Back in an Expedition

Hey everyone, I’m back LOL.
Back story: we bought a CPO 2018 Expedition Platinum Max in July 2021. Had it from 60-75k miles and traded it in on a Suburban in July 2022. Loved the Expy but had a ton of warranty items including cam phasers, waste gates, Sunroof track, burned out wiper and power tilt steering motors, etc.

Last July we Found a new 22 Burb LT with sunroof and captains chairs and a GM friend gave me a coupon which knocked it from $70k MSRP down to $63k. Drove it for 6 months and simply could not deal with the enormous A-pillar blind spot. Had several close calls pulling out in traffic etc.

On a whim I sent my vin to a buddy who is sales manager at a local Ford dealer., last week. He gave me $62k trade for the Suburban (10k miles on it now) and had a gorgeous Platinum Max on the lot that we bought for $55k. Not a bad deal overall.


So I just picked up this beautiful 2019 Platinum Max, 28k miles. One original owner, traded in at 12k miles and 1.5 yrs (buys new vehicle for his wife every year as a biz write off) and was then driven by the dealership owner for another 1.5 yrs and 15k miles.



Has Max tow package and all service records. Looks like nobody has ever sat in the back, cargo area is immaculate.



Service records show 5k mile oil changes, cam phaser reflash, and a couple minor other things that don’t give much cause for concern.



I put 300 miles on it before signing the papers. Here’s hoping the 2019 with 1/3 the miles of our 2018 treats us well. I’m going to buy an ESP Premier Care Ford warranty in the next couple days, it’s Blue CPO anyway for 4K miles but I’m going to push the warranty out to 100k miles anyway

The only thing it doesn’t have is second row captains chairs, so I’m going to remove the center 20% portion and make it into a bucket seat configuration so we can access the 3rd row easier.

Overall, the 2021+ GM 5.3/10 speed is super smooth, got decent mpg, and we had no “issues” with it other than some software glitches with Apple CarPlay, but the visibility in the Suburban is HORRIBLE. Massive pillars, huge side mirrors, and relatively high belt line. And, leather seats aside (the LT seats obviously feel super cheap compared to the triple stitched Platinum seats), the GM has some Seriously cheap-feeling, mismatched switchgear (turn signal stalk, HVAC buttons) and interior plastics which might be partly sue to Covid supply issues. Even with my OCD cleaning and maintenance, it was going tk be a losing battle keeping thar Suburban looking new inside.


Pic attached of the new ride.

The mid yr 19’s started getting the cast aluminum oil pan also.

I have the standard Platinum heavy tow with bench second row. Haul club sport kids a bunch the convertible 2nd row is a must. No can do bucket only 2nd row especially in standard length it would ruin the (SUV) part of the truck.

I hadn’t thought about the A pillar aspect of the new generation Yukon/Tahoe but does make sense. I looked at both in 2019. Old gen Yukon dealers in my area weren’t dealing which was weird given it was done and needed a refresh badly. The Expedition was definitely the most current and best deal in 2019.

It looks just like mine, but mines not a Max. Sounds like a very good deal. Best of luck to you.

The more posts I read here, having a '19 has not made me envious of owners with newer ones. Of course I could be living on borrowed time...or not.

Jettix2 said:

Hey everyone, I’m back LOL.
Back story: we bought a CPO 2018 Expedition Platinum Max in July 2021. Had it from 60-75k miles and traded it in on a Suburban in July 2022. Loved the Expy but had a ton of warranty items including cam phasers, waste gates, Sunroof track, burned out wiper and power tilt steering motors, etc.

Last July we Found a new 22 Burb LT with sunroof and captains chairs and a GM friend gave me a coupon which knocked it from $70k MSRP down to $63k. Drove it for 6 months and simply could not deal with the enormous A-pillar blind spot. Had several close calls pulling out in traffic etc.

On a whim I sent my vin to a buddy who is sales manager at a local Ford dealer., last week. He gave me $62k trade for the Suburban (10k miles on it now) and had a gorgeous Platinum Max on the lot that we bought for $55k. Not a bad deal overall.


So I just picked up this beautiful 2019 Platinum Max, 28k miles. One original owner, traded in at 12k miles and 1.5 yrs (buys new vehicle for his wife every year as a biz write off) and was then driven by the dealership owner for another 1.5 yrs and 15k miles.



Has Max tow package and all service records. Looks like nobody has ever sat in the back, cargo area is immaculate.



Service records show 5k mile oil changes, cam phaser reflash, and a couple minor other things that don’t give much cause for concern.



I put 300 miles on it before signing the papers. Here’s hoping the 2019 with 1/3 the miles of our 2018 treats us well. I’m going to buy an ESP Premier Care Ford warranty in the next couple days, it’s Blue CPO anyway for 4K miles but I’m going to push the warranty out to 100k miles anyway

The only thing it doesn’t have is second row captains chairs, so I’m going to remove the center 20% portion and make it into a bucket seat configuration so we can access the 3rd row easier.

Overall, the 2021+ GM 5.3/10 speed is super smooth, got decent mpg, and we had no “issues” with it other than some software glitches with Apple CarPlay, but the visibility in the Suburban is HORRIBLE. Massive pillars, huge side mirrors, and relatively high belt line. And, leather seats aside (the LT seats obviously feel super cheap compared to the triple stitched Platinum seats), the GM has some Seriously cheap-feeling, mismatched switchgear (turn signal stalk, HVAC buttons) and interior plastics which might be partly sue to Covid supply issues. Even with my OCD cleaning and maintenance, it was going tk be a losing battle keeping thar Suburban looking new inside.


Pic attached of the new ride.

Click to expand...

Very nice! Mine is also a 19 max platinum with HD tow in white metalic. It does have the captains chairs. That was a must. I did not want to have to flip seats multiple times a day. In my Taurus x I drove before the max, I just left the one seat flipped up. It was a pain in the rump. Our kids can easily get in and out on their own in the max. Enjoy! I absolutely love mine!

Service history was basically oil changes and 2 issues. 1st issue was a grinding in the front end at 3 days/300 miles old that was a chafed harness that engaged the 4wd actuators and stripped both sides, extensive parts replaced and was good to go. (I’ve used AWD for the last 5 days in it and it’s totally fine).

Second was a complaint for trans shifting strange at 6000 miles. Dealer reflashed and problem never re-appeared. Has 28.3k miles now, I’m crossing my fingers that we’re good on the trans. I’m definitely doing the extended warranty

Maxine the Max said:

Very nice! Mine is also a 19 max platinum with HD tow in white metalic. It does have the captains chairs. That was a must. I did not want to have to flip seats multiple times a day. In my Taurus x I drove before the max, I just left the one seat flipped up. It was a pain in the rump. Our kids can easily get in and out on their own in the max. Enjoy! I absolutely love mine!

Click to expand...

Our 2018 had 2nd row captains..........she really wanted them (along with the ceramic interior color) but this car was so clean and was a good deal w/ service history, so we took it. I'll remove the center seat this weekend and ordered a floormat to cover the holes.

Going_Going_Gone said:

The more posts I read here, having a '19 has not made me envious of owners with newer ones. Of course I could be living on borrowed time...or not.

Click to expand...

Agreed, anything 2021++ (regardless of brand) seems like they start to feel the Covid supplier issues. The GM switchgear on our Suburban was very inconsistent in "touch/feel" as if different buttons came from different suppliers (the HVAC felt completely different than the BLIS/Lane Departure switches, for instance).....

Jettix2 said:

Hey everyone, I’m back LOL.
Back story: we bought a CPO 2018 Expedition Platinum Max in July 2021. Had it from 60-75k miles and traded it in on a Suburban in July 2022. Loved the Expy but had a ton of warranty items including cam phasers, waste gates, Sunroof track, burned out wiper and power tilt steering motors, etc.

Last July we Found a new 22 Burb LT with sunroof and captains chairs and a GM friend gave me a coupon which knocked it from $70k MSRP down to $63k. Drove it for 6 months and simply could not deal with the enormous A-pillar blind spot. Had several close calls pulling out in traffic etc.

On a whim I sent my vin to a buddy who is sales manager at a local Ford dealer., last week. He gave me $62k trade for the Suburban (10k miles on it now) and had a gorgeous Platinum Max on the lot that we bought for $55k. Not a bad deal overall.


So I just picked up this beautiful 2019 Platinum Max, 28k miles. One original owner, traded in at 12k miles and 1.5 yrs (buys new vehicle for his wife every year as a biz write off) and was then driven by the dealership owner for another 1.5 yrs and 15k miles.



Has Max tow package and all service records. Looks like nobody has ever sat in the back, cargo area is immaculate.



Service records show 5k mile oil changes, cam phaser reflash, and a couple minor other things that don’t give much cause for concern.



I put 300 miles on it before signing the papers. Here’s hoping the 2019 with 1/3 the miles of our 2018 treats us well. I’m going to buy an ESP Premier Care Ford warranty in the next couple days, it’s Blue CPO anyway for 4K miles but I’m going to push the warranty out to 100k miles anyway

The only thing it doesn’t have is second row captains chairs, so I’m going to remove the center 20% portion and make it into a bucket seat configuration so we can access the 3rd row easier.

Overall, the 2021+ GM 5.3/10 speed is super smooth, got decent mpg, and we had no “issues” with it other than some software glitches with Apple CarPlay, but the visibility in the Suburban is HORRIBLE. Massive pillars, huge side mirrors, and relatively high belt line. And, leather seats aside (the LT seats obviously feel super cheap compared to the triple stitched Platinum seats), the GM has some Seriously cheap-feeling, mismatched switchgear (turn signal stalk, HVAC buttons) and interior plastics which might be partly sue to Covid supply issues. Even with my OCD cleaning and maintenance, it was going tk be a losing battle keeping thar Suburban looking new inside.


Pic attached of the new ride.

Click to expand...

Congrats.
I have the 2nd row bench. Its still easy to access the 3rd row. All I have to do is push a button on the b pillar and the seat slides/tilts foward allowing access to 3rd row easily.

SyndicateZ said:

Congrats.
I have the 2nd row bench. Its still easy to access the 3rd row. All I have to do is push a button on the b pillar and the seat slides/tilts foward allowing access to 3rd row easily.

Click to expand...

Kids are actually liking the bench, they're using the center seat to hold their bag full of craft supplies lol. I haven't taken it out yet...

Jettix2 said:

Hey everyone, I’m back LOL.
Back story: we bought a CPO 2018 Expedition Platinum Max in July 2021. Had it from 60-75k miles and traded it in on a Suburban in July 2022. Loved the Expy but had a ton of warranty items including cam phasers, waste gates, Sunroof track, burned out wiper and power tilt steering motors, etc.

Last July we Found a new 22 Burb LT with sunroof and captains chairs and a GM friend gave me a coupon which knocked it from $70k MSRP down to $63k. Drove it for 6 months and simply could not deal with the enormous A-pillar blind spot. Had several close calls pulling out in traffic etc.

On a whim I sent my vin to a buddy who is sales manager at a local Ford dealer., last week. He gave me $62k trade for the Suburban (10k miles on it now) and had a gorgeous Platinum Max on the lot that we bought for $55k. Not a bad deal overall.


So I just picked up this beautiful 2019 Platinum Max, 28k miles. One original owner, traded in at 12k miles and 1.5 yrs (buys new vehicle for his wife every year as a biz write off) and was then driven by the dealership owner for another 1.5 yrs and 15k miles.



Has Max tow package and all service records. Looks like nobody has ever sat in the back, cargo area is immaculate.



Service records show 5k mile oil changes, cam phaser reflash, and a couple minor other things that don’t give much cause for concern.



I put 300 miles on it before signing the papers. Here’s hoping the 2019 with 1/3 the miles of our 2018 treats us well. I’m going to buy an ESP Premier Care Ford warranty in the next couple days, it’s Blue CPO anyway for 4K miles but I’m going to push the warranty out to 100k miles anyway

The only thing it doesn’t have is second row captains chairs, so I’m going to remove the center 20% portion and make it into a bucket seat configuration so we can access the 3rd row easier.

Overall, the 2021+ GM 5.3/10 speed is super smooth, got decent mpg, and we had no “issues” with it other than some software glitches with Apple CarPlay, but the visibility in the Suburban is HORRIBLE. Massive pillars, huge side mirrors, and relatively high belt line. And, leather seats aside (the LT seats obviously feel super cheap compared to the triple stitched Platinum seats), the GM has some Seriously cheap-feeling, mismatched switchgear (turn signal stalk, HVAC buttons) and interior plastics which might be partly sue to Covid supply issues. Even with my OCD cleaning and maintenance, it was going tk be a losing battle keeping thar Suburban looking new inside.


Pic attached of the new ride.

Click to expand...

I just saw your post in the GM forums. Great write up.