2000 Expedition -- Fuel Mileage

I looked at an Eddie Bauer Expedition last weekend with just short of

100,000 miles, 20-inch rims, Borla 3" exhaust, 2nd row Captains Chairs, 3rd row seating, video display system, 6-disc changer, and probably everything else offered when it was new.

One thing it had on the Overhead Display was the fuel consumption. I assume this display is the average rate of consumption since the last time anybody bothered to press the reset button. I'm troubled that it said 9.6.

If somebody on a test drive before me hit the reset button and drove around the block, then the number would easily be 9.6. (I did not press the reset button.) But, if the button had not been pressed in a long time, then this number is troubling.

I drive a '97 F150 with the 4.6 Triton motor, the Expedition has the 5.4 Triton motor. I carry construction tools -- I estimate about 1000 pounds -- in my truck, and get 13-ish mpg in city traffic and around 16 on the highway.

What mileage do people with an Expedition get? I was hoping for at least what I get with my overloaded F150 with the small motor working its ass off, but the only one I've test driven so far was well below what I was expecting.

The seller of the Expedition is a school teacher that lives about a mile from her school, so driving such a short distance would show up in low mpg numbers.

I'm trying to avoid looking at this as a defective truck, so if you guys are saying you get 15+ then I will keep looking at an Expedition to stuff into my garage. If 10 is all I can expect, then I might have to rethink my strategy.

My wife and I are thinking we want an SUV, and I was dialing in on the Expedition because I like the price point, and I enjoy my F150. We are thinking we want a 7-passenger because grandbabies will be arriving soon, and we want to be ready to fit car seats and diaper bags. My kid already has an Edge, and four adults and a carseat has proven to be a very tight squeeze.

If it's like my PT Cruiser you can take it out on the highway and at steady speeds reset it. Do the reset several times to make sure it's forgotten most of the old data. After driving at a steady speed for a mile and doing a couple resets you should get a reasonably good idea of what it's gas mileage is at that steady speed. On cars I've driven with mpg readouts it becomes obvious that while many vehicles can do pretty good mpg at steady speeds even the smallest amount of "getting on it" really cuts into the mileage. If she's really driving only a mile to school and back most of the time the 9.6 sounds about right. It probably never exits open loop and never warms up. I'd take a look under the oil filler cap and see if there is any sludge building up from all the short cold trips. If she's an oil change fanatic there shouldn't be any. I'd be surprised if you could get more then about

13 mpg around town and maybe 17 on the highway.