Hi All,
Our 2016 Suburban was recently totaled in an accident and now we need a new three row SUV with plenty of room for our family and stuff. We’ve narrowed it down to the new 2021 Tahoe or a new 2020 Expedition. I was hoping to get some feedback/advice from the community on which vehicle to go with. Our priorities are safety, reliability, and functionality. We never had any problems with our 2016 Suburban and I feel like Chevy’s naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 would be more reliable than the Expedition’s turbocharged V6. We would probably keep this next vehicle for 10 years at least. I know some will suggest the Toyota Sequoia for the reliability but the fact the Sequoia hasn’t been redone in so long and gets terrible gas mileage is a pretty big negative for me. I know they’re supposed to redo the Sequoia soon but unfortunately we can’t wait a year or two for that to happen. Thanks in advance for any help!
I am not a Toyota or Ford fan so I would recommend the Tahoe. My 2001 Tahoe will be 20 years old this July and the only major part I replaced was an alternator. Since the Tahoe is so new some people would shy away from it but one way to hedge your bet is consider leasing instead of buying. Do not lease for more than the warranty covers the vehicle which is three years. If anything goes wrong after three years and you do not like it you just walk away. The reviews I have read are very good so the Tahoe should be a better choice than the outdated Sequoia or the 6 Turbo of the Ford. My 2 cents worth. BTW, the Tahoe is only assembled in one plant only and that is Arlington.
Anything forced inducted will require early $$$$ later down the road so take note of that.
@mrrangerzr1
Another very important thing is that turbo or supercharged vehicles are good at passing government fuel economy tests (literally hardwired to excel at those benchmarks done at 60MPH), but in the real world they often do as badly if not worse than naturally aspirated engined vehicles. If you do most of your driving on, say, some county roads where 60MPH is the norm and you just set your cruise at that, you'll do well with a turbo engine, but if you're on an Interstate and doing 70-80 with intermittent acceleration and deceleration, turbos often get disappointing fuel economy.
"[T]he Sequoia hasn’t been redone in so long and gets terrible gas mileage is a pretty big negative for me."
That's actually a great pro in favor of it if you've been listening to Scotty for long (just search for his video on why he isn't commenting on the new Ford Bronco, and he will wait 5 years at least before passing definitive judgment on it). You may not have the newest doodads, but you can easily add many aftermarket toys from the money you'll save which otherwise you would have handed over to the Service Dept. of Chevrolet ("junk yard" picture is there for a reason whenever Scotty says those words 😉 ) or Ford.
Whatever you do, don't get the new Tahoe assembled in Arlington, Texas. Anything coming out of that plant takes 2 years to reach requisite quality in normal times, with COVID I'd bump that up to a minimum of 3 years (iirc, Scotty mentioned that some GM plants were using white-collar workers, i.e. managers to assemble cars!).
To honor your question I won't recommend a Toyota or Lexus, or even one of the new Kia's (worth looking into, with their NA V6). Both would be reasonable options (Tahoe and Expedition). Forced induction will likely wear faster but if you change the oil (as Im sure you know) when you are supposed to and you don't drive it hard all they time, the engineering put into both of these options (Ford and Chevy) should result in at least a few hundred thousand miles, if taken care of. I have seen ecoboosts go for a long time. Personally, Ford has a bit better engineering so maybe opt for that. Chevy is cool too. Just whatever one you like to looks of best (if you're not worried about fuel economy)
Toyota or Lexus are best
