d take an excursion in a heartbeat. here in my section of Ontario I still see a suprising number of them driving around.
as far as the weight goes hey…if the tree huggers are gonna hate ya might as well make it worth their while!!
That’s an interesting motivation…
These are fairly common in my part of Oregon, they tend to be bought by people who have a genuine need for them (big families who tow). People who want to make a “big vehicle” statement still favor Hummer H2s. One guy has three H2s in his driveway.
A friend who drove a Suburban really wanted one – the bigger, the better!
It’s hard to imagine a civilian vehicle larger than a Suburban, but Ford managed to do it. Too bad they missed the mark with the Excursion – it was a nice-looking tank.
I suppose on weight alone, you may compare it to a Hummer H1 or H2, but with a lot more usable interior room, plus large windows, but it isn’t as cool as a Hummer.
Driving one would be an interesting experience… going on an excursion in an Excursion… Hey, I’m here all week…
I remember reading about these things when they came out and IIRC Ford had even considered building them with SIX doors- for even more overkill! If that sounds awesome you can still have one built by the above-mentioned Custom Autos by Tim.
http://www.customautosbytim.com/29.html
Ok, I confess, I want one. Regardless of the flaws (which admittedly they have) they seemed so cool. All that size gave them mystical appeal, you look up to them with a certain sense of awe. If they weren’t so expensive, I’d buy one.
It’s a shame Ford didn’t keep it around long enough to offer a King Ranch package – that would have been an epic vehicle.
Nice. The ultimate niche vehicle. I’d take a Platinum or Harley-Davidson edition.
The resale value on either a King Ranch or Harley Davidson Excursion would probably make your eyes water. And can you imagine the sight of all that premium, top-grain leather in one vehicle? It would take your breath away…
Considering that it was run on the same line as the Super Duty and used nearly all the same chassis, powertrain and driveline components, making it probably didn’t cost Ford too much money (certainly less upfront investment than the current Expedition, which is now practically a unique platform).
I heard that at the time they made it, the Excursion had the highest per unit profit of any vehicle Ford sold.
Hah! Stop it, you temptress!
Yeah, I’ve heard they made up to 15 grand profit on those.
At a swim meet this weekend, I parked next to a Yukon Super Bowl XLIX Edition?. The logo badges all looked factory, this is not a joke or parody.
Like taking candy from babies…
No more than the “ultimate driving machine”
To validate the tree huggers’ opinions about the vehicle I believe Ford should have christened it the “Ford Exploitation” instead of the chosen name.
But Bill Ford is one of those eco-weenies; he wouldn’t have gone along with that.
The car industry plays both sides: when it’s a hybrid or electric, they’re Friends of the Earth, bleating happy words “Eco” & “Green” to impress puritanical disciples of Gaia, but when it’s a pony car or full-sized truck or SUV, nothing is too big, powerful, or thirsty for lusty, Rebel Yell barbarians. Or have it both ways, with hybrid SUVs.
What’s truly intolerable is frugal, long-term ownership.
You’re pretty funny; and everything you said is so true!
The GM hybrid SUVs were another marketplace flop; big-SUV buyers didn’t see the point and green early-adopters wouldn’t be seen dead in one.
Not offering the hybrid system in cargo vans where they could make a cost/benefit case for themselves in multi-stop city delivery is yet another GM missed opportunity.
The hybrid system GM offered in their Full Size SUVs just didn’t make economic sense at sticker price, plain and simple.
It was a very expensive system, especially for the ‘gains’ it offered.
There are/were aftermarket companies that offer hybrid conversions of the E-series and GM twins and Stepvans.
I once heard the Ford SUV line-up at the time referred to as “Exploders, Excretions, and Exaggerations.”
We have the 6.8l Triton V10 in our 1998 F-250. It’s got a lot of power and sounds great going up a hill, but it’s very thirsty (which is understandable, considering that we rarely remove the camper and trailer).
Rejected slogan: Say hello to your new “Ex”: the Explorer, the Expedition and this, the Ford Excretion.
I’ve coined “Ford Exhibition”, and “Toyota Cruise Lander.”
No, the Toyota’s either a Land Bruiser, or a Land Crusher.
I blame focus groups for the Excursion and other rediculous non-logic based vehicles.
How did we end up with 4wd everything?
Perhaps the halfshaft industry was looking for a bigger market?
Focus groups and car magazines both. I was in an industry that held focus groups; the only other things that even came close to the abject waste of time and energy were meetings involving the Marketing Dept. These people couldn’t find their arses with both hands. Can’t really blame Ford for trying, though. There isn’t much logic involved with vehicle selection by the typical consumer. Match vehicle capabilities to user mission? Nah- first and foremost is to stroke the buyer’s ego. I’m surprised I don’t see more Navistar CXTs on the road.
I was actually in one of those focus groups. Paid $100 for three hours to critique upcoming Ford light trucks. I liked the SuperDuty, but could not understand the Excursion, and didnt give high marks on the survey, so they cant blame me for the mistake. It was interesting that the Excursion mockup on display had a Suburban interior fitted.
The Explorer SportTrack (fancy Ranger crew cab) was the other yet-to-be produced product on display.
Should have called it the Exponential
About a year ago, I considered one of these. We haul laptop computers, so it seemed to tick the right boxes- large size with tons of room, 4×4 for the winter, powerful engine with the V10, good reliability, and good value for money (Especially compared to a truck).
But, then we saw the payload ratings. I kid you not- a similar year Suburban 1500 can haul more weight than this can. The GVWR may be higher, but as noted in the article, these things just weighed too much.
What Ford did was make a large tank/barge that couldn’t haul anything. That kind of defeats the purpose….
True on the payload, depending on how it’s equipped, the but the Excursion out-towed the Suburban by up to 3800 pounds. That’s a lot more camper or boat. And it’s much better able to handle that kind of use on a regular basis thanks to its Super-Duty underpinnings.
There is still a market for these, as evidenced by the prices they command. It’s just not a large one.
Agreed on the towing. The beefier frame would be good for that, but if I had to drag around a single axle enclosed trailer, I’d get something smaller and more luxurious than an Excursion.
A QX4 could tow 3000#, and would be more comforable, cheaper, and more nimble. I didn’t want to drag a trailer around everywhere.
You haven’t seen anything until you’ve been passed on a city street by a driver only lifted black Excursion during rush hour!
I’m borrowing a phrase from another site regarding the Raptor and it’s lack of competition.
“Walls are thick around the segment king’s castle.”
I don’t know how anyone at Ford really thought the Excursion was a good idea.
From my experience Suburban buyers are Suburban buyers. When I worked at Roesch Chevy Suburbans were almost exclusively traded for Suburbans. You weren’t going to win that niche over just by offering a similar vehicle that’s been turned up to eleven.
I don’t think I had ever paid attention to the massive weight of these until I read this piece. Not the vehicle for me (the segment of the population in LA that drives blinged-out H2s (still) took a look and said “too much”), but I’m not going to sling mud at it as an irresponsible, Earth-destroying horror. There is a market for this kind of thing–West Texas (or anywhere in Texas, I guess), Montana, big LDS families in Utah. But those folks generally are happy with a Suburban or Yukon XL, and have been for years.
I worked for a company that had a full-lux V10 Excursion several years ago. It drove more like a 17′ U-Haul truck than it did like a new Tundra. I’ve seen people defend their road manners on the internet. I shudder to think what said proponents frame of reference consists of. On the other hand, I was amused by Ford’s efforts to keep repeating their Ex-named SUV success. I wish the Excursion had caught on just to have seen what the next one would have been. Extrapolation? Excavator? I have zero interest in Ford’s CUVs.
i guess I am the only responder to admit to owning one. We love SUVs in my rural/hobby farm family, and in a season of stupidity bought a loaded 2005. My 5’2″ wife loved it, oddly, Like driving a bus, firm to say the least, but solid. I never thought the V10 was that powerful feeling, often had to hit high RPMs on hills. But the mileage. We quickly figured out that it would actually save gas to take 2 cars on a trip rather than stuff everyone in the truck. It did tow my boat well, but got stuck twice in our terrible winters – our jeeps never did. When the gas prices exploded I took a loss and traded it on a Town and Country, which my wife hated but I loved.
I’m not sure I agree that the Excursion was aiming at the 1500 Suburban, or that it was necessarily a sales disappointment.
Here’s my take: SUVs were hot. Makers were coming up with different sizes and styles, ranging from car like station wagons to macho trucks with three rows of seating. Ford went into its heavy duty parts bin and created one of the heaviest duty standard production SUVs available.
This was a niche vehicle aimed at people with serious towing needs. I have no idea what their tow capacity was, but it was undoubtedly one of the top SUVs. Even if a number of trucks surpass it, this was the family car for heavy towing.
People with experience towing know that when the weight of the tow vehicle outweighs the trailer, towing is pretty easy. Things get trickier as the weight of the trailer starts to exceed the vehicle. So, for a guy that wanted to haul his family and a 7 – 10,000 lb trailer without breaking a sweat, this was the perfect vehcile. This is a big part of the cult following these have had after long being out of production.
These sold at high prices, helping make up for the cost of unique pieces that were not already in Ford’s HD parts bin. High production volume was not likely expected, or needed.
Yes, sales tanked as gas prices rose, the SUV market cooled, and Ford and owners caught some flak on the politically correct issue.
So, as trends come and go, Ford and buyers went back to heavy duty trucks, catching less flak in the process, and a unique vehicle has faded from production to cult status.
Yep, great points. These towed up to 11,000 pounds. The ultimate SUV for towing. As noted above payload was not impressive, but if you needed payload and towing you bought a pickup. And, perhaps, a 5th Wheel. A 10,000 or so pound pull-behind camper or trailer is not ideal. That may be the real issue.
I live in flyover country where these sold well. My neighbors went through three. One as original owner, and when the family split in a divorce, the husband searched nationally for two more for himself and his new wife – that cult of ownership thing.
These seem to pull big boats, big horse trailers and hobby trailers. My neighbor’s kids were into small track go carts or whatever they call it. He had a monster enclosed trailer to hold several cars, parts, etc. They traveled regionally for meets.
Being a traditional SUV the development costs were quite low, they even borrowed the taillights from the concurent E series to minimize costs, meanwhile the gross profit was high reaching $20K or more in top trim versions. I do think it was a disappointment though, I bet Ford was thinking that the sales would be higher, and the fact that they discontinued it after such a short run supports that idea.
Great post.
It was never intended to sell 100,000/year but, considering the low investment, it never had to.
I still see a large amount of these in Florida. My neighbor (a contractor) has one and it seems to meet his needs as a sort of enclosed Super Duty. His is a diesel and he is pleased with the highway mileage, for the amount of stuff it is able to haul.
In contrast, a tiny woman I used to work with, who was pushing 70, used to drive a gas version to the office, barely being able to see over the dashboard. Now that was terrifying.
Most know I hate all SUV versions no matter the size. In fact I have only driven one in my life. It was 2001 and I was sitting at a bar near the old Clark Airbase drinking with some friends. They were talking of driving down to Subic to spend two days and a night at the beach and bar hopping at night. The four of them lived there so they had their Harleys to use.
Me, I had no Harley so a friend volunteered to let me drive his Ford down. I show up at his business in the morning and it is a big black Excursion with Dutch diplomatic plates. He is American though but a family member is not. I hop in along with my future wife to be with her cellphone and good thing to.
We take off and in 15 minutes they lose me on a turn where they beat me to it. I’m trying to drive this thing down a narrow two lane Philippine road (their version of a state highway) full of trikes, many pos now Japanese cars, even worse trucks, pedestrians and chickens. They weave and I plow.
I am thinking if I run anyone over then I am not getting out of the Excursion since it has diplomatic plates. In the Philippines, if a driver makes a sudden U turn in front of you, or a pedestrian jumps in front of you it is your fault as you should have anticipated their stupidity. Of course, being a foreigner means you will be heading to jail until you cough up thousands upon thousands of pesos.
Soon we leave the vegetated part and head into the desolate lahar region from when Mt. Pinatubo blew. The dust is incredible and I don’t know how they managed on bikes. After about 20km in this is it back to a narrow two lane road and jungle. Luckily the cell phone could call ahead when they managed to lose me.
Hitting Subic they pull into Blue Rock Resort with their bikes while I’m left with the ass end of the Excursion way out in the road. Took awhile to find a place to dock that thing. Naturally, the next afternoon was a repeat heading back. The enjoyment then was from a hot BMW actually weaving in and out of everything behind me. Could only mean a Filipino driver being that reckless. The bikes didn’t see him but I did and easily blocked his way and from doing damage. He was stuck for 50km. When I got back I needed a couple of drinks to relax!
I’ve been to Zambia, I hear you. Although there, you’re probably going to get pulled out of your car by locals and beat up. Then the police fine you afterward…
I remember these fondly as a symbol of the prosperous late 90s in which I grew up (and the way I expected the world would be in the days before the one-two delayed punchout of 9/11 and then the 2008 crash right after I graduated law school…expected safe and rich, got unsafe and rather less rich).
These are 1999-ish to me. Surge cola. Fight Club. $0.95/gallon. Harvey Danger.
I liked them then, I like them now. The quintessential image is of a family who arrived at college with their daughter the day I arrived for my sophomore year. I was there early since I was on student government. My college was almost 100% “New England” style preppy–everyone was from the Northeast and the kids either drove new European cars or old American ones (lot of Buick wagons and beat up old Jeeps next to some brat’s new Saab convertible).
These people were different. They were from Texas–Houston I think–and instead of another Sarah or Allison, the daughter had some stereotypical “belle” name, or at least, what we think of as that up here. They rolled up on that crisp New England afternoon in a dark blue Excursion, followed by a truck and movers with all of Belle’s stuff. It was completely the opposite display of the kind of tepid understatement seen elsewhere on the campus. The mom looked like a slightly older version of Belle, and dad was this tall big boned, greying at the temples guy that for whatever reason made me say “Texas lawyer” type, neatly tucked in polo shirt and khakis.
At that moment I knew I’d seen the modern version of the 70s oil man in his big Cadillac. It was as if they’d brought that whole “everything’s bigger in Texas” to New England with them, you could see that open sky and the bigness of it all just by their presence.
His daughter was quietly a stunner, and as I recall, very nice, but “Belle” transferred after her freshman year, I think, never saw her again.
Welcome back to 1999 indeed. They’ve re-released Surge, by the way. Received a can of it as a gag gift, part of a holiday beer swap. It looks even more like antifreeze than I remember from back in the day…
I also never realized quite how beefy these things were. 7725 lbs? Pretty insane. Though if the article’s math is true, would that mean a base Suburban weighs only 4200 lbs? That’s barely heavier than a Crown Vic.
No a Suburban of that era weighs between 5200 and 6100 lbs depending on how they are equipped.
The V8 4×2 Excursion is 6650 lb too
The Texas family described in this post are precisely the sort who would shell out +$70K for a King Ranch Excursion Diesel today if Ford had the guts to offer one.
Great description and memory Orrin. You are right. For Texas, perfect, for anywhere else, too much.
Not knocking Texas or the ‘Scursion, in case that wasn’t clear. I actually was in awe of these people, I hadn’t seen anything like them in a long time. And I’d drive an Excursion in a heartbeat with the $ and a place to put it.
I am not into trucks myself so not for me. The picture you drew from your college memory was quite evocative. My older brother worked in Del Rio Texas,(we are from Georgia) in the mid eighties and quickly was wearing boots and Stetsons with his coat and tie. I constantly ribbed him playing JR. JR is real man and those guys are cool he retorted. So I guess I was just saying I am glad they had something just for them. Over time it seems so many of our choices are taken away because they offend others.
My take is that since Cadillac, Lincoln, and Chrysler won’t make me a big car, I’ve got no choice. Used to hate SUVs. Now they’re all that’s left.
I was living in Houston during the Excursion’s entire production run. Didn’t see many blue ones, but there sure were a lot of them in whatever color was close to Aggie Maroon. Same went for Suburbans, Tahoes, Expeditions or Super Duty pickups.
For as expensive as they were I thought the interior looked plasticky and cheap. Much more so than the Expedition.
3.511 kgs just enough to require a class 2 licence here if you get paid to drive it and it moves into another RUC zone above cars, pickups and regular SUVs if its diesel, little surprise Ive never seen one in the metal, one would be seriously expensive to own and drive with no real advantages.
US regulations are of course different, and each state has its own variations. Environmental regulations dictated that diesels and the largest gasoline engines were only available on 8501lb GVWR and above. So, to get a diesel, you had to buy a monster. No mileage standards or published estimates required.
As for driver licensing, anything with more than ten seats, when paid to drive, requires a special medical exam, at least in California. A “housecar” (motorhome), up to 40 feet long, regardless of weight, can be driven with a regular car license, or any two axle truck up to 26,000lb.
I saw one once near Rotorua many years ago.
Does this mean that the Ford Super Duty is that much larger than the Chevrolet 2500/3500?
I would like to drive one of these at least once just for shits and giggles.
The introduction of this vehicle made so little sense what with the fantastic and new Expedition in the line-up and the always great Suburban next door.
But if you think about pop culture at the time there was one incident that could have made a jumbo-sized Ford SUV seem like a good idea. A certain white Bronco comes to mind, one that was in the news constantly for two straight years starting in 1994.
I know there was probably a killer on board but the way that thing looked on TV was just surreal and oddly appealing. I guess maybe like how Al Capone made 20s Cadillacs more popular.
Yes I’m saying it’s all OJ’s fault.
I actually kind of understood the Excursion in that the Expedition was never quite big enough. If you can work with the premise that the Suburban was “just right” (which Frank apparently cannot), Ford needed something bigger than the Expy. The simple answer would have been to lengthen the Expedition, but maybe that would not have been so simple after all, and you would have been limited to the light duty version. Ford was the only one running a completely separate truck line in the Super Duty, so they built their “just right” SUV on the Super Duty platform. Problem was that “just right” turned out to be about a size and a half too big by the time they got done. Instead of a competitor for the Suburban, Ford ended up with a perfect replacement for the International Travelall, and probably sold it in about the same volumes.
You start out with a great point about OJ’s Bronco, but please let me finish it: Had OJ been filmed driving a white Excursion, history could have been so different. 🙂
Why would you say it’s ME that can’t understand “the premise”? As an engineer I identify the mission then match the equipment to the job. Observation reveals that very few others do that- I’ve seen it every day for decades. How else do you explain the V8 4×4 solo commuter parade? One doesn’t need 300HP and 4×4 in a 6,000lb package to move a 200lb payload. Of course there are times when seating for six and towing 10,000lbs is the job, and that’s when the full-size equipment is the right choice. But most Uhmericans today are not in single-vehicle households.
Frank, as a fellow engineer, I’m sure you’ve heard about factor of safety. It’s in play here as well.
I’m leaving now; it’s quitting time and I’m going to go fire up my eight-cylinder 4×4 crew cab to drive back home.
As a fellow engineer, I’m sure you’ve heard about statistics. How many millions of miles does one have to put on to be involved in an injury accident, much less a fatality?
If you throw a leg over a bike of any sort, is it possible for any car no matter how much a penalty box it is, to be worse?
I’m off for my bicycle ride soon. It’s nice out and I sure wouldn’t want to be cooped up in a cage for that ride.
Frank, it’s been raining here today so I drove my pickup. My commute is 8 miles on roads that are non-bicycle conducive.
Incidentally, I worked in a traffic safety realm for over a decade so I saw a lot of collision reports. I tended to see some types of vehicles over represented and others under represented. You appear to be a fairly smart guy, so I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
You made so many comments/replies that blasted owners of vehicles like the excursion, that it seemed that you can’t really see it’s point. As I was typing the sentence you refer to, I sort of anticipated a “No, the Suburban is not ‘just right'” sort of reply, thus my anticipatory response. I certainly did not mean to insult your intelligence.
And your example that nobody needs 300 bhp and 6000 pounds to carry a 200 pound person somewhere is correct, as far as it goes. But most families don’t have the option of keeping the Suburban or Excursion that they might need for 5,000 miles a year in the garage the rest of the time. I have 4 cars in my family, and when my kids are home from school, they all get used every day. So, none of us has any way of knowing if the little lady in the Excursion was just going out to do her nails or if she was returning from taking a middle school soccer team and all of their equipment to a game. Or maybe the Prius was getting an oil change.
Anyway, folks chose what they choose, for reasons that make sense to them. Their reasons don’t always make sense to me, but then, nobody ever said they had to.
I’ve noted that large vehicles have a justifiable place. But what I observe every day is mostly solo and unladen operation of said vehicles. I haven’t done an actual survey with which to draw statistics from so all I can say is it appears they are operated unladen the vast majority of the time. I’m sure it’s not peculiar to my region. Comments here also verify the desire of people to drive large vehicles for no stated reason at all, other than they like to… that tends to prove my point. Thank you.
That is well and good; people do as they choose and I for one don’t like it when legislation/regulations overly inhibit freedoms.
However, the reality is, many forms of energy we rely on are finite and we are using them inefficiently and for dubious purposes. Even if not actually “finite” they come at great cost and not just monetary. We have done an exemplary job of masking those costs from our everyday experience.
A new paradigm for what is considered “cool” is coming. It can be proactively chosen, or it can eventually be forced by reality. History and psychology tells us that nothing will be done until there is no choice. Oh well. As long as I’m not personally attacking anybody any worse than I’m being personally attacked, I hope I can express my logic and opinions without too many more of my posts being banned.
Fight! Fight! Fight! Kiss. Kiss.
Frank, the reason I started deleting some of your comments is this: it’s ok to state your POV on any given car, but to keep repeating it over and over, and engaging in little tiffs quickly becomes tedious.
We’re here to discuss cars, but long-winded debates on socio-political issues are not really very compatible with our vibe here.
How about taking that bike ride you said a you were going on a couple of hours ago. 🙂 And let’s just drop the Excursion; you’re not going to change anyone’s mind anyway. Thanks.
Paul: Oddly enough, there are posts longer than mine here.
Many of my posts are responses; even then in the interest of brevity I don’t respond to every query.
Even my deleted posts related more to cars than that entire innuendo piece on Camaros. It’s probably more the POV than the length, huh.
But it’s good to now know there are posting limits. Noted.
The bike ride was nice.
Frank: It’s not the number of comments; it’s a matter of repeatedly saying more or less the same thing, and engaging in little sparring sessions.
I’m not trying to single you out, and FWIW, I don’t disagree with you. But the issue of big trucks/SUVs, in the context of a debate as to how they are used, etc.. is one that was beat to death, on a national level, back in the day of the Excursion. I really have no desire to see these debates be re-ignited.
Some folks like to ride in big trucks and SUVs. Others don’t. trying to judge or characterize these preferences inevitably leads to…a predictable outcome. One I’d prefer to mostly avoid.
As I said, feel free to state your POV. But if you get response to it, maybe you don’t have to respond back. otherwise it just escalates into negativity and name calling and such.
I love the “as an engineer” bit, as if buying a vehicle is akin to “fulfilling mission requirements”. I am also an engineer, Frank, and I realize that people buy sports cars not because they “need” them, but because they “want” them. I would argue that, in this comparison, the average SUV is more practically useful to the families they serve than the average sports car that will never be tracked and rarely even be driven close to its limits.
As for your observation that most of these vehicles are driven without passengers, in typical family use, they are often used to drop off children (at school or activities) for much of the day, only later to pick them up. Hence why they may be often seen empty, but later full of children.
Finally, once you get into a discussion of what you believe people “need”, I have this to say: anyone who owns a watch that costs more than $15 is in the same category. The $15 one keeps as good or better time. Houses are the same way, you don’t ‘need’ much more than a few hundred square feet to live in, but odd, for some reason people have homes a bit bigger than this. Cars really don’t need to go any faster than say 80 mph on american highways (speed limit plus a little for safety) but last time I checked most of them do too. My expectation is that you likely have a few things in your life that are bigger/faster/shinier than they ‘need’ to be as well; but you have your own reasons for doing so. No different than the SUV guy, I expect.
I had a 2005 F250 with the V10. It was quiet and powerful but fuel economy was really bad. Now I have a 01 Ram with the Cummins and I miss how quiet the V10 was on long trips.
The FDNY still have a some rolling around on a daily basis. I see them a lot, actually. Red bodies with white tops. More like Captain/Supervisor trucks I guess. The upper east side unit still uses theirs everyday. Can hear that power stroke ticking a block away. Good work truck, especially if you need a four wheel drive and have the county or the state paying for the gas.
Ford offered a Special Service Package Excursion for police/government customers. Rubber floor, plain cloth seats, steelies and heavy duty everything….
Interior….
What is the red switch?
Most likely to turn on some type of beacon light or other device needed during its life. It’s definitely aftermarket, for aftermarket equipment, and likely installed by the owner.
It could also be a blackout switch. Many police vehicles, especially those used in undercover work or stakeouts, had a master switch that would kill all lights including dash and brake lights.
That is a Signal Stat 102 heavy duty switch. It is most commonly used for a “dome light” switch for areas that are not visible from the driver’s seat, like in a box truck. It is also commonly used to power the relay for a lift gate. But of course it could be used for anything in its rated ampacity or to turn on a relay.
I came pretty late to the truck/SUV game. I thought that too many of them were never used for their intended purpose. I did do the mini-van thing and I thought these were great. I could carry my family and stuff anywhere and at any time. Sure it wasn’t a Honda Civic but the Civic wouldn’t fit my needs. When I got my first truck I realized that like the mini-van the truck had to be big enough to handle my largest anticipated load. If you buy a truck and it’s a little bigger than you need, well that’s okay. If you buy a truck that is too small for your needs than you have made a serious mistake. Now you’ve sunk a big piece of change on something that won’t do the job. The quad cab pickup is a very utilitarian vehicle, it can carry a large odd sized load pull your boat and your family in comfort. If the emphasis is more on the number of family and you need three rows of seats then the large SUV should fill the bill. While a mini-van can haul the family it can’t tow much weight. A lot of the guys I know leave the big SUV home for Mama to ferry the kids around and drive some older small car or beater for the 100 mile daily commute. Let’s let everyone be free to make their own choices. None of these vehicles are intrinsically good or evil.
Well said.
At times I try to imagine the big picture… how many cylinders are firing at any given moment; how many wheels are turning; and with 4wd, how many transfer cases and such are either spinning or being carried around as excess weight for the minimal (certainly under 5% of the time in most cases) use?
I live in the snow belt and women in particular seem to think 4×4 is a necessity of life. Oddly enough, some of us are able to get through winter with little fwd penalty boxes. It’s been some time since I got stuck. And think back even as recently as the ’70s, almost nobody had 4wd or even fwd yet they somehow survived.
So is it a need or a want?
Re: Get the biggest equipment to handle the biggest requirement, even if it is far-fetched or exceedingly rare: I know a farmer that has a truck and a Metro. You have no idea how often rural people especially farmers need to run to town for a part or supply of some sort. Trip combining is wonderful but sometimes it can’t wait. The Metro has paid for itself many times over.
Frank- I was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. Plenty of people there “made do” with rear wheel drive vehicles, and later many more with FWD…for decades. However, when AWD became mainstream, you sure did see a lot more AWD vehicles around. Just because you can “make do” with something doesn’t mean you should, and for some people the fuel economy vs. safety/functionality tradeoff is worth it for them. Notice I say “for them”, not “for you”.
Most people don’t live in Fairbanks. Most people don’t encounter roads bad enough to justify AWD. Nope, not even in northern MN. The salt trucks are out there at the first snowflake, if not before.
We had 7.3 Excursions and gas Suburbans as crew trucks on a Northern oil patch job I worked on back in the day. Even though they were loud, rode like they had concrete springs and tended to sink in the mud they were an order of magnitude tougher than the frail Suburbans with IFS. The mechanics hated the Suburbans as they required lots of effort to keep them operating in extreme conditions.
And, if the Suburban didn’t hold up to that use, can you imagine how the Expedition L would do with its 4 Wheel Independent Suspension?
As much as people are bad-mouthing this vehicle for its weight, the resulting ruggedness of the driveline components was, to some users, a very desirable attribute.
This is an interesting article and vehicle class that we don’t ordinarily see in Australia, although Holden sold the 1500 & 2500 Surburbans around this era, bizarrely with an adapted Trailblazer dashboard I gather. My impression is the 2500/diesel versions were at least as popular as the 1500s, probably on the basis both capability and fuel economy (with higher prices) here was better.
The growth of the Toyota Land Cruiser (now 5800lb) has put it in the same situation where you have to be committed to the cause to run one as a daily driver.
I believe you could get those in Israel but not many bought them as they were really too expensive and big; the pick-up equivalents were another matter and were bought by (successful) contractors, given the added versatility of the bed. I’m fairly certain they were all diesels. IDF had them too and there was a “kind of” armoured Excursion… But on the F550 chassis if I am not mistaken.
My son’s father in-law (which has become one of my best friends) has a 2000 Excursion with a 7.3L diesel. They bought it to replace the full size van they had (4 kids) and they (as a family) are big into camping.
This ‘truck’ now has 260,000 miles on it. We did swap the rear springs in 2006 to springs from an F-250. That stiffened the ride a bit, but it will tow anything you can hook to it. We also installed a 5″ exhaust and chipped it too. I have weighed the beast on our truck scale and it come in at 8240 lbs (full of fuel).
I took the “Ex” (as it’s known) from VA to San Antonio to visit my son when he lived there. We had 4 adults and a 3 yr old. I averaged 19 mpg on the trip and everyone had plenty of room. Besides having 3 full width seats, there is also a luggage area behind the third seat that will hold baggage for everyone and not block the back window.
Haters will hate: I think the Excursion was a good truck for what it was intended. If I would have had a large family, I would have bought one too.
Anti-environmental. Wait, weren’t these LEV’s? (low emission vehicles.)
Just to give a perspective on the numbers: 3500kg (7715 lbs) is the GVWR limit on basic licenses in much of Europe, and it’s the curb (!) weight of the Excursion. In other words I wouldn’t even be allowed to drive an Excursion unless I went to driving school for an extended 7,5t license, and even then I’d fill up almost half the limit just with the curb weight.
it hits again – after not seeing any for a couple of years, i passed two Excursion Limiteds (One maroon, one black) today on my way home.
I’m 6’4″ ½ and Excursion is the only SUV at the time (not sure about new) where I had enough knee and head room in all 3 rows seating behind myself.
We have a 92 C350 Centurion and our neighbor across the street has an Excursion. Both are daily drivers, both diesels, and both fine vehicles.
Get a new 2016 Excursion here: http://www.customautosbytim.com
I find the title of this article suspicious given that it is shares the same author as this one…
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-global-the-million-dollar-cc/
These trucks do have a heck of a cult following. I’ve owned 3 of them since 2009 all V10 gas. I’ve put roughly 70k miles on them and loved every min of it. Driving the Excursion brings as many smiles per miles as our classic cars. I wanted one as a kid and bought my first around 19, daily driven about 300 miles a week or more. After running into a few smug hybrid owners I added a personal license plate ” 8 MPG ” which is my average. I also know a couple who owns 3 of them currently.