More than ever confusion

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fozzi58

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We sat in both the expy and nav at the car show. Nav was the short model. Expy was an XLT. There is no way you can tell me that it had comparable cargo space to my Burb. The back of my Burb is cavernous compared to the expy.

Had the kids jump into the 3rd row in both Fords and they said its about the same amount of room from the Fords compared to the Suburban. I haven't been in a tahoe/yukon/esky 3rd row so I don't know if there is a big difference between them and the Burb/XL/ESV. I know the wheel base is shorter but I thought the length had to do with the cargo area. I may be wrong. I usually toss my father in the 3rd row when we make a trip and he says he has plenty of room. Granted he isn't 6ft 4 but he isn't a 13 yo girl either.

IMO - the Nav looks much better than the Expy. Expy is just a disaster of horizontal lines. The interior of the new Navigator is much more comfortable than any of the GM SUVs I have been in, including my sister's platinum Esky. The leather is much more plush. But the Denali and Esky still seemed more refined.

No car is without its problems. We've owned a lot of different brands and we keep coming back to GM. Even my wife is much higher on the Buicks than even BMWs or Mercedes. Our 2002 Maxima was a nightmare i never wish to relive. 1992 Chevy 2500 p/u had issues out the gate. 2000 Dodge ram...all stupid shit went wrong with it...nothing major...just a new nuisance every 9-12 months. Now I am an admitted GM fan boy because of my love and affinity with the F bodies but my wife has ZERO brand loyalty and looks for value and features. She keeps going back to GM so they must be doing something right.
 

GTNator

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True -- And wheels with white outlined lettering don't help either. But that said, I was interested in one if the ride was appreciably better and the price was lower. Ford salesman even said to hang on to my Suburban for a few more years before considering a trade.

Why would he say that?
 

WillCO

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No salesman WOULD EVER say that
Maybe if he were trying to get the trade out of his deal, trying to convince the buyer to sell the Suburban privately instead. I have had a BMW dealer give that advice once or twice, but not in a way that would have frozen his deal.
 

cardude2000

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I had my heart set on either the 2018 Denali or RST. Well, a new vehicle has entered the fray and right now I'm totally confused as to what to do. Yesterday, my wife and I test drove both the new Ford Expedition Limited and the Denali. We had each for one hour and test drove both over the same streets and highway making sure we traveled the same exact course. We also took turns driving each vehicle. Afterwards we stopped at Starbucks to compare mental notes. Here are our observations. As far as comfort, we both thought the Expedition was more spacious and comfortable. She thought the seats in the Denali were too hard. The second and third row seats in the Expedition offered more leg room. She giggled trying to sit in the 3rd row of the Denali and thought that only little kids could sit in them. Not a real problem since they would be seldom used. As far as performance, on the highway and going up to 80 miles an hour we both thought that they were equally the same. This was also the case from a standing start. That was a surprise since the Expedition had a 6 cylinder twin turbo charged engine and the Denali had the 6.2 v8. Anyway there was no difference that we could tell. Horsepower and torque felt the same. BTW, the Denali requires Premium fuel while the Expedition requires Regular. Not a concern for either of us however. Also we both felt that the 10 speed tranny in both were great and acted with the same smoothness. From a road handling point of view, we both felt the Denali felt more truck like and the Expedition more car like, but that is just a feeling. We both felt bumps more in the Denali. Could be because of the different suspensions. The Expedition felt bigger in all respects and that made parking a little more difficult, especially for her. We didn't measure the two but the Expedition looked to be longer and wider, but they seemed close. I didn't like the rotary shifter in the Expedition and she didn't like the column shifter in the Denali so that was pretty much a wash. Either would be acceptable although the rotary knob would take some getting used to. As to pricing, both were in the same ballpark so one didn't favor the other. From a cargo standpoint she didn't like the platform in the Denali and thought that the Expedition would be easier for her to load and unload groceries and other stuff. The Expedition cargo area also looked flatter. From a availability point of view, the GMC dealer had 8 Denali's while the Ford dealer only had one Limited. So there seems to be more Denali's to choose from. The Ford dealer said that they could order one to my specs and have in about 3 months. In conclusion, both are good choices although there are pluses and minuses with both. We are in no hurry to do anything so we agreed to think about it for awhile longer. Hopes this helps.

Reasoned. Pragmatic. Well thought out.

One thing to keep in mind is that 2019’s are almost on the lots so you’re already past the first year with the ford and likely in the last year or so of the current GM.

Whatever you decide, as a staunch non-blind allegiance kind of guy, I say bravo to the process you are going through.
 

WillCO

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You like the Ford's motor cutting out every time you stop? Deal breaker for me.
Start liking it; everyone is doing it. The only reason it's not in the Tahoe yet is that the drivetrain tech is old and they probably haven't gotten around to upgrading the starter mechanism to withstand the use. 100% chance that feature will be in the next generation.

And, if it's like any of the other GM cars I get as rentals that have the ASS function now (Malibus and Impalas mostly) - it can't be disabled!
 

Rdr854

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Why would he say that?
Two reasons. The price delta between the Suburban and the Expedition was too great the cost of the Suburban to put it on used car lot would be too high to make it worthwhile. For a Ford dealer, it would make more sense to invest that money in a good used Ford product where they would have a chance of getting the service work after the sale. For a GM product, a Ford dealer would not have much chance of creating a service and parts customer
 

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