My recently purchased 2005 4x4 Excursion Limited has just been acquired to replace aging 1999 Expedition Edie Bauer, which replaced 1989 2500 4x4, a very excellent rig.

The excursion retailed for $54,000 in 2005 and has all the bells and whistles of the Lincoln Town Car Limited from that date. Engine is V-10 gas with excellent power. Thing is a dream to drive.

My Suburban got 11 mpg on the freeway with about 9 combined mpg. The Expedition got 15 to 16 mpg on highway and less in city. This Excursion gets 10 local and 15 Freeway if you don't push it. That means it averages under $O.35/mile for gasoline.

But here is the kicker. Good rig for utility chores, hauls full size gun cases and tools without lowering seats, excellent performance in Winter snow and for mountain passes when required. Not daily driver, smaller rig that gets upwards of 25mpg freeway for that.

Why you ask then? People are panicking out of these things and so I was able to purchase it for $19,900 after tax (>$18,000) with 42,000 miles, and it is in beautiful condition, which included $7500 for my Expedition, which had 108,000 miles on it.

Total cost per mile is therefore less than most economical new SUV because of reduced capital cost.

To say the least it appears to work well for you. I'm just wondering why 1) they stopped making them and 2) why doesn't Chevy/GMC still make their 3/4 ton "Suburban" anymore? Generally speaking I'm sure it's because of their sheer size and low "green" appeal. All the bigger SUVs should have available diesel engines .

Ken....

quote:

Originally posted by Heat:
To say the least it appears to work well for you. I'm just wondering why 1) they stopped making them and 2) why doesn't Chevy/GMC still make their 3/4 ton "Suburban" anymore? Generally speaking I'm sure it's because of their sheer size and low "green" appeal. All the bigger SUVs should have available diesel engines .

Ken....

Here from Wikipedia a quote on your question:

quote:

It was designed to slot above the Ford Expedition as the flagship in the company's SUV lineup. The Excursion was designed to be classified as a heavy-duty vehicle, as for commercial or rural use, with a gross vehicle weight rating of over 8500 pounds, which exempted the vehicle from CAFE fuel economy regulations and quoting EPA fuel economy estimates [1]. Its position in the Ford SUV lineup was replaced in 2007 by an extended-length version of the Expedition. The last Excursion was produced on September 30, 2005, at Ford's Louisville plant. Production was canceled to focus on Super Duty trucks.

The long length Expedition would have met my needs, but it is vastly more expensive. Diesels are available, but they ask a premium in a used vehicle and in my market Numerodos diesel is over $4.25 a gallon! They wanted to concentrate on production of crew cabs and pickups on the heavy platform.

I really like the Excursions, good buy!

Good buy IMO. Since we're a family of five, then add kids, friends, dogs, and/or luggage into the mix (and I do mean MIX) we're nearly forced to use a Texas Cadillac that is, a Suburban. It thoroughly pissed me off when Ford quit making the Excursion and again, abandoned the field to Chevy/GM. Since our last purchase, new 2005 Sub at beginning 2006 year, Ford has come out with the XL Expedition. I'll seriously consider it next time, which considering some of the near giveaway prices current gas costs are creating may be soon. I had an Expedition one time, one of the nicest vehicles of that type I ever drove.

A little update for those of you interested.

Excursion was employed to take business team over a snowy mountain pass to visit customers. Took three of us about 300 miles for 22 gallons of gas for a total of $88.00

Then for the last three weeks for the Utility part of the equation, grocery shopping trips and two trips to recycling transfer station, total milage about 66 miles for a total usage of 6.5 gallons of gas or about $27, just about $9.00 per week.

All in all a very capable and economic vehicle when properly used.

Of course vastly more economical daily driver (25mpg) went about 450 miles for mostly business travel during the same period.

Even if I drive the SUV as much as I did the expedition (about 2000 miles per year) the special capability is more than worth it, as long as I didn't have to pay the big capital bucks on the rig new.

I've gotta say if you are only getting 15mpg then you aren't trying hard enough....

My brother bought one (2004 V10) for his wife (four kids) and though she can't do it, he can routinely get 17mpg out of it and has broken 18mpg.

Of course he is running Load Range E tires at maximum pressure (80psi) when doing "mileage" runs, so...

AD

17MPG?

I see that routinely on long trips where I keep the speedo peg at 68 or so mph.

It gets roughtly the same gas milage as my former Expedition.

Good input though.

When I bought the Excursion, fuel cost was about $.30 per mile. This edged up to about $.40 per mile or so.

Now, the fuel cost is $.22 per mile. This makes the vehicle reasonably economical to operate for sport and utililty purposes. The amount I use it for those purposes means that since purchasing it I have used about $200 for gasoline, or about $25.00 per month, including one long trip in blizzard conditions.