In the Give Them What They Want series, we’ve been looking at flagship SUVs from early in the era of SUV dominance. When talking big SUVs, the elephant in the room, so to speak, is the Ford Excursion.
I’ve been ambivalent about our subject vehicles so far, appreciating some of their qualities but having a hard time getting over my general disdain for the SUV’s kudzu-like takeover of the automotive landscape. However, I’m not really ambivalent at all about the Excursion. I’m a big fan.
This will be part curbside classic, part COAL, as the main reason I like these is because I’ve had some personal experience with them. More on that later.
First a little model history. As I mentioned in the Navigator article, Ford spent much of the 1990’s at a disadvantage to GM in large SUVs. Ford had long been content not to compete with the Suburban, which was fine when that not-terribly-large market was limited to some people with big trailers, extra large families or Texans (who may or may not have been part of the other two groups). When the SUV market started expanding in the 90s, the 1991 Explorer was a big part of that trend. That SUV was a megaseller, but Ford lacked a timely follow up in the larger class. Meanwhile, GM struggled to compete with the Explorer, but in the large class they were able to shorten the Suburban to make the popular 4-door Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon for 1995. The just-right Tahoe porridge was perfect for many folks who needed a larger vehicle to tow, to carry lots of stuff, or just to sit up high and be large and in charge, while it wasn’t Suburban-big to scare off the masses. Ford had nothing bigger to offer customers wanting to move up from an Explorer.
Ford finally came out with the 1997 Expedition based on the F150, which was also a big hit. By this point, Ford was feeling confident enough to want to cover the entire spectrum of SUVs from compact (2001 Escape, first U.S. maker in the category) to extra large. Ford would extend the end of the spectrum with a unique product. For the first time with any manufacturer, Ford’s redesigned full size trucks had different platforms for the light duty and heavy duty lines. The release of the new Super Duty truck two years after the F150 opened up the opportunity to base an SUV on it, which would be larger and have more payload capacity than even the 2500 (3/4 ton) Suburban. The sky was the limit!
Ford wasn’t shy about making the Excursion bigger than the Suburban. It was 7 in. longer in wheelbase and length, 1.2 in. wider, and 3 in. higher. What’s a few inches between friends? Well, between the added inches and the heavy duty chassis, the base Excursion buckled the scales at 6,650lb, or 1,200lb more than a 2500 Suburban. Add about 500lb for four wheel drive.
The funny thing is that the extra size didn’t give it much of a tow rating advantage over the Suburban, at least in terms of official ratings. Maximum tow capacity was actually rated 500lb less than the 2500 Suburban, while it was only 1000lb more than the 1500 Suburban.
Most big SUVs have one or two engines available, while Excursion had three distinct choices. Base engine was the 255hp/350lbft SOHC 5.4L Modular V8 shared across the entire Ford truck line. The gasoline upgrade was the 310hp/425lbft 6.8L V10, a plus-cylinder engine to match the plus-size SUV. I believe this is the least common engine in the Excursion, though I have no exact numbers.
For the ultimate SUV grunt, buyers could opt for the Powerstroke, a 250hp/525lbft 7.3L Navistar turbodiesel V8. Midway through 2003, Ford replaced the 7.3 with a new 6.0L Navistar turbodiesel V8. Though smaller, power and torque were significantly raised to 325hp and 560lbft. This engine is an infamous lemon, though. 7.3L models are considered to be the most desirable Excursions today.
I mentioned I had some experience with Excursions, which is not because I ever owned one. My work has long had a fleet of Excursions, which I’ve spent a lot of seat time in, both front and back. Our department bought at least 25 Excursions in 2004 and 2005 and used them in a number of capacities. I first spent time in one during my paramedic internship, which was six months in 2007 riding in the back seat of the busiest unit in the city.
I absolutely loved that back seat! It was like a freaking limo, at least by the very low standards of emergency vehicles. Unlike a fire engine, the ride was smooth and the seat comfortable. Unlike the pickup cab in some other units, it had gobs of leg room, rear A/C vents, a center armrest, and cupholders.
Later I graduated to the front seat, but not for long because our Excursion was replaced by a new Chevrolet utility box vehicle on a pickup chassis. The Excursions stuck around, though, and approximately 15 are still being used as reserve units, tow vehicles, and in other non-front-line tasks. I’ve spent a lot of time driving them when regular units were being serviced and I’ve also spent a lot of time driving some of our department’s Suburbans (mostly GMT900), so I can compare the two.
gobs of storage space back here
I can only speak to our particular vehicles, equipped in their specific ways and being quite well used. The Excursions are all two wheel drive and have the base 5.4L V8, no fancy V10s or Diesels here! Even so, the power is surprisingly adequate. Pickup is brisk, even driving in emergency mode. Counterintuitively, they never feel really heavy to me (of course, I often come to them after driving larger trucks, so my perspective may be skewed). We spend most of our time on surface streets, so low end acceleration is more at play than passing power. I do think they run out of breath more on the highway.
In our city, those streets can get teeth-jarring and I believe the Excursion’s ride is better than the Suburban’s. It really swallows bumps without perturbing the ride greatly. It still feels like a truck, but I find the ride really comfortable. Bumps, lumps, humps, Excursion don’t care! It just rolls right over them. The Suburbans get very jouncy on rough roads, feeling like they get thrown all over, or at least the passengers and equipment do! The only area the Suburbans come out ahead on is steering feel. The Excursions’ steering feels a bit isolated and over-assisted.
The Excursions also have fantastic front seats, really comfy without being too soft or too hard. The Chevy seats aren’t bad, but Ford wins the butt test all day long. The cloth upholstery in our vehicles contributed, because it’s both soft and durable. The Chevy cloth felt like denim in comparison and doesn’t age as well. The Excursions feel roomier inside, too, which should not be shocking. I think the Chevys have better A/C, at least I have had more Fords with weak A/C than Chevys, but our vehicles are so heavily used it may not be fair to come to conclusions based on that.
The Excursion has been written up once before here at CC, by Gerardo Solis, under the title Too Big Even For America. I definitely think he was onto something there, though I would personally write the title to be less catchy but more accurate: Too Big Even For Casual, Status-Seeking American Buyers Who Didn’t Really Need Something So Big.
Big SUVs generally sold well to people who needed a high capacity, off-road-capable vehicle or at least wanted to project the image of being someone who needed a high capacity, off-road-capable vehicle. However, folks of either type didn’t necessarily want something that big. The Excursion was always a niche player and tended to sell to those who had a legitimate requirement for its particular set of skills, whether it was for doing a lot of long distance driving and/or towing for which the available Diesel was well suited or for extra big families like the Brady Bunch we can imagine trading in their Plymouth wagon for the new millennium. The extra jumbo size and low gas mileage tended to weed out the poseurs. Unfortunately, that made for low enough production that Ford chose not to make a second generation and instead just offer a stretched version of the Expedition a la GM.
| 2000 Excursion | 2000 Suburban 2500 | 2000 Suburban 1500 | 2000 Expedition | |
| Curb Weight 2×4 | 6,650lb | 5,447lb | 4,914lb | 4,808lb |
| Wheelbase | 137.1in | 130in | 130in | 119in |
| Length | 226.7in | 219.3in | 219.3in | 204.6in |
| Width | 80in | 78.8in | 78.8in | 78.6in |
| Tow Capacity | 10,000lb | 10,500lb | 9,000lb | 8,300lb |
| City;Hwy MPG | 8;12 (est, 4×4) | not available | 12;17 | 12;17 |
| 2021 KBB value | $7,957 | $5,570 | $5,116 | $3,208 |
| Total production 2000-2005 | 178,055 | 1,161,249 total Suburban 1500 and 2500 and Yukon XL | 1,010,512 | |
2000 was the Excursion’s best sales year at 50k. It dropped to 34k the next year and slowly declined to 16k its final season in 2005. As you can see in the chart, its total sales over 6 years were dwarfed over the same period by both the Suburban and the Expedition, not to mention other popular models like the Tahoe/Yukon and the Explorer which sold even more.
Recently, one of my favorite current automotive writers, Jonny Leiberman of Motor Trend, was reviewing the new Suburban and had a good defense of monster SUVs. Among other things, he said, “Americans need [large SUV’s]. We’re big people with large families, husky friends, and an endless supply of outdoor toys, living in an expansive land filled with majestic redwood forests and shimmering Gulf stream waters. This SUV was made for you and me” (apologies to Woody Guthrie). Giant SUVs are a distinctly American art form, with pros and cons somewhat mirroring the strengths and faults of the country itself. Big and brash, maybe a bit wasteful but stunningly capable at times. The pursuit of happiness is literally written into our founding document and pursuing that happiness with the vehicle of our choice is seen as practically a birthright.
Plenty of leg room and still lots of space behind the third row
So the Excursion is absurdly big, that’s a given. That means it’s really inefficient, right? [This is the math portion of our lesson, so skip down past the next picture if you are just auditing the class.] The EPA didn’t test the Excursion, since it’s a heavy duty truck, so I don’t have exact figures for it. Motor Trend estimated the 4X4 V10 they tested at 8/12 city/hwy. Let’s say a 2WD model would get 13 on the highway and perhaps 14 if you had the 5.4L V8 (even more with Diesel, of course). The Excursion could fit 5 or 6 six adults very comfortably for however long of a trip you’d want to take. For comparison, a 2000 Honda Civic was EPA rated at 32mpg highway and I would say could fit only 2 adults in comparable comfort.
A little bit of math tells us that for a 300 mile trip in an Excursion carrying 6 passengers, you would use 3.9 gallons per passenger at 13mpg, or 3.6 at 14mpg. The 2000 Civic carrying 2 passengers would use 4.7 gallons per passenger. What if you put a third person in the Civic? That drops its consumption to 3.1 gallons per person, only marginally better than the Excursion. How about a 2021 Civic rated at 42mpg? With 2 passengers, it would be 3.6 gallons, exactly the same as the 14mpg Excursion.
An environmentally minded person might grant that while the Excursion may be a comfortable long distance cruiser that isn’t too bad on fuel per person if you load it full of passengers, he would rather keep his carbon footprint low by flying commercial. According to Grist.org (environmental website), the average passenger car driving 300 miles generates 104 kg of C02, so lets triple that for the sake of argument for the Excursion. A commercial passenger jet traveling 300 miles generates 737kg CO2 per passenger. Our Excursion carrying 6 passengers would produce 52kg per passenger. The Excursion is starting to look like a environmental poster child! Yes, making the Excursion out to be a Green Eco Warrior may be a stretch, I simply do this math to point out that there are different ways of looking at things.
Eco Warrior
The genuine value of the Excursion is reflected in the prices it still commands, almost 16 years after the last one was made. For a gasoline example, expect to pay 50% more than a Suburban with similar mileage and equipment and over 100% more than an Expedition. And get this: the same 2000 Excursion that’s valued at $7,900 with a 5.4L gas engine jumps to $12,900 with the 7.3L Diesel! Add another $1,300 for 4×4. A similar Diesel Suburban 2500 only comes in at $6,000. Values were taken from KBB.com for private party sales with 147k miles.
Judging by how many nice looking Excursions I see on the road around truck-loving Texas, I believe most owners today value them highly and try to maintain them. They have become something of a cult classic.
The non-COAL subject vehicle was one of four nice ones that I photographed, three were Diesels and one had the gas 5.4L. When I spotted the last one, I knew that would be the one I’d use because it was in fantastic condition, recently washed, set up perfectly for photos outside a repair shop, and I was allowed to shoot the interior. As a bonus, it was white like all the subject vehicles in this series and it was a first year example. With 147k miles, this 21 year old Diesel clearly has a loving home.
God bless America and God bless Excursions. They represent the extreme end of the SUV world, which somehow has allowed them to not be lumped together with their more common, smaller not-quite-so-big, SUV brethren. Those that survive now occupy a special place in the vehicular world and in their owners’ driveways. Or garages, if they’re big enough.
2000 Excursion photographed in Houston, TX April 7, 2021.
Previous articles in the series:
Curbside Classic: 1999 Lincoln Navigator – Give Them What They Want, Pt.1
Curbside Classic: 1999 Cadillac Escalade – Expansion Team, GTWTW pt.2
Curbside Classic: 2004 Cadillac Escalade – Assault With A Gilded Ladder, GTWTW pt. 3
I’m not a Ford fan but I love these. The are huge inside super comfortable with great visibility and one of the better chassis Ford ever built. They fit massive amounts of stuff inside on the roof or towed behind. I’m also a suburban fan but really for a tow vehicle, road trip weekend warrior vehicle I prefer the Excursion. Daily driver I would give the edge to a half-ton Suburban.
Funny about the engines, here in the north east I don’t think I have ever seen a gas V8 one. despite many government fleets having lots of Ford trucks and cars near me they seem to default to Tahoe and suburban for large SUV’s so I very rarely see fleet ones out there. The ones I do see tend to almost always be fully loaded V10 or power stroke versions. Which may be more of a regional market thing, much more likley to have the cash and a need to buy a fullsize SUV in the north east.
In defense of the Fullsize SUV, we have friends with a Suburban they have 5 kids, they have owned 2 minivans a full size van a Tahoe, another suburban and a Pilot, The suburban is the one they prefer by a huge margin. Why, because they tow their camper with all the kids and gear inside, the can run to the softball game with 6 kids in back and the teams gear in the back, things that minivans struggle with. The fullsize van? they thought they would love it but they hated driving it and the interior on the suburbans are a much nicer place.
My in-laws bought a new 7.3L diesel Excursion to tow a travel trailer. Eddie Bauer I think, it was very, very nice. It replaced an Explorer, which they loved. My father in law always drove an F250 or F350 for years, and had several stake-bed “ton truck” Fords for his tree farm. So these were Ford truck fans. And even they never quite cozied up to the Excursion. It was just too big for every day use, even in their rural area. It was too nice for work on the farm. So, from early on it was relegated to the garage for occasional trips.
A few years ago I had a 2003 Limited 7.3 4×4 Excursion dropped in my lap at a price that was too good to ignore, as much as I wanted to, at first. At the time we had an excellent condition 1977 Econoline Chateau as our road trip and (lare) dog vehicle, with the creatures contained in a large and luxurious dual canine crate in back. The van was a crowd pleaser, but rather a nightmare on long trips what with quad drum brakes and such.
So I bought the Excursion despite the wife’s distain. It looked like new despite having 235k on it, and the original (and only) owner had maintained it so well it looked, and drove, like it had only 50k on the clock. The next two years were fantastic, and we traveled over a nice portion of Oregon and Washington with our (dog) girls in the back.
The Mrs. came to love the monster, it did feel fantastically safe, more like piloting (and riding in) a train than driving a passenger vehicle. As enjoyable as it was, once our oldest dog passed away, there was no possible reason to justify ferrying it around, not to mention the 14 to 17 mpg. It served us well, and most likely it will be plying the roads for a long time under new ownership.
A 77 Econoline did not have 4 wheel drum brakes, they had a disc/drum set up like most vehicles from that era.
I stand corrected, I never had to do any brake work on it, as the previous owner had had the brakes serviced a few thousand miles before I purchased it. They just seemed to have attributes I associated with the brakes on old trucks I had driven with all drums, quick to fade, etc.
Canyonero!!!
Never driven one, don’t need one, but really like the looks. That Super Duty grille and doors look very FORD to me, in a 👍 good way.
We had a 2005 with the V10, 4×4 loaded. Loved it – but the mileage was terrible, even by full size standards. On one road trip i calculated that even with 6 people in the truck, it would have been cheaper to make the trip in two sedans rather than 1 excursion. We now drive a late model armada, which is superior in nearly every way. More usable power (the V10 felt like a dog off the line), much better ride, and more like 17 or 18 on the highway.
I doubt a 5.4l V8 Excursion will get 14mpg on the freeway once you add the additional five people and stuff or 1000 pounds they likely represent. Why a Civic at 1/3rd of the new (adjusted) price of the Excursion? A Hybrid Sienna minivan would seat the same six people in comfort and is rated at 36/36 for less money, giving you the cake as well as the means to eat it. The big advantage of the Civic though is the math works with less than six people in it, whereas with the Excursion you’re always waiting for your five friends to get in before being able to confidently break out the calculator. 🙂
Flying only makes sense for long trips where saving time is critical and a more important factor than anything else, that’s its one big USP.
Interesting trucks and I applaud Ford for coming up with something that works for some use cases, in the end it seems to have not been a great business success for them since it wasn’t renewed, nor taken up by others in the same form.
I think 14mpg is a reasonable estimate for a 5.4 powered 2wd Excursion. My 5.4 powered 4×4 Crew Cab F-250 with a canopy who’s tool box is packed pulls down a very consistent 12.5mpg in my normal mixed use. I’ve never done a tank with only freeway driving but I have seen 13.5mpg on tanks that included a ~200mi freeway drive, about half of which was with the cruise set at 75mph +.
The hybrid Seinna didn’t exist at that time, but it is certain that a 2000 version of it or any other minivan would carry 6 people with better gas mileage than an Excursion.
My understanding was that part of the reason the Excursion was discontinued was due to the fact that it became the poster child from the excess of SUVs.
GM also eventually abandoned the 3/4 ton Suburban, at least for the retail and rental fleet markets.
The thing with Suburbans and Excursions is they do a remarkable job of having all three rows full and still having room for everyone’s stuff. This is where the minivan falls down. my family had minivans when I was a teen and I had one when we had one kid. They are great and fit a remarkable amount of people or stuff but they have a bit of trouble doing both at once with more than 4-5 people. Our current family hauler a Honda pilot is great in it’s day to to day roll shuttling kids around but when you add stuff for a camping trip or a girl scout meeting it can get a bit tight, and mini vans are the same in many ways. My wife and I were talking about this but has said in no uncertain terms she would not want a Suburban as a daily maybe a Tahoe but no bigger. We have a utility trailer and a hitch carrier so that solves the issue to some extent but not as neatly as a large SUV or VAN.
Which again brings back the people per MPG equation. Say I was going camping with my two dogs and 3 kids, the pilot will pull down 24 MPG loaded but add the utility trailer and it drops to around 18MPG which is about the same as our friends suburban without the trailer, carrying the same stuff.
Which gets me back to having an Excursion as a third car makes some sense but less so to commute in.
It comes down to how much you camp I guess with the dogs and kids. If you use the capability a lot then of course, but if the capability is used as the excuse without actually using it, then it all falls apart. Kind of my point with the Civic and six people. The comparison works when there are always six people involved, less so when the numbers reduces. Same with your camping scenario or the minivan vs luggage thing, if most of the time there are only 2-4 people the minivan wins hands down.
That’s not to say people shouldn’t get whatever they want, it doesn’t make a difference to me, I just find humor in some of the justifications sometimes.
I chose the Civic simply as a contemporary example of a car nobody would accuse you of being wasteful with if you took it on a road trip with two people. My slightly tongue in cheek comparison is just trying to point out that the beast everyone pictures as wasteful is actually just as efficient as the vehicle everyone thinks of as a fuel miser, under the right conditions.
I know, I would not be very successful trying to argue that the Excursion is the most efficient vehicle choice possible, since you rightly point out a minivan, even a 2000 model, would offer comparable passenger space with better mileage.
Cool, an F-250 wagon.
Drove one of these one weekend but not one’s usual around town trip unless you consider driving through the Lahar fields left over from the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. I was to follow four friends on their Harleys from Pampanga down to Subic Bay. First the Lahar fields and then the narrow two lane road filled with people, trikes, cows, chickens and whatever else you can think of. My friends constantly lost me as they weaved through the maze. My future wife had a phone to alert them that I was lost and for one to come back. Eventually made it to the former Navy Base and pulled into a security checkpoint manned by armed US Marines as a Amphibious Carrier was visiting. All this to have lunch on the pier in 2001.
Of course, I had to drive the monster back two days later. Along the road some hot shot in a low slung foreign sports car, generally unknown in the Philippines, was in a huge hurry to get by. He never did once I saw him behind me. As for me the Excursion was wearing Dutch diplomatic plates so I just continued cruising at a max speed of 30 mph which is all one could do. Since then have never driven something so large.
What a trip! Driving a tank like an Excursion with diplomatic immunity, can’t beat that.
I will confess that I jonsed hard for one of these when they were in dealer lots. My one problem in moving from a Chateau Club Wagon was that the 3rd row seats in the Excursion did not offer any rear head rests at all. My van did not either, but it was a fold-into-a-bed bench which worked out to a higher than typical seatback for some whiplash protection for kids back there.
My BIL finally bought one of these a few years ago, much like your feature truck and with the 7.3. Gorgeous condition and not cheap!
I have used the “Good Ford Bad Ford” as a descriptor for their vehicles in the 90s-2000s, in that you could buy either in the same showroom for quite a few years. These were unabashadly “Good Ford”.
Great write-up. Never thought of these becoming cult classics, here in the midwest they’re just another used truck. My BIL has his family’s old ’01? Excursion 4×4 just sitting out in his pasture behind the barn.
I imagine BIL’s Excursion is pretty rusty. For a diesel, values are just about high enough to justify a restoration, but probably not if massive rust is a factor.
I think it’s the V8. They run their vehicles to the ground and this one is thrashed and about all used up. I don’t remember it being too rusty but has all the other ailments.
Great article, seeing as how I just completed a four day, 1,000 mile trip with five adults and too much gear packed in my ’17 Flex. There’s no comparison with my ’97 Explorer, that only had two rows of seats, and was cramped for more than four adults. My ’96 Town and Country ( pre stow and go) makes a better comparison. The rear seat leg room was better in the minivan, but there was less space behind the third seat. You can pack things much higher in a minivan, and cram soft luggage between, and around the middle Capt’s chairs. Fuel economy was in the 22 mpg. range. Last Summer we rented a 2017 Grand Caravan for our trip to the Oregon coast. With four adults and four Capt’s chairs all were comfortable and we carried all the gear easily. Fuel economy was a bit better than our old T&C at 22-24. The fifth passenger makes all the difference.
If the Flex had four inches of additional third row leg room it would have been perfect. Buying it was a compromise, it was smaller than an Expedition but with better economy, I averaged 22 mpg. on this trip. It’s big enough for 95% of what I’m going to use it for. We are not a trailer/boat towing family, that would have changed the equation entirely. A minivan or CUV can’t hold up under those conditions. A friend of mine who is an avid fisherman and boater on the Bay, went through several transmissions on his Dodge Caravan before giving up on them.
I didn’t compromise with my truck, a long bed F-150. I like the 8 ft. bed as I can carry lumber completely within the bed, I hate having it poke out over the tailgate. It’s also perfect for just my Wife and I. A large vehicle can be efficient and convenient when it’s used in it’s intended role. There are a lot of older, well maintained, large SUVs on the market, the trick is to wait for the right one. I still want a used Navigator. It would be smaller than my ’56 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, hold more people and cargo, AND still get better gas mileage.
In the six months I was a salesman at Beverly Hills Ford in 2003, I can honestly say we sold a grand total of zero Excursions, though we had two on the lot the entire time, both loaded V10s. That being said, they’ve certainly held their value: when I bought my used Yukon XL a few years ago, my search included Excursions, and at the time, they usually were advertised at about double comparable Suburbans/Yukons.
Immensely capable vehicle, to be sure, but on the commute, grocery, and school runs it’s like carrying a 20-pound sledge around everywhere when most of the time you just need to tap in some loose nails. This wide disparity is where conservation-minded disdain and owner fatigue likely comes from. If you need it, you need it, and if you don’t…you probably got sick of it and sold it awhile ago.
I wouldn’t enjoy piloting any variant of these in any circumstance that didn’t involve flat interstate cruising. I’ve been in my share of F250s of this generation and they are zero fun to clomp around in, and those powertrains are all too weak for the weight. The V10 is very smooth and sounds good, but it’s something like a 10-second to 60 proposition. At Idaho elevations it was a complete slug. I’ve driven and towed a bit with the 7.3L and while an admirable workhorse, I find it to be a hateful device in everyday use. The din is endless and irritating whether in the cabin or as a victim of its violent clatter and noxious fumes outside, and you really had to lay into the thing to get it to move out. The quieter 6.7L with better emissions control are a godsend to your fellow man.
Anyway, I am actually quite surprised that Ford hasn’t resurrected these considering how popular full-size heavy duty pickups are. Perhaps they feel they have the ground covered well enough between the Superduties and extended length Expeditions.
The funniest thing about these to me is the name of the vehicle. The next SUV down the rung in Ford’s lineup was called the Expedition, which is a great name, suggesting some serious capability—because an expedition is serious travel, after all… an attempt at Everest, let’s say. But “Excursion”? That’s a trip to the local park for a picnic with your family. Holy naming fail, Ford.
I don’t think that Ford had really thought out the naming scheme when they pulled yet another F-series trim level to name the Explorer and then locked themselves into the E or preferably Ex thing with the Expedition and Escape.
Don’t forget the Ford Exorbitant — comes with a free Explorer!
LOL
It’s a 2003 Earth Destroyer!
Excellent writeup and insightful commentary about the unique vehicle requirements in the United States.
I had a rental house in St. George, Utah: Morman country connected by 80mph Interstates. One of my neighbors had 10 kids. They opted for a used V10 Club Wagon and it did the job. Spread out that 8mpg over 12 people and it’s not uneconomical.
YAHOO, I have a 2000, 2wd, Limited, dealership purchased with 4 miles, loaded, V10.. 173k now. You could not give me another vehicle. It pulls my 6800 lbs boat with ease, comfortable, sturdy, all the preventive maintenance gets done before problems. A whooping 8.5 mpg, but who cares. Great compression, jus a joy to own.. I’m gonna be at a stop lite, and the doors, wheels are gonna fall off B4 I buy another vehicle, then I’ll get it all repaired.. I love my bus, error!!, Truck
Haters need to get over the size of these. Greta’s of the world scowl if an Excursion pulls into the elementary school and drops off little Johnny. But a 3/4 ton Super Duty with a canopy does the same, nobody notices. Most urban pickups are mall crawlers as well.
I’ve got a 2000 that I bought new in 2001. It’s often a lawn ornament when fuel prices spike. But I love to drive it off pavement as it gives a sense of confidence that my comparatively gas sipping Suzuki does not. I sleep in it and the tent is simply a bug free space to sit and cook. And there is no reason to leave anything at home.
I just had to add this…
And this…