Keep or trade up?

[07navi]

Everyone has different needs and wants but trading up has a lot to do with what you can afford, who you want to impress, how mechanically inclined you are, what your wife wants, how embarrassed you are to drive an older car when the neighbors are all moving up, and other considerations, so it's all personal.

 

[rjdelp7]

Every time Ford barely 'improved' the Expedition, they made it worse and the price goes up. Buying used, you will be facing repairs, plus having a payment. I say drive yours a little longer.

 

[Tocapet]

I have a 2012 Ford Expedition Max Limited 5.4 V8 with 196,000 km or 121788 miles. Have owned for 3 years since 145000 km. Regularly serviced and the work I've had done since I purchased has been: New compressor for air suspension ( warranty ), timing chain, coils, plugs (warranty), power steering leak.

The most I can afford to upgrade is a 2017 eco boost with ~ 60,000 km 37000 miles. The 2018-20's are still out of my price range.

It's our family vehicle used for family stuff and not a commuter. I'm averaging 15000 km or 9300 miles per year.

So do I keep it and max out the miles or sell and upgrade?

Thanks for your input

Blake

I saw one Expedition online with about 450,000 miles on it. So 120K is not much. I have 129K on my '09 and I'm not planning on trading it in any time soon.

 

[JExpedition07]

Trucks seem to defy the “embarrassing” factor as they age so long as they aren't rust buckets. My neighbor has a late 90s DRW long bed Chevy and that thing is still as cool as it was 10 years ago. The only trucks that really aged badly are the 97-03 F-150s they were way too blah. The older Nineties and 04+ F-150s all look nice to me when maintained.

 

[07navi]

120k miles is not much nowadays, 30 years ago 100k was about time to junk it. I just bought mine with the 5.4 with 138k miles and it runs great.

 

[Trey Harris]

Run the wheels off it and save your money for a few repairs. I loved my 5.4s. Had several all were great motors.

 

[Justin Crumley]

Really nobody can decide that for you. I’d run the 2012 into the ground myself and maybe others wouldn’t, 120,000 miles isn’t much for these trucks and then again maybe some don’t like owning vehicles for a long time.

 

[coolzzy]

I have a loaded 17 XLT (202a luxury package) and love it. The ecoboost motor is no more complex than the 3v 5.4 Triton. Same concept, long timing chains, vct solenoids, etc. Power wise, the 5.4 CANNOT touch the ecoboost. I've owned 2 of the 3v 5.4 trucks and they were solid runners. Throw a trailer behind them and you'll wish you had turbos. Buy an ecoboost with low miles and certified pre owned or add Ford warranty for power train if you are worried. It covers turbos, water pump, timing chains, differentials, etc. I recently had to replace my instrument cluster, which cost around $400 but I have yet to read of a similar issue in any other 15-17 trucks so my luck I guess. Other repairs seem common across the platform regardless of motor.

Sync 3 is fantastic as well, and did I mention that 400hp monster under the hood (achievable with just a mild tune and premium fuel)? Also if you do any mountain driving or live at altitude, the turbo motor is not affected and just purrs along at low rpm even with a trailer and steep hills. I get the v8 argument being made here, but I doubt it is being made by any ecoboost owners, so my opinions is just for some perspective.

 

[JExpedition07]

I tow my 4,000 pound boat and trailer and my 5.4L 3V Triton/6R75/3.73 has always been able to easily surpass the speed limit on flats or grades. All my towing is in Western New York so I don’t deal with western mountains or high elevations but I’ve found this engine excels at towing and runs in final gear. Much better than my friends 2011 5.0 Coyote with 3.55 rear. I can say this 5.4L 3V has never had me yearning for turbos while towing, it’s 8 cylinders and 8 spark plugs pull my boat with ease. I like the 15+ 3.5 EcoBoost and would own one, but power isn’t the primary reason I’d make the switch more so to get a newer unit when the time came.

 

[coolzzy]

You are only pulling 4k pounds, not stressing the driveline much. Put 7k pounds behind the 5.4 and a mountain in front of you and your tune will change very quickly. The numbers don't lie, ecoboost outperforms the 5.4 in every way, and at a lower rpm. Now the 5.4 vs the 5.0 is another story, if that were the option I'd say 5.4 all day long (provided transmissions and gear ratios were the same). But Ford did not feel compelled to offer the 5.0 in the expedition, sadly.

 

[JExpedition07]

Good point, according to my Ford owners manual the Expedition 5.4 Triton is rated to tow up to 9,200 pounds so I’m not even at half capacity. It says peak torque is 365 lb ft @3,750 RPM which I find is the most powerful “grunt” spot in the rev range before an up shift so I’d say that is accurate literature. Not much stress to the driveline at 4,000 pounds. I don’t own a trailer heavy enough to test its rated capacity out for myself. I’m sure the turbos of the 3.5 Eco are most helpful at higher elevations since air density loss can be compensated for. I don’t think I’d put anything over 8k behind the expy, mine seems to squat at heavier payloads. I’d borrow dads 6.2 F-250 for that one.

 

[bloodhound]

Fuel injection has been around for decades. Doh!

And turbo gasoline engines have been used in production vehicles since 1962.