Expedition always last to get anything.

[ExpeditionAndy]

I agree with many of your points I’m just very unhappy with the new pricing strategy. Maybe it’s fords attempt to slowly kill these trucks and move us all to more compact SUVs. A $20,000 jump from Explorer to Expedition is unprecedented, i talk to so many people who bought new Fords in the last few years who say they can no longer afford to buy new from them these days and ford and others have shoved these people into the used market and lose sales due to it. At their current prices by rule of thumb to buy a base Expedition one should make at LEAST $250,000 annually and more for higher trim. If someone buys an Expedition and they don’t make that benchmark they are overbuying, I think there is a lot of that going on in the market. I can say if prices remain where they are I will never purchase a new version of this vehicle in my lifetime, because odds are I will never bring in a quarter of a million dollars annually.

True but there are a lot of people that have money and can pay cash for a vehicle and they think nothing of it. There are a lot of people making over $100,000 a year and have a spouse making $60,000 dollars or more a year who have paid off all of their debts and can buy a vehicle in this price range. Ford's strategy maybe to make the Expedition more upscale. Mercedes has nothing that competes in this size category and really the only other brand is GM with vehicles of this size. Ford can choose to raise the bar and make it a higher end vehicle. That is a marketing decision that has paid off for other companies in other industries. Companies have to make profit, they are beholding to the stock holders. Ultimately Ford doesn't care about us, if we can't afford the price of a vehicle we are no longer their target customer.

 

[JExpedition07]

True but there are a lot of people that have money and can pay cash for a vehicle and they think nothing of it. There are a lot of people making over $100,000 a year and have a spouse making $60,000 dollars or more a year who have paid off all of their debts and can buy a vehicle in this price range. Ford's strategy maybe to make the Expedition more upscale. Mercedes has nothing that competes in this size category and really the only other brand is GM with vehicles of this size. Ford can choose to raise the bar and make it a higher end vehicle. That is a marketing decision that has paid off for other companies in other industries. Companies have to make profit, they are beholding to the stock holders. Ultimately Ford doesn't care about us, if we can't afford the price of a vehicle we are no longer their target customer.

I agree, i was talking to the owner of our marina about this, he has bought brand new ford trucks for the last 30 years every 5 years. He said he will never purchase another new ford again in his life as the prices are too high and not worth it. We both agreed the target customer for HD trucks and Expeditions are not working class people anymore. New trucks are for office workers or people with hobbies with a lot of money, those who need them for work will have to go to the used market. Those who need an affordable family hauler that can tow are in the same boat, they have to go to the used market. Ford and others target consumer is no longer people seeking workhorses or a vehicles utility, it’s all about flashiness and useless gadgets now. The days of making trucks and SUVs for the working man are over. Back in the day the suburban was an affordable workhorse look what it’s become, a bling mobile for rappers and soccer moms.

 

[07xln]

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the outrageous price the OP paid for his Expedition. $69K is insane. I don’t think anybody in here paid that much for a Limited EL. I know I didn’t and mine has all the bells and whistles. Mine was $53K after TTL and extended warranty and a dual headrest dvd add on. I got mine at the end of 2016 so it’s not like they floored the price because they were trying to move them for the 18’s.

 

[aggiegrad05]

I agree, i was talking to the owner of our marina about this, he has bought brand new ford trucks for the last 30 years every 5 years. He said he will never purchase another new ford again in his life as the prices are too high and not worth it. We both agreed the target customer for HD trucks and Expeditions are not working class people anymore. New trucks are for office workers or people with hobbies with a lot of money, those who need them for work will have to go to the used market. Those who need an affordable family hauler that can tow are in the same boat, they have to go to the used market. Ford and others target consumer is no longer people seeking workhorses or a vehicles utility, it’s all about flashiness and useless gadgets now. The days of making trucks and SUVs for the working man are over. Back in the day the suburban was an affordable workhorse look what it’s become, a bling mobile for rappers and soccer moms.

I think there’s two points here. The first is the availability of a “cheap” family tow vehicle. If you get the 2018 XLT with no additional options and HD towing, it’ll run you $54k before incentives and negotiating...which is equivalent to about $43k in 2005 money. And a new suburban in 2005 was about $41k (msrp). So I think it’s not terribly out of line historically. Yes, it is a little higher, but you have a better gas mileage, better safety, better comfort etc. in other words, you are getting something for that increase in price over a decade ago.
Your second point relates, I think, to the upper trim levels which were not a thing 10 or 15 years ago. But ford is on the record as saying that there are folks that cross shop an S Class Benz (for instance) and a truck because they don’t want a sedan. If that buyer is making $300k/year and wants a truck or a domestic suv, they want something nice and ford (and GMC, and caddy, and Lincoln) are giving it to them so Ford doesn’t lose that sale to Merc or Porsche or whoever. If there weren’t a market for the vehicle, Ford wouldn’t waste its time.

Im not disagreeing that I wish these vehicles were cheaper, but for what you’re getting, and the fact that there are still offerings that are generally in line with historical pricing adjusted for inflation, it’s not that strange.

 

[Flight-ER-Doc]

I hadn’t even thought to check this item but after you mentioned it I looked and sure enough, the trucks get the 400 watt one. I can only assume that Ford thinks the truck one would get used on job sites or whatever. Idk. What kind of stuff is the 150 watt good for? I only need to charge my phone or tablet in the car so having a inverter is new to me.

I use my AC outlet to power an AC to USB charger with 7 ports....which powers/charges phones, tablets, a GPS, and whatever else. Works great for me.

I'm not sure what I'd do with a 400w AC outlet different.

On my F250 SuperDuty Powerstroke I have a 2000w inverter under the hood, I can run power tools with it when I need to

 

[cekkk]

IMHO it's all about profit margin offsetting spread on the runt pack. My '97 XLT had flaps that folded down to fill the gap when 2nd row was down, giving a large flat space. 2000 and 2004 left me to fill the gap. Coffee cup holders have cheapened too. I find more Flash but less substance as model years changed. But while my Yukon looks sharper than DWs King Ranch, her controls layout and especially radio/phone/nav system is way more user-friendly. Overall, Ford all the way.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Sad about the inverter ! Even 400W is kind of marginal in my book !! Transit vans still have no premium/"Platinum" interior. The quad captains chairs in my '98 E150 Club Wagon are more comfortable.

You won't have long to wait for a 2019MY Expedition ! On a different message board they said the 2018 last order date was in March/April and the 2019MY would be coming out in June/July. Same for the F150. The F150 is getting a new small diesel. Maybe the Expedition will also !

 

[mossback]

On my F250 SuperDuty Powerstroke I have a 2000w inverter under the hood, I can run power tools with it when I need to

Which 2000W inverter did you put in the SD?

 

[rjdelp7]

Your battery voltage is 12v 400watts / 12v = 33amps. That is a significant drain. Most laptops use a AC to DC power adapter. It would make more sense(and cheaper) to purchase a 12V adapter for the laptop.

 

[MidwestBoater]

I just wanted to jump in here and agree with some of the previous posts, these suckers are pretty pricey new, I looked long and hard for a used one that wasn't abused.. I ended up with a '16 XLT that was owned for a year and a half and has 57,*** highway miles on it and a full maintenance history. We needed a vehicle with seating for us (family of 4 and a dog) plus a couple extra for when we tow the boat to the area lakes.. the boat can hold 11 people, and my crew cab truck held just the 4 of us and the dog. I looked at the big GM SUV twins for about 5 minutes, the only ones I could "afford" were a few years old with 100,000 miles on them. Most of the 1-2 year old used Expeditions around here are ex rentals, I lucked out when I found this one. The pickings are slim for a capable tow vehicle and people hauler for $30k or less that doesn't have high miles, I was down to the expedition or a Nissan "full size" passenger van with the tow package. I wasn't looking for "frills" either, just a tow package.