Tahoe or Expedition

[Leleluvsdis]

So to be completely honest... this is and isn't budget related. BUT because it is somewhat budget related I decided to post here on the budget boards.
With that being said, for those of you who have one or the other, what do you and don't you like about them. DH wants a tahoe bc he loves his truck and a tahoe would be the suv version of his truck. I have thrown the expedition in there bc they are much more available, and cheaper compared to the tahoes (which concerns me either no one likes them, had trouble with them, or don't hold there value.
Anywhoo... we are looking at 2004 and newer preferably less than 100K miles, white with a sunroof preferably leather and less than 15000
Yes they are available, before anyone says no way you will find it.

So what is your option. What do you and don't like about your tahoe or expedition.
Oh we are looking at pulling a camper and possibly a boat with it, and will be used for road trips with my parents and niece (19) and if we ever have kids will be our "family" car.

Thanks again!

 

[bkool2323]

Had a 2002 Excursion for 8 years. The excursion is a F350 Truck with a factory modified cap to seat 7 or 8. It rides like a bucking bronco. The gas milage is horrible. If you get 10mpg that is great.. The thing is huge and hard to park. Really not a daily driver. We called our excursion the BUS.

I would recommend looking at the Expedition EL as this would be a good all around vehicle for daily driving and towing a less than 7000 lb trailer.

 

[rock_doctor]

Two completely different vehicles. The Excursion is built on a modified F250 frame so it is in effect a 3/4 pickup. The GM is a much lighter duty vehicle and in turn drives more like a car and is better on fuel. Unless you pack heavy or tow, the Excursion is too much vehicle. On the other hand it will hold up much better in a serious crash (know this first hand). The Excursion was designed to compete with the 1991 and earlier Suburban and has about the same dimensions. So you need to decide what your use will be and which one will be best. Personally, i own a old body style suburban, a 2005 Excursion and a 4-door pickup so i prefer the Excursion of the two choices you suggested. If you can get the Excursion for less money then the GM i would go with that. The Excursion was built (stopped production in 2005) in Kentucky on a sister assembly line with the Super Duty pickups (many parts are interchangeable), the GM is built in Mexico. It really is a very comfortable truck and it is true, the care and feeding is sort of high but is it worth a little more cost in fuel at the end of the year to have your family walk away from a bad crash??? We were T-boned in NJ by a Chevy pickup going though an intersection at speed. He hit us hard enough to shoot us into a ditch but we unlocked the door and got out like nothing happened (only simple bruises) they had to hack up the Pickup to get them out. Took over an hour to cut them out and they were airlifted to the hospital by the Coast Guard. They all survived but were seriously hurt. Personally, i don't think the Excursion is hard to drive but since it is my 78 yr old moms truck i don't drive it too often. I have a F250 diesel crew cab... Drive both and pay attention to how much metal is between you and the outside world. In the end, if you have an accident it will not be with a SMART car or a Mini but a fully loaded Semi....

 

[Leleluvsdis]

Sorry, I mean expedition. I kept looking at my original post thinking something doesn't look right when I posted it and guess what well you get the picture Thanks for your thoughts though!

 

[js]

I had a 2008 Expedition and my dh turned it in in 2010 for a crossover. I LOVED my Expedition and I don't love cars and complained every single day about driving the crossover, it was difficult for me after driving my truck.
Last year, I got a new 2011 Expedition and I love it. I love that it is high up and it is VERY VERY easy to drive. It turns on a dime and is very manageable.
I have never driven a Tahoe but suspect I would like it to but can tell you I love my Expedition and I am not a person that would say they love a car.

 

[tinan]

I don't know if you want my opinion or not as ours is based on the Chevy Suburban instead of the Tahoe. We personally love our suburban and it also has the feel of the Chevy truck. My husband loves it for the cargo area being all enclosed and the mpg is not as bad as a truck (it is closer to the mpg of our Trailblazer). We use ours for hauling our pop up and also for hauling our horse trailer plus we have seating for up to 8.

We've never owned the Excursion or Expedition, but have owned a Ford Conversion van and an Aerostar XL van before. When both of these got older they ran very sluggish and the tranny's were much more taxed than any Chevy we have owned.

So, I would say take a look at the reviews for the specific year that you are looking for online as well. Research to see if there are any specific problems with those years. For example, when we bought our Chevy Trailblazer we steered clear of the 2002's because there were some things that popped out at us there that we didn't want to have to deal with.

 

[ToodlesRN]

We have a 2008 Tahoe, my husband is a chevy person and repairs most of his own chevy's a truck and a classic car. So I looked at it free service repairs for most of Tahoe besides some of the higher tech servicing with the computers. I also liked the design layout of the Tahoe vs the Ford. I even traded my 2000 Tahoe for a brand new 2007 Volvo xc90 drove it a year and traded it in for my 2008 Tahoe. I loved the Volvo but it was just to small for the activities that our family does plus a 70lb dog that goes with us.

 

[blast822]

I just want to post a recent experience. I was teaching my 16-year-old how to drive, and due to inexperience he rolled my 2004 Tahoe. We both crawled out without a scratch. The insurance agency gave us a check that was only $700 less than what we paid for the vehicle 2 years ago. I will be buying another Tahoe (or may move up to a Suburban).

 

[ShariVT]

I have an 06 Expedition and I love it. We have driven from vt to florida with it 4 times and it tows our camper better then dh's 08 f150 does. The 4x4 is awsome here in vt. It is the best car I have everyown.

 

[sbell111]

Last night, Cathy and I stopped at Home Depot on the way home. While we were talking to the employee about a kitchen remodel, one of our toddlers \was getting antsy. Cathy gave him her keys to play with.

When we were done in the store, we returned to our truck. She loaded one child while I did the other. I took the keys from Jake and then tossed them into the driver's seat. Cathy and I finished with the kids at about the same time and closed the rear doors. That's when we realized that Jake had locked them. We quickly ran through our options: Call a locksmith, call the police, break a window.... Then we remember OnStar. Not two minutes later, we were on the road and headed home.

The Tahoe wins.

 

[SUSIEQ]

We quickly ran through our options: Call a locksmith, call the police, break a window.... Then we remember OnStar. Not two minutes later, we were on the road and headed home.

The Tahoe wins.

Gotta love Onstar!

 

[Promomx2]

If you're planning on towing a travel trailer you might want to test drive both vehicles while towing the trailer. We had a F150 that we were told was great for towing, it wasn't. Suburban with tow package was great, we never knew we were towing anything.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think if your husband has a GM truck, he will really prefer the Tahoe or Yukon. I don't care for the interior of the F150 and HATE the way an Expedition is laid out. I felt very claustrophobic in one, and I'm only 5'8". A lot of people rave about the Ford interiors, but like anything else it's personal preference. If he likes the Chevy truck, he'll like the Chevy SUV.

 

[ctjsowens]

We had a Expedition and went well over 100,000 miles with no problems. Very durable! Also whats good about the most Ford products is if you do lock your keys in is that you dont have to call anyone. Just use the keypad on the door.

 

[weezyree]

We have a Suburban and are a Chevy family. We opted for the burb over the Tahoe since it has more cargo space in the rear which has come in handy several times over the years.

Our oldest is out of the house and our youngest doesn't haul friends with her, but we still find our burb very useful, especially the rear cargo area.

We pull our motorcycle trailer with it and we are a military family, so it's extremely helpful when moving.

We also love having the extra room when we have company over such as out-of-towners.

Most Tahoe owners I have talked to to compare apples to apples have cursed the lack of rear cargo space.

Just a thought!

 

[cheerforchelsea]

Ok - I am a rare find. I currently drive a 2011 Expedition and my previous vehicle was a 2004 Tahoe - both of these vehicles I purchased new. I drove the Tahoe from May of 2004 until August 2011 - at the time I sold it I had over 90K miles on the speedometer. I had very little trouble with it during the years that I drove it - first set of tires went to 65K miles with no problem. I did have to replace the instrument control panel twice (there was a factory recall on this so no charge). I also had to replace the throttle body switch at about 80K miles - a cost of about $800. Other than that a great and reliable vehicle!! For my new vehicle I went with the Ford Expedition mainly due to cost but it is a bit roomier on the inside than the Tahoe. I have had no problems with it at all (thank goodness) and really do love the ride and the handling. I love the fact that the rear seats on my Expedition fold down and do not have to be removed when handling large loads. I the Tahoe they had to be removed (which was easy) but the seats were heavy. (My son-in-law had a 2001 Expedition that had over 300K when it was destroyed in the April tornadoes in Alabama - it still ran and looked good when destroyed) Good Luck!!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Let me toss one other option out there - what type of cab does your husband's truck have? Is it a regular cab (seats 3), extra cab (suicide rear doors), or a crewcab (4 fullsize doors)? If he has a crewcab, I would suggest forgetting the truck-based SUV altogether. Spend $1,000-1,500 on a good camper shell and put all your luggage in the back on those long trips when you need to tow the boat. Supplement that with an actual car or a car-based crossover instead. Crossovers ride nicer than the truck based SUV's, have more usable interior space thanks to the lack of a full boxed frame, and get better mileage. And if you can get by with a typical sedan instead, better still. No, they don't have the towing capacity of a real truck (our 2008 Acadia is "rated" at 3,500lbs towing and I think the new ones are rated at 5,000, but I know better - we didn't even GET a hitch for it as I also own a truck), but you already HAVE a truck for when you need, well, a truck.

 

[Cindy B]

My hubby loves his 2000 Expedition. We bought it used and he has had minimal issues with it. He even had my son drive it as he was learning to drive.

I don't mind driving it, but I feel it's a little big for me. (I drive a 2010 Camry).

It's a very solid car that does a lot.

 

[Stacy_C]

I love my 2003 Expedition. I plan to drive it until the wheels fall off. I have a few friends who have Tahoes and while they are definitely nice vehicles, I just do not like that you have to completely remove those 3rd row seats. With the Expedition, the row just lays down flat when you don't need it. Also, in the third row of their Tahoe, the floor board is a bit higher than normal so I felt like my knees were right under my chin.

 

[tinatark]

I drive a 2004 Denali XL - bought it new, it now has around 120k miles. We've had very little repair - did some stuff with the speedometer recently, otherwise just regular maintenance. If you look at an 04 or so GMC make sure their Onstar has been upgraded - we didn't upgrade ours (and there is a fee to use it, anyway) so have some useless buttons!

All that said, our next SUV will be either an Expedition EL or Navigator L. 2 main reasons - fold flat 3rd row and keypad for entry.

Another reason - true 4wd, including 4H and 4L. AWD (only thing available on my car) is basically useless in snow.