If the 1980s marked the rise of the minivan, the 1990s marked the rise of the SUV. Truck-based, beefy, and thoroughly divorced in capabilities and demeanor from modern crossovers, SUVs were marketed as go-anywhere, do-anything transportation for the entire family. As with any emerging segment, there’s always one automaker that pushes the boundaries of what’s possible. Before the Hummer H2 was even a twinkle in GM’s eye, another SUV had launched with gargantuan proportions. It could tow up to 11,000 pounds, had an enormous cabin, was protested against in multiple countries, and continues to be worth impressive money on the second-hand market, defying expectations of depreciation. We’re talking about a real-life Canyonero. Here’s why the Ford Excursion is still so highly desired.
Bigger, Badder, Bolder
The Ford Excursion is a figurehead for the truck-based SUV age, but the blue oval wasn’t the first to offer a three-quarter-ton SUV. Not even close. Chevrolet had already been making three-quarter-ton Suburbans for decades before Ford introduced the Excursion in 1999, and they were fairly successful. However, Ford dialed M for Marketing when it unveiled the Excursion as a separate production line from their Suburban-rivaling Expedition, suddenly thrusting truly massive SUVs into the spotlight. At the time, it made perfect sense for the Excursion to be a separate product line from the Expedition because Ford split off its heavy-duty pickup trucks under the Super Duty sub-brand for 1999. This new truck received radically different styling from the light-duty F-150 pickup truck to go with increased capability, and it was a no-brainer to use Super Duty components to save costs on the Excursion.
So how do you turn a Super Duty into an SUV? You start with a brand new frame. Yes, some architectural components of the Super Duty fit on the Excursion, which is why the two vehicles share track widths, but the Excursion gets its own unique ladder frame. Next, you take that frame and sling it under an SUV-style cab featuring a wicked set of Dutch doors. Around the back of the Excursion, the rear window lifted up and the two halves of the tailgate swung out for the best of both worlds. It was an idea shamelessly swiped from the Chevrolet Astro minivan, but it had great benefits to Excursion buyers — a half-sized liftgate was easy to open with a massive trailer hitched up. Through those nifty cargo doors, you’d find tons of room for both stuff and people. The Excursion could seat up to nine in complete comfort, with 39 inches of third-row legroom. That’s more legroom than in the backseat of a new Toyota Camry in the third row of the Excursion.
Commodious room and nifty cargo doors are great, but Ford had bigger fish to fry, specifically not being an absolute menace in collisions. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that heavy duty pickup truck bumpers are higher than the bumpers on most sedans, and this height mismatch could have deadly consequences. Ford figured the best way to avoid these issues was to extend crash elements downwards, with a special trailer hitch out back and something called the BlockerBeam up front. Sitting several inches below the Excursion’s enormous frame horns, the BlockerBeam was a deformable crash element meant to fix bumper disparity. It was a novel solution, and an effective one at that. Left Lane News reported that in 2003, several automakers pledged to align SUV and truck crash beams with those of passenger cars by 2009. The Excursion was ahead by a decade.
[Editor’s Note: The Jeep Wrangler JK also included such a low-hanging beam, though it was called a “Compatibility Beam.” I think the JL’s front one is actually a bolt-on, where as the JK’s was integral. -DT].
With crash safety, bodywork, and interior room taken care of, Ford turned its attention to sorting the way the Excursion went down the road. Unsurprisingly, heavy duty pickup trucks historically aren’t known for ride quality. When someone complains of a truck-like ride, they aren’t talking about butter-smooth Ram 1500s, they’re talking about old work trucks. On the face of things, the Excursion was almost as ancient as trucks came. Two-wheel-drive models sported twin I-beam front suspension that first appeared in 1965. The 4×4 model? That thing came with a solid front axle, a bit like a Jeep Wrangler or a horse carriage. Still, the science of these suspension systems was largely worked out by 1999, so Ford set to work making the Excursion comfier than its open-backed sibling. We’re talking new springs, dampers, bushings, and anti-roll bars. In short, the works. The crazy part? It all worked. Period reviews were overall positive. Let’s take a look at what Car And Driver had to say in 1999 about the Excursion’s ride and handling:
As impressive as it is in shouldering aside mass quantities of air, what’s even more impressive is the Excursion’s deportment at all speeds, great and small. The steering, although limited in feel, is surprisingly quick and accurate, lending an eager feel to turn-in, and a relatively high level of roll stiffness keeps cornering attitudes gratifyingly flat. There’s a trade-off in ride quality–the Excursion is distinctly firmer than the current Suburbans–but initial compliance takes the hard edge off sharp humps, and in any case we prefer the stronger sense of control that goes with the Ford setup.
See? It’s not a weapon to surpass Metal Gear when the roads get curvy, but it’s not a complete shed either. Not bad for 226.7 inches of SUV. Oh, and that was just the start for the Excursion. For 2001, horsepower out of the diesel motor got a slight boost, fog lights became standard on Limited models, mirrors gained those nifty indicators you seemingly only saw in the aughts, and a VHS player became a late-availability option.
For 2002, the trailer hitch receiver mounting bolts were beefed up to increase maximum towing capacity, power-adjustable pedals came online, buyers who wanted to keep their kids occupied could spec a wicked rear-seat entertainment system with a DVD player, and two new trims became available. The XLT Premium trim added alloy wheels, power front captain’s chairs, automatic headlights, rear seat audio controls, illuminated running boards, powered vent windows, a trip computer, and a stripe to the base model. The Limited Premium trim took the previous top-dog model and gave it a leather-wrapped steering wheel with climate and audio controls, heated front memory seats, Homelink, and power-adjustable pedals. Not bad, right?
The 2003 model year brought a new diesel engine as a mid-year option, and marked the introduction of the Eddie Bauer trim to the Excursion lineup which effectively replaced the non-premium Limited trim with a flourish of champagne paint. 2003 also brought minor quality-of-life improvements, like an entry grab handle for the driver and a reversible cargo mat on Limited models. For 2004, trim levels got re-jigged again, with the XLT Premium simply becoming the XLT, and the XLT becoming the XLS. That may sound confusing, but it actually made things a whole lot simpler in showrooms.
The final 2005 model year brought larger cosmetic changes, giving the Excursion Ford’s then-new tri-bar corporate grille. Flanked by new headlamps, it brought the Excursion’s styling into the mid-aughts, although some prefer the purity of earlier models. The base XLS trim also gained 16-inch aluminum wheels, a nice way of jazzing up the entry-level model’s appearance.
Getting Oily
Over its seven model year lifespan, the Ford Excursion was offered with four different engines, all of which are varying degrees of good. At the bottom of the heap sat the six-liter Powerstroke diesel V8 that was absolutely terrible. Fundamentally, it’s a Navistar VT365, a flawed engine that’s expensive to put right. Bulletproof Diesel built a solid name fixing issues with these 6.0-liter diesel engines, and its list of common documented problems is impressive. The oil coolers fail, the EGR coolers get plugged up with carbon, the 48-volt fuel injection control module wears out over time, head studs pull out of the block, and the factory water pump’s plastic impeller cracks. Granted, these aren’t insurmountable issues. In Bulletproof Diesel’s words, “Sure enough, there was a way to make these engines reliable and durable without sacrificing power.” However, it can be quite costly to fix the 6.0’s factory flaws.
Next up the chain is the gasoline-powered 5.4-liter two-valve Modular V8, which is the definition of an engine. Alright, so maybe the spark plugs didn’t always like their homes and maybe 255 horsepower and 350 lb.-ft. of torque just weren’t enough for a vehicle this big, but the 5.4 would live life in the right lane for pretty much as long as you like. There’s nothing here that’s outstanding, which is why the 5.4 isn’t particularly desirable. Speaking of gasoline-powered engines, the 6.8-liter Triton V10 was a marked step up in performance from the 5.4-liter mod motor. Sure, early examples could still eject spark plugs and fuel economy wasn’t brilliant, but 310 horsepower and 425 lb.-ft. of torque isn’t bad any way you slice it.
The indisputable holy grail of Excursion engines is the 7.3-liter Powerstroke diesel V8, a Navistar T444E that’s tough as nails. It’s not nearly as costly to keep a 7.3-liter Powerstroke on the road compared to a 6.0, and fuel economy is markedly better than on gasoline-powered models. Now, since the Excursion isn’t a light-duty vehicle, we don’t have EPA stickers to go by. However, Fuelly is an app that lets drivers track their fuel consumption, so it’s a large bank of data on real-world vehicle mileage. Based on data submitted by Fuelly users, the 7.3-liter Powerstroke Excursion averages 13.76 mpg. That’s not great, but the 6.8-liter gasoline-powered V10 is averaging 9.67 mpg, while the 5.4-liter V8 is averaging 10.55 mpg. Who wouldn’t kill for about a 30 percent improvement in fuel economy?
Oh So Controversial
Despite being an absolute beast for towing huge things with the family, not everyone liked the Ford Excursion. Like the Hummer H2 and Eminem, Ford’s biggest SUV became something to demonstrate against. In 2004, the Orlando Sentinel wrote:
A group of environmental activists has initiated “Jumpstart Ford,” a series of protests at Ford dealers in the United States and Canada to force what it calls “the EPA’s worst-ranked automaker to stop driving America’s oil addiction,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
The group said it will use “creative interventions ranging from street theater to one-on-one meetings with dealers” to deliver its message. And the message is that “Ford’s addiction to oil is a crime against humanity” and that Ford is “responsible for global warming” not to mention “dangers to public health, national security, economic stability and human rights.”
Yeah, the 2000s wasn’t the most rational decade in history. It turns out, oil-related concerns about national security were largely hyperbolic, high-margin vehicles help automakers achieve economic stability, giant SUVs aren’t even close to reaching the pantheon of high crimes against the environment, and human rights? It’s a noble cause, but the human rights effects of SUVs are low down the list of priorities.”
Needless to say, the protests didn’t amount to a whole lot, even in the short term. The Chicago Tribune reported that Jumpstart Ford tried claiming victory when dealership group AutoNation co-signed a plug-in hybrid initiative in 2006. However, the initiative didn’t have anything to do with the protests.
Rather, the protests were Jumpstart’s way to pressure the auto chain to refuse to buy any vehicles from Ford unless it stops building big SUVs, pickups or any other machine Jumpstart feels consumes too much petroleum. It is Jumpstart Ford, after all.
To that demand, AutoNation told Jumpstart to go jump or something to that effect.
You can’t argue with crazy. These days, while Ford builds a mix of battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, traditional series-parallel hybrids, and good ol’ fuel-burners, it’s selling fewer cars than ever. Just about the only thing it sells in America that isn’t an SUV, crossover, truck, or van is the Mustang. America’s favorite vehicle is still the Ford F-Series pickup truck, and the general sedan market is smaller than anyone would’ve imagined in the mid-aughts. However, the Excursion was discontinued at the end of 2005, replacing it with a long-wheelbase Expedition that held greater mass appeal. Oh, the power of the almighty dollar.
Time Heals All Wounds
Looking back from where we are now, all the backlash and hysteria over three-quarter-ton SUVs seems ridiculous. The Jeep Wagoneer L measures identically to the Excursion from stem to stern, is 3.6 inches wider and eight-tenths of an inch taller than an Excursion, and elicits little more derision than the occasional eye-roll. The current Chevrolet Suburban is almost Excursion big, yet it isn’t viewed as completely preposterous either. Even crazier? It’s not like these new vehicles are objectively more capable than the Excursion. Despite more power and bigger brakes, the Jeep Wagoneer L falls 1,000 pounds short of matching the 7.3-liter 4×4 Excursion’s maximum towing capacity of 11,000 pounds, and the Chevrolet Suburban doesn’t come close. Oh, and the GMT800 three-quarter-ton Suburban eclipsed even the Excursion with a maximum towing capacity of 12,000 pounds.
These days, nice Ford Excursions trade for impressive money, depending on engine. Gasoline-powered examples are still semi-affordable, such as this two-owner V10-powered Excursion selling for $16,016 on Cars & Bids back in 2021. Models with the questionable six-liter Powerstroke engine aren’t at the top of the value heap, but nice ones are still expensive. This one-owner Excursion with 74,000 miles sold for $27,400 on Bring A Trailer. As for nice examples with the 7.3-liter Powerstroke V8, this one-owner example with 64,000 miles sold on Bring A Trailer in August for $46,000. There’s still huge demand for these Excursions, partly because they never got a successor and partly because they’re still great at towing. Of course, it also helps that Ford sold enough Excursions for them to not be excessively rare, but few enough that good ones are getting thin on the ground. Sales data claims 195,405 were sold in America between 1999 and 2005, fewer than the number of Explorers Ford sold in 2022 alone.
The Future Is Big
Could three-quarter-ton SUVs be poised for a comeback? Possibly. With states like California pushing for all-EV deadlines on new cars and light trucks, one potential solution for drivers whose needs just aren’t compatible with EVs is a segment of vehicles too heavy to be light-duty. We already have plenty of heavy duty pickup trucks gallivanting about, what difference does it make if some of them don’t have beds? Of course, some people would buy three-quarter-ton SUVs for the culture war, but others would often tow big trailers with them, a current sore spot for EVs.
Of course, you don’t have to wait for Ford to build another Excursion. Wilmington, N.C.-based MegaRexx will sell you something called the SVN, a three-row SUV based on heavy duty bones. Bring them a brand new Ford Super Duty and for as little as $40,000, they’ll convert it into an SUV with entirely aluminum bodywork and add a third row of seats. There is a fairly visible additional roll bar for third-row roof stiffness and seatbelt mounting, and the coachwork is a matter of taste, but this is one option for a seriously big SUV. If that doesn’t appeal to you, might I suggest a restomod of sorts? There’s a whole market out there for worked-over Broncos and Land Cruisers, and the Excursion will undoubtedly fall into the same camp of classic SUV someday. Now, I’m not expecting Jonathan Ward to go to town making an ICON Excursion, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone starts taking in rusty old examples of these rigs and giving them new leases on life.
With much of the vitriol of the aughts faded, the Ford Excursion can now be seen for what it is — a damn fine machine for a specific type of work. People who love them these days often have owned more than one. It’s a big, friendly giant that’s not as ginormous as it used to be, an unintended side effect of a bigger world. Literally and figuratively, the Ford Excursion is the next big thing in collectable SUVs. If you need to tow long distances with an entire crew onboard, buy one while prices are still reasonable.
(Photo credits: Ford, MegaRexx Trucks)
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One of the moms at our local middle school used to daily a V10 one of these as her kid hauler. I saw her several years later in a Sienna LE, possibly one of the 2.7L four-banger ones. Not sure if she got tired of the Excursion’s fuel economy or if she was just really fond of larger-than-normal engine displacements.
A milf-y size queen? Is she single? ;->
Capability wise for towing, I’d take one of these any day over a current expedition/suburban/jeep, regardless of current ‘tow rating’. That’s the biggest reason for continued popularity – there’s no replacement. It would be great to have 2500/3500 rated trucks available other than pickups. There’s a lot of RV owners who could use one, as just one example. Some of us (myself included) even keep a second small/electric vehicle for everyday – as much to keep hard local miles off the expensive truck I need for work/play as to save gas.
No it’s still hated as is every other such oversized gas guzzling single occupant cosplay commuter and mall crawler.
The article is literally about how the Excursion is in demand because people need the capability and can’t get it in another vehicle. In my experience, Excursions going down the road are usually full of kids/boy scouts/cousins and dragging a big ass trailer. Not cosplay.
I had no idea there is a shortage of massive, gas guzzling, pedestrian killing behemoths to buy in America. Or vans.
lookit another dumb post
>I had no idea there is a shortage of massive, gas guzzling, pedestrian killing behemoths to buy in America.
Well, there is a shortage of said behemoths with a diesel, a solid front axle and real off-road capability that will tow 11k and run for many hundreds of thousands of miles.
If you didn’t know, now you have been enlightened.
And somewhere the worlds smallest violin plays on…
> need the capability
Sure.
This is America, you can just say you Want the thing, you don’t need to convince the rest of us. We still think you’re a sociopath for driving a panzer on public streets, but that won’t keep anyone from selling you the thing.
I don’t personally need the capability, I drive a half ton because I never tow anything.
But yes, I’m a sociopath for driving a panzer. Because you’ve never heard of anybody needing to tow a trailer?
Actually, this is hilarious. I literally drove a tracked vehicle on a public street today. Maybe I am a sociopath driving a panzer.
It depends. As a road tripping vehicle, it’s pretty awesome. My astro gets 13mpg. This gets 20+mpg and has more space inside. I would buy one if my driveway was big enough to support one.
What gives you the idea this thing gets 20+ MPG?
“Based on data submitted by Fuelly users, the 7.3-liter Powerstroke Excursion averages 13.76 mpg. That’s not great, but the 6.8-liter gasoline-powered V10 is averaging 9.67 mpg, while the 5.4-liter V8 is averaging 10.55 mpg.”
The only way thing thing can get 20+ mpg is falling off a cliff.
That’s mixed driving. Highway at 55 they will get close to 20.
https://www.powerstroke.org/threads/what-is-a-realistic-fuel-economy-on-a-stock-7-3-excursion.137759/
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1000931-excursion-7-3-4wd-what-kind-of-mpg-are-you-getting.html
Don’t let facts get in the way of your feelings tho, bud.
And that 13 mpg you quoted for your road tripping’ Astro, is that on the highway at 55 too? If so check your tire pressure. If not you’re comparing apples to bananas.
Doesn’t matter. AWD + puny engine with no torque + brick aero = shit MPG. My gigantic school bus with a 7.3 gets better MPG than my Astro at the same speed.
Aero clearly is not the issue given you’re comparing a brick to bigger bricks. The EPA rates the AWD Astro at 14 city/18 highway so if you’re getting 13 mpg at 55 on the highway there is something very wrong with it.
Powerstroke has torque and gets good MPG. Sorry reality offends you.
Why would I be offended by the fact your Astro is a POS? The only offense is to your wallet: Fixing your Astro’s drinking problem is going to be a lot cheaper than buying one of these behemoths.
My 6.0 routinely got 19-21 without a trailer. towing did knock that down a bit. With all the kids, dogs, and trailer (rolled over the scales at a smidge over 21K) only got 13mpg over a 2k mile trip.
nope, but this appears to be the dumbest comment on this article, so that is nice for you
I’m really missing the ability to downvote a comment right now
Too lazy to google, but I feel like I’ve seen folks update the front clip to look like 2016+ Super Duty trucks. Seems like and odd resto-mod, but I’m pretty sure it’s a thing people do. I myself prefer the first gen Super Duty look. Maybe the 2008 update. That one was pleasant to look at.
I did the 08+ front end with the tombstone lights. I like that look, going newer usually means you have to modify even more, mine is just a face swap and new sheet metal up front
The 7.3 Powerstroke fixes any criticism I have of the excursion; that engine is absolutely incredible. When I was shopping for a skoolie, I sought out one that had a 7.3 in it, and man.. it is just an absolute honey badger when it comes to climbs, SO MUCH TORQUE. Love it.
And of course the used values have quite the disparity. The gas V8 is almost worthless. The V10 has some value. The diesels are still fucking expensive even 20 years later, and even the shitty 6.0 fetches crackhead prices.
It would’ve been useful to compare the size of the Excursion to today’s LWB Expedition, Suburban, and Wagoneers.
I worked on plenty of this era of Super Duty’s with a healthy amount of Excursions thrown in the mix….they were overall very reliable. The spark plug ejection issue was overblow, and actually did happen on some V10’s of the same vintage as well.
The 7.3 powerstroke, yes it was/is reliable, but (in 2023) it’s loud as fuck, laggy off the line, smells, leaks oil, and can have its host of issues since (almost) all of them have really high mileage. Might as well budget in 8 injectors if you are considering a used one. But don’t get me wrong… I still have a lot of love for this engine. And the E4OD (or whatever variant it was called by then) was not the best but can be made better with better parts.
The 6.0L…. the issues were (mostly) the first 1-2 years, and the problems were/are real. However, I remember doing a dealer PDI on a brand new Eddie Bauer Excursion with the 6.0L very soon after fixing a (chipped, exhaust, etc..) 7.3L Excursion and the 6.0L + the new 5 speed were massively more refined for daily use than the 7.3L/E4OD.
If I were to buy one now? Oddly enough, I’d go 5.4L gas 4×4, XLT with a front bench. Sure it’ll be slow, but I’d bet you’ll see more miles out of it with lower repair bills vs. the diesels.
When you say budget for injectors… dude… I had no idea til I did mine. You’re looking at $2500-3500. For injectors.
^YEP…. exactly. Sorry to hear about that for you specifically though.
Worth every penny. 🙂
You had no idea what diesel injectors cost, did you?
lol nope, first diesel engine.
In ADDvanced’s defense… it’s about the same cost as replacing 6 injectors in an N54 BMW. So $/injector…. it’s a STEAL haha
In all seriousness, if the injectors are fixed and you expect a cam sensor to fail (not a big deal or that expensive or hard to fix)… the 7.3 will be fine, it’s true they were way over-built compared to the 6.0L that followed. For example 7.3’s all had six headbolts per cylinder, while the 6.0L had 4.
my friend had an expedition with the v10 swapped into it for a while, not sure why that was the engine of choice, but it was. he got rid of it after eating a transmission a shooting 2 spark plugs over a week. it probably was a overblown issue, as the thing did have lots of miles on the odometer and neither of us were sure how many were on that v10 and trans before the previous owner swapped it in, but that thing was fun for the 2 years it worked. also that friend just has terrible luck when it comes to cars (other than his x-terra)
Woah… someone took the time to swap the V10 in to it when it didn’t have one? Haven’t heard of someone doing that vs. just finding a used V10 Excursion.
The V10’s seemed to be much more prevalent vs. the 5.4 gas V8.
The V10’s were decent motors for the job at hand.. just make a lot of torque and get 10-12 mpg no matter what you were doing with it.
I needed a better tow vehicle for pulling my camper in 2017, so I found a low-mileage 2001 Excursion with the 6.8 V10 for $8k; the diesels were all at least $5k more at the time. My spouse and I both worked at home and this was the second vehicle, so it really was only driven when I was pulling the trailer or hauling a load (we used it when we moved and for hurricane relief supply distribution; it fits a magnificent amount of stuff even with two kids in the back.) We sold the camper in 2021 and I didn’t need the Excursion anymore, so I sold it to a general contractor (who also needed to be able to occasionally watch grandkids) for about $14k. It really was the best vehicle for us at the time; the practicality of an enclosed SUV made up for any limitations compared to a similar 3/4 truck of the time.
I almost bought one of these with the 7.3 diesel. It felt like driving a school bus to me, so I didn’t pull the trigger. I guess there are people that need to haul a lot of stuff who might really use it. But I have no need. If I want a tow vehicle, it’ll be an HD dually of some sort. Not this.
I think looking back it’s somewhat important to consider what the suburban (it’s main competitor ) was prior to the mid nineties. It was primarily a work vehicle driven by farmers ranchers people in construction, surveys loved them. It was an enclosed full size truck. I’m speculating but I think that was Ford’s primary market when it was designed, but it was released about that time the full size SUV family vehicle took off for various reasons. Once it did these became the poster child for excess.
TLDR. These were a good vehicle but in too many cases bought by the wrong people
I saw a lot of suburbans in suburbia in the 70’s-80’s in the northeast driven by Mom’s
I both love and loathe these behemoths. I did have some wonderful memories in one as an abused camp vehicle. Shortly after dropping off an Excursion full of campers and guides at a trailhead deep in the Sierra Nevada, the aftermarket exhaust pipes sheered off in front of the muffler. All of a sudden I was driving (and downshifting) an un-muffled V10 beast down the hills. It sounded like a yeti in mating season. It was such an obnoxious blast.
Thank you for that brilliant mental image.
I have such fond memories of these things. They were always owned by the “cool” families who’s kids had quads and dirtbikes at age 5. First diesel engine’d vehicle I had ever ridden in. I still want one all these years later. That being said, I’ve seen several 3/4 ton Suburbans with the LBZ Duramax swap (some even with Quadrasteer!!!), and if I was going to spend 40 Large on a massive SUV, that would be my choice.
I’ve come to the conclusion that everybody in America tows stuff, big stuff, as often as I have sex with supermodels. Or at least they like to think they would.
Everybody also hauls sheetrock weekly, apparently. It’s like the standard unit of measurement for cargo capacity.
And we also act like we’re the only country that needs a vehicle that can carry sheetrock. We buy Raptors to haul a 4×8 and everyone else manages to do it in a Hilux or a small van.
A raptor won’t carry a 4X8 sheet with the tailgate up.
Well, to be fair, I guess if your home floods or burns down every year, you do need to haul a lot of sheetrock, not to mention taking your soggy crap to the dump. I guess I have just been too judgmental…
“I used my Excursion to tow all 11,000 pounds.”
“No you didn’t.”
“No, no I didn’t. But a friend of mine…”
“No he didn’t.”
“No, no, he didn’t. But you could imagine what it would be like if he did.”
Today I was unloading my bicycle from the back of my Sportwagen when the UPS guy showed up with a package (god that sounds like the setup for a porno). He said “man I know the struggle, not having a truck!” As if you need a truck to carry a single bicycle. I was speechless, and then proceeded to list the many things I’ve hauled in it over the past few years. He still looked skeptical.
I’ve hauled so much stuff in wagons over the years. Lots of bicycles too. My TDI wagon got 49mpg. People must need lessons in packing, or Tetris.
The two best accessories I’ve added to my Sportwagon are a rubberized cargo tray and a roof rack. Super easy to haul stuff like lumber or the canoe. Especially since the rack is car height, not truck height.
A friend who thinks everything must have three rows was quite surprised when four of us with four sets of golf clubs in the back comfortably drove an hour out to play.
Funny thing too. Years ago I had a Mazda 2 as a loaner for a weekend. It was able to swallow my bike and I don’t think I even had to take the front wheel off.
All hail the Tetris champions!
I hauled a Suzuki gt250 in the back of my ’12 Ford Escape… I’m sure it could haul Xmas trees too. Don’t need a 60k pickup to do that once a year.
I’ve worked with many people who are the “Must have huge truck” types who rarely actually use it as a truck, but gripe every single time the price of gas spikes. They look at me like I have three heads because I drive a compact hatchback, and the approximately 1-2 times a year I actually NEED a truck, I… *gasp*… go rent one.
I mean, the fuel savings alone would pretty much pay for a monthly rental. And the cost difference in the vehicles could go back in your own pocket, but, whatever… Murica, bald eagles, big big big whatever.
Idk man here in Idaho I see lots of trailers. A lot less trailers than 3/4 tons, but a lot of trailers.
I pull my 17.5 ft boat with a Subaru Forester.
I have pulled skid steers and tractors on a double axle trailer (not with the forester LOL), and then it’s all under 7k pounds.
I think people just vastly overestimate what things weigh and expect to go 80 mph uphill while towing
After seeing the headline I had to share The Dictators, Next Big Thing
https://youtu.be/GFNqlVWmfYY?si=X54rePt29UWuqO8T
For a couple of years, my husband and I had a 2001 XLT 2wheel drive Excursion with the 7.3L Diesel V8 in it to tow our boat. For as large as it was, it drove surprisingly well. Just normal around town driving, the onboard MPG showed we would get 17-18mpg. On freeway trips, it wasn’t hard to hit 20-22mpg.
Even though the Excursion was a massive SUV and super long (226″ quoted from the article), our current 2020 Ram 1500 Crew Cab short box is even longer at 232″ long.
For reference, my AWD Astro with a v6 gets 13-15mpg.
This is the beauty of the 7.3. 20+mpg in something twice as big, and laughs at inclines and headwinds.
> excursion
> boat
Personally I just toss $100 bills into the shredder. Same results, less smell.
Oh, c’mon now: a towpig & boat is essentially the same as towpig & racecar w/ trailer—or off-road rig / SxS. I’m too cheap & lazy to own a boat, but plenty of people have and enjoy them.
Lighten up a bit, willya?
I have an ’88 MB so I know all about vehicular expenses and gas guzzling.
I hear ya there: sold my last Mercedes early in ‘22 -just before diesel went sky-high again. Needed another blower motor, and only choices were ÜRO (which I’ve had very poor luck with) or OEM which cost almost what I paid for my first 300SD
>sorry if I misunderstood: I thought you were bagging on people who throw their $ at boats & a way to tow them.
NP, just commiserating in a semi guilty sort of way.
Vehicular hobbies are complicated.
Üro is sad. I just got a new wiper fluid pump by Bilstein that surprisingly to me was made in Switzerland, of all places.
Like so many cars in the late 90’s early 2000’s, the Excursion was the right combination of sturdy build and smart enough to survive. The 7.3 was the right engine because its relatively easy to tune or leave alone and it will run and run and run and not give you any problems and there were enough computers to tell you what to fix but not enough to strand you. The rest of the truck is sorta “Meh” just like all those early SD trucks (death wobble, frame rust, etc).
If the k2500 GMT800 had a the LB7, the Excursion wouldn’t be nearly as sought after.
In the Ford universe, I suppose its predecessor would be the Mexican-spec B250 Carryall. Which Id choose over an Excursion any day of the week, if for no other reason than the weird diesel engines ir could be optioned with.
I hated the Excursion back then and I still hate it today.
“The Jeep Wagoneer L measures identically to the Excursion”
Yup… and it also looks like an ungainly whale of a vehicle that I also dislike.
The largest current Cadillac SUV (escalade?) is shockingly huge, especially when parked next to a regular car.
So many vehicles now look like “obese” behemoths, that the Wagoneer doesn’t make you take a double take when you see it. Oh, its gigantic like pickup trucks are today. Yawn.
The Excursion got lumped in with the H2 as the epitome of gas guzzling excess, although as the article points out, it was at least more utilitarian than the H2. I don’t remember anyone blinking at the Suburbans that were nearly as large, but they were always around. I guess they got a pass based on that?
They do command strong money. I’ve seen a few pop up in my Craigslist searches, usually approaching 200k miles and still want big bucks for them, especially the diesels but the V-10s do too.
My buddy’s Dad had one of these and we used it to help him move in to an apartment. Loaded up and floored to merge onto a highway, he swore you could see the gas gauge move as the V-10 tried to get the thing up to speed.
The Excursion was an example of a niche vehicle marketed as a mainstream one at the exact wrong moment.
It’s very good at the very specific things that its very specific market needs – it can tow a lot of stuff with a lot of people in it – but it’s excessive for most people and it was hitting right before a gas spike and recession.
The Hummer H2 was also done in by this but the H2 wasn’t actually good at anything.
I am starting to think that Excursion-sized vehicles are prelude to a recession though. Because dark clouds be on the horizon.
I’ve always felt the same way – it’s like the Suburban, a specialty vehicle for specific situations, not a general everyday one. So a lot of the wrong buyers (in this context) bought them.
I get that automakers want to market their vehicles for maximum sales, but I think the issue with SUVs is the inherent utility (it’s right in the name!) makes it easier to get carried away.
As in, it’s tough to market say sportscars as something you can live with as a daily driver, but SUVs, I can see how they could inadvertently make them seem appealing to those that really shouldn’t be buying them…
I find this perspective fascinating. I’ve never thought of suburbans as specialty vehicles or specific situations. I live out West, and suburbans are THE default family vehicle for a huge swath of the population. But as often as mom might drive it to the grocery store alone, she is hauling a million kids all over the place, or they are towing their boat to the lake, or the camper up in to the Rocky Mtns. I’ve always thought of them as simply the most versatile of all family vehicles.
I think we’re actually on a similar page – what you describe is what I mean by specialty, at least for the U.S. as a whole anyway.
I’ve lived in both the midwest and the east, and most people don’t own a boat or a camper that needs towing plus all the space for kids (though mandatory carseat requirements are changing that to be fair); it’s a fairly rare combo.
To be sure, I’ve spent a lot of time in urban areas, and I get non-urban needs are different, but in those urban areas, there sure are a ton of people with Suburbans.
I was in NYC about 16 years ago. I remember walking around Manhattan and being SHOCKED at how many people were driving Tahoes, Suburbans, and Expeditions.
They’re actually relatively unpopular north of the border – I rarely see one, and the sales numbers have it moving at about the same rate as Corvettes. We still have plenty of boats and children, it’s just not something that people typically pick for those needs.
The owners and families are also getting bulkier themselves. I know a morbidly obese family and a Yukon is what they need to fit into and be comfortable.
I remember the speculative renderings at the time, predicting a third set of doors for the third row.That would have been wild.
Then it would have just been a Checker Aerobus.
International did it first. And better than Ford could have 🙂
https://barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/040919-1972-International-Travelall-airport-limo-1.jpg
That was a custom build by Stageway. There are still a couple in the wild.
Had one at High Mt. Taxi in Aspen for … Airport runs to Denver. Orange was the color.
I’ve always like these things, because they borrowed one of the best ford truck faces of all time, in my opinion.
Thank you for pointing out the fallacy that these were somehow much larger than any SUV before or since. They were styled and marketed that way, but the Suburban has always been within a few inches in every dimension, while every HD pickup made since 2000 is longer than an Excursion and just as wide and tall.
My experience with the 7.3 Powerstroke was not a good one, and I wouldn’t recommend paying anything close to what they go for nowadays. The 2V V10 isn’t great (imagine me saying that!) but it’s serviceable and would be my recommendation.
As for the return of 3/4 ton SUVs, I’ve been asking for this for a long time. Years ago, I actually wrote to Ford suggesting the return of the Excursion, the first and only time I’ve ever done anything like that. I don’t hold out a lot of hope, but I’d be first in line to buy one if they ever came back.
The Powerstroke was extremely failure-prone, wasn’t it? I remember someone who did a lot of fleet work in that era telling me that.
The 6.0 and the later 6.4 yes. The 7.3 has a good reputation but that was not my experience with it.
It was selling the Excursion as a separate model that turned it into a lightening rod for environmental groups (composed, probably, of the same sort of people who put a fake “gas guzzler” ticket on the windshield of my Cadillac in the student government parking lot back in 2007). Ford could have easily chosen to sell the LWB Expedition under a separate nameplate if they wanted to, but they learned their lesson and kept it stealthier
Canyoneroooooouuuu… Canyoneroooooouuuu
Top of the line in utility sports, unexplained fires are a matter for the courts.
https://youtu.be/PI_Jl5WFQkA?t=5
Fun fact: The Excursion was a certified Low Emissions Vehicle in both Cali and nationally for its entire model run.
If that sounds crazy, it’s because the metric was emissions per unit of fuel burned, not a measure of fuel burned over distance. They burned a fair bit of fuel, but it came out with minimal unnecessary byproducts.
INCONCEIVABLE!