Expedition as Long Trip Road Vehicle

[Alwaysthinkin]

You can't beat these for long trips. We run my 18 Max from Northern, WI to Miami every year and its as comfortable as anything. Front sway bar makes for a real corner carving Titanic!

Made a long trip this summer, put around 5,000 miles on vehicle, and couldn't believe how comfortable I was. Made a push for returning home from Denver to Kansas City on one day and Kansas City to south of Atlanta the second day. Couldn't believe how comfortable the trip was and how fresh I felt at the end compared to other vehicles I have done road trips with. You can see my signature line for the changes I made to my Expy prior to the trip.

 

[Frugala]

My 2015 expy pulled a 30 foot camper, and 6 people on board for a cross country trip to yellowstone. It performed wonderful and was very comfortable and easy to drive. I learned about a new feature on that trip; on a windy day, a semi met and passed, crazy wind buffet started to sway the trailer, the truck automatically tapped the trailer brakes to stop it before it got really going! Pretty cool.

 

[Alwaysthinkin]

Take your spare tire off, get it balanced (Ford doesn't factory balance the spares) and put it back on with the face facing down. This allows checking/filling it without dropping it in the future. You don't want to do 100 miles on an unbalanced spare, let alone 500.

Thank you @ROBERT BONNER for this piece of information. Just pulled my spare and plan on getting it balanced tomorrow. As Harry of the show Resident Alien would say, "That's some bullsh*t!"

 

[ExplorerTom]

Hopefully the rear captains chairs are more comfortable in the 4th gens than the 3rd gens. I sat in the back for 2 hours on a road trip this summer- I was super happy to get back in the driver’s seat. But if they are high school/college aged….. they’ll be fine.

On a different road trip, I used a dog barrier to keep the dogs in the back. Otherwise they come up in between the captians chairs but are too big (and too dopey) to figure out how to reverse back into the back.

 

[dlcorbett]

Hopefully the rear captains chairs are more comfortable in the 4th gens than the 3rd gens. I sat in the back for 2 hours on a road trip this summer- I was super happy to get back in the driver’s seat. But if they are high school/college aged….. they’ll be fine.

On a different road trip, I used a dog barrier to keep the dogs in the back. Otherwise they come up in between the captians chairs but are too big (and too dopey) to figure out how to reverse back into the back.

Comfort levels btw 3rd and 4th gen aren't even close. I upgraded from 09 nav with cpt chairs to 4th gen expy with bench. 2nd row space, comfort, and seating position far outmatched the navs seat.

 

[Boostedbus]

I couldn’t be happier with my 17 EL. I do a short 2 1/2 hr. trip almost every weekend out to my mountain cabin. I’m so spoiled that I hate to drive my pickup out there anymore. It’s just a smooth, quiet, and powerful ride and it’s only an XLT. I did just put new Michelin Defenders on this past summer….. what a big improvement for traction, ride, and quietness. I do take a couple 5-6 hr trips down south every year also. I can’t imagine taking a long trip in anything any smaller now. We have a 17 Explorer also and it’s not even considered for a long trip. I like a fighting chance on the Interstates around all the distracted drivers also.

 

[balthisar]

Oh, man, I've had a lot of road trips in Expeditions.

I think my first one was a 1999. I bought it used in Arizona in 2004 to use when I lived in Hermosillo. When that job was done, we took 10 days to head home to Michigan via the national parks (the ones that hadn't closed for the winter). Two adults and a dog, plus a year's worth of household accumulations filled it right up, but it was comfortable, solid ride.

I sold it in 2007 or so in order to pay for a new kitchen, but I missed it so bought a newer, 2004 in 2008, and kept it until just a few weeks ago. I used it mainly for camping and especially camping where we wanted our tent trailer. Since six hours to the Upper Peninsula isn't a "road trip" I won't count these.

From late 2009 to early 2011 I had use of a 2010 Expedition Max. This was Mexico, so "Max" was correct for this model year. This is still the vehicle that I'm most fond of when I recall every vehicle I ever had. In any case, during my year and half living near Cuautitlan, we put close to 40,000 km on it. It was a road trip beast. From Mexico City to Cancun, from Mexico City to Chiapas, to Acapulco, to Puerto Vallarta, to Manzanillo 15 to 20 times, we crossed neat parts of Mexico on road trips many, many times. Usually just the two adults and our dog. The Max was kind of a waste for us, though, although it was nice having space for groceries behind the third row.

In 2019 I had a company supplied 2019 Expedition that we took cross country. This time with a different wife, no dog, but plus one kid. Michigan to Washington to California, Nevada, Utah and back. Because most of it was meant to be camping, it meant we went fully loaded, including stuff lashed to the roof. I really missed not having the Max on this trip, but we made due. When we met my folks in Taho, it was a PITA to unload everything into their condo just so we could use the third row while with them.

In late 2021 and early 2022, we took the 2004 back and forth across the country! Michigan to states along I-20, to Puerto Peñasco Mexico, then to Las Vegas and back home. This time with another kid but still no replacement dog. It was loud. It's easy to forget how loud our trucks were back in time. Road noise, tire noise, wind noise, engine noise. Nothing like the silence in the 2019 or even the 2010.

I've got a 2022 on order. I can't wait to take it for a road trip!

 

[AlaskanTexan]

19 Max XLT, made a great trip from North Texas to St. Louis and back, then 2 weeks later, North Texas to Fayetteville AR and back, with hubby and I plus 6 teenagers and all there stuff! Great drive, no kid complained about space. The only complaint was that it’s so big, those in the 3rd row felt like they were left out of the conversation.

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

Just a lowly 3rd gen here, but I've been very happy with it for long trips. We just did a 9 hour round trip about 10 days ago and my bad back wasn't complaining at all. The EL definitely makes a difference vs the standard in terms of ride quality (my buddy has a standard that I ride in often).

 

[Anerbe]

I ordered the Captains chairs in the 2nd row for the reasons you suggest. I also ordered the HD tow and the eLSD - probably not strictly necessary for my use case but good for resale value and flexibility down the road.

Definitely resale and if you do decide to get a camper or a larger boat.

Never thought I'd be a boat guy, but now with 3 young kids, 2 into mountain biking and skiing, I find myself looking at new wake boats for the summer.