New ride time for the wife

[alexleblanc]

During the Christmas break, December 29th to be exact we ordered my wife a new car after trying a whole bunch of stuff.



my wife's requirements were the following:

1. Seven passenger capacity

2. Towing capacity of at least 3500lbs (for the Side x Side and utility trailer)

3. luggage room for 4 adults and two children

4. heated + cooled seats, heated steering wheel, auto wipers, front camera, any other color than black interior

5. needs to be at least as quick as her current Explorer sport.



So we test drove the following:

1. Audi Q7 - too small for our needs, otherwise a very nice driving and comfortable rig. (i really liked it)

2. Yukon Denali - great interior, rode very well with the new IRS, felt underpowered unless you really got on it (that 6.2 needs RPM to wake up), dealer unwilling to deal on the price. Not surprising as its a new model and there are barely any on the lot.

3. Lincoln Navigator - great interior, most comfortable seats by far, ton's of effortless power with the 3.5HO but the fuel economy is downright bad, we averaged around 13mpg on our 40mile test drive.

4. Expedition Max - They didn't have one on the lot but one of the executives had one as a demo so we were able to try it out, it was the Platinum trim level. The Platinum gets the 400hp version of the 3.5 Ecoboost, add that to the 3.73 gears that come with the towing package and you've got a surprisingly quick combo. Wife got in and immediately told me she felt comfortable with the familiarity of the controls and liked the fact that it was similar inside to my F350. Test drive was great and she sent me off to go get us a good deal.



So after a little back and forth we settled on a price that i was happy with for the trade in on our 2017 Explorer and a good healthy rebate on a 2021 Expedition Max Platinum in Antimatter Blue with the towing package, eLSD, second row bench seat and the stone colored interior.



It arrived on the dealer lot Friday and we're picking it up tomorrow morning.



here's a few pictures of it in the rain, the color is really great in the sun. I'll get some better pictures of it tomorrow.




the color in the sun:

[alexleblanc]

philh wrote:
is that color the same as the Ford Anti-matter

it is actually Antimatter Blue.

[philh]

is that color the same as the Ford Anti-matter

[ford_truck_guy]

FishOnOne wrote:

ford truck guy wrote:
Awesome looking truck.... Good Luck with it... I really like the color, in the sun, IT POPS ! The interior color is nice, but we would get that dirty in 2 weeks.. ! :B

Joe

My Super Duty has light brown leather seats and dark brown carpet and surprisingly the light brown leather just needs an occasional shami wipe down (more like twice a year) and the dark brown carpet hides all the dirt and stuff you drag in.

For the normal user I agree... but my 2 black dogs will make short work of that light color, especially after a day in the water ! ! I DO like it more than the black that I have, but for ME, it's not practical

[Devo_the_dog]

Based on all the positive comments and other reviews I've read, we test drove a 2021 Expedition tonight.

[FishOnOne]

ford truck guy wrote:
Awesome looking truck.... Good Luck with it... I really like the color, in the sun, IT POPS ! The interior color is nice, but we would get that dirty in 2 weeks.. ! :B

Joe

My Super Duty has light brown leather seats and dark brown carpet and surprisingly the light brown leather just needs an occasional shami wipe down (more like twice a year) and the dark brown carpet hides all the dirt and stuff you drag in.

[FishOnOne]

Very nice... The Plati or King Ranch is the way to role.

[ford_truck_guy]

Awesome looking truck.... Good Luck with it... I really like the color, in the sun, IT POPS ! The interior color is nice, but we would get that dirty in 2 weeks.. ! :B

Joe

[alexleblanc]

just picked it up - better photo's as promised.

[alexleblanc]

Bionic Man wrote:
I like the color. The Expedition is a nice vehicle (we have a 2019).

Did you track the MPG on the test ride of the Ex vs the Lincoln? Since it is the same engine, I'm surprised that the actual MPG would be significantly different between the two? FWIW, Fuelly shows them to be basically the same.

Anyway, I'm sure your wife will like it. I have two complaints about ours. One, towing our 7000 pound boat, the engine and tranny temps still get much higher than I like towing over the mountains. It is better than the Yukon it replaced, but still goes over 240*. Second complaint is we got the XLT with with the 202A (?) package, and it just isn't as nice of an interior as I would have liked. You solved that second problem buying the Platinum.

the Navigator has the 3.5 High output from the Raptor, i believe it runs different turbos and the bottom end is slightly different too. On the same test drive route the same day we averages a little over 16mpg for what it was worth. the Suburban average 15mpg and the Audi 23mpg (much smaller vehicle though).

Not overly concerned about the mountain towing ability if I'm being 100% honest as the most i'll tow with it is either my utility trailer and side x side or my buddy's 22ft float with one of my cars on it (either the Plymouth or the Buick) and that might be 6500lbs at most and lets be honest, if i have any real towing to do, the F350 is going to do it anyways.

[FishOnOne]

Looks like a jewel... I personally would prefer a Expedition Platinum 4x4 or Chevy Tahoe 4x4 over a Jeep Wrangler or the new Bronco but my wife doesn't like driving large vehicles.

Also I would expect Ford to perform a mid cycle refresh on the Expedition for 2022 since the GM twins SUV's look to be some serious competition and perhaps even the Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

[specta]

time2roll wrote:
Yes the sun really changes the look 😉

[Bionic_Man]

I like the color. The Expedition is a nice vehicle (we have a 2019).

Did you track the MPG on the test ride of the Ex vs the Lincoln? Since it is the same engine, I'm surprised that the actual MPG would be significantly different between the two? FWIW, Fuelly shows them to be basically the same.

Anyway, I'm sure your wife will like it. I have two complaints about ours. One, towing our 7000 pound boat, the engine and tranny temps still get much higher than I like towing over the mountains. It is better than the Yukon it replaced, but still goes over 240*. Second complaint is we got the XLT with with the 202A (?) package, and it just isn't as nice of an interior as I would have liked. You solved that second problem buying the Platinum.

[ford_truck_guy]

Those Expedition Max's are great trucks/SUV's..

Back in 2018 we were looking for one for my wife, but could not get to the stage of saying yes to one. We realized that we didn't need the seating anymore (only 1 kid left at home ), nor did we need the towing as we have a Fifth Wheel..

That's why we ended up with the Explorer Platinum.. She LOVES the truck, and I like to drive it as well...

My son-in-law just ordered his 2022 Super Duty in Antimatter Blue...

[Lwiddis]

I'm a Chevy guy but believe the new Ford Expedition looks good! I don't see many however.