There are rational reasons for the SUV which have nothing to do with the usual reasons given for having one. The first among these is the ability to move people and stuff. I don't mean for one person's daily driver; I mean for the family and going on long-range travel. As everyone knows, the weakness of the type is they burn more fuel, and they certainly reward aggressive driving with massive fuel consumption. But fuel consumption is a limited problem if you plan around it.
The Review
I wasn't happy when the SUV was discovered by the public a few years ago. The reason was simple: They had survived by merit based on practicality. Becoming popular meant they would start to be designed for appearance instead of practicality. And, it isn't a secret the Hummer series is the low point that vein, with the Toyota FJ Cruiser a close second. But with that said, the Ford Expedition actually stayed the practical route and quite a few features made it the candidate to replace out Saturn Vue a year ago:
(1) The view- flat out, visibility is wonderful.
(2) Space- there is room in the back for stuff. If you go to the airport, the suitcases will not be in your lap. On a trip, the cabin is clear.
(3) Second row room. This was one of only a couple vehicles where it is possible to put an infant child seat in the back behind a seat I was going to sit in. At 6' 2" I'm not incredibly tall, but with the Vue, I had to drive. Ditto for the bulk of vehicles currently in production [car makers: can we spend a few minutes thinking about what people MUST DO with your products by law?].
(4) It has 4WD. Yeah, a lot of people enjoy saying it isn't needed. We escaped Hurricane Ivan by driving on a disused dirt logging road. 4WD is one of those features where when you really need it, there is no other way.
(5) All of the seats fold completely flat. It has a third row which is the floor in back. The second row folds down and then squats at the pull of a cord. Conveniently, each of the three seats will fold independently (neat feature).
(6) Towing capability. Here, the vehicle can pull just about anything a regular driver's license will allow.
All of these requirements except one were met by several vehicles. It turned out the acid test was simply whether or not the legally required rear-facing child seat could fit in the required back-seat location.
The Setup
The Saturn Vue was a transition vehicle from the Saturn sedans my wife had been driving. The largest differences there were the higher seating position, a bit more space, and the ability to keep going with the more common street flooding in New Orleans. This vehicle also had the neat trick of being able park in a curb-ended parking space without scraping its front end like most GM vehicles do [Hey guys, what if you tried driving the cars you make?]. But, the Saturn hit its limits when we got our little baby. First, there was one configuration where we could be in the car at the same time: the seat with the child seat behind it had to be all the way forward, and since this could not be the driver's seat, and I could not get in at that point, this meant I was driving and my wife was the front seat passenger, period. Although we only got a modest sized stroller, it still filled the back of the vehicle even when folded. We needed a different vehicle.
We looked at everything from the Landrovers to even the BMW X5 and Porche Cayenne. After looking at a lot of these, we came to realize there would be a lot of slightly different variations on the Saturn Vue as the size of the vehicle interior was basically the same, and no matter what other features the vehicle had, facing the next year with the Vue problem simply wasn't an acceptable option. We were going to have to look at something else. So, we started looking at somewhat larger vehicles. Minivans really leave us cold- they have all the problems of a large vehicle combined with the vulnerabilities of the sedan (road conditions) and a disturbing lack of crash protection.
The SUV isn't really one of the oldest vehicle designs. One only needs to look at an assembly of cars from the 1930s to realize we have simply come full circle to a vehicle style from the distant past. And, thanks to the new Dodge Nitro, you can see this family resemblance on the street today. And so, the reason these vehicle are popular with a lot of us has nothing to do with a bizarre desire for a status symbol (I think BMW and Jaguar have that niche, anyway), but rather for something able to cope with everyday life. If you need to put a child seat in, it will fit. Every single vehicle listed above failed when I tried to put in a child seat and have the front seat somewhere other than at the very limit of its travel forward.
It was after a lot of vehicles had failed that simple check that we went to look at the Honda Pilot. And it, too failed this test (the seats have a lip which curves back towards the top- just enough to interfere- that was painful). And so, we hadn't expected to look at something Expedition or the Sequoia. The Expedition passed that test with flying colors, and was the first vehicle to do so. Then the Toyota Sequoia was the second vehicle to pass this test. The Expedition had a pop-up glass window in back, where the Sequoia had a roll-down window similar to my old
Bronco. On the Bronco, I have ended up replacing the seal on that rear window, and now that we live in Tucson rather than New Orleans, the dust on the roads means you don't want to have this window down while the vehicle is moving.
The Expedition had looked to us to be too big- we were concerned about having such a large vehicle, where it would be able to fit in parking, and limits to maneuverability. And the Sequoia was so close in size as to make no difference. The current fuel price spike was in full swing, so we thought about that, too. In this case, the vehicle wasn't going to be asked to do the bulk of the daily driving, so this was less of a concern.
Since moving to Arizona, we have been doing a lot of trips to National Monuments and other areas to see, so we definitely wanted a vehicle able to support that sort of travel.
The Deal
When we got it, the previous experience we had with a dealer was so pushy we were really dreading this part. So, we went to the other major Ford dealer in Tucson, Holmes Tuttle, mainly to look at vehicles. But, instead of the stupid games with trying to get a discussion on a trade-in started, the fellow walked up and pointed out they had a group of 11 serial numbers they were offering $10,000 off on. These were ones from the earlier part of the year, but the same model year they were having delivered.
In comparison, the salesman at the Toyota dealer literally laughed when we asked about how good a deal we could get and said, "We can't do that. There are just too many buyers." The Honda dealer was very helpful, and had even offered a Pilot at $19,000, but it had failed the seat test.
So, we looked more carefully at the Expedition, and noted it had full leather seats, a roomy interior, and heck, it even had two cup holders per seat. But the bigger items were learning it was actually fairly nimble for a vehicle that size, and it would fit in ordinary parking spaces. In short, with the discount the dealer offered, it was too much vehicle to turn down.
Since this point, we have been taking the Expedition on all of our long trips, as it turns out it is very quiet and smooth on the freeway. And it is here the amount of space inside is really nice, since the back can accept a huge amount of cargo without pushing the limits. On long inclines up to 6%, just hitting the overdrive-off button on the end of the shifter will down shift the vehicle enough to let you safely coast down large highway hills (and it gets fantastic mileage in this mode).
The Expedition does seem to top out around 18 MPG, so it does burn fuel. The main strategies we have used for dealing with this have been little things like thinking through daily excursions to get a logical route to get various errands done without extra travel. And a big driver here is remembering the more aggressively you drive, the worse your mileage will be. But looking at the vehicle price, the $10,000 discount was impossible to save in 5 years of fuel costs with another vehicle.
This vehicle has a four wheel drive (4WD) system which is largely transparent in operation. It has a selector on the dash, but no locking and unlocking hubs on the front wheels to worry with. The modes are regular rear wheel drive, an auto-on four wheel drive (which you could use if you weren't sure if you would need 4WD), 4WD, and low range 4WD. 2WD and Auto 4WD can be used on regular roads where you would not want to use full 4WD. In the low range, the vehicle can creep over difficult traction areas. This version also came with a limited slip rear axle, which means if one wheel slips, the vehicle doesn't just spin that tire while the other stops.
The Expedition has a reverse sensor system with four small detectors to warn of impending collision. This has turned out to be extremely useful, and takes a lot of the trepidation out of backing up near obstacles like light poles.
The 5.4 liter engine delivers good acceleration, but compared to other V8s, gives the impression of having to move further into its capability to do so. I am pretty sure this is due to the large amount of fan noise, but compared to the older Bronco, it gives the impression of using a lot more pedal travel for the same acceleration. The vehicle is capable of powerful acceleration, even at freeway speeds, it just needs a heavy foot to make it happen. Since accelerating faster is a way to burn a lot more fuel, we have both been avoiding pushing this. And that is the difference between getting 14.5 MPG in the city or closer to 12 MPG.
Handling at all speeds is very solid and honest. One thing I had been concerned about was having a limited turning radius like in a Chevy Tahoe I had driven. However, the Expedition is still able to make fairly tight turns. A steep switchback road in the mountains may still be a problem, though. There is a degree of isolation from the road which makes it quieter than the
Honda Pilot when on rough asphalt.
The only significant teething event this vehicle had was a strange vibration on the freeway strong enough to make control difficult at speeds over 60 MPH (in a state where the speed limit is 75 MPH). The dealer found three of the four original tires were so badly balanced it was impossible to balance the wheels. Since then, the only other item has been a slow fluid leak from the front differential, which was also a warranty item.
Conclusion
In a way, the Expedition has been a surprise success for us. We went looking for a new vehicle to get past a specific problem, and had not seriously considered something this large early on. But as it turned out, the Expedition has a huge amount of capability, and has made tasks from moving furniture to traveling with items like baby strollers in the back with our luggage easy. The vehicle came loaded with features like a complete roof rack and towing package. In the end, the Expedition does a lot of useful things very well.
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