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My Chevy and Ford Experience

883 views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  mmiller619 
#1 · (Edited)
I thought I'd throw this out there for those of us interested in trip reports. No pics.

For a period of a month sometime beginning mid September, I had the opportunity to live with a full size Chevy (Suburban, I believe) and a full size Ford (Expedition w/extended), both 2016 models. It is amazing how well these vehicles have evolved over the years. Both vehicles have 3rd row seats with plenty of room behind the 3rd row.

I had an assignment in Florida from Maryland and had to haul a ton of equipment so I opted to rent the largest SUV available. I got the Chevy for the almost 1000 mile trip and for the duration of my stay in FL. This thing is LARGE inside. The center console is nearly half the size of the seat bottom of our W163! It swallows almost anything you throw at it. In terms of creature comfort, it is scary how much is available - both electronically and mechanically. Unfortunately the Chevy falls short, dangerously pitifully in three areas: touch shift, lane departure control and dynamic stability. The Ford did not do better. It was more nimble than the Chevy and that's where the comparison ends.

The Chevy
The Chevy shifter is located approximately we have the cruise control on the W163, but just a bit lower so that it is obscured by the steering wheel in a straight line drive. Activating touch shift is a cumbersome two step process where you first put the shifter in manual mode, then find the right gear. It is worse than I can describe - a lot of things can go wrong during that shifting process. I bet you Chevy engineers never even used the touch shift feature in real life. It is dangerously unusable in any situation.

The Chevy lane departure is good technology taken one step too far. When I first started driving the vehicle, I thought there was something wrong with the steering wheel because it seemed to suddenly pull to the right. After about 300 miles of driving, it occurred to me that the lane departure gremlin that was "correcting" me when it sensed that I was over the lane divider on a two lane highway - it would pull right because I usually drive on the right lane except to pass. Incidentally, I don't recalled that it pulled left when I was on the left lane. In any case, it is dangerously annoying.

However, for a SUV that size, the mileage was not bad at all - I was getting 15 - 17 highway, but I was not exactly soft on the pedal either. Passing acceleration was slow - seemed as if the electronics had to catch up with my pedal position. On a straight line, WOT is OK, not terribly impressive, mostly due to the delay in response.

Luckily I did not encounter any emergency maneuvers, but it was clear to me that this vehicle is not best at simultaneous sudden braking, combined with quick steering motions. Really scary.

Overall, great vehicle with plenty of room for family hauling. Tons of features to meet today's electronic toys. Horrible, really horrible touch shift system. In fact, it is not a touch shift system at all - I don't know what to call it, except that it is dangerous. Luckily, I doubt many will ever use it. I'll keep my W163 ML 500.

The Ford
After few days in FL, there was a recall on the Chevy and the replacement was a Ford Expedition - much lighter and quicker than the Chevy, less creature comfort but much worse dynamic stability - I actually purposefully performed an emergency maneuver on an open lot and the Ford was really bad. I kind of missed the very large storage consoles the Chevy offered. Luckily for me, that model was also recalled after a couple of days. I ended up with a very nice black on black Extended version of the Expedition. I have to admit that this vehicle was nice inside. Creature comfort was all over the place but not as good as the Chevy's. For example, I completed my Bluetooth pairing on the Chevy in a one step process. It took several steps and tries to get the Ford to pair to my iPhone. Dynamic stability on the ford was just as bad as before and mileage was worse - as expected with the Extended version. But this baby had enough room for whatever I threw at it. That is the one I drove back to MD and it really didn't disappoint on comfort for a 1000 mile trip. Thankfully, neither of the Fords had the Chevy style lane departure system. They both has blind spot warning which I found to be useful.

My 2005 ML500
So yesterday I took my 05 ML500 for a 2-hr trip to gage my feel good quotient vs my experience with the newer Chevy and Ford. The ML immediately felt VERY OLD as soon as I realized I did not have Bluetooth and that it is not as quiet as the newer SUVs. However, ignoring MPG, those were really the only things that felt quirky to me vs the newer Ford/Chevy. I thought that the W163 NAV would feel outdated, but surprisingly, other than the neutral color scheme common with the newer NAV systems, it didn't. The not so quiet ML, I can live with given that I drive mine just a few times during the year, mostly on vacations. Even at over 100K, I'll keep the ML. Its stability in emergency maneuvers simply trounces anything I have experienced in a SUV and that is addictive.

I was chased out of FL by hurricane Matthew but had to return a couple of weeks later to finish work. I took the ML for the that trip and I the grin on my face going to and coming back was nothing the Ford or the Chevy could ever offer me - except for that darn Bluetooth.
 
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#8 ·
Thanks - also to mmiller619 who suggested same. I have thought about that but never looked into it. Do you have any suggestions in mind? Wasn't there also an issue with the ML fiberoptics with aftermarket units? That was years ago and may not be an issue anymore. Educate me if you don't mind. Thanks.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the review Darkman. American SUVs still drive like a boat and technology is not refined when compare to EU or JP cars. But on the plus side, yes, you can serve a breakfast to your kids on the center console. People buy German cars for their superior handling and in-control feeling as a driver, no longer for the feeling of luxury. SUVs have grown significantly past 15 years. W163 would fit in the same category as Ford Edge or GMC Acadia today.

I don't see myself buying a Chevy or Ford SUV, unless US manufacturers stop renewing and enlarging their models every year instead of releasing more refined vehicles every 3-4 years.

Lack of Bluetooth was bugging me 3-4 years ago. Installing iSimple BT adapter was the solution. If the MCS goes kaput one day (knocking on wood), I would probably install an Apple CarPlay head unit.
 
#5 ·
Both the blue tooth and loud interior sound issue could easily be solved for a few hundred bucks. I upgraded my head unit years ago to something that is BT capable. Haven't used a CD since then. Sometimes I do rent DVD's and play it on the head unit during long trips. Something the OEM ML head unit can't do despite having a disc input and screen.
I also install sound deadening on all panels of the ML. My original intent for this was to keep the sound of my music inside the car, but it also works well on keeping exterior noise out.

I have wanted to upgrade to a larger SUV for awhile, but have never found anything that interest me. I did own a 2003 Ford Expedition for 8 years until the engine blew after being perfectly maintained and only 120,000 miles so after that I will never own another Ford.
 
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