Chevy or Ford

[Gfunk]

Sorry in advance for starting this, but I do have a good reason.
Its time for a new tow vehicle and for weeks I've been looking for a 2007 or newer Suburban or Avalanche to replace my 2005 Avalanche with 180k on it. I do a lot of work for GM, so an American car is a must. A friend of mine works at a Chevy dealership and I was talking to him about the active fuel management system and he begins to tell me about all the problems they're having all the 5.3 engines. It seems that about 70% of these engines begin to burn oil at about 45k miles. About a quart every 1000 miles. I googled it and sure enough, there's a mountain of posts about it. So now I'm thinking about switching to a Ford Expedition EL, although I've been a diehard Chevy man forever.
Anyone have any pros/cons for Ford?
Thanks in advance guys.

[smokeonthewater]

tho ONLY reason IMHO to ever buy a ford is to get a 7.3.... otherwise chevy FTW.... personally... 1 quart in 1000 miles.... big whoop get an extended warranty and drive it

[THEFERMANATOR]

Sounds to me like your friend is alarming you over nothing. Yes some do burn oil, but not all of them do. And they only tend to burn oil during the time the DOD system is active. The DOD system can be EASILY deactivated with tuning, and you have a 300+HP V8 that gets good milage. Don't let the horror stories scare you as it isn't as bad a problem as they are leading you on to it being. And you can find the 5.3L without the DOD system on it. honestly 180K miles i nan 05 wouldn't scare me at all. A few repairs is still cheaper than a car payment.

[spareparts]

my 02 5.3 uses some oil(122,000 miles), takes about a qt every 2000 miles, i don't know where it goes, i don't care. the engine runs great, gets 18 on the highway, doesn't smoke and runs great. I've only had two Ford powered vehicles in my life, my wife's Thunderbird ran great(4.6 145,000 miles), got good mileage, then the transmission started acting up and I found out how much a transmission job cost on that car so I sold it(quoted over $3000). My 2000 Ford van(first Ford ever put in my name) had 115,000 miles on it when I put it in my name, two months later the engine blew the hell up, no compression on four cylinders. With out a doubt, biggest pos set up I've ever owned, I sold it as is to the junk yard for $800. My current Ford bodied van has an International engine (360,000 miles), it has some issues, but its earned them. The heat and ac controls constantly give me issues, drives like a worn out truck(err van) but keeps on running(gets 14 mpg around town). The three Chevys i currently own(72, 99, 02) run great and i have no issues with any of them(the 72 is ready for me to restore it again). I have heard a lot of complaints about the newer Tahoes/Suburban, but I don't have any fist hand experience. I can tell you that if you have to work on the newer Fords, you better have a body lift to pull the cab off to work on the engine

[Pipe_Dream]

Originally Posted by THEFERMANATOR

honestly 180K miles i nan 05 wouldn't scare me at all. A few repairs is still cheaper than a car payment.

Agreed. Better the devil that you know...

My Suburban has easily outdone my expectations. A 2000 K-1500 (4WD), it has 226K miles on it, and we took it on a 1,700 mile sojourn into snow country over the holidays with no problems. Some valve chatter when it starts cold is the only hint of the mileage. I am hoping to best my boss' experience with his 2001 2500 Suburban: 420K miles on the first engine. He now drives a 2011 Suburban (1500), has already put 80K miles on it with virtually no issues. He says he can get 19 mpg on the highway and he doesn't have a light foot.

I was not a big Chevy truck fan in the 90s, and if I was shopping for a pickup today I'd lean more toward Ford or Toyota. But my preference for a full sized SUV is the Suburban, just based on personal experience.

[UBHSTRY]

Over 300,000 miles on our suburban turbo diesel.

[Gfunk]

I agree on the miles not worrying me, we're keeping the avalanche as a backup vehicle for my wife, she needs it when the snow flies around here and her scion won't make it anywhere, plus even though the bed isn't all that big, we do get some use out of it as a pickup. Buddy of mine has about 420k on his, just replaced the motor cause it started to burn a quart between changes, so the reliability isn't an issue. Problem is, I get a car allowance for work, not enough to cover a car payment but enough for the company to expect that I have a newer model reliable vehicle, so I need to get something a little newer with a few less miles on it. My intent is to get something that will tow my boat and allow my avalanche to "retire" to just a passenger truck vehicle.

[roffey]

I just purchased a f150 with the 4.6L. It's my first truck and I love it. It's a crew cab XLT and seems to do all I ask of it so far. My boat is 4500lb and the truck pulls it no problem. We have or had 3ft of snow and the truck went through it like there was no snow.