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Suburban Versus Excursion or something else???

FrugalFamily
Explorer
Explorer
For the last several years we've been towing our 2005 Outback 26 footer with a a 2WD 04 Suburban with the 5.3 engine. Towing, we'd get about 10 MPG and although the rig was fine on the flats, it would dog on the hills, like the Grapevine in southern CA and slow to about 40 (loaded with all our gear and the four teenage kids plus wife). When the 'Burban rolled over to about 220,000 miles I wasn't keen on taking another six week cross country jaunt in it, and it's been pretty beat up now teaching all the kids to drive. So we started looking within our budget for a new tow vehicle to at least get us through last summer's trip. We ended on a well kept one owner 2001 Excursion with 179,000 on the odometer and a V-10 engine. I figured this rig would suck up the gas but run circles around the towing power of the 5.3. Boy was I wrong! Not only did the rig drop my mileage to about 7 overall when towing (which was fine - I expected it), I also found it to be just about as gutless as the Suburban was on the grades. So, our search has sort of continued. We're not into the Excursion for a lot of money - about $8000 - and we are in a position this year to go upwards of $15-20,000 if we find the right tow vehicle.

My wife doesn't want to go with a truck - she wants the capacity to comfortably carry the whole family for the long trips six now adult-sized people for 4-6 week trips), and I want to make sure that the vehicle we get will handle up to at minimum an 8000 lb trailer plus the family. She would prefer that we keep options open and gt the best tow capacity we can on an SUV as she would like to upgrade the trailer to one where we don't have to pull our queen bed out every night or climb over one another to get into the bed. She REALLY liked the roominess of the Excursion and so did the family.

So the question then is, what are our options? I'm fine with an older, well kept, vehicle, but would like to at least be able to hold my own on a moderate grade like the Grapevine at 55, or the ones you hit on I-80 coming across Nevada and back into California. I'm open to a diesel, but have heard too many horror stories about the 6.0, so I want to stay away from those. We've considered an Excursion with a 7.3 diesel, a Denali/Yukon XL with its larger 6.0 gas engine as well. Anyone out there got some experience with those vehicles and the background to compare with my experience towing with the Excursion V-10 and the 5.3 Suburban? I was thinking the 6.0 gasser just to get a little more power out of it on those hills. Our trailer itself is probably 6000 lbs. Yes, I'm a bad RVer - I've never weighed it, just based on the dry weight (4500 on the sticker) plus what we haul around with us. It's always towed just fine with no sway or other issues. In either the Excursion or the Suburban, on the flats you don't even know it's there unless it's super windy.
17 REPLIES 17

Grit_dog
Navigator
Navigator
A stock 7.3 diesel won't really out pull any newer big gasser. Only get better mileage doing it.
Dumping a bunch of money into an old vehicle to make it marginally better is an act of futility and generally not frugality (see what I did there...?).
Also spending "all" your budget on an old vehicle is a bad decision unless your other budget includes $ for repairs.
All 4 kids are now over 16 it appears, so are they really all going on trips with you? Doesn't seem likely unless they're 16 and quadruplets, lol. Truck may work but those are as expensive or more than comparable SUVs.
Something was wrong with the Excursion or your remembrance of the old burb was skewed. Have had both drivetrains. Early 2000s V10 Triton smokes an early 2000s 5.3 towing.
There are good $10k V10 Excursons out there. You started the same thread asking the same question as the one below this one. Did you read it? But excursions are more rare than good 3/4 on suburbans now. But there's a fair number of low or lowish mile 3/4 burbs out there too. At least up here there is. If you wan the right vehicle you may need to search geographically further away.

BUT after all that, why are you looking for a bigger rig if you were happy with the old 1/2 ton Burb save for its power on the grapevine and similar?
1/2 ton Tahoe/Yukon and Burbs are literally dime a dozen. Not hard to find a low mile older one. And if you step up to the late 2000s you can get a 6.0 or 6.2 6 speed burb 1/2 or 3/4 or Denali which will either be heavy duty or have 400hp if you get the 6.2.

The something else is a van or a pickup. You won't get the power out of a van for the most part you could out of a Denali. And you will be driving a van the rest of the year when you're not towing. Real question is, do you want to look like a contractor/creeper in a van or a soccer mom, going to the grocery store?
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APT
Explorer
Explorer
Grapevine is tough for the grade and altitude. Any naturally aspirated engine will be singing up there. The 7.3L Ford diesel will be a little better, but it is very much lower power with close to same torque as the V10. Fuel usage will be lower/better. ๐Ÿ™‚ Power and speed wise I think will be tough to show significant improvement over the V10 under $20k.

Would you consider a full sized van? 2011+ GM 1-ton passenger van with 6.0l/6-spd should be well under $20k with under 100k miles. That 6-spd is really helps keep engine in powerband. An Example
A & A parents of DD 2005, DS1 2007, DS2 2009
2011 Suburban 2500 6.0L 3.73 pulling 2011 Heartland North Trail 28BRS
2017 Subaru Outback 3.6R
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patperry2766
Explorer II
Explorer II
What about 4.56's or 4.88's? The Excursion is a big beast and anything you can do will be of benefit. I was at the tail end of my car sales career during the last few years of production. They were quite popular with the military contractors like Blackwater and such that would get them retrofitted with armor plating and then send them over to Iraq.
They were the poster child for the enviromentalists about how they were destroying the world, but they did serve a need if you needed to tote a lot of people around. The 7.3 diesels still bring STUPID money if they're in any kind of decent shape.
Courage is the feeling you have right before you fully understand the situation

dodge_guy
Explorer II
Explorer II
My 02 V10 X towed my 35ft 9300lb loaded TT with no issues. I did swap from 3.73 to 4.30 which mde a huge difference in towing. After that the final thing I did was get custom tunes from 5 star. between those 2 things alone it really woke up the V-10! it sounds like you have 3.73`s. the 3.73`s are good fot running around empty with the kids, but not for towing. I never had a problem running the posted speed limit up a mointain. in fact I could accelrate up the mountain around slower moving traffic!
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theoldwizard1
Explorer II
Explorer II
If you keep your LOADED trailer weight under 8,000 lbs AND move all of the cargo to the trailer, an EcoBoost Expedition with a 6 speed is a viable option. It MUST have the HD trailer tow option (HD radiator, HD transmission cooler, trailer brake wiring and possibly a built in trailer brake controller, and a higher rear axle.

We have put 4 adults and 4 kids under 12 in one for short trips.

wowens79
Explorer III
Explorer III
If you can find an excursion with the 7.3 diesel it would be perfect. The bad thing is they are stupid expensive. But there is nothing else like them available. They also had 6.0 diesels, they have some issues, so read up on those.
2022 Ford F-350 7.3l
2002 Chevy Silverado 1500HD 6.0l 268k miles (retired)
2016 Heritage Glen 29BH
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snowpeke
Explorer
Explorer
Why not get an older double cab duramax. It will fit the family and have some power. My 2002 is still going strong.
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colliehauler
Explorer III
Explorer III
Just curious what rpm are you running going up the hill?

carringb
Explorer
Explorer
Weird. The V10 should not in any way feel gutless pulling 6,000 pounds. Are you absolutely sure it's not the 5.4L?

I've pulled the grapevine many times, usually loaded around 14,000 pounds of trailer and cargo and people (or 22,000+ combined), and had no problem holding 62 MPH (which is about the max I usually do in CA with its 55 MPG towing limit).
2000 Ford E450 V10 VAN! 450,000+ miles
2014 ORV really big trailer
2015 Ford Focus ST

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
85,000 pounds..now thatโ€™s a trailer!
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

Geo_Boy
Explorer II
Explorer II
Go back to a Suburban, but this time with a 6 liter gas, 6 speed transmission and 4.10 gears. Good luck.

K_Charles
Explorer
Explorer
Tyler0215 wrote:
What's the rear end ratio? A change to a lower ratio (higher #) my solve the problem.

Our '04 excursion did find with a TT that usually weighed around 85,000. When it got to 200,000 we went looking,same as you, and ended up trading the TT for a used MH because that was the cheaper option.

rexlion
Explorer
Explorer
What about adding a Banks power kit? Or has anyone ever come out with an aftermarket turbo? Cheaper to mod for more power than to trade.
Mike G.
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Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
Last Excursion was built in 2005 and most have been used hard.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad