Suburban Dad: Ford Expedition
I’ll say this for the Expedition: It was incredibly comfortable to ride in, but the mechanics of stopping and going overwhelmed the plushness of the interior.
I know great big SUVs like the Expedition are going to need huge amounts of power to get them moving — and that when they’re this big, it’s going to take more effort to slow them down. But both acceleration and braking were lagging at best — a slow, painful chore at worst. That aside, my wife and kids really enjoyed the interior of the Expedition. There was far more space for passengers than there was in the Chrysler Aspen, although getting back to the third road was harder than in the Aspen.
The Expedition’s automatic driver’s seat, which moves back after you’ve stopped, made it easier for me to get in and out of the car. When you climb back in and start it up, the seat moves back into position. My knees were very grateful for this feature.
The Expedition’s automatic driver’s seat, which moves back after you’ve stopped, made it easier for me to get in and out of the car. When you climb back in and start it up, the seat moves back into position. My knees were very grateful for this feature.
This Expedition had tons of other features, including an easy-to-use navigation system (easier by far than the joystick-burdened system in the Nissan Quest we drove), heated and cooled front seats (for both backs and butts), wireless headphones and a backseat entertainment system with a DVD player. All those extras don’t come cheap: As driven, this SUV was around $48,000.
The Wife: She found it very comfy and deemed the heated leather seats “a nice touch.” The best part for her? “The kids have plenty of room to sit — and not touch each other.” Still, she found the Expedition’s dimensions just too darn big, noting, “It looks like a semi.”
The Teen Son: He was thrilled with the headphones once I turned off the all-Christmas-music station. “I like the headphones,” he said, “because they let me hear my music without having to listen to everyone else.” Spoken like a true teen.
The Tweener Daughter: She didn’t like how hard it was to get into the backseat, but “I like how my brother is stuck back there.”
The 10-Year-Old: He liked the DVD controls in the back because “then you don’t have to bug your parents to control the movie.” While wearing the wireless headphones, he was in his own world, humming along to the music.
Would my wife or I buy the Expedition? Probably not. The roominess inside — not to mention the plushness — was terrific, but the overly large size, big price tag, and concern about the effort it would take my wife to get it to stop in traffic would keep it off our list.
