I'd like to hear your impressions on the V10 and the truck overall.
Congrats
I know a few people that really like their V10's.
Marc, did you find one with 4.30 gearing?
A couple months ago, I wrote the following in another car forum. Since it relates to the above, I thought I'd copy-n-paste it here. (I hope I don't offend anyone.)
test drive car review: 2000 Ford Excursion V10
A couple weeks ago, we took in a pristine 2000 Ford Excursion Limited. It was completely stock, had only 92k miles, and looked just like this one:
As we all know, Ford created this vehicle specifically to compete with the Suburban. Since I own a Suburban 2500, I was very curious how the Ford would compare. Seeing how this Excursion had the V10 engine, it was a
direct competitor to my 8.1L big block Chevy... and thus the perfect Excursion for me to sample. Once I had a few minutes of down time, I grabbed the keys and headed out.
Cargo room
I recall Ford advertising and bragging about how the Excursion was even bigger than the Suburban. It is 7" longer overall, and this seems to be primarily a result of a longer wheelbase (137.1" verses 130.0"). Looking in the cargo area, there didn't seem to be any more room than in the Chevy. If anything, the Ford looks like it has less space because they mount the spare tire inside rather than underneath.
Looking back, the Excursion was released in 1999. The Suburban was restyled for the 2000 model year, meaning its own new body style wasn't released to the public until the Excursion was already on the market. This leads me to believe that Ford used the GMT400 Suburban as their engineering bogey rather than the then-new GMT800 version, and the GMT400 Suburban also stored its spare tire inside. Hmm.
Controls & driver comfort
I didn't bother to sit in the rear seats. Climbing into the cockpit, I wasn't exactly impressed by the driver's bucket seat. Don't get me wrong; the Suburban's seat would never be confused with anything sporty. But by comparison, the Ford's seat felt flatter and offered even less bolstering. I just wasn't quite comfortable, though that may have been due in part to the lack of familiarity with the vehicle.
I did think it was nice of Ford to include a trans fluid temp gauge like my Suburban, though theirs does not have any actual temp readings on it, limiting its usefulness IMO. I also thought it was sad that Ford chose to make room for it by removing the voltage gauge. As far as general control layout, everything was arranged logically enough to prevent me from making any serious complaints.
The driving experience
I began driving at a gentle pace, allowing the engine to come up to temperature before getting on it hard. Right away, I couldn't help but notice how
bouncy the ride was. I know Ford has a heavy-duty F-250 suspension under there, but at 35 MPH the front end felt like I was riding a pogo stick. Taking turns at speed was not exactly confidence-inspiring, and even its straight road behavior wasn't exactly stellar. Everything about it just felt like, well, an
old truck.
(After my drive, I looked underneath and discovered the front leaf springs. No wonder this things rides so rough! I had forgotten about them and thought there would be coils under there.)
With the engine warm, I began to toe into it a few times. By that I mean I applied more pressure to the gas pedal, but not much seemed to happen. I know this thing weighs over 7,200 pounds, so maybe I was expecting too much from 310 HP and 425 lb-ft. On a freeway on ramp, I went WOT through first and second to really see what the V10 could do. Compared to my ~ 6,500 lb Chevy with its 325 HP and 450 lb-ft, the Ford felt considerably slower.
Once at speed at 65 MPH, I noticed the tachometer settled in at about 1900 rpm. At that same road speed, my Suburban (which has 4.10 gears) would be spinning about 2300 rpm. "Ah," I thought to myself, "no wonder this thing is so pokey--it must just have 3.73 gears in it." Upon my return to the dealership, I went to the glovebox to search for evidence of the gear ratio. There with the owners manual was the original Monroney label, nicely folded up. As I opened it and took a peek, I was shocked--
shocked--to see this Excursion had actually been opted up to the 4.30 ratio. Really?
Really??? How tall are the gears in the transmission, I wondered. Wow.
While I had the owners manual in hand, I looked up the tow rating. The V10 + 4.30 combo was pegged at 10,000 pounds. By comparison, my Suburban is rated for 12,000. I'm curious what the diesel Excursion would be rated, but that engine wasn't mentioned in this book. (I'm guessing the diesel version gets its own unique owners manual.)
Summary
If you needed a large beast of burden to haul lots of people and/or a trailer, and if you've never driven any Suburban built after 1991, you might be happy with the abilities of the Excursion. However, if you have ever driven a Suburban for even just 50 yards--especially if it was a GMT800 version--then you'll have no difficulty figuring out why Chevy continued to dominate this market throughout the lifespan of the Excursion.
