Ford Expedition Reliabilty?

[Guest]

I have yet to own or drive a Domestic vehicle, and spending years on a Honda forum has led me to believe that fords reliablity is not the greatest. But i have yet to know first hand. I have owned a Mitsubishi galant, a Honda crx, and now a honda accord.
Even Mitsbubishi is know to have alot of problems, but Honda/toyota seem to be popular knowledge for there reliabilty and dependabilty, Needing little to non major fixes amongst a large % of the owners, and lasting a very long long time.

I need a large vehicle to haul my large family. At first I was'nt even thinking in the terms of Suv, cause i didnt know they held more then 5/6 people. I was looking mostly at minivans such as the honda odyssey, toyota previa, and chevy astro. After a little ebay hunting I noticed that the expedition does have the ability to hold what seems to be 8 people.

I thought to my self this is great, I get the roominess, plus style. Im thinking of either a 97 or 98 at or around 11,000. I'de also like 80-90,ooo miles lower if possible. But Like i said before I still have worries about how well a ford is, I do however realize that ford is an established company, and hope that the product is long lasting, needing only regular maintance. But Any help, or thoughts about this to ease my mind would greatly be appreciated. Mostly i'de like to know what type of problems you've had, what are common problems, and what type of mileage do you have... thanks in advance, John.

 

[Keydo]

Here is the way I understand it. First, let's compare two somewhat comparable vehicles.

Ford Expedition
Toyota Sequoia

When comparably equipped, the Ford will be cheaper in price than the Toyota Sequoia.

However, in the long run, say five years, typically the Toyota will cost less to maintain than the Ford.

So, you end up paying basically the same in a five year period, more or less.

The Ford is less up front, but may need more maintenance along the way.

The Toyota needs more up front, but you may spend less in maintenance along the way.

If you're a Do-It-Yourself kind of person, than that helps in reducing the maintenance cost for either vehicle (A good manual helps).


My parents have a 98 Navigator which I do the maintenance (oil change, etc) and it hasn't really suffered any major problems. Here's the run down.

In it's 120,000 miles, other than regular maintenance, the things that have unexpectedly happened are

1. Front passenger seat heater module failure (replaced under warranty)
2. Two spark plugs went bad, replaced all eight.
3. Replaced alternator (just within the last month)
4. Replaced rear differential speed sensor (just within the last month)

That's about it. Not a lot considering they've had it for five years. I did the replacing, so we saved money there. Not too many problems which is why I got an '03 Expedition.

On the freeway, I get 18 MPG on the '03, this is with 29 PSI in the tires. I've now pumped them up to 38 PSI, so gas mileage should be better. Damn dealership didn't even properly inflate the tires.