Thinking about buying an Excursion

[Johnny A]

This coming Sept Oct I will be in the market to buy a 7.3L Diesel Excursion 4 x4. High mileage does not concern me much as long as the regular maint was performed. What do I need to look for? And for those of you that have one is it worth it would you buy another if you had the chance? This will be my daily driver. My current daily driver is a 99 Expy with 287k miles so as you can see I will be driving the tires off this thing.

[Davy Crockett]

I've had a 4x4 V-10 since 02, got 100K on it and I'm saddened that they aren't making them anymore. We love it,even bought a little seat for the cargo area that holds 3 little people(1000.00) and that was recently.It has great power, smooth character and has been really the best vehicle I've owned . We had brakes,rotors,calipers all replaced at about 60k because of an ABS type vibration and recently we had ball joints and a couple related parts for a popping noise at braking. This vehicle still looks and acts like a new truck and I'm wondering if it gets better with age.Wife and kids use it for a shuttle everyday and occasionally we go off-road where it holds it's own. We've had 3 sets of tires and I removed one set at 20k because they were only 6ply and it didn't tow well with them. Oh and I tow a 31" camper and with a good hitch set-up it rides like it's not even there. I will hate to see the day we part with her, it will be like ol' yeller. Hope this helps,,LOL

[Johnny A]

Thanks Davy. I was really wanting some peoples opinion with the 7.3L Diesel. I like the V10 but I think the 7.3L gets a little bit better fuel economy. Which is important but not really.

[Davy Crockett]

Yeah, I was considering diesel too but I spent a little time around a few to sample their behavior and I found that they have a lot of social flaws and really draw a lot of attention to them. But hey with global warming destroying our way of life,with a diesel you can always stop by Kentucky Fried Chicken to filler' up,,LOL

[cheeks]

I will tell you that when I first saw Ford annnounce the production of this vehicle (late 90's) I couldn't believe anyone would want something this large, and this is coming from a 48 year old guy who has owned nothing but Suburbans and pickup trucks all my life. When I saw my first Excursion and parked next to it, my feelings were reinforced ...too big, too ugly, hard to park.

Now I have one and I absolutely love this thing. We got it at first only by default...we would be towing an RV and a horse trailer but still wanted a large SUV and the Excursion was the only one with a diesel option. Had to buy a 2002 used to get the 7.3l in Feb. 06 and it only had 32k miles on it, now it has 71k. The funny thing is that although I originally felt like the Excursion was too big, when I park it next to my F150 SuperCrew it's the same length. Therefore my worries about parking difficulty were unfounded. This is my wife's car and she uses it around town.

This vehicle is hands down the best when going on long road trips...drove a 500 mile trip to Lubbock and when you get to your destination you feel almost as fresh as when you loaded up. It feels like you're cruising in a jetliner and the 7.3 is effortless. Drove to Disney World this spring, about 1,000 miles each way and it was a pleasure, got right at 20mpg on this trip. If you have kids, this unit is a must....they can spread out in the cavernous interior and you'll sometimes forget they're riding with you.

As for your maintenance question, I agree that's important. If buying from an individual you can usually tell who takes care of their cars and who doesn't...so ask them questions. If buying from a dealer, hopefully it will be a Ford dealer who can check the service history, and if he does hopefully it will show oil changes at the dealer. Typically a person who buys a diesel is not your "average" individual and does so for a specific reason, thus he will be more inclined to perform scheduled maintenance than the average knuck off the street.

A tip: I recommend getting one with the captains chairs in the back, that way you can easily pass between them into the third seat, plus it opens interior of the vehicle up almost to the point where it feels similar to sitting in your living room.

I am thoroughly disappointed that Ford stopped making them and that the EPA has started to figuratively castrate the diesel engine. I could see myself buying 7.3l Excursions the rest of my life.