Rental Car Review, Ford Expedition

Had this as a rental car for two days.  First impression, it's H U G E.  Easily the size of a Suburban, probably bigger?  It literally didn't fit in my garage, it was too long.  It also wouldn't fit between the posts of my Bendpak 4 post lift without folding in the side mirrors, despite the fact my 4 post lift is the extra wide one. 

The rear seat will easily accommodate adults 6'4" or larger, even if the front passengers are the same size.  This thing is BIG.  Electronics package is good, wired Apple Car Play, heated/cooled seats, heated steering wheel, very nice sounding B&O stereo system.  It has the EcoBoost engine and I was really blown away by it.  It easily moves the truck, in fact it felt like it had more than ample power.  Passing was simply a matter of tickling the gas pedal and it would squirt on by.  Wanna hit that hole in traffic?  No problem!  However, gas mileage was Yes, please!  I think it barely broke into double digits for me.  So maybe 10mpg, which is abysmal, far worse than my Land Cruiser even.

The blind spot over my left shoulder was large enough to park a battleship in.  I was very uncomfortable with that, you had NO idea if someone was there.

Overall a nice vehicle, if you've got a ton of kids and absolutely refuse to buy the vehicle you should, which would be a mini van...

You must've been romping on it to only get 10mpg lol. My much older less efficient eco-boost Expedition EL never goes below 16mpg unless I'm towing then it'll go down to 11-14mpg depending on load. Highway I see 24mpg at 55mph and 22mpg at 65mph.

I hear the diesel Suburban gets almost 30mpg highway.

These seem to consistently be surprisingly cheaper than a similar year Suburban.  Not sure why the GM gets so much more love, as these seem to be a solid alternative.  

xflowgolf (Forum Supporter) said:

These seem to consistently be surprisingly cheaper than a similar year Suburban.  Not sure why the GM gets so much more love, as these seem to be a solid alternative.  

They can also tow more in similar specs and they have an IRS, which not only improves handling but allows the third row to fold completely flat.

In reply to yupididit :

It's possible that the rental car place didn't really give it to me with a full tank, although the gauge read full when I picked it up.  I drove it maybe 40 miles and put 4 gallons in it before I turned it in.  I wasn't really romping on it at all, a few times (not WOT tho) when merging onto the freeway

I'm about to pull the trigger on a late model suburban, but I've been put off by the prices. The Expeditions look like a solid value in that context.

I may buy one tomorrow.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm about to pull the trigger on a late model suburban, but I've been put off by the prices. The Expeditions look like a solid value in that context.

I may buy one tomorrow.

And I did.

xflowgolf (Forum Supporter) said:

These seem to consistently be surprisingly cheaper than a similar year Suburban.  Not sure why the GM gets so much more love, as these seem to be a solid alternative.  

Probably just the stellar reputation of the Suburban. Seriously, since 1960, what have you had to watch out for with the Suburban? Cylinder deactivation? GM electronic issues? There have been some issues, but there is a reason that folks used to trade them in to the dealership they bought them from after 300k miles, and the only questions they had to answer for the next one were "barn doors or tailgate" and "what color". 

Meanwhile, the Expedition has been good, but not stellar, not better, and was a smaller vehicle for much of its run (hence the Excursion).