The Detroit News's view

Sport-utility vehicles took quite a bashing during the recent bout of bad weather here in the Midwest. The Wall Street Journal and MSNBC did stories full of anecdotes about sport-utilities humbled by 20 inches of snow – stuck in drifts with broken axles and burned-out engines.

We had a different experience, though, in a 1999 Ford Expedition XLT 4X4.

When Detroit accumulated about 20 inches of snow in 10 days, we put the Expedition to the test. It didn’t let us down.

She: You know how they say most people never take their sport-utilities off-road? Well, we sure did enough challenging driving last week on Detroit side streets that weren’t plowed after the blizzard. Even though it was a white-knuckle driving experience, the Expedition performed beautifully.

He: Yeah, it’s easy to gripe about that $39,470 price tag on our test vehicle until you are watching stranded cars all around you – while you easily navigate snow-clogged streets. On days like that, it makes the Expedition seem well worth the money. It’s a tool, just like our trusty four-horsepower snow blower that you initially felt was a luxury.

She: I could write a whole test drive about another stunning part of the 1999 Expedition. I’m talking about the $120 optional power adjustable pedals. I’ve never seen that feature on a sport-utility before. There’s a little switch to the left of the steering wheel that lets you adjust the brake and accelerator up to 3 inches. It’s not just a comfort issue – it’s a safety issue, especially for shorter women, such as me, who want to position themselves as far away from the air bag as possible. What a super idea. Experts say you should be an arm’s length away from the steering wheel, but that’s the first time I’ve ever felt I came close to that.

He: I’m sure the other girls will like that. I’m more impressed by the boost in horsepower. Our test vehicle had the optional 5.4-liter V-8, which is way more powerful for 1999. It now makes 260 horsepower and 345 pounds-feet of torque. With that kind of muscle, it’s no problem to bull your way through even 2-foot snowdrifts. The down side is dismal gasoline mileage – only 12 miles per gallon in city driving, and that’s on dry pavement. Good thing we had a huge, 30-gallon fuel tank.

She: If it were summer, I’m sure we’d be griping about things such as how difficult it is to parallel park a more-than-5,000-pound SUV. Or how you have to be like a gymnast to climb in and out of it. Or that the optional third-row seat is supposed to hold three, but is actually pretty cramped and difficult to get to. But your perspective sure changes when the people on the Weather Channel are getting hysterical and your neighbors can’ get to work.

He: Actually, I got pretty hysterical when I tried to buy that snow blower on the morning of the big blizzard. Speaking of cold weather, I sure wish our Expedition would have had heated seats, which are optional. When the temperature’s in single digits, it can be a moving experience climbing into those cold leather buckets. I do like some of the more thoughtful amenities, such as the optional six-disc CD changer hidden in the center console.

She: I was impressed by how easy the four-wheel-drive system worked. There is a three-position rotary switch on the instrument panel just to the right of the steering wheel. You can switch from four-low to four-high, or just leave the switch in automatic all-wheel drive, and the system will switch back and forth as you need the extra traction. With all that snow on the road, we left the Expedition in four-high most of the time. We never got stuck once – even on those awful snow-clogged Detroit side streets.

He: Hey, if we would have had a snowplow on the front of the Expedition, we could have made some serious money. I still have a few quibbles. I suppose my biggest gripe is looking at that gap between the edge of the instrument panel and the bottom of the windshi pillar. I wish Ford would tighten that up. It looks kind of tacky.

She: It’s funny how your perspective changes when your life boils down to just getting out of the driveway. At that point, I never noticed the gaps. It became irrelevant that the front end of the Expedition was “freshened.” It didn’t matter, because the sport-utility was all crusted over with snow and ice anyway. All I know is that the Ford Expedition did the job.