aw001

hi steve,


Did you consider mercedes 2016 GL 450 or 550, even GL63 AMG (reliability aside)? or the newer GLS... I bought my toyota sienna in 2013 due to the twins and now still going strong at 125,000 miles. No repair yet... Obviously boring car and not as luxurious. I am considering MB, but my wife probably will drive the van until it explodes!

Similar to you, not gonna tow anything.

plex

iTrader: (11)

Wow no idea Expeditions cost that much. One of my coworker's and his wife has one among other vehicles but they are pretty busy with 2 kids, soccer, football etc... and he has a boat. It was very comfortable and roomy.

Johnhav430

I had a coworker back in the day who didn't stop there, she insisted upon an Excursion. Have to admit that when I moved into my house, her 1996 GMC Suburban was really handy, after multiple trips with it, I only needed to rent a 12' box truck, make two trips, and with 3 guys, finished my move lol traveled light back then.

geko29

I had a friend a long time ago for whom the diesel Excursion was the absolute perfect vehicle. He and a bunch of other friends raced motorcycles almost every weekend, so they'd pile six or seven guys and all their crap inside, then pull a large (31' maybe?) race trailer with all the bikes, parts, tires, tools, etc. They were able to do a full caravan with just the one vehicle. Fully loaded, they got 9 mpg, which is actually pretty damn good all things considered. The V10 Excursion loaded similarly got 5 mpg at best.

It's admittedly a limited use case, but there's a reason 15-year-old Excursions still sell for the mid-teens with 150-250k miles on them.

situman

That's not what I am saying at all. What I am saying is that there are no other real explanations for the higher pricing other than margins. Does it really cost over $30k to build an LX vs a GX? Obviously not and its to purely increase the profit margin by at least $15-$20k.

mmarshall

Did you ever test-drive an Excursion? I did a review on one a number of years ago, before it was dropped. It was (arguably) the worst-handing street vehicle I've ever sampled. Its road manners bordered on frightening. It was just too heavy (7200 lbs. gas, 7600 lbs. turbodiesel) for the factory suspension and underpinnings. Even with proper tire PSIs, it felt like an out-of-control battleship on the interstate, jerked up/down and left/right over road bumps and imperfections, and, on braking, just before coming to a full stop, the whole front end would bob up and down like a yacht in heavy seas....you could watch it over the hood. Yes, it had the interior space of a school bus, if you wanted to carry things....but I don't think I could have ever owned one just based on the road manners alone.

Toys4RJill

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

a) she's not a small woman and so the suburban is no doubt more comfortable to ride in and get in and out of. b) it's easier to make a suburban bulletproof than an ls.

SW17LS

So I went back today when I had a little more time and I took one for a quick test drive. They sold the Platinum I looked at, but they have several Limiteds. Funnily enough, the Limiteds were similar in price to the Platinums. All $75-78k, they have one Limited Max that was $81K.

Playing around with it more it wouldn't work for us. No room at all with the third row up, we wouldn't even be able to get our stroller/wagon in there. Would have to get the Max and thats too big. Oddly enough, the Explorer has more room with the third row up since the seats tip out of the back like a minivan.

I did take it for a quick spin (it had almost no gas) and liked the way it drove on the brief test drive, I drove a Navigator more extensively and its very similar (no surprise there).

Just an entirely ridiculous vehicle for our needs, both in size and expense.

As for being more comfortable than the LS, neither a Suburban or an Expedition ride anywhere as nice as the LS, but for getting in and out of regularly, carrying stuff and people they're no doubt a better fit.

Its just really hard to beat the practicality of a minivan...as much as I dislike it.

I really don't want to spend that much money. I'd like to keep it no more than $60-65k. Has to be new, both because of my preference and also for tax purposes. I can take advance depreciation on a vehicle over 6,000 lbs GVWR, but it has to be new.

mmarshall

I'd like to see Dodge or Chrysler do a full-size SUV on the Ram 1500 chassis, for more competition to the GM and Ford full-sized, truck-based SUVs. The Ram's superb ride comfort, noise control, and road manners (by pickup standards) would be the perfect starting point for it. From what I understand, this has been proposed more than once by marketers, but FCA management kept turning it down. Maybe (?) that will change with Marchionne now gone.

You'll come around.

geko29

Please feel free to suggest a better alternative for the use case where someone needs to transport 6 or 7 people and a bunch of luggage plus a 5+ ton trailer on a weekly basis, with a single vehicle.

mmarshall

Perhaps an Excursion with heavier-duty springs/shocks/brakes and maybe wheels/tires. That would, of course, take some money and after-fitting. Barring that, a RWD Suburban would come close...the RWD version is lighter and can carry a little more payload than the 4X4. It is also lighter than its more heavily-trimmed and equipped GMC and cadillac counterparts.

But back to the Excursion. Perhaps your experience in your friend's was better than mine.....I found the specific one I test-drove to be more or less like mounting a Suburban on a Chevy Cruze chassis. Even at low stop-and-go speeds, it was a vehicle you had to drive, literally on a knife's edge, every second, or it could get away from you.

SW17LS

Haha, no. The minivan will never be more than a driving appliance for me. I'd much rather have a big SUV, but from a practicality standpoint a minivan is what we need right now...

I'd say look at a new Expedition Max. I really like the vehicle, drives great, if you don't need the third row tons of space in the regular Expedition, if you do then tons of space in the Max. 10,000 lb towing capacity.

I never drove an Expedition.

geko29

Well-equipped (but not fully loaded) Q7s can be had in that price range, and the GVWR is 6,479 lbs. Cargo space is fairly limited with the 3rd row up (15 cuft), but quite generous with it down (38 cuft). Since we'll probably never use the 3rd row, that was a non-issue for us.

mmarshall

Did you mean Excursion? Geko29 seemed to like the one his friend had, but the one I sampled (a gas model, not a turbodiesel) felt and drove like an overloaded school bus.