Expedition vs 4Runner
 

My wife and I have limited our selection of our next vehicle to the above vehicles in 4wd, of course. Without getting the Ford su-ks responses, could I get opinions on both. My selection for the 4runner will be the v6 so that I can select between 2wd and 4wd, bacause I believe you can't with the v8. We will be purchasing an 06 or 07 model in either vehicle and will be doing limited off roading, trail riding if any. We will be taking several long distance trips throughout the year and depending on where my son gets stationed(USMC), there might be more. Obviously MPG's is a concern but not top on the list. I am more concerned with reliability and comfort. I will be adding a small lift to either vehicle so that I can put bigger/AT tires on either vehicle( for my wife's safety of course :hotglass: ) but that will probably be the extent of mods, other that oil and drivegear fluids(synthetic). Thanks for any responses. This purchase will take place within less than a year so I have plenty of time to decide

Well obviously there is a big difference in size. Do you need the extra room or possible 3rd row that the Expedition offers? I have nothing against Ford, in fact had an Explorer before my 4Runner and put an easy 200,000 on it. Proved to be a great SUV! But why did you go with the Expedition if I may ask? With light off-roading, I guess it really wont matter which one you go with, although the 4Runners will be more capable of whatever you throw at it. Personally, I would like to wait and see what Toyota does with the new Tundra body style that comes out on the Sequoia later this year.

I vote for the 4Runner.

Oh and as far as your reliability, TOYOTA is more reliable by far! But as far as comfort goes, a big roomy Expedition might take the cake.:)

i would think the gas mileage would be quite lower in the expedition. my full size bronco has been "parked" lately in favor of my toyota.

Toyota :great: Ford :chair: very simple

Any vehicle you buy will last you a long time, but that all depends on the up keep, my uncle owns and has only ever and will ONLY ever owna ford,he is the biggest Ford nut i have seen in my life. Now, he has never had to take hi trucks in for their recalls. THAT IS ONLY because he is a heavy duty mechanic so he fixes the parts before they need fixing, so of course he does not know of the problems with the ball joints that ford has(or had, im not sure if the fixed it yet?) But even Toyota has been having problems, but they are fi ad finish interior problems, and a few suspension problems. But the suspension is a bilstien recall only and the fit and finish, it was on a 2003 Tundra, so i would imagine they have cured that by now. Toyota by far as the reliability, Ford has the power and Diesel MPG. Toyota has the ability to take you to every corner of the earth and beyond. Ford has a ground clearance problem as well as it USED to have a ball joint safety issue. They claim to have fixed it but then again they never officially said that is was a concern of theirs in the first place(i watched it on the news). Both hafe marginal-good safety reports from IIHS. In the end it all comes down to personal opinion.

I too vote for Toyota

Thanks for all of the responses, we are leaning more towards Toyota but we will see. Keep those responses coming. I looked at the sequoia vs expedition side of it too but the 4runner is more along the lines of what we were looking at and i prefer to have the toyota 6 cylinder for our needs. I used to have an 05 F350 and still miss that room on the inside. Oh and I DO NOT need the 3rd seat option.

I bet you got lost inside that beast!!!:hillbill:

If the V6 Toyota fits your needs then why are you even considering a ford?

Toyota will get way better mpg and is more reliable in the longrun than Ford. I had an F250 a long time ago, unless you need the size there is no point.

The 4Runner comes with a solid rear axle, the expidition has independent rear suspension. If you say you are going to be doing any off-roading at all, i would take the 4Runner.

The Expedition doesn't come with a diesel.

The Expedition, with it's IRS, could be made to work well off road. But in the long run, it will be more maintenance and potential for problems. That's one reason why I would choose the Toyota (even though I'm a Ford man in most circumstances).

The Toyota will get more MPG, and will still have plenty of power with the V6. My Tacoma with the same engine will outrun my brother's '92 Bronco with the 5.0 V8 and my dad's '93 Chevy with the 350 V8 and still get more MPG than both.

And if you don't need the room of the Expedition, the Toyota should have plenty of room.

The Toyota would have my vote in this case.

If you want room...and a Toyota...get a Sequoia...as they are in that same price range.

:guitar:

I love my Runner, and have ridden in an Expedition recently. I like the Expy very much, Ford has made many refinement improvements. The Expy is much bigger so it doesn't handle better than the Runner, but the IRS makes for a smoother ride on the road. The Ford will also give you more towing capacity and room to spare. However, the mileage on an Expy is putrid, downright lousy. I would have no problem buying one if I had 4 kids and needed to tow a big boat or camper, but for my needs, a v6 Runner with 5k lbs. towing stock, a shade over 21 mpg on the highway on average, and good refinement its perfect.
Have you looked at Explorers or considered them? They are more in the Runner's league. I test drove one of them as well, let me know if you want my review/comparison with the 4Runner.

If I drove on the street all of the time, I would more closely consider the IRS equipped Explorer. Of course, in that situation, I wouldn't need 4wd.

But driving off road like I like to do, and with the simplicity and durability that a solid axle rear axle has, I would get the Toyota.

As far as fuel economy goes, I don't think the Explorer gets more MPG. In fact, I think the real world MPG is a little less.

my dads explorer gets ~1mpg more than my avg=20.
the expedition would def get less.

I'm just going by what I see posted on therangerstation.com (about Ranger based vehicles, which includes the Explorer) versus on here.

What I said about MPG might be wrong. But then again, there's several factors that affect actual fuel economy, and that even can vary between 2 supposedly identical vehicles.

I would still pick the Toyota in this case.

the OP mentioned the possibility of a small lift. Lifting the IFS/IRS Expedition would be quite expensive. Lifting a 4Runner will be considerable cheaper. Several kits out there that an owner could install to allow a larger tire to be installed.

Not only that, as far as I know lift kits for IRS equipped Explorers/Expeditions, which typically aren't driven much off road are harder to come by, assuming there are lifts made for these vehicles at all.

If you need something as big as an Expedition, get a Sequoia! I drove and Expedition (because a co-worker had a brand new one), then I drove the Sequoia. It was more powerful, quieter, more comfortable, and much more refined. We needed a bigger vehicle because we had Triplets (we already had one child), and I was anti-minivan. I already had a 4Runner, and love it, but the Sequoia (the wifes car) is the best of both worlds. Not as capable off road as the 4Runner, mainly because of size, but much more capable than an expedition. The best thing, it will run forever! My only complaint about the bigger vehicles is the gas mileage.