A good friend of mine offered me a chance to buy his company's 2005 Excursion V10. It has 163,000 miles, and he wants what CarMax offered him...$4000.
I haven't seen it yet, but it is black, tan leather, I think 2X4. No idea yet what rear end it has. He says it has always been properly serviced, and has been a good vehicle.
Would I be a fool to pass this up, or is it a ridiculously big tow vehicle for a 25' Trade Wind?
Way more power than you need for a 25' but if the price is right upon inspection its only gas money...You literally would not notice your tradewind is behind you with a V10. You could go up any mountain and likely not go lower than 3rd gear.
For that much money I think you could find something more suitable that would be a right size, more comfortable, better handling, and with better fuel economy.
On the other hand if you need that large a vehicle for some reason black is a great color!
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A good friend of mine offered me a chance to buy his company's 2005 Excursion V10. It has 163,000 miles, and he wants what CarMax offered him...$4000.
I haven't seen it yet, but it is black, tan leather, I think 2X4. No idea yet what rear end it has. He says it has always been properly serviced, and has been a good vehicle.
Would I be a fool to pass this up, or is it a ridiculously big tow vehicle for a 25' Trade Wind?
David
David that sounds like a pretty good deal for an Excursion, Excursions was only produced 2000-2005, and I know that sounds like a lot of miles but a well maintained V10 has a history of lasting well over the 200,000 range. But understand that you are getting a gas job and they are not well known for great fuel economy, some do better than most pickups though, all depends on the setup with rearend and computer. Yes you can pull your 25 with this truck, you might want to ask if it has the original Ford suspension or if they had it modified for heavy loads. The reason I say this is because the Excursion is on a F250 (3/4 ton) frame and with the original suspension you should be ok because they was made with a soft suspension, and if they beefed up the rear suspension it could cause problems with your trailer because of regidity. One thing for sure with this vehicle you wont never drop out of over drive when pulling your 25 which will save you on gas, then you have passenger capacity for 7+ or an 8' of cargo space enclosed. I have a freind who has a 2004 V10 and it is just him and his wife now, he took out the 3rd row seat (they are removable), laid down the second row, converted that area with a bed and entertainment and when they travel they take turns driving and relaxing, but the wife gets on him about the Xbox though.
There is a website that us Ford owners belong to where you can find out all information on Fords, in this site is a thread for excursions where you can find all answers on Excursions, it is; Excursion - King of SUVs - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums
Mine is a diesel, I get 18.5-20 general, 14-15.5 towing my 34 footer.
Get it, try it, if you don't like it, you can always sell it.
Clean Excursions are getting harder to find, the fact that you know the owner and that more than likely he will have some service records, this seems like a good buy.
If you are going to use it strictly as a tow vehicle, I would say it should work, and if you decide to pull a bigger trailer for some reason, you shouldn't have to trade TV's...
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I recall reports of instability when towing because of that soft rear suspension. Seems that Excursions often require the addition of a Hellwig "sway bar" to tighten things up.
Something to keep in mind. It's kind of ironic that an oversized vehicle needs that kind of modification to be safe and comfortable for towing.
If I remember correctly, the "sway" issues are not do to the suspension being "soft". The arch of the springs, combined with the shackles/hangers/bushings, can lead to "side to side"/lateral "looseness" in the rear end, or, in other words, the frame/body shifts sideways above the suspension.
This tendency has been well documented on some towing sites, and their are "fixes" that are easily done to eliminate that.
David,
You are getting some miss information in here about Excursions, let me correct some of them. Excursions was designed to cover a small area of the market where people wanted both passenger and cargo enclosed, with the ability to tow large trailers. Chev/GMC had downsized and lightend up the suburb to the point where they was only good for passenger reasons. The excursions got a real bad rap before they had time to really be on the market and establish a following and prove usefulness. It was because of this bad information that killed the production of the Excursion. Those that are still around today are highly sought after, Hollywood is who known for not keeping vehicles maintains a fleet of 50 and will not part with them, government has them and will not part with them.
1) 6.0 diesels blow up- not true when the engine was first produced there was a few that did this, a couple was related to weakness in materials, the others was where the engine computer was turned up past manufacturers recomendations without proper upgrades and they would blow the head bolts because of power.
2) to change/repair/rebuild you do not have to remove the body, the engine comes out just like any other engine of that type, cost is not that much different than a regular engine until you get to the turbo, injectors, etc which is only on diesels.
3) Way more power than you need, well it is better to have it than not have it when you need it, all depends on how much you are taking with you in persons, supplies, equipment, toys. It adds up fast
4) as far as size and such that will depend on you, the 2 best tow vehicles ever made was the Excursion Diesel, Chev/GMC suburb prior to 1988.
5) Holzare is right Ex's are getting hard to find good clean ones, at that price get it try it if you dont like it you can sell it. After all you know the person you are getting it from and you can get the service records.
6) Instability, sway issues, those are issues that only arise from larger loads or trailers because of size to weight ratio. Yes on larger trailers you should add a overload spring or air bags. this is only because these trucks was primarily designed for passenger comfort with towing being 2nd unless the Ex was ordered to tow then it already came with the overloads on it.
7) V10 fuel milage this is something that you may want to take into serious account as these engines never have gotten decent fuel milage, the best I have ever heard is 12, and I know alot of people who have had these engines in not only Ex's but F250,350,450, E250,350 vans.
8) Diesel more expensive- some, yes you will pay .05 to .10 more than gas but the fuel milage makes up for that in the long run. Yes service is a little more expensive but you are also looking at an engine that is designed to last into the 400,000 range and makes up for it, more tork & power means you will use less fuel unless you are the sort of person who has to go stop, go, stop with the foot in the carbs. You wont notice heat issues with a diesel like gas engines when idel, you can idel the diesel for long hours without damage. Diesel will outlast the gas engines, in the near future you are going to see more diesel in vehicles and less gas because of the low carbon foot print. Diesels you can make your own fuel too (Legally).
When you are reading bear in mind that what you are reading may come from someone who is a Chev, Dodge, fan. Me I have both Ford and General Motors (who owns Chev,GMC,Pontiac,Buick). I have for years, each have their good and bad, but it all comes down to one thing when you want something to use get what is best for that job(s). I have been driving for near on 40 years both private and as a job, so I do know what I am talking about. I have owned or driven just about every type of vehicle there is, I do have my favorites but it is from experience not alegience.
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