Suburban ---VS --- Expedition ?

[wormburner]

Looking for a used Vehicle with the third seat option for the kids, and also to pull my boat. Was just wondering if anyone has any input as far as Chevrolet Suburban versus Ford Expedition, which do yo prefer and why?

[lotalota]

I grew up in 'burbs (once the Cherokee Chief went pansy). I am now on my 3rd suburban personally. We never really wore any of them out, just got a different one or wrecked the poor thing. My dad's last suburban was the 2500 and had the diesel in it. It was retired after 450K miles. My three 'burbs were in this order.

'86 1500 with a 350, sold with 190K miles and still going strong

'94 2500 with a 454, 280K but totaled it out when I rolled it going 80 mph on 35W (I was in a hurry...the steelhead were in)

'98 2500 with 454, 190K on it and no problems so far.

I've read that the new platform has a frame that is 400% stiffer than the '99 and older. They sure are nice and are definitely on my radar screen. My current rig tows my 20' CC like a dream. You really can't even tell it is back there. The gas mileage is crappy but it is the same crappy no matter what I'm doing or hauling. The '94 suburban I wrecked is the one that convinced me to keep on driving these rigs, even though they are rough on gas. It was pure stupidity on my part. I was digging in the back seat looking for directions (stupid). I went into the shoulder and came out sideways onto the highway. This truck slid sideways going 80 mph without rolling until I caught the shoulder with my right front tire. Over I went. And again and again and again. All the glass was gone from the vehicle and there wasn't a square inch of the truck that wasn't banged up. My injury??? I bumped my shin on the cab as I did a "Dukes of Hazard" to get out of the truck. The cab collapsed onto the dash but I could still sit upright in my seat. The wrecker guy said he couldn't believe that nobody died in the crash (even my dog came out unscathed...a little scared though).

If you can bear the $80 bill to fill the tank you'll like the 'burb...

Lota Lota...

[wormburner]

I'm glad that you surrvived, must have been a heck of a ride!

I am looking at a 1500 model with the vortec 350, they say the half tons aren't quite so hard on gas because of the gear ratios they run, I think if a guy can manage 16 on the hwy., it's not terrific, but you have a vehicle that will not be under powered, along with a lot of room, it's kind of a give and take kind of thing.

I have heard these people that tell you with the half ton version, they get almost 20mpg, I do not belive that for a second, but I guess it all depends if you drive 55 or 70!

[lotalota]

I forgot to stick this in the original message...

http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/mostwanted/2001/60915/article.html

[Mr Special]

My family has own 3 suburdan's and all are still in use.

88 K2500 350TBI 268K and now is a plow truck

91 K1500 6.2L 228K still going strong

95 K2500 350TBI 178K still going strong

Nothing major just routine maintence

Buddy with 97 Expedition 132K and not happy with it

All our Suburban's get better MPG then his Expedition

[moderation]

What about the Dodge Durango? Three seats, big towing capacity, and decent gas mileage. We have owned two, and are very pleased with the performance.

[GunDr]

I had a Suburban as a company vehicle and an Expedition as my personal vehicle. The gas mieage was a killer. More so with the Expedition. The Sub could haul more. When I left the Co. About a year later an ex-girlfriend totaled out the Exp. I was looking at the time, to trade it off anyway. Not enough room for hauling and the mileage was terrible when towing. It was 3 1/2 years old, and the dealers wanted to only give me less than half what I paid. I took the money from the ins. co, (6 grand more than what I was offered from the dealers) and bought a Ford 250 Crew Cad Diesel. It was used with 35,000 miles. I now have 150,000 on it and never have regretted it. It seats three adults in the back very well, I get just shy of 20 mpg. I towed a Dodge Ram from Milwaukee to Pine River and still got 14 mpg. It's a short box, 6 1/2 ft.

I do not have a particular manufacturer that I like, I looked for something to suit my needs. My guess would be that a used truck like this would be about the same as a SUV, price wise, for the same year?

Just my two cents, I'm happy with what I got.

Doug

[Ely Lake Expert]

Wormburner,

My mom has a 99 expedition and I really don't like it nor does she. It seems to have too stiff of a ride and 4.6 liter motor just doesn't have all that much torque for a vehicle that size. The 5.4 liter motor has plenty though and I am not sure how the new ones ride. Her next vihicle is gonna be a GMC Yukon.

[Fisher Dave]

I had a 96 suburban for a while with the vortec 350.. sounds like the same thing your looking at. I had no problems with the truck at all.. tons of room, very good ride and gas mileage. The milage on the highway was very close to 20 mpg at speeds of 70mph or less(highway).. at 75 the milage would drop to around 16 or so.. same at 85mph. The city street milage was about 12mpg the best I could tell... overall the suburban had better gas milage than my Jeep Cherokee that I had about the same time (16mpg average highway).

If you tow anything.. I dont think anything compares to a Suburban.

[wormburner]

Thanks to all who posted, nice to get some input from people who have had some experiance with the two!

Thanks, wormburner.

[OUTDOORNUT]

All of you guys are talking about the Suburban aren't you??

Everyone I know that owns a "Burb" must have gotten complete lemons, but their's are total junk.

I would mayby stay away from the late 90's rigs, they seem to have been the worse for Chevy. Kind of along the same lines as the problems with their trucks in that same time period. Motors and Tranny's ....Motors and Tranny's

Friend #1 1996 Burb (1) headgasket (2) Transmissions, (1) computer, (2) window motors, no response from rear controls, have to lift drivers side rear door to close it, whippers sometimes stay on, the motor sometimes still shuts off going down the highway. We had to take an alternate truck to CO Elk hunting because he didn't trust his Burb.

Friend #2 1995 (1) motor. (1) tranny, work on the rearend, almost a totally new dash (no radio, heat, etc.) Rides like a tank and has about 8" of play in the steering wheel.

Not to mention the amount of rust on the rear doors.

(this is his second and LAST Burb he said he'll ever own)

I'm not saying anything bad about the Burb, just letting you know there is not one single truck or SUV that will never have "any problems", reguardless of make!

Best of luck with you new rig!

Glad to see there is people that have had some good luck with the Burb. I dought it will make my friends feel any better though!

[Guest]

I have had both Sub and Expedions and would not go back to the Sub. 150,000 miles on it with out an break downs - I have the 5.4 T and it pulls my 25'with flybridge to and from the lake everyweekend. I'm getting 17 mph and have lots of room for three kid and dog. Can't say that about a buddy who's sub. blow the tranny in his twice but that was in the 1998/9 model subs that had that problem. There are a lot of both truck out there with gas prices where they are. I feel the ride is also nicer than the Sub, but IF you buy either don't get the smaller V-8 and you also lose some towwing # with the 18" rims ON BOTH.

[wormburner]

Thanks to all for the information, buying a used one is a guessing game at best, was just looking to see who (which model) has had the least problems!