Looking to move on from an Excursion

[XxDesmoxX]

Hi there, as the title states, I've got the holy grail 7.3 Excursion 4x4 and it's either time to spend about $10k for a refresh or move on and get something else. Why I like it; it's incredibly big and the ideal camping vehicle for me, it's easy to work on and pretty damn reliable. What I don't like is the lack of safety airbags (no side airbags or rear passengers); I've got two young kids.

My budget is 25, max 30k. I'm not looking for screens or lane monitoring crap, I generally don't like electronics (former BMW owner) and complexity for complexity's sake.

I'm between GM and the Ford products. Why I don't like Fords is that they use Turbo's and I've heard they become problematic with higher mileage.

I bought my Excursion with 230k miles (and a book of service records), so I'm not afraid of high miles. Ideally I would get something with about 100k miles, I would want to keep it for about 15yrs and put very little money into it. I'm not beyond the older GMT800 series.

My question is in a nutshell, what years should I be looking at and what options/spec are the most reliable/easy to maintain.

I've done my due diligence and I'm knowledgeable about DOD/AFM, the software deletes that disables the system, the 6.2 vs 5.3. I'm leaning towards the 5.3 only because I can use regular gas. I've chat-gpt'ed the shit out of this topic, but now I want to get some real feedback from actual humans. Every car has it's problems; Porsches and bore scoring, Ram electronics, BMW everything.

Having said that, what would you do if you were me? Thanks in advance.

 

[randeez]

i would expand your search and look for a 2500 suburban/yukon xl, 6.0 in them has no afm/dod, 6l90 transmission iirc. 2015+ are hard to come by, staying under 30k youll be looking at high mileage, even in the 2008-2014 years

and welcome to forum

 

[pronstar]

Pick your poison, they all have issues.
Plan and budget for the worst and hope for the best…and don’t defer maintenance, ever.

The 2 trucks in my signature have the same drivetrains.
I budgeted for AFM hardware deletes and transmissions.
Both had the common AC condenser failures, one paid by me and the other paid by warranty.

Silverado:
Has a billet torque converter that i paid for, no other failures

Suburban:
Has a GM warranty trans, billet converter that i paid for, and full AFM hardware delete (due to failed lifter) that i also paid for.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

Pics of the current truck, please. If we can't see it, it does not exist.

You are already receiving sage advice from the knowledgeable folks on this Forum.

Make sure that your search area includes states where there is no harsh winter/salt states. Ideally, you should look for a rust free truck, even if you have to drive/fly to pick it up. That will help assure that you get the 15+ years out of it that you are looking for.

I would say that the GMT900 (2007-2014) series would probably be the best bet your your cost and mileage preferences. For lots of room, look at the Suburban or the Yukon XL models.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Any Suburban (or Y-XL) 2500 with around 100,000 miles should come with a 6.0L that will take 87, & either a 4L80 (GMT800) or 6L90 (GMT900), I think.
Guess you'd avoid the 8.1L?

Don't be too afraid of mileage, a well-cared-for 6.0L should easily make it to 350,000 miles with only occasional repairs that are reasonable in terms of costs.
I'd be partial to the GMT800 (2000?-2006?), which I giess is my way of saying don't count them out just because of age, many are aging like Marisa Tomei.