Expedition 5.4 vs 3.5 EB - OR - Tahoe/Yukon 5.3 vs Denali 6.2 for tow rig???

So I am changing up my stable yet again. The FRS will be sold off soon in favor of a dedicated track car. That requires a trailer, which requires something to haul it. We plan to trade in our Santa Fe and looking at the $20k range for a SUV capable of payload. Future camper and UTV hauling is a consideration. Mainly I don't want to have to upgrade in a couple years, this thing needs to do work for a while.

Needs:

Haul heavy cargo

Already has trans cooler/towing package

Leather

Heated seats

Bluetooth (may install aftermarket if it's the only thing missing)

3rd row seating

We have found that there are lots of 2010-2013 Tahoes, Yukons, Yukon Denalis, and some slightly newer Expeditions in both 5.4 and 3.5 EB variety.

The 6.2 in Denali version would be great, but they sell so fast we can't seem to land a deal quick enough.

The 5.3 is probably plenty good enough for what we want, but both the GM varieties are a couple years older than the Ford competition.

People seem to love the Ecoboost, but is the 5.4 a worthy candidate? Stick to GM?

I feel like I should just buy the best candidate of any of these varieties and move on with my life, but it would be nice to know if there are possible upsides or downsides to either one. We are talking $18-20k for a vehicle with roughly 95k-120k miles so I'd like to purchase and maintain fluids, pads, tires, etc. for the most part. I could potentially go up another $5k in price but at this point it seems the jump doesn't gain me much in reduced mileage or year. Help me. Please.

captainawesome said:

 

 

I feel like I should just buy the best candidate of any of these varieties and move on with my life

That seems like the most prudent choice.

It's the transmission that is your deciding factor, not the engine.  I had a 1/2 ton suburban that I just didn't trust because of the 4l60.   So I jumped up to a 3/4 ton and the 4l80.    
 

On the Ford side, I suspect the transmissions are better and a 5.4 is perfectly good.  The 3.5 apparently gets terrible mileage when towing.

What about a Toyota Sequoia? 3rd row seating, leather, blue tooth, rock solid drivetrain, typical can be found on dealer lots. 

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

I'll have to give those a look. Not much in my area for sale, but those that have sold or are currently listed within a couple hundred miles may meet the requirements.

captainawesome said:

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

I'll have to give those a look. Not much in my area for sale, but those that have sold or are currently listed within a couple hundred miles may meet the requirements.

How much are you looking to tow? The Sequoia is down on towing compared to the Tundra but my 01 Sequoia with the old 4.7 has comfortably towed my various Hondas from Coast to Coast without issue. Hauling UTVs and a Camper shouldn't be an issue. 

If you get a 5.7 you don't have to worry about big jobs like this. 

I want it to feel like nothing is actually being towed if possible. Maybe 7500 or so would be max I would assume.

Also this will mostly be my wife's daily for running around town. When I need to haul something she will drive my A3 TDI hatch.

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

On the Ford side, I suspect the transmissions are better and a 5.4 is perfectly good.  The 3.5 apparently gets terrible mileage when towing.

It does. 8-9 mpg when towing my 30' travel trailer. But it's still worth it, IMO. Compared to the 5.4, the mileage is better when you're not towing, the power is better, and the torque is much better. Plus, they didn't start putting the Ecoboost in Expeditions until 2015, so you're going to get your heated seats, bluetooth, and everything else that you want.

Ours has been great. We've towed all over the US with it, and it's been my wife's daily driver for 5 years. We just broke 70k miles and have no plans to replace it.

So this one is at the top of the BUY heap.

https://www.bagwellmotors.com/details/used-2014-ford-expedition-el/73095369

and a link to the specs based on vin http://www.free-vin-decoder.com/vin/1FMJK2A5XEEF27537

I think price will be at 18500 range. Haven't seen in person yet, but looks clean from what I can see so far.

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

On the Ford side, I suspect the transmissions are better and a 5.4 is perfectly good.  The 3.5 apparently gets terrible mileage when towing.

It does. 8-9 mpg when towing my 30' travel trailer. But it's still worth it, IMO. Compared to the 5.4, the mileage is better when you're not towing, the power is better, and the torque is much better. Plus, they didn't start putting the Ecoboost in Expeditions until 2015, so you're going to get your heated seats, bluetooth, and everything else that you want.

Ours has been great. We've towed all over the US with it, and it's been my wife's daily driver for 5 years. We just broke 70k miles and have no plans to replace it.

I'm not an expert but I can't imagine the 5.4 gets *that* much better mileage when towing and presumably isn't going to have as much hauling power. Not quite a direct comparison but the 3.5eb f150 seems to do 7-9mpg towing a 20' enclosed at ~70mph, I can't imagine the V8 would really do better than that.

I can only speak to the Expedition. Our son has had several Expeditions in both the 5.4 and 3.5 EB mainly because he needs the room of three row seating with 5 kids. These vehicles have been leases so can't say how durable they might be with high mileage. He has occasionally pulled  a heavy 23 foot with inboard/outboard engine boat and also a 22 foot full keel sailboat with no problem. He and I did a 1500 mile trip with the sailboat (approximately 4000lbs) and never lacked power or handling. 
 

A couple years ago I rented a Expedition and it had the 3.5 EB. This was for a 2500 mile trip with our daughters family. We had 7 total people (including two teenage boys and 12 year old girl) and a fair amount of luggage and it was snug but not terribly uncomfortable. It was mostly interstate driving at say 75mph and it handled well and never lacked for power even in the upper east coast hills. I don't recall actual gas mileage but remember being impressed by being in the mid 20's at times.

Years ago the wife had a 5.4 Expedition Eddie Bauer.  I used it to tow 7,000# enclosed trailer to race tracks all over the East Coast and Mid-Ohio.  Had it for 200,000+ miles.   

Replaced it with 5.4 E350 van,  (now at 175,000) so I must be happy with that engine.

YMMV

If I were to rank your choices:

1st: 3.5EB Expedition/6.2 GM

2nd: 5.3 GM

3rd: 5.4 Expedition 

If you include the Sequoia with the 5.7 it would be 2nd on my list.

My experience. I bought a 2015 Expedition EL Platinum 4x4 in January with the tow package. It has everything you need and the torque is diesel like. I test drove 6.2 GM's and I liked them too but my criteria was 2015+ SUV only. The 2015 6.2 GM were in the upper $30k low $40k range, so were the 5.3 lol. My Expedition was $27k with 65k miles, fully loaded. I recently towed a 3k mile trip with a loaded open car hauler and average 12-13mpg, I'm sure an enclosed would drop that mpg number lol. It took on the Appalachian mountains with no issue. I'd imagine the 6.2 GM could do just as well towing but maybe not as much lowend torque. I bought it out of Florida and did a fly and drive home. 19hrs average nearly 20mpg, could've did 20mpg or more but I was probably averaging 80+ mph lol

I'm pretty sure all 2015+ Expeditions come with heated/cooled seats and Bluetooth standard. At least that's what I noticed from my months long search. Same with the higher spec GM's. 

I've test driven 5.3 GM Suburban and the 5.4 Expedition, neither felt like they had the power to move the truck unless you put your foot into it. I'm coming from a 7.3 excursion so I know what slow is lol

captainawesome said:

I want it to feel like nothing is actually being towed if possible. Maybe 7500 or so would be max I would assume.

I don't think you're going to achieve the "I can't even tell that the trailer is there" with the vehicles mentioned.  While I'm sure they're capable of doing the towing, you'll need to adjust the way you drive with the trailer attached.

A 3/4 ton pickup would be closer to "can't tell" ideal, but would suck for the daily around-town stuff.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Since it's mostly going to do around town stuff with a handful of towing weekends I think 1/2 ton really is the sweet spot by the sound of it.

3/4 ton diesel gives you that "what trailer?" feeling unlike most other vehicles.  My 6.2 Yukon tows cars well but you are still aware of their presence more than the turbodiesel trucks like my old Cummins powered Ram.    

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

captainawesome said:

I want it to feel like nothing is actually being towed if possible. Maybe 7500 or so would be max I would assume.

I don't think you're going to achieve the "I can't even tell that the trailer is there" with the vehicles mentioned.  While I'm sure they're capable of doing the towing, you'll need to adjust the way you drive with the trailer attached.

A 3/4 ton pickup would be closer to "can't tell" ideal, but would suck for the daily around-town stuff.

Assuming that 7500lbs involves an enclosed trailer of some form you're definitely not going to get to "can't tell" with anything less than a 3/4 ton truck. ~7k with a current gen f150 (rated for like 11k) is far from dangerous but it's definitely obvious that there's a trailer present, particularly if there's any amount of crosswind. Not to the extent of being sketchy and it'll cruise all day at 70+, but there's definitely a trailer back there.

Most if not all of the time I will be hauling a Miata or similar weighted car on a standard dual axle trailer. The rest of the time a small boat that weighs maybe 1500 pounds. If we get a camper anytime soon I would imagine it's going to be maybe in the 4000 pound range as a small travel trailer. When I say max I mean if I ever happened to need 7500 towing capacity I'm not melting the vehicle down trying to get somewhere. I doubt I have any future plans to pull the max, but want a vehicle that pulls what I listed above without a problem.

In reply to yupididit :

The 7.3 Excursion with injectors, air filter, hpop, tunes, exhaust would get you @ 350hp & 800 torques. That would be my choice.

In reply to mdshaw :

Nah mine has been stock for 247k miles. No use in modding it now. 

captainawesome said:

Most if not all of the time I will be hauling a Miata or similar weighted car on a standard dual axle trailer. The rest of the time a small boat that weighs maybe 1500 pounds. If we get a camper anytime soon I would imagine it's going to be maybe in the 4000 pound range as a small travel trailer. When I say max I mean if I ever happened to need 7500 towing capacity I'm not melting the vehicle down trying to get somewhere. I doubt I have any future plans to pull the max, but want a vehicle that pulls what I listed above without a problem.

An Ecoboost Expedition will do that all day long and still return halfway decent mileage. It's when you start trying to push a big box through the air that the mileage goes to E36 M3.

dps214 said:

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

It does. 8-9 mpg when towing my 30' travel trailer. But it's still worth it, IMO. Compared to the 5.4, the mileage is better when you're not towing, the power is better, and the torque is much better.

I'm not an expert but I can't imagine the 5.4 gets *that* much better mileage when towing and presumably isn't going to have as much hauling power. Not quite a direct comparison but the 3.5eb f150 seems to do 7-9mpg towing a 20' enclosed at ~70mph, I can't imagine the V8 would really do better than that.

As long as you ignore the "eco" in the 3.5's name, its an excellent engine. Ours actually got 10 towing a 9K lb, 26',  tall box. And that was running it hard, needing to get back from VA to AL. But also only got 10 towing a 23' ultralight camper. And only got 17 running around empty. (best I ever got was 19, and that was being SUPER careful of driving habits.) But against the 5.4, with very similar results, its smoother and quieter. Really liked the engine, the 6 speed AT was flawless; just nothing "eco" about it.

Looks like that 5.4 posted earlier is winning. The wife loves it. It ticks the boxes decent enough. It's in good shape. I'll find something to hate about it soon enough I suppose but for now I like it.

In reply to 03Panther :

Gotta cruise control at 65mph lol

In reply to captainawesome :

See if you can talk them down on price. Kinda high in my option. Have you used Cargurus to search? 

Same price and miles 1 year newer