2018 Ford Expedition Drops 300 Pounds Thanks To Aluminum

Very much an improvement over the current Expy and using the new F-Series interior helps a lot but that profile screams Suburban and the nose makes it look like a full size Explorer, which is already a few years old.

Surreal I was thinking the same thing. It looks like it could be the 4th iteration of the K2xx triplets, but the boring and older one. That  375 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque possibility is a signal to GM that its time to bump it up on the 5.3L or make the 6.2L an Option across the board, with the Escalade and Denali getting themselves some more power

I think it looks good.  I am not a big SUV fan, but I like the looks of this more than a Tahoe or Armada or whatever else is out there.   The 10 speed and ecoboost is a nice combo, I am surprised the base model doesn't have a 2.7 ecoboost V6, but I guess they figured the model mix would be low.  I still remember when the original Expedition had a 4.6 liter V8 with 210 hp, they have come a long way in 20 years.  The interior looks pretty sharp too for a truck and the class they are in.  I think this will do pretty well with market share in the segment.

As far as the GM 5.3 and 6.2 V8s, GM needs to start looking at turbo engines.  Even the 6.2 V8 makes less torque than Ford's 3.5 V6.  Just like time caught up to the 3800 V6 in family sedans, time is catching up to the pushrod V8, it may have passed the 5.3 V8 by already.

Thinking it will see a decent size price increase as well.....moving up to the XLT trim gives it a bunch of goodies to start.

MIght be best this way anyways.....

so when will the Cyclone make a grand re-entrance?

Solid Competitor to the Tahoe / Suburban. Past that, Meh on the interior, just something about the layout that does nothing for me. Nice update by Ford.

Certainly an improvement over the last, but i am less than impressed.  the stling is very derivative of the Current GM fullsize SUVs and even the Durango.  Also, while 300 pounds of weightloss sounds great it STILL leaves the Espedition a good 200+ pounds heavie than the GM SUVs, which would not be a big deal except that there was heavy use of expensive Aluminum just for weight-loss. 

IRS vs Solid rear axle alone has to be a hundred pounds plus the features the Expedition has that the Tahoe/Suburban don't have.. @FordCosworth you posted info on this, didn't you? Where was that at?

21 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

IRS vs Solid rear axle alone has to be a hundred pounds plus the features the Expedition has that the Tahoe/Suburban don't have.. @FordCosworth you posted info on this, didn't you? Where was that at?

Three features the GM twins don't have

10 speed auto

3.5L Ecoboost V6

aluminum. 

Thats all I could find (although there may be more that I'm missing) making it's extra weight even more of a mystery. 

25 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

IRS vs Solid rear axle alone has to be a hundred pounds plus the features the Expedition has that the Tahoe/Suburban don't have.. @FordCosworth you posted info on this, didn't you? Where was that at?

He posted it in the Random thread:

It's all a mystery until the vehicle is actually put on a scale and the new truck is explained more in detail vs the outgoing model and the competition.

Details are still pretty scarce 

3 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Three features the GM twins don't have

 

10 speed auto

3.5L Ecoboost V6

aluminum. 

 

Thats all I could find (although there may be more that I'm missing) making it's extra weight even more of a mystery. 

I reviewed the C&D Story and did not find anything else. I looked on the Ford corporate web site and did not find anything else either. Solid competitor and as stated already IRS versus Solid axle and the 3 you mention is the only differences I can find.

So not sure if the full 200+ lbs is in the IRS and Motor as I am not sure that the tranny would have changed in weight much just because the gears changed.

2 minutes ago, dfelt said:

I reviewed the C&D Story and did not find anything else. I looked on the Ford corporate web site and did not find anything else either. Solid competitor and as stated already IRS versus Solid axle and the 3 you mention is the only differences I can find.

So not sure if the full 200+ lbs is in the IRS and Motor as I am not sure that the tranny would have changed in weight much just because the gears changed.

It is dimensionally bigger than the outgoing model too so that could be a small factor there. 

1 minute ago, surreal1272 said:

It is dimensionally bigger than the outgoing model too so that could be a small factor there. 

Yes, that could make a difference and their Vista Roof that Suburban does not have.

This is a big negative for me as the existing GM line has fold flat 3rd row into the floor and based on this picture the Ford does not.

This will give interior room to the GM's for cargo plus if this picture off Fords web site about this auto is accurate, then you would have to remove the seats to get full cargo space.

Very Interesting, Love the Vista Sun Roof.

Interesting but the more and more I look at all the pictures on the web site:

http://www.ford.com/suvs/expedition/2018/

The more this reminds me of the 90's for the GM lineup of their full Size SUVs.

I like it in many ways, not in a few. But this is truly the best I have seen Ford do on the full size SUV.

My hat is off to them.

I do not get this trend, Flat Stone looking seats, I see very little side to side support on any of the seats and the 3rd row looks like a slab of granite, hard uncomfortable and would not be a road trip auto for me.

20 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

Three features the GM twins don't have

 

10 speed auto

3.5L Ecoboost V6

aluminum. 

 

Thats all I could find (although there may be more that I'm missing) making it's extra weight even more of a mystery. 

I'd assume they will have the 10spd within a year.. I can't see that being something that take multiple years to implement unless it's a contract thing with Ford and vise versa for the 9spd.

8 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Yes, that could make a difference and their Vista Roof that Suburban does not have.

This is a big negative for me as the existing GM line has fold flat 3rd row into the floor and based on this picture the Ford does not.

This will give interior room to the GM's for cargo plus if this picture off Fords web site about this auto is accurate, then you would have to remove the seats to get full cargo space.

Very Interesting, Love the Vista Sun Roof.

Interesting but the more and more I look at all the pictures on the web site:

http://www.ford.com/suvs/expedition/2018/

The more this reminds me of the 90's for the GM lineup of their full Size SUVs.

I like it in many ways, not in a few. But this is truly the best I have seen Ford do on the full size SUV.

My hat is off to them.

True on the sunroof but we don't know that their weight claim includes that. 

16 minutes ago, dfelt said:

I reviewed the C&D Story and did not find anything else. I looked on the Ford corporate web site and did not find anything else either. Solid competitor and as stated already IRS versus Solid axle and the 3 you mention is the only differences I can find.

So not sure if the full 200+ lbs is in the IRS and Motor as I am not sure that the tranny would have changed in weight much just because the gears changed.

It could be anything from sound deadening, weight of components throughout the vehicle, to the body panels. Isn't there already some aluminum implemented in the GMs? I know their trucks already use some.

Some of that weight could be beneficial, some of it could be lack of technological advances.. It's so tough to really compare and say one vehicle is heavier and one is lighter and better when there are millions of variables that factor into the overall weight. One might make a stronger, heavier differential and transfer case while the other added additional sound deadening.

16 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Yes, that could make a difference and their Vista Roof that Suburban does not have.

This is a big negative for me as the existing GM line has fold flat 3rd row into the floor and based on this picture the Ford does not.

This will give interior room to the GM's for cargo plus if this picture off Fords web site about this auto is accurate, then you would have to remove the seats to get full cargo space.

Very Interesting, Love the Vista Sun Roof.

Interesting but the more and more I look at all the pictures on the web site:

http://www.ford.com/suvs/expedition/2018/

The more this reminds me of the 90's for the GM lineup of their full Size SUVs.

I like it in many ways, not in a few. But this is truly the best I have seen Ford do on the full size SUV.

My hat is off to them.

Seats not folding flat is pretty ridiculous to me.. and I tried to look up pictures of the current or older gen and it looks like they used to have the 3rd row fold flat but not the captain chairs, which would be okay with me. Hopefully, the 3rd row will fold flat in this next gen as well because not folding flat seems like a decent negative, personally.

When looking up if the current Expy folded flat I figured I'd look up the Suburban as well. They appear about the same as the Expy with the 3rd row folding flat and it can be removed as well(suburban - not sure about the Expy).

Maybe I'm wrong.. but here's a quote from Edmunds,

• "Another downside to the third-row seat is that it has to be removed entirely in order to make full use of the cavernous cargo hold. You don't have to worry about this herculean task in the Expedition EL or Toyota Sequoia, which feature fold-flat third rows. Yet when all the Suburban's seats are removed, however, the resulting 137 cubic feet of maximum cargo space is greater than both those rivals." -- Edmunds (2013)

9 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

It could be anything from sound deadening, weight of components throughout the vehicle, to the body panels. Isn't there already some aluminum implemented in the GMs? I know their trucks already use some.

Some of that weight could be beneficial, some of it could be lack of technological advances.. It's so tough to really compare and say one vehicle is heavier and one is lighter and better when there are millions of variables that factor into the overall weight. One might make a stronger, heavier differential and transfer case while the other added additional sound deadening.

A voice of reason!

18 minutes ago, FordCosworth said:

A voice of reason!

 

No one here has been unreasonable. We are all just speculating at this point. 

This thing looks like a shameless ripoff of the Tahoe/Suburban's styling. 

I don't like this thing having a TT V6, but the GM full-sizers feel like they're held together with rubber bands and paper clips, so this HAS to be better. 

My ruling is Ford by default.

17 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

This thing looks like a shameless ripoff of the Tahoe/Suburban's styling. 

The only thing that looks like the GMs is the flat, boring, and un-styled sides which neither put effort into. Everything up front screams "Explorer".

3 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

The only thing that looks like the GMs is the flat, boring, and un-styled sides which neither put effort into. Everything up front screams "Explorer".

I disagree. Everything from the angle of the pillars, to the door handles, to the body lines looks like the Chevy. Put a Chevy grille on it (hell, just the bow tie), and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

The only thing I REALLY see is they made the windows shorter like the Chevy's but looking at the current gen they already had that bland/boring/flat side section with the rear body colored piece angled forward slightly so that wasn't even a rip off like I thought it was.

Nice to see Ford also copied those square fender wells too 

28 minutes ago, Frisky Dingo said:

I disagree. Everything from the angle of the pillars, to the door handles, to the body lines looks like the Chevy. Put a Chevy grille on it (hell, just the bow tie), and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Agreed. That was the first thing I noticed. Save for the wheel well (btw who cares what they're shaped like) that profile is Tahoe/Suburban all the way. Sorry but it is that obvious. It is still light years better looking than the current Expy though. 

5 minutes ago, FordCosworth said:

Nice to see Ford also copied those square fender wells too 

Good thing they didn't. It's one of the things that make it look massively better than the Tahoe/Burban.

1 hour ago, Frisky Dingo said:

This thing looks like a shameless ripoff of the Tahoe/Suburban's styling. 

I don't like this thing having a TT V6, but the GM full-sizers feel like they're held together with rubber bands and paper clips, so this HAS to be better. 

My ruling is Ford by default.

Being an Owner of a GMC Suburban and Escalade ESV I am having to disagree with you. Rubber bands and paper clips or are you just being sarcastic? Cause since you say the Expedition is a ripoff then that would mean they are equal to the GM products.

Sometimes I just do not get Forum jokes or sarcasm.

" The FEEL like being held together by rubber bands and paper clips. "

I'm to believe since the 2018 Expedition images/PR were just made public, one hasn't had a chance to FEEL the Expedition  

The current GM full-size SUV's feel flimsy and cheap. It's terrible.

"Ford has given the Expedition a panorama roof above the first two rows and a flat load floor below, which can accommodate a 4-by-8-foot piece of plywood with the push of a button to fold both rows flat." - MT

@dfelt This sounds like it answers our questions. Odd that they would picture it like this then.

20 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Being an Owner of a GMC Suburban and Escalade ESV I am having to disagree with you. Rubber bands and paper clips or are you just being sarcastic? Cause since you say the Expedition is a ripoff then that would mean they are equal to the GM products.

Sometimes I just do not get Forum jokes or sarcasm.

I've driven a couple of current generation Tahoes and a previous generation Yukon, they seemed pretty solid and tight to me, and the Tahoes drove very nicely, even on winding Az mountain roads..very comfortable and civilized...

As the oddball, I kind of like the exterior of the current Sxpy better.  That said 2 things keep the Tahoe ahead in my mind and that is the V8 and the Z71 package.    

3 hours ago, ccap41 said:

"Ford has given the Expedition a panorama roof above the first two rows and a flat load floor below, which can accommodate a 4-by-8-foot piece of plywood with the push of a button to fold both rows flat." - MT

@dfelt This sounds like it answers our questions. Odd that they would picture it like this then.

That is very odd as the picture shows it is much higher than the flat floor. Be interesting to see a wider angle picture of how the chairs sit. Yes you can put a 4x8 sheet on top of them folded down like the picture shows but would you want to?

POWER UPGRADE.

The 3.5L EcoBoost® engine in the Expedition Platinum is tuned to give you more refined power – upping the output to 400 horsepower and 480 lbs.-ft. of torque. Which means more responsive performance as you pass others on the highway

So it's tuned a bit more aggressively in Platinum model 

https://m.ford.ca/suvs/expedition/2018/

The Platinum interior looks very nice. Almost too nice. 

I hope that means the Navigator gets Black Label interior quality standard, with the real Black Label versions getting leather EVERYWHERE, sheeps wool carpets, thick Alcantara mircosuede on ALL pillars, padded 3rd row pamper's diapers....

Yeah, the side profile reminds me of GM, but, honestly, if it can be considered as a 4th GM 2XXX, but with an engine that is more in line with the 6.2 in terms of capability, with a price that is between the Tahoe and the GMC Denali..., with some Explorer and F150 DNA mashup... I dunno, it seems like a pretty nice utility.

And you do get the independant rear suspension folks, and a lower cargo load floor.

I think, people buying this kind of vehicle...like really needing that kind of capability and capacity for people, with the ruggedness, now styling isn't much of choice. You get Ford variant of big land train, or GM variant. The choice is simply what kind of powertrain, and what kind of suspension setup you like. Capability will be pretty close still, and from there, I dunno about FE, maybe this will be better than the Tahoe, but by only like 1 mpg combined I think. 

Not sure if it's been mentioned...

The 2018 comes with continuously controlled damping too 

10 hours ago, FordCosworth said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned...

The 2018 comes with continuously controlled damping too 

That is exciting news!

12 hours ago, FordCosworth said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned...

The 2018 comes with continuously controlled damping too 

Yep, the first Ford to get it, right?

18 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Yep, the first Ford to get it, right?

I also read that this is the " first Ford " to come equipped with them. 

But...

Both GT350 models have them stock ( originally only on the GT350 if one ticked the Track Package option) 

Then there is the Fusion Sport tricky shocks.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/2017-ford-fusion-v6-sport-computer-controlled-shock-absorbers/

Maybe being the " first Ford " was a misprint. 

5 minutes ago, FordCosworth said:

I also read that this is the " first Ford " to come equipped with them. 

But...

Both GT350 models have them stock ( originally only on the GT350 if one ticked the Track Package option) 

Then there is the Fusion Sport tricky shocks.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/2017-ford-fusion-v6-sport-computer-controlled-shock-absorbers/

Maybe being the " first Ford " was a misprint. 

First Ford SUV is what it means, I assume.

Unless they're a different design which was only previously used in Lincolns..? But yes, it must mean Ford SUVs.

Be interesting to see how this compares to the GM magna ride setup.

These could be just like the BWI Group sourced MagnaRide shocks GM ( and Ford, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Acura ) use 

21 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Be interesting to see how this compares to the GM magna ride setup.

Absolutely. Also, kind of random, kind of not, but does FCA have a form of these dampers/shocks in any of their Jeeps, Rams, or anything else?

10 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Absolutely. Also, kind of random, kind of not, but does FCA have a form of these dampers/shocks in any of their Jeeps, Rams, or anything else?

My research says no. FCA only uses these on their Ferrari Brand cars.

33 minutes ago, FordCosworth said:

My research says no. FCA only uses these on their Ferrari Brand cars.

True but they do use an adjustable suspension on the GC.

22 minutes ago, dfelt said:

True but they do use an adjustable suspension on the GC.

Correct.  GC and Ram both have 2 versions of their airride suspension (Ram/off-road for Rebel and GC/even more offroad orientedTrailhawk).  Also, all of the SRT cars and SUVs have Bilstien adjustable suspensions that work VERY well. 

Adjustable suspensions, when you have to get under the hood or car, are a completely different animal and don't really count when we're talking about everyday vehicles like those air suspensions benefit.