I am seriously considering buying a new vehicle. I really like my truck, its given me almost 50,000 trouble free miles but I find myself needing more space for people and less space for crap. Indeed, now that I have an ARE LSII lid, its just a big trunk anyway.

I have narrowed my shopping to the following vehicles (listed in the current order of preference):

1. Chevy Trailblazer LT 4x2
2. F150 SuperCrew XLT
3. Chevy Tahoe
4. Ford Expedition

I really just on't get that warm fuzzy feeling from the new F150 that I got from the 97-03 body style.

Sell me a truck. Tell me why its the best thing on my list. I am not a brand **** and am shopping for a reliable vehile with space for 4 adults and some cargo.

 

If you are going to hual 4 adults most of the time, then the Tahoe or Expedition makes the most sense. The back seat is much more comfortable than the truck. I have an Expedition and an XLT Supercrew. I love my truck, it is my daily driver. I enjoy driving it more than the Expedition, but if I were going to have adults in the back seat a lot of the time, I would be concerned about their comfort. Also, those fold down seats are not for long trips. Just my .02 worth. My wife can have the Expedition, I will take my truck.

 

I have the Screw, My brother the Tahoe and My mom the Expedition. I got a buddy with the Trailblazer. I would rule it out on size alone. You looking at apples and bananas with it. The Tahoe is the best ride and looks real good. Like Blue says if you want your riders to like you after a 500mi trip the SCrew may not do it. Short trips and the idea of having a truck if you need it though is great. Also Chevy makes a Screw. They are nice and have the largest cab around. Chevy and Ford has extended thier Employee pricing too. You can get the 06 too at Chevy. If you are going to get a new one you need to go drive all of them and don't let the salesman talk you into driving out today. And get it at the emp discount. I save $8400 on my Ford.

 

Everyone has different reasons for why they pick the vehicle that they do. If you were comparing F-150's to Silverados to Rams to Titans to Tundras, etc. then it would be easy to tell what we would recommend.

The Trailblazer is a nice midsize SUV. It might get a little better gas mileage and that could be important right now.

The Tahoe is a very nice vehicle. It's main drawback right now is the fact that they will be redesigned in the next year or so. If you don't mind the styling and don't mind driving the previous body style after only a year or so of ownership, then I would say it is a great choice.

Ford Expedition. I have never driven one of these. They styling is very much like that of the F-150 so I would say that I like the looks of them. Size is very comparable to a Tahoe so if you are looking hard at one, I would look hard at the other. I don't know enough about the features of either one to pick a winner here.

F-150 Supercrew. Good room inside. Good towing. Handling may be more truck like than some of the other options. You will have a bed to haul stuff in. Good if you like going to Home Depot, bad if you have a bunch of friends that think you are the next best thing to a moving van.

My best advice, drive them all and weigh their advantages and disadvantages. Make a list and eliminate one model after another. Soon you will be down to a winner and can make your purchase. Looks like you will get employee pricing no matter which one you pick!!!

 

Wouldn't it be great to buy from a fellow F150online.com member? I think it would!

 

thanks for the feedback.

I certainly plan to drive them all. Here are my issues with each...

1. Trailblazer. Not crazy about the size of the back seat. That said, its big enough. I certainly am not planning a cross-country treck with 2 people in the back. 9 times out of 10, there will be only myself or me and one passenger in the vehicle. A couple of times a month a few of us will go out and only from home to diner or a movie or something. The fact that s has a back seat at all is fine.

2. F150. The styling is nothing to write home about for me. I want bucket seats but do not like the fact that the shifter is on the console. so I have to shoose console shift and bench seats or a console that I don't like. I don't like that the back seat folds up rather than down - lost functionality in my opinion.

3. Expedition.... nothing really wrong with it except that is much bigger than I need.

4. Tahoe... same a the Expy. Its just more vehicle than I need.

In the end, its going to be the F150 or the Trailblazer. I can't really afford the Tahoe and by the time I add al the options I want to the Expy, its too much too.

The F150 Screw in the XLT trim level comes, basically, equiped as I would want it. I'd want to add signal mirrors, the WIRED door keypad, power driver's seat, solid rear glass with defroster, and a couple of other little things.

Over the next week I am going to start doing some shopping (other than online research) and make some decisions.

 

I will just throw in my .02 worth since my wife and I have recently gotten rid of our Trailblazer. It was a '02 LTZ (top of the line model) with the 4.2l v6. Gas mileage was horrible at only 12-14 in town and 15-16 on the highway and that was on a 2wd model. The quality of the interior fit and trim was horrible. We got rid of it at 28k miles and it squeeked and rattled constantly. It was a good looking vehicle and had nice options but it was not worth the money and with gas prices going up it wasn't worth keeping. We traded it for a Maxima for my wife. I have owned 5 GM fullsize pickups since 1992 and traded in my last Z71 for a used 2002 Supercrew Lariat 4x4 with the 5.4 v8. This truck has over 60k on it now and has not been in the shop since I purchased it 2 years ago and does not have one squeek or rattle in it and I get the same, if not a little better, gas mileage than the Trailblazer got. This has made a Ford believer out of me so far (By the way, some of you think Ford customer service sucks, well just go try to find service at a GM dealership). I am not trying to talk you out of any one vehicle or bash any manufacturer, just giving you my personal experience. I would recommend trying to find a '02 or '03 Super Crew. The back seat is just as roomy as an Expedition or Tahoe yet you still get to keep the truck bed for hauling trash, dogs, etc. These year models did not seem to have the problems that some people are experiencing with the '04-'05 models. Good luck with your decision and just remember, only you have to be satisfied with what you buy. After all, it is your money and your ride.

SCScrew

 

Hey on the 05 SCrew I got a XLT With Buckets (not 40/20/40) and a shifter on the columm. I like the center shifter but that is on the FX4 and King Ranch. I think all XLT's are on the steering columm

 

Would anyone care to explain to me why RockPick edited my post?

 

I can't tell for sure because I don't know what all of your original post was, but it looks like he removed suncoast's post and maybe your contact info. I don't think this board was meant to help salespeople sell their cars. I think that was the problem, but not sure, you will have to ask RP.

 

I could appreciate that, but arbitrarily editing posts with no explaination is poor judgement on his part.

FWIW, he might have taken time to understand that Suncoast Ford is the only Ford dealership anywhere near me.

 

The Trailblazer has a bad crash test rating when compared to the 150. I think it only has 3 stars on one of the frontal aspects and 4 stars on the other (I think the three star rating is on the driver side).

The 2WD model also has a less than perfect rollover rating.

The '06 F-150 is perfect everywhere.

Supposedly the Trailblazer used to have some sort of issue where the front windshield would pop out if involved in any sort of accident that involved the front of the vehicle. This SUPPOSEDLY was fixed with a recall.

The GM vehicles in the 80's and early-mid 90's impressed me. The new ones, IMHO, are a shadow of what they used to be.

To me, it's a no brainer. I think you'd be happy with the 150 XLT SuperCrew. Plus, supposedly gas is supposed to go down 65 cents/gallon by the end of the year, so don't choose on gas alone.

 

I bought the SCrew cause I am moving to Northern AZ and the only dealership within 60 miles is a Ford/Dodge place. So the only choice was the Ford. I have had many Fords and love them all. But, That being said I like the Chevy SCrew better. It has more space, rides more like a car and has more space. I only mention this because you have listed some Chevy products but fail to list the Chevy truck. I am very happy with my ford even though I have had it 9 days now and it has spent 3 of them in the shop. Couldn't have gotten the Chevy fixed up here though.

 

The Trailblazer's back seat is a little snug. A comperable sized Ford truck to compare it to would probably be the Sport Trac. My experience with the Trailblazer was about the same as SCrew's. It sucked gas as bad as a Jeep SUV, but wasn't as quick or respeonsive as the Jeep. With only 14-15 MPG and the cheapo interior, it wasn't worth keeping. My wife traded in her Jeep SUV on a Sport Trac and loves it. Roomier on the inside plus 20+ MPG average fuel economy.

The rear seat in the 05 Super Crew is rather spacious. It's quite a bit larger than the Chevy trucks inside and far more luxurious. I haven't had any complaints about space in the back seat even on long trips.

I love the F-150 SC captain's chairs with the gear shifter located center console. It was hard to get used to, but it's more like driving a sports car than a truck.

 

How can you say to compare a Sporttrac with a TrailBlazer? One is a truck and the other a SUV. You shoud be compare SUV toSUV and Truck to Truck. You know the whole truck bed out side thing? Plus the suspentions on a truck is completely dif from a SUV. Lets say a Sporttrac to a Colorado and a Trailblazer to a Expoder. Now I have a buddy who has the Sporttrac and he loves it. The Colorado and TrailBlazer does look cheap to me. The point is there are options. I would need to decide if I wanted a truck or SUV and then look at the trucks or Suv that fit with what I need. You are compareing Full size SUV to mid sized and then compareing the SUV to a F-150. These are completly dif vehicles. I would never get into my Moms Expedition and then get into my SCrew and compare them. They are dif vehicles desinged for dif things.