Anybody here drive an Excursion?

[Airslot]

Who here has an Excursion? I'm in the market for a different vehicle. Being that the Proline weighs between 7000 - 7500 fully loaded, I'm looking at either 2500 Suburban or an Excursion. I know that a 1500 Burb would probably work, but I'm not sure I won't have a bigger boat in 2-3 years?

Anyhow, your thoughts on the above vehicles? Oh yeah, forgot to add that I'm looking 2000-2002 model years probably. Will have about $8k cash to work with. Don;t want a payment.

[THEFERMANATOR]

The EXCURSION is big and bulky for one thing, and the 4X4 won't go into most standard garages(this is the reason I didn't buy one as I won't own something too big to go in my garage, I gotta be able to do my own wrenching). Also the EXCURSION is HEAVY! It requires either the diesel or V-10 option as the V-8 is working it's tail off just to move it around pretty much. I know they are rated at 920 GVWR, but the 4X4 diesel weighs in at 8200 empty. So you really can't legally put alot of weight in them. The 4X4's also have ALOT of bad driving problems with them due to the springs that FORD put on them. Ford put stiffer springs on the X that allowed it to sit lower, but it also caused alot of BUMP steer and just an all around poor ride. Putting SUPER DUTY springs on it and new style bump stops corrects this, but will lift it about 2-3 inches. The rear springs are also VERY stiff and are known to have a harsh ride to them on all models. As you can see I did ALOT of research into the EXCURSION before I finally decided to keep my SUBURBAN and make it what I wanted.

In the 2000-2002 SUBURBANS you can get them with either the 6.0L or the 8.1L. The 6.0L is a good engine that gets decent milage, but it will know you have that much weight back there. The 8.1L is harder to find, but is one SERIOUS powerhouse that they say will still pull down decent MPG's if you can find one with 3.73 gears. The SUBURBAN will still fit into most standard garages, and there is no comparison in the difference of the ride in the two.

A V-10 or diesel EXCURSION is more than capable of doing the towing job and being a good family vehicle, but having ridden in both the SUBURBAN wins hands down in just the differrrence in ride.

If this won't be your daily driver, then I would reccomend looking for a late 90's 2500 SUBURBAN with a 454 in it. They can be had with low milage for VERY decent prices right now, but you won't ever get good MPG's out of the old 454. The 6.5L powered ones are also out there if you want a diesel, but if you go this route there are some upgrades I would reccomend to you right off the bat to keep it running(and there are some years I would stay away from in the 6.5 unless the engine has been replaced).

[Airslot]

Thanks for the well thought out feedback. I don;t have a garage, so that isn't a factor. I waffle back and forth between the Excursion and the Burb. Gotta get the little lady in the EX and see what she says. The Ex wins on looks with us, and neither gets great mileage. Have to look into the ride quality a bit.

Thanks,

[THEFERMANATOR]

The 2WD EX isn't that bad of a ride, but the 4X4 can knock fillings loose if it has many miles on the springs as they tend to ride almost solidly on the bumpstops(FORD designed them this way, that's why in 03 they went to a squishy bump stop like a TIMBREN). The BURB will win in the MPG and ride dept of both of them IMHO. They each have there merits and flaws though. Like I said though, the EX is just too big to fit into a standard garage so you are limited to bigger shops to get service work done on them due to the sheer size of it. And if your other half is vertically challenged, I reccomend the 02+ EX as they were available power adjusteable foot pedal controls. Not sure when GM offerred this in the BURB.

[nipper]

Have you thought about the Ford Expedition? Not as big as the Excursion. Not sure about towing capacity.

[Airslot]

Looked at the Expesition briefly, but we'd be right against the max tow. Want some cushion on that...

[randlemanboater]

From what I read on RV.NET, in mid 1999 Ford changed the heads on the V-10 and corrected the "sparkplug blowout" problem so anything newer than a 2000 will be ok.

It was also noted that if the sparkplugs were installed with proper torque and retorqued every 10k miles, then there is not problem even with the old heads, but what are the chances of finding a used one that someone did that too?

If you go to RV.NET and do a search for "excursion" there are 100's of threads compairing them and suburbans.

[Airslot]

Thanks Randleman. I love reading about this stuff. Gonna settle in with some spirits and the laptop and ride this storm out. I have a buddy who is a meteoroligist, and there is a narrow band of this storm that is forecast to dump 30-40" of snow. That's about 85 miles north of me, and I hope it stays there....

[randlemanboater]

My brother in law is a meteorologist, if you ask him if its going to rain he looks at the sky and says, "it might".

[Pipe_Dream]

I've been driving a 2000 Suburban 1500 for 5-6 years, purchased with 49K on the odometer and it now has 157K. It has been THE MOST RELIABLE vehicle I've ever owned, and I've owned over a dozen. It tows the V and a tandem box trailer with ease. I can't say enough good about this truck.

A friend has a 2001 Suburban 2500. The first engine went 430,000 miles! He's on his second and the truck has over 500K on it now.

The Suburban has the be the best most all around useful vehicle GM ever built, in my opinion.