"Kinda like Riding an Elephant"

Author's Rating:

Pros: HUGE, SPACIOUS, lends itself easily to utility purposes

Cons: Lacks the luxury of newer models (understandable); Ride can be a bit challenging.

Handling And Control:

The Bottom Line: 
They don't make SUV's like this anymore. The 2002 Expedition was huge, made for huge Americans with utility strongly in mind. EXCELLENT OWNERS EXPERIENCE.

Author's Review
My family has been strictly Ford, Lincoln and Mercury buyers. I grew up with those brand names and they have treated us extremely well. I recently broke with tradition by buying Cadillac Escalade EXT 2003 and then 2007. I am desperately waiting for Ford to release the 2007 Expedition so I can test and review it, as well as the Navigator 2007 which I will test and review, before my Uncle (a 2004 Navigator owner) trades in his 2004 for the 2007. With nothing but time until the trucks are available, I felt I’d write a review on the Expedition – My First SUV. I am writing this review as an owner’s review of the Ford Expedition 2002. This car is old now and most likely people will purchase a 2003 or better (with its newer suspension) so I am just going to give my honest opinions about the car as well as reliability info and owner’s experience.

My family originally purchased the car to replace a Mercury Cougar XR7 that I totaled in an accident back in March 2002. The model was a 2002 Expedition XLT with sport package. This included the 5.4 liter V8 rather than the 4.6,
17” chrome alloy wheels, a 6-disk CD changer, a moonroof and bucket captains chairs with driver’s side power adjust – manual for the passenger. The truck cost approximately $38,000, $42,000 w/tax.


EXTERIOR

The 2002 Expedition is LONG at about 206 inches and is also
Quite high. It is close to 78 inches tall when you consider the roof racks. There are a number of shortcomings to this. Firstly, most garages will not except this expedition due to its height. Any garage or parking lot with a 6ֹ limit won’t work for you. Furthermore, climbing into this behemoth is difficult for older people as well as shorter people.
One thing I really hated was having to help older people into the truck physically when dropping off relatives. It’s a huge step (almost 2 feet) from the ground to the vehicle’s floor, almost like skipping two steps on your way upstairs and going for the 3rd step.
The truck has adequate entry assist handles but you’ve got to be almost 5㤒 to reach them!!! All the newer Expeditions are considerably lower to the ground to make them more kid friendly as well as senior citizen friendly.
However, there are some advantages to the Expedition’s height. For one, if you are in heavy traffic and there is a divider between you and open road, you can drive right over it without hurting the undercarriage which is about a foot and a half off the ground ! I do this regularly in some areas when I need to get over low concrete barriers.
Another advantage to the height is being able to see well ahead of everyone else in traffic allowing you to plan merges earlier than other drivers. Fortunately, drivers in smaller cars are too scared to be near this vehicle to try and cut you off or outmaneuver you.

INTERIOR

The Expedition’s interior was excellent for its time, but very plain and utilitarian by today’s standards. First of all, the vehicle, if purchased with optional leather, includes very nice, very comfy leather seats which is very well made and very nicely upholstered. The Expedition had a very “clean” look compared to the GMC Denali and the Chevy Tahoe which lent it very well to messy children or construction workers or people who needed a SUV for pure utility purposes. The dashboard in regular Expeditions was bare looking but, there are special plastic covers that can be purchased to give the Expedition a cosmetic upgrade. Mine came with them and they still look presentable. They’ve also been easy to keep clean as I wash the truck with my bare hands. The carpeting on the floor is decent too for the vehicle’s time. It is relatively easy to keep clean so long as you don’t spill dark liquids. As my interior was grey the carpet has a darker, dingier look now but, amazingly, it still looks presentable and is not too badly used over all these years. Even the rear seats who’ve I’ve entertained many a guest in are still clean with leather that has not faded or warped. The driver’s seat and front passenger’s seat however have been ridden in for a very long period of time and the driver’s seat is worn. The passenger’s looks a little better and is still presentable. Seat covers can mitigate this.

The dashboard as I’ve mentioned does look a bit plain, but, it is easy to keep clean and can be upgraded with any number of after market products ranging from Navigation computers to plasma monitors. The 2002 Expedition had huge spaces of featureless plastic, which has been changed in newer models, but again, it is a utility vehicle and the interior serves its purpose as just that.

Also worth mentioning is the 2002 Expedition had the most space of any SUV on the market. The Navigators and Expedition have always been the largest in terms of interior space unless you paid extra to buy Denali XL or a Suburban – even then however, you were only getting extra length rather than width and ceiling height. I’ve been in the GM trucks and a common theme among them is smaller space and lower rooflines. Expedition probably has the most hip, head, legspace and leg room of any vehicle I have ever been in. Its absolutely huge and serves bigger Americans very well. Even the 2nd row of the 2002 is gargantuan in size. At 6ֻ, I am never comfortable in the back of any vehicle. The 2002 Expedition is the one vehicle that I can honestly say I’d be comfortable in if I were on a 24 hour drive to Florida.
The 2003 Expedition and Navigator saw the introduction of side curtain airbags which have cramped the driver’s spacing by reducing seat space by about 3 inches. The 2003 models also introduced rear flat-folding seats which reduced seat track length in the 1st row, 2nd row and 3rd row. I am anxious to see if this downsizing trend continues in the 2007 models.
I should also mention that the Nissan Armada has a fairly large interior for the Driver and Passenger in the front. However, it does not offer the same space in the 2nd or 3rd rows. Expedition easily trumps everything else on the market.

Nissan ARMADA review http://www.epinions.com/content_242021469828


DRIVING

When we were in the dealership looking for a new vehicle to buy, my mother was strongly against the Expedition at first due to its size…she wanted a 2002 Explorer and the newer, 2003 Expedition was too expensive. The Explorer didn’t work for me because I was too tall for it. I also thought its 2nd row was considerably small for a family of people as large as mine. We ended up going with the 2002 Expedition merely because of the dealer incentives…they were tying to get rid of them as soon as they could to make way for the 2003’s.

I was the first driver of the new truck. At first, I had to readjust my thinking to accommodate for the vehicle being so humongous. Everything was so much different that driving a car: the height from the ground; steering wheel size; the spacious cabin, etc. After a couple drives, I had it down packed and I felt comfortable in it. It takes a little while to adjust but once you do, it’s a great truck.

Since the 2002 Expedition is the first generation of Expeditions, before the independent rear suspension became standard on the 2003 models, the expedition handles like a regular F-150 truck of the era would. It’s a very strong and confident truck though.
It seems to conquer bumps and potholes through sheer force when you choose to drive over or through them. Because the undercarriage is so high, you have nothing to worry about from driving over a speed bump at 25 or over very bad terrain except a bumpy ride.
Sometimes you get the feeling that you could drive right over anything or anyone in fact.
2002 models were so high off the ground that they had almost no crash compatibility which might have been really bad for the next driver if you hit one of them. The downside here is that the truck gives you extreme rollover fears when you’re going around curves and turns too fast.

It can accelerate to 60 in about 10 seconds.
My Expedition had a 260 HP, triton 5.4 liter V8 which, at the time, felt pretty powerful. At the time Expedition and Navigator were the largest SUV's on the market and all the smaller ones had lesser engines. It wasn’t till I stepped into the 2003 Escalade EXT with its 345 Horses that I felt an SUV that was quick, but, the Expedition was considerably cheaper.

In my driving experience, I’d have to say that the Expedition comes into its own at
50 MPH. getting to 50mph is a little bit of a struggle if your light on the pedal, but once it gets to 50,its sheer mass makes it coast very confidently – it almost doesn’t want to slow down. At 50 MPH, you can navigate most highway curves at little to no risk of rollover and you also don't have to worry about being cited for speeding.
I’ve noticed that the steering in the truck seems to become considerably unresponsive if you try and take curves at 65, especially while decelerating. This happens when you realize you are hitting a curve to fast and then attempt to slow down. The truck almost seems to pull you to the opposite direction because it just doesn’t have the handling to keep you in the curve without succumbing to rollover. If you force the turn, you’ll end up being pressed against the door due to the centripetal motion. The truck doesn’t have all the fancy roll stability and body control technology that the newer models have so its best to keep it under 50 in the city and under 65 on curvy highways. In straightaways on the highway however, I’ve gotten the Expedition to 90 without realizing I was going so fast. So long as there are no curves, you’re ok speeding but, its never recommended in an SUV.
As there are no roll mitigation technologies, the Expedition also experiences intense *up and down* motions if you're in bumpy terrain. Its very similar to off-roading so younger drivers will have a blast driving it while older ones will want something less bouncy.


FUEL ECONOMY on SUV’s is always going to be complained about. My Expedition gets about 15 miles per gallon city and a little better on the highway. I did some checking and found this page… http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/18168.shtml
….which states that the Expedition is not considered a gas guzzler hence we didn’t pay the $1000 guzzler tax – Expedition has marginally better fuel economy than my Escalade for City driving. It costs my family about $65 to fill Expedition’s 26 gallon tank.







RELIABILITY


My family put over 65,000 miles on our Expedition. The exterior of the car is very well made and has almost no design flaws with a few exceptions.
#1 The windshield wiper on the rear window is part of the cargo door and there is the possibility that it can get jammed in the window itself when you close it. This happened on ours and the wiper blade was bent a little. It is avoidable – and fortunately has been replaced on the newer expeditions.

#2 The expedition goes through front brakes very quickly if you live in a city area with heavy stop and go traffic. I estimate that every year and a half we have to replace brakes. So long as you do the work yourself, you can save a lot of money here.
A new Rotor costs $40 per disk and a pair of brakes are about $30. If you can do the work yourself, you will save over $300 in manual labor. If not, Ford will do the work only if the vehicle is under warranty [6 Years or 60,000 miles]

The Expedition 2002 and the Navigator of this era also had a problem with Caliper seizures, to date, I’ve had to change the front Caliper on the driver’s side as well as the passenger front caliper once during the first 50,000 miles.
The mechanic claimed ”It just happens”.


#3 After 50,000 miles, I had to replace the Expedition’s ball joints and a few other parts in the front steering assembly It was under warranty fortunately so I ended up paying a $50 deductible but, off warranty, it would have cost $400 or more [parts and labor].
The stabilizer bar links basically snapped off near 55,000 and I had to have Pep Boys do it since it wasn’t covered and the job cost us around $400. Truck handled perfectly after that. Like new.


#4 NEGLIDEGABLE… At one point Ford had to recall a part on its SUV’s for the Cruise control which could “catch fire” if worn. I was without cruise control for 4 weeks and then returned to have the new part installed. Works like new now.

#5 Moderate problem Twice over the 4 years we’ve had the car, the coil packs have worn out. The coil packs act as a type of spark plug for the engine. Ford replaced it for a $50 deductible which would normally be a $200 or more job considering labor cost.


As for the INTERIOR I have had almost no problems with it. Early on during the first 2 years, I had to have the window strip insulation replaced and glued because it fell down a couple times from the door’s threshold.


Other than these problems, the Expedition has been extremely reliable.



OVERALL

I have been blessed to have the 2002 Expedition. It offered my entire family so much comfort and enjoyment over the years. At this point my Law School attendee sister uses it to practice driving – though we never let her go out with it alone since its size makes it a bit of a challenge. We use it primarily to carry groceries, hardware, etc and it proves itself time and time again as a classic S.U.V. with plenty of utility use in mind. As I mentioned before, I’m dying to test drive a 2007 Expedition and Navigator. I have high hopes for both trucks and from the preview photos I’ve seen they look like they are gonna’ be spectacular. Fortunately, I’ll be able to compare them against GM’s line of 2007 SUV’s




2007 FORD EXPEDITION - http://www.epinions.com/content_270741048964

2007 LINCOLN NAVIGATOR - http://www.epinions.com/content_258470416004