I Bought the Greatest SUV Ever Made: Ford Excursion 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4

in a world where SUVs are big one SUV had to be the biggest at this idiot bought one [Music] as a fan of ridiculous oversized SUVs I was perfectly content with my 2003 Hummer h2 which I've owned for about the past year even though it had a lot of obvious drawbacks the visibility inside was awful and for the size the cargo area is also really disappointing but still I love that thing to death and had no intention of selling it that is until a more ridiculous SUV became available locally and I couldn't help myself I truly could not resist buying the best version of the Ford Excursion the largest mass-produced SUV ever made and it being the biggest it's just the beginning of this trucks ridiculous resume back when the excursion was introduced in 1999 automakers didn't have a wide line of SUVs yet and the term cross over that word hadn't even been invented yet with Chevy you had the Blazer in the Tahoe and the suburban and with Ford you had the Explorer and the expedition and for some reason somebody at Ford thought the expedition wasn't large enough to despite the fact that it's gargantuan and decided to build this the Ford Excursion based on the Ford f-250 platform it's huge initially they were three engine choices for the excursion starting with the 5.4 liter v8 which could barely get this thing out of its own way followed by the mighty v10 gasoline engine which was okay fine but then there's the best engine the 7.3 turbo diesel power stroke v8 that legendary engine which fortunately is what this excursion has the camera is not even tall enough to reach the engine bay but this mighty 7.3 liter diesel is under the hood it looks magnificent and it's a heavy engine and the fact that this thing is four-wheel-drive puts in the total kerb weight at somewhere around seven thousand six hundred pounds seven thousand six hundred pounds just for reference that's two thousand pounds heavier than a Chevy Suburban or a Ford Expedition and a thousand pounds heavier than my Hummer h2 is roughly the same weight as a Hummer h1 depending on the spec but this excursion is three feet longer than a Hummer h1 it's six inches taller than a suburban and seven inches longer as well this thing is absolutely massive so massive that when you're sitting inside driving this thing you feel like you're a god you feel like all the other cars on the road are insects that you can smash now it seems Ford took notice of this fact that this thing is so much larger than any other car on the road and when they actually crash tested it with their other smaller cars like the Ford Taurus in a head-on impact the excursion did its own version of a monster truck rally and just drove up over the Taurus which obviously isn't going to work so they added extra reinforcement to the bottom of the bumper so the Hat catches the car and in the back they made the tow package standard they put a giant tow hitch receiver on the bottom so anybody unfortunate enough to rear-end one of these didn't go underneath it and get crushed this thing is just so massive so huge it's kind of snowing spitting outside so I'm very thankful to have this garage but this excursion despite the size of my garage which is plenty big barely fits enough for me to film in here it's it's just unbelievable it's gonna be a lot easier for me to vlog this thing to give you a little POV to show this thing's mammoth size now on camera it looks big yes but since it kind of has the same rough shape as a Ford Explorer it really doesn't look that crazy until you see one in person I mean just look at this grille absolutely massive the same as an f250 yes and the same solid front axle as a Ford f250 look at that big front differential there look how high we are off the ground on a completely stock vehicle completely stop but despite its mammoth size this is a very simple vehicle it's very simple to build and it reportedly costs less to build than a Ford Expedition but when they went to sell it it cost way more than a Ford Expedition but it didn't matter because people bought the heck out of these things just look at the inside this is Frank's favorite car because of the cloth seats and there's so much room for activities in here with the third row folded up this rig could fit eight full-size Doug Camaros perfectly without any complaints at all but once again look how simple this thing is it looks like a basic work but they are wanting forty fifty sixty thousand dollars for these things sixty thousand dollars Frank do you know do you know how much sixty thousand dollars is it's crazy a lot of people would miss the creature comforts all the infotainment and technology of modern vehicles but personally I think this excursion is way more comfortable than most new SUVs partially because of these seats look how much cushion we have here with the seats that is a long-dead trend now seats are rock-hard they barely have any cushioning because they think you need to be more bolstered and support it that way I don't understand it's just so minimalist there's very few embellishments in the interior this thing you got one kind of metallic excursion they had you but really not much else a sea of grey a little clipboard here for paper so while I love the interior treatment you all may not be that impressed yes but take a look at the back of this thing and they have a hard time opening it because we are at the end of the garage look at this triple door action here and the third row seat is currently folded down but look how much room I have to store cargo back here with the third row seat in with the third row seat out I can do snow angels in the back of this thing it is so massive so ridiculously huge now despite loving the port excursion I never thought I would buy one because when they quit making these in 2005 prices steadily appreciated to levels where I didn't think it was worth it now Ford very wisely in a production on the excursion in 2005 citing demand had been satisfied for an SUV this huge and they really had some foresight with this because this was well before gas prices went way up and the Great Recession took out other large SUVs like the whole entire Hummer brand so Ford they're really thinking to go out while they were still ahead but now as the supply of nice used examples of these are dwindling prices have gone way up but I was really lucky in the fact that my friend Bob at euro-asian Auto Inc he took this on trade for only $7,000 it has a little over 200,000 miles on it but the overall condition is incredible and that's because it spent most of his life in Arizona even though it's a four-wheel drive it spent most of its life in Arizona and is optioned with the best engine the 7.3 liter power stroke driving this thing is a hoot so let's go all right let's see if I can get this thing out of here without doing a 50-point turn Frank like [Music] now there are a lot of reasons why the 7.3 diesel excursion is the most sought after example the one right here and the first reason is because of the torque this turbo diesel might oh sorry Frank there is just so much torque which is greatly needed with this 7,000 pound SUV this is the only engine where the power feels adequate really certainly not fast by any stretch of the imagination but not slow either the second reason why the 7.3 is the most desired is because of its longevity they use this for many years spanning decades and towards the end of the 7.31 which is very close to the year of this Ford Excursion they had perfected this engine too near invincibility with the right care these things can literally last forever and unfortunately the diesel engine that replaced it it's not the case it went from a 7.3 liter to a 6 liter and those turbos trying to up or power to the 6 liter would just blow head gaskets in the complicated emission system was a nightmare as well so those engines did not last long that's why a 7.3 liter can be worth double or triple that of a 6 liter just because they do not last nearly as long and the same can be said with the v10 gasoline engines the gas mileage you're lucky to get in the double digits with those on the highway and they weren't the most robust or serviceable engines either they're so big and they had a tendency to blow out their spark plugs randomly the threads that hold down the spark plug would strip and then it pops out and the thing sounds like a clattering really bad diesel this is a good clatter here oh yeah just amazing I feel like I'm going over a road trucker in this thing because it's so massive but this is a production car that is completely stock unmodified completely stock now the condition and the price of this excursion made it irresistible for me not to buy I had to buy it but I did notice what I thought were a few issues number one I'm greeted with a familiar face the warm amber glow of the check engine light in the dashboard the very sparse dashboard but also I noticed that the steering requires a lot of input to keep this giant barge pointed straight I'm constantly having to make steering corrections to this thing to keep it pointed straight which I'm not used to with a modern car at Hull so there's a big wake-up call when I first went to fill up this thing full of diesel it took 40 gallons and cost over $100 good more ridiculous with this board excursion but look next to me is a Ford Escape I'm passing a Ford Escape right now it looks like a teeny tiny ant a Hyundai Sonata absolutely hilarious to look at normal cars in this thing it completely changes your outlook on other cars I can see the top of a roof of a Ford f-150 in this thing nuts absolutely nuts look at this little Hyundai right here oh it's so cute before we go back in the garage and I get my final thoughts I do need to duck tomorrow out a little bit here because it is so ridiculous once again this is a power plug sliding slot I don't know why it needs a fancy garage door for the power slot but then there's another one down here two cupholders here two cupholders here and two cupholders here so that is 6 cupholders within arm's reach amazing now after doing some research I found out that the steering traits that I noticed with this excursion the fact that it needed a lot of input to go straight was something that new car reviewers notice way back when the Ford Excursion was new so apparently that's normal I also scanned the check engine light and it's only throwing one code for a glow plug which is supposedly very easy to replace still it has over 200,000 miles on it it's almost twenty years old so I imagine the car wizard will find more things wrong with it that's in the next episode but I'm not sure if he's going to be able to get this thing up on the lift because wait why is it maybe way over capacity how are you even know if I want to go underneath it if it is still under capacity thank you for watching you

Channel: Hoovies Garage

Views: 875,564

Rating: 4.9161177 out of 5

Keywords: hoovies, garage, tyler, hoover, ford, excursion, 7.3 powerstroke, review, test, drive, problems

Id: lSkkgPBoLws

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 05 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

We have a 7.3 powerstroke in the family with 350k miles. I learned to pull trailers with it, moved to college, apartments, and now my home with it. I have called dibs and will happily buy it at a premium when my dad doesn't need it anymore (and I already have a duramax).

I've had various fast cars, but that old truck is the only "lifetime" vehicle I've run across to this point.

If I could wish upon a star, the powerstroke would get my truck's Allison Transmission. That's my only complaint about it.

[u/[deleted]]

Hoovie is living the dream of most car guys.

[u/[deleted]]

Friend from years past bought a V10 Excursion and supercharged it. I'm pretty sure it got gallons to the mile, but it pulled like a freight train. He inherited a granite countertop company and used the back to haul countertops to homes. Very quickly.

[u/awhol01]

I always wanted to put a torque shift or 5r110 behind the 7.3. I dont like how they shifted.

[u/G0DL3SSH3ATH3N]

Lies

[u/Fasterthanyall]

He already bought and sold the greatest suv ever made. Land cruiser. "but Muh diesel", there are diesel land cruisers.

[u/Hifi_Hokie]

Almost bought one, but realized I couldn't get anywhere off-road with it where I'd likely go.

Well, that and everything costs twice as much as for the Jeep. Lift kits, bumpers, winches...

[u/isaacveenstra]

Must be nice. I wish ours didn’t have the 6.0...

[u/Blckbeerd]

Forget the truck, I wanna see the clownshoe in the background...