New Camper towin rig?

[dzg]

Ok i have asked on some of the truck sites and camper sites and got little responce all i get is the "get a diesel" rhetoric.....so i need your guys opinion.

I have a 30 ft salem travel trailer, currently I tow with a 77 F250 Reg Cab 2wd with a 400 and C6 auto. It tows it ok but the lack of A/C and interior space sucks. The trailer weighs just under 7K fully loaded.

Ive narrowed it down to three vehicles that are in my price/like range....

00-05 Excursion (6.8L V10 4wd)
03-08 (ish) Expedition (5.4 V8 4wd)
2000-06 Suburban (5.3 V8 4wd)

I have test drove all of the above and I personally like the Excursion the most, its the most "trucky" , has the most space, most comfort (IMO) and obviously the most power. But its a royal pain to park, and im sure gets the worse MPG of the group. (Its going to be a daily driver). I do like the idea of two solid axles though.

The Expeditions have decent space, decent power, and seemed to be a solid performer overall. Not as trucky as the Excursion, but still felt like it could hold its own. But i have my doubts about its towing abilty with a trailer that large.

The suburban, It was kind of a blend of both worlds, it had more room then the Expedition, but wasnt a tank like the Excurision, but i didnt like the lack of ground clearence and at the end of the day....its still a chevy

My question is....who hear has input on these vehicles? Real world towing experiance? Real world MPGs? How do they handle in the snow? Reliabilty?

Any info is GREATLY appreciated.

[Dan67]

You might want to head over to CarComplaints.com | Car Problems, Car Complaints, & Repair/Recall Information and do a good search of the vehicles you are interested in. That site helped me in the search for a new truck.

[chris davison]

I have an 04 3/4 ton chevy 4x4 Diesel that gets 16 around town 14/15 towing and on a long trip not towing I have gotten 20 Calif to Arkansas and back and forth. Leather heated seats the works. I tow a 21 foot camping trailer dual axle fully self contained with a 5500 watt generator in the bed of the truck. It has 650 ftlb of torq the ford of the same year only has 550 and I have heard many complaints of gas mileage. In the past I have owned many ford trucks I won't own another after this chevy. So let me be another to tell you if you are going to tow big trailers get a turbo diesel.

[dzg]

The biggest reasons are...

1- I cant work on them.

2- The 8000 dollar difference between a used gas excursion and diesel one will buy alot of gas.

3 I just prefer gas.

Thanks for the website though...it has alot of good info

[marshgunner]

I would chose the excursion with the v10. I have a buddy that pulls a 28 foot toy hauler with a sand rail inside with the same truck and his does fine. Sure the fuel mileage is around 8mpg but it seems to not be underpowered. It has got 12mpg in town/highway but not all that often. They seem big when you first drive them but you get used to it.

The 5.3 in the suburban I think is underpowered and would be struggling to pull that trailer in the hills and from the starts in town driving. I don't know if I would feel all that comfortable pulling all of that weight with a half ton truck. I know they are rated for that but there is not that much margin of error.


A buddy had a 2000 f150 with the towing package with the 5.4 and it did really well pulling 8000lbs threw the hills but I don't remember what the fuel mileage was.

This is all opinions. I have a Ford f350 crew cab 4x4 with the 460 auto and it pulls well but like the excursion it is hard to park and see around you but you learn to live with it. I also have a 2006 Chevy crew cab with a duramax and it does the same loads with a lot less effort and better milege but fuel is more money so it comes out in the end.