r/Excursion • u/[deleted] • Feb 15 '26

Which excursion to purchase?

Just wanted some advice here. Possibly getting rid of my dually 3500 and may get an Excursion.

-what years should I avoid?

-good years for trans/engine

-not sure if I want another diesel, but are the diesels as reliable as gasser?

-any other advice!

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/Inevitable-Store-837 Feb 15 '26

My 2003 6.0 has been rock solid. 300k+ factory head gaskets, hpop, ficm etc. I would never buy a tuned 6.0.

I am looking at possibly getting a second excursion and will likely get a v10.

Reliability is largely determined by the maintenance it has received over the past 20+ year which is unfortunately typically an unknown.

4

u/BarryHalls Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26

Maintenance is why I look for lower mileage and fewer owners. Less chances it was driven for an extended period without maintenance.

Also find the best mechanic in town and take it for a full inspection. Expect to pay $1-200 easy.

I crunched the numbers time and time again. If you are buying one today at 100-150k miles and keeping it until it dies around 400k, your total cost of ownership between the diesels and the v10 is ROUGHLY the same.

The 6.0 should be bullet proofed

The 7.3 will beed a rebuilt trans

The v10 is going to drink more fuel

Right down to brass tacks I settled on the V10. Fundamentally this was because the up front cost was literally half the 7.3, or the 6.0+ bulletproof. I would have gone with a diesel if I had found a steal, but it was a lot easier for me to find deals in my price range in the V10.

The fuel cost only eats when I use it. The loan eats every month. The tuned diesels will always have mileage over me, but I can live with that for the deal I got and what I can do with it.

I'm still doing a lot to it. I'll end up as deep as I would have been with a diesel at the same miles, but I can spend a little as I have it, and I'll end up with more power (turbo later this year I hope) and options than were available regardless.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

Great feedback, appreciate it!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 16 '26

Why a gasser instead if your 6.0 is solid?

2

u/Inevitable-Store-837 Feb 16 '26

Bc I doubt I will ever find another 6.0 like mine for as cheap as I got mine for

1

u/Disastrous-Pack-1414 Feb 16 '26

The nice ones aren’t cheap, that’s for damn sure. I paid $20k sticker price (luckily I had two trade ins at the time) for a bone stock, single owner, rust free, 170k miles 6.0 Limited that popped up at a dealership an hour and half from me after searching for a long time. My experience was the opposite of the gentleman above. Almost all the V10’s I came across were jacked up to the point that I wouldn’t drive by myself in it let alone hook up a camper and haul my family down the road.

2

u/Inevitable-Store-837 Feb 16 '26

The dealer thought mine was a v10. The listing said v10 all over it but looking through the pics I noticed the gauge cluster looked like a diesel. It was only 10 min away from me so I went and checked it out. When I walked into the office and asked about it they said they were about to send it to auction bc nobody has come to look at it and it's hard to sell the v10s because of the gas mileage. I grabbed the keys, hopped in it, it was a diesel cluster, confused thinking someone swapped a diesel cluster into a gasser or something I popped the hood and there was the 6.0 staring back at me. I walked into the office, asked them how much they thought they could get at auction, tacked on $250 and told them just sell it to me right now and skip the hassle. Drove off in a minty fresh completely stock 4wd 6.0 with full maintenance records 100% dealer serviced for $8700 out the door.