It's time for a new family truckster for the wife to haul the kids around in. My desired price range covers about a 1998-2001 Suburban or a 1999-2002 Expedition. Anyone have pros or cons to either? Here's my details for either: 2wd, small V-8, mostly around town, occasional long trips, MAYBE pull the racecar once in awhile (not required). The Expedition will fit in my garage, the 'Burban won't. The 'Burban has more room in the back. I'm obviously partial to GM's, but the Expo's are real popular here, and get good reviews. What about gas mileage? (what there is of it!) I've heard about the intake manifold leaking on the GM engines. Is that the 5.3's or the 5.7's? I've heard about head gaskets leaking oil on the 5.4 Expo's. Problem? Thanks for any knowledge you have. Have fun.
I would focus on the reliability issue. Personally, for this reason, GM (new or used) lost my business forever 13 years ago.
I just bought a new expedition with the 5.4 liter v8. This is my 4th Ford in the last 4 years with that motor, never leaked a drop out of any of them. As much as I like the Buicks, I must say, for what I use trucks for, the Ford has done very well. Mark Gas milage on on of my 4.6 liter 2 WD fords is 15 town and 19 hiway I also have a 4.0 liter 2WD pickup that gets around 20 highway The 2002 5.4 got 15 town 18 highway, 2003 4x4 5.4 gets 14 town 17 highway and the 2004 5.4liter 4x4 get 14 and 17
Jeff I bought a 99 Chevy Subur 2wd (98k) last year to replace my 86 chevy subur 2wd (160k). I didn't think the old one was up to towing my 24' box trailor. Love the new one (leather etc) with the tow pac but suffer in the gas mileage, "8" towing and 12 regular. It is fast with the 3.73 gears but sucks gas. Had the intake gasket replaced when I bought it, slow antifreeze leak in the back corner. One more point ,It has the famous rear "clunk" that the old one had, somthing to do with rearend windup???? It was in mint appearance condition, gave $10k in May 2003 My 2 cents Bill
Avoid any 99 Ford with the 5.4. Ford had a casting problem with the heads and just as always never bothered to do anything about it. The heads become warped and the gaskets will eventually leak. About $2500 to fix it. My brother Todd69GS400, can tell you all about it.
I don't know much about Fords but I was wondering if a Burb won't fit in the garage, would the 4 door Tahoe be the same size as the Ford? Just thought that may have been something you had over-looked and I think they can be had WAY cheaper than a Burb?? Other than that, I would have to vote for the Chevy cause I'm a GM guy :laugh: Had a 5.7 Vortec in a 97 C2500 extended cab long bed and it really did well pulling a trailer at about 7,000 lbs. It had 3.73 gears and would do about 17mpg hwy with the AC on going 75 or so mph. Now I pull with a Duramax/Allison and it feels like I forgot to hook up the trailer and this is no lie!!! Ken
Sorry if that didn't read right but the 17mpg was NOT while towing!!! I was always afraid to check that but I know it was not good! It would pull pretty hard but you had to let it wind up to do so and it did like to drink while doing it!! Most of the towing was PAs hills and I could maintain posted speeds just fine. Ken
I have a 1996 Suburban. Same thing for me with the intake manifold gasket. I guess this is a common problem for 1994 through 1999 with the 350. And it's about $325 if you take it somewhere. Mine is a 4x4, but I still knock down about 15 mpg overall. Not too bad. It is a 1/2 ton so it will tow my car on a trailer fairly well. And there is A LOT of space in the back. Don't know anything about the Ford as I'm a diehard GM guy. My truck does have 210K on it and I'm actually starting to look for an '03 or '04 2500HD crew cab with a long bed to replace it.
Can't beat the one in my signature. Its a 3/4 ton 4x4 with 200,000k miles, and is still going strong. It gets 18 mpg. Gotta love that cute little turbo whistle! Diesel will be cheaper then regular again one day, but right now I am paying more then premium. Cheryl
Thanks for the info so far y'all. I am kinda leaning towards the 'Burban, but I started hearing about the intake leak and it got me wondering about reliability. I did look into the Tahoe/Yukon, but they are a little too small. They're about 6" shorter than an Expedition, which is borderline big enough for our needs. I'm also thinking that since the 2000's and up have the 5.3, I can tweak it a little with LS1 and LS6 parts. :laugh: :3gears: Anybody else want to chime in? Have fun.
I have an 01 Suburban 2wd with a 4:10 rear end, posi and traction control. I went with the Suburban because it does fit in the garage, has 3 rows of seats and room behind the 3rd seat to put stuff. This 01 replaced a 99 Suburban that replaced a 96 Tahoe. The Tahoe and Expedition have minimal room behind the third seat that you can't pack much stuff or groceries either. I can tow 8800# with it too. I'd like a new Denali or Escalade but can't justify the price difference right now. Finding a loaded 2wd up north gets a little interesting sometimes. Everybody up here wants 4wd even if they never really use it. Larry
If you plan on keeping the truck, I would suggest a diesel. More efficient and longer lasting engine than gas versions. I would suggest the Suburban. If you make it to our next local meeting on 12/5, we have several members with newer and older Suburbans and can give you all the info you need.
Do you really want to keep it in the garage? My wife has hated the fact that her car got booted out of the garage when the GS arrived. Up until that point she always had space in the garage. Now she doesn't like being out of the garage, especially when it is raining. She drives an 03 Expedition. We test drove used 03's and 02's, and ended up getting a used 03 because of the better feel of the updated suspension. The gas mileage for the 5.4 is pretty much the same as above with 17-18 hwy/14-15 cty. It is 2wd with limited slip rear...amazingly difficult to find around here for some reason. If you don't mind it being out of the garage, go with what you are more comfortable with (sounds like GM). Never had anything go wrong with any of the 5.4's if had. 99 F-150 Extended Cab, 02 F-150 Supercrew, and now 03 Expedition (wife's). Of course I never had one with over 25,000 miles either... :laugh: I guess we will see now with the new Expedition since we bought it used and it already has about 25,000 miles and we plan on keeping it a long time, but you never know... :Brow:
Do You Have The Right Truck?... :laugh: I HAVE WORKED FOR GM SINCE AGE 17. I AM IN SERVICE NOW, AND I KNOW FOR A FACT TAHOE'S/SUB 00'-UP KICK THE CRAP OUT OF AN EXPEDITION OR AN EXCURSION. ONE, THEY ARE TOO TALL, AND IN COMPARISON TO A 5.3/6.0-THEY DON'T STAND A CHANCE. NONE OF THESE TRUCKS ARE GOOD MILEAGE WISE-BUT THEY DO THEIR JOB WELL (CHEV. ANYWAY.) BY THE WAY, I HAVE AN EXCELLENT MECHANIC WITH US HERE WHO IS FORMERLY OF THE FORD CLOTH, 22 TRS IN FACT. GOT TIRED OF DOING RECALLS. :Brow: SO, YEAH, I'D SAY SUBURBAN.
I have a 97 1500 burb that is my second, I started with a 95 3/4 ton with the 454. I loved the 3/4 ton but just not practical. Once you buy a burb you wont go back to anything else. With three kids it is the way to go. I just cant do the minivan thing. My 97 tows my Riv just fine and right now it has 140000 miles. I think you will find all of them will have inherent things that will go wrong. I have had the intake leak also and and another thing to watch is the leak in the fitting that goes into the intake from the heater hose. You find it on the passenger side of the intake close to the alternator. When it leaks you get a real pretty orange foam around it and it will give you the smell eventually. One freaky thing I ran into was my trans cooler died which is built into the radiator and puked all of my trans fluid into the cooling system and fried my transmission. I kinda chalk alot of this stuff up to having a high mileage vehicle. Even at that I love the truck and will probably update to a newer one. But right now my Boattail is priority.
Do you mean performance or reliablity, ridicoulus statement either way. The Expeditions are practically the same height as the GM. 00 Expedition is 74.3", the 00 Tahoe is 74.2", and the 00 Suburban is 73.6" I think everyone agrees that both have their own problems, with leaks here and there. Just don't turn this into a Chevy vs Ford war with incorrect facts based on opinions.
The LSx series engines are substantially better than the traditional 350" SBC. The Gen III heads flow fantastic!! They're pretty much the standard for what an OEM head should flow like!! :TU: Blocks are just about bullet proof.....cams can be changed without removing the intake, etc, etc.
My 2 cents here(problably only worth 1 cent though :laugh: ) I currently repair all brands at my shop and have been doing so for 20 years, so here's some food for thought: The GM trucks have better resale. More expensive to buy, better to sell when your done. The Suburban with the LS engine is easier and cheaper to do routine maintenance on. The Ford mod motor is a B*tch to put plugs in, especially the rear ones under the cowl. We get $259.00 just to swap the plugs in a 5.4L Ford. They are even harder to do than an older LT1 Camaro. Genral service points on the GM truck are easier to get to. Not a lot of people think about the maintenance side of it and the long term costs. Generally speaking both brands are fairly reliable. Major problems are not as common on individual trucks as some want to believe. With the Fords overhead cam design if something in the topend fails it is MAJOR dollars to repair. GM has a better driveline. Can't beat the 4L60 or 4L80 in a gas drivetrain. Both of these tranny's rarely fail and have great shift smoothness and timing. Ford's trans doesn't seem to pick the right gear all the time(could be the lack of torque). We see more ball joint problems with Fords. We see more idler arm problems with GM. On a personal note. To me the Ford steering feel is kinda light. Vehicle seems less stable due to less steering caster(self centering). Also the Ford ride quality isn't as plush as a 'Burban. Good for a sports car, bad for a vehicle that's gonna eat up some highway miles. Another thing: The older 5.7 smallblock has more lowend grunt than a 5.3 LS1 motor. The 5.3 will out pull it unloaded but having owned both I think the 5.7 had an advantage. 'course the 6.0 beats 'em both easily. I say buy a Suburban with the 6.0L and call it a day.
We own a 2001 Tahoe with 60,000 miles and have never had a problem. If it were me, I'd buy the Suburban.
