Must read, if you like SUV's

[RedLightning]

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=1
well these excursion forums are slow!!!! but heres something good. to enviro freaks everywhere!

YES! ive posted in all but 2 ex forums!!! ok ok ill stop now

[landyacht]

LET ME HEAR A HELL YEAH FOR THE EXCURSION!!!

[ymmv]

The rebuttal article makes a mistake in saying a 7700lb Excursion is "1.3" (whatever that means, I presume a simple multiple) of an average car ... average cars are 3000-4000lb, average SUVs are maybe the 5500lb the writer is suggesting.

Otherwise, nicely done. I wish these "fact" articles would work from facts instead of assertions. If they're going to quote emissions and averages and laws and satistics, well, I was taught in grade school to "recognise and examine the authority" -- in other words, if you spout a statistics, state the source and explain why it's relevant and valid information.

Instead, both writers make wild assertions and indirectly cite various authorities or legal bodies, but don't state specifics, so neither writer can be taken too seriously.

All that said, in my personal examination of the pro's and con's of the Excursion (... I bought one of the last '05 6.0 Excursions just yesterday ... so I admit my bias ...) it seemed clear to me that it does meet some sort of California/DMV/EPA/CARB certification. It does get 15-20mpg on diesel and, if properly maintained, should last a very long time, perhaps three times as long as an average gas engine vehicle of similar size.

In other words, I'm taking into account not only the environmental and oil-dependency costs to manufacture the vehicle and to operate it, I'm also considering the long term dependency of having to build its replacement. I've driven my vehicle into the ground (towing) with "only" 150K miles on the clock. It could be revived and live another 50K miles. Perhaps. But it's nearing the end of its short life. Sure, some people keep the same vehicle operating for 250K miles over ten or twenty years -- I required only three or four years to clock up 150K miles ... and that's mostly towing ... -- but the maintenance cost has overtaken the usefulness of the vehicle. Hence the Excursion. I see second-hand Excursion, in good repair, often well over 100K miles. I'm making the subjective assessment that this vehicle, at least with the diesel drivetrain, can be put to work and be cost-effectively maintained in good working order, for considerably more than 150K miles. That goes a long way towards the total impact of the vehcile. Conversely, the junk yards are stacked high with smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles that are scrap long before they hit 100K miles.

Ford also tells us -- and I think this has to be validated by some government authority, but I don't read fine print that well -- that the Excursion is made of recycled materials and is itself capable of a very high percentage of recycling when the grim reaper finally calls.

And finally, above all else, while horse-back riding might be the only way to avoid environmental problems (other than erosion or the destruction of flora and habitats under hoof) I feel that my family is safe in the Excursion and I firmly believe it is a sensible form of transport that will leave this planet fit for my children and generations to come.