Can Our Three Old & Sketchy Big SUVs Tow Big? The Answer Is Just a Click Away! 

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What is crazy to me is the rpm drop from 1-2 shift on these rigs. I wonder how good these engines would do with just the new 10 spd tranny's from gm and Ford. You can tell once they got on the power band all the engine's pulled quite strong. The higher number of gears would help the engine's stay in that power band.

Genuinely impressed with that 99 Suburban. Least expensive by a large margin, is the oldest of the 3, has the highest mileage of the 3, smallest displacement engine of the 3 and that ole gal is still getting things done! Lovin every one of these budget videos

"People just call me a-hole." Haha. Love it !!

I got a 2005 Chevy suburban with a 5.3 I tow 8,000 lb from Florida to Alaska every year. No worries, I keep it slow and steady.

This is an unfair challenge to the 1500 Suburban; it only has the 350. The excursion has the v10, and the cadillac has the 6.0. You should compare with the 2500 suburban with the 454.. or at least a 2000 suburban with the 5.3.

Would be cool to see the 8.1 suburban in this competition!

The Suburban is my favorite as far as looks. It’s the oldest with the most miles and still stayed close to the other two.

Not to be that guy, but at 16:06 the results page says "Ford Expedition" instead of Excursion. But still a great video as always! Love the No Payment Needed series!

Love these types of videos I grew up watching top gear then gran tour! It’s nice seeing another show that has fun testing regular everyday used vehicles that most of us actually drive.

I’ve got basically the same truck as the Excursion, same white and gold but, 7.3 Powerstroke. Merging on the highway in Texas I hit the speed governor at 92 mph towing a 28’ camper.

310HP spread over ten cylinders is actually a nice recipe for longevity. Still amazed ford found a way to botch that.

I love the series and I get excited like a kid waking up to cartoons on a Saturday morning. The intro music is awesome. Keep it up the good work.

I just love Nathan's energy by simply having a V10 under the hood :-D

I would have loved it, if Tommy had found a 2500, big block Burban to compete with. That would show up the Excursion, for sure! I really wish that I still had mine.

I had a '97 Suburban with the 3.42 axel. Even that had no problem betting a towed mass up to 30-40mph due to the flat and early torque curve of the Vortec 5700. Once drag became a major factor though... that mere "255" hp struggled. Without a trailer I could do 100% of my driving under 2,000rpm even on 75mph AZ freeways.

All of them are good vehicles but the Excursion is my favorite. Those things are beasts

Interesting perspective on the 0-60 times… The Tacoma (in prior video) towed 6400 lbs. 0-60 in 24.32 seconds. We all know how sluggish the Tacoma feels, too.

I still Love that era gm. A suburban would fit good in the yard with my 98 z71. My only issue would be the plastics. I took great care of mine and the dash looks like a roadmap.

I like Tommy, he’s a smart guy. But its always nice to see the original three. The chemistry is and always has been amazing.

Torn between the Excursion and the GMC. Both are cool as hell but the Ford takes the cake. Btw, the best thing of late on TFL has been the purchase and use of the Tumbleweed Ranch. Can't have enough of the ranch!

When you consider how much heavier the Excursion is compared to the others, old boy got decent get up.

I tow a 32 ft camper trailer with my 01 LT Suburban. Other than the gearing at highway speeds it does great!

Great series. I look forward to every episode. Love it when the three of you are together. Everything is fun and funny. Nathan's little zingers are perfect "as long as it's on camera" and "people just call me a-hole" had me cracking up. The next episode looks like it's going to be great. Thanks guys

IMO the GM 800 Gen 2001-2006 Suburban/Yukon XL with a 3.73 is the sweet spot. They drive better than the shorter version are more useful have decent power and 16-17 average mpg is pretty easy to get.

this series is cool, feels like a top Gear challenge

This series is your best yet. Referencing James May made me think for a minute... yeah, you guys really are a version of Top Gear that is home grown. I've been watching for a number of years now and the consistent improvements and progress as I watch your channel(s) grow brings a smile to my face. Incidentally, with your intention of building budget overlanding vehicles, makes me very eager to see the results. Overlanding has absolutely exploded in popularity. I myself am building a 2004 GMC Envoy XUV right now, precisely to do overlanding. Kudos to you for picking the exact right topic for a series, at exactly the right time to present it!

I have an 05 Escalade and love it. Not a fan of the fuel mileage but that's expected. Super comfortable and easy to work on. And I'm loving how it is representing in this show.

My how the world has changed. I started towing in the 1970’s (cattle, horses and firewood). We often loaded up 10 cords of green wood on a 6 horse tongue trailer. The trailer was steel. I believe it weighed 8500 lbs. that means the trailer loaded weighed about 50,000 lbs. While attending high school m, I use to drive a load of wood to town 74 miles one way.. I did this using a 1968 F-250 RWD. Had a lot of tire blow outs but no accidents.

Well I mean the suburban is the oldest and was the slowest in the drag race so an extra 4 seconds towing 7000 lbs isn't that bad and half the cost

My 5.7 Vortec is still running strong after 25 years.. up there with the Cummins for reliability

TFL needs to do a “no payment needed” series on a HD truck from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Maybe a gasser rather than diesel or both to really make it interesting. I’d absolutely love to see what they could come up with for $10,000 or less

It is apples to oranges because the ford is a 3/4 ton and the GMs are 1/2 tons but the Ex will tow down the highway better than either of the other two. Merging speed is important but having that Cadillac singing at 4k rpm on the highway would be much less enjoyable than the low end torque of the v10. The extra weight of the Ex also will help with trailer sway and handling in wind. Drag race a semi, I gurantee it takes longer than 30 seconds to get up to 60mph.

They should do this same setup on the gauntlet. 😂

This is a great diesel truck commercial 👍👍

Love this series guys! These old trucks are awesome and something we can all afford.

Fun series, thanks guys!

"I say they're all doors but one of them's a jar (ajar)" That line has me ROLLING

I had a mint 5.7 1999 SLT with the towing package and it gives extra oil coolers for the trans so your always running at 1/4 gearbox temps very tough

Thanks for testing used old SUV’s and trucks, with today’s market a lot of people are looking for something more like this!…😊

Would be cool to see an Ike gauntlet of the 8.1 suburban vs the 6.0 or 7.3 excursion

Nothing like some morning coffee and a TFL challenge! I'm most excited about the next episode though!

I wouldn't measure how good a vehicle is at towing based on 0-60. My new mid-size does 0-60 unloaded in 10 seconds which is extremely slowly across the pond (the US) and I think it's perfectly adequate.

I'm actually really pleased with how my 2002 Escalade tows! Have to uh replace the rusted out receiver now though.

Should have done it with the suburban 2500 big block

Keep doing this kind of stuff!

Again Nathan is your best guy, makes the videos great. Just keep these three guys and I'll keep watching.

A really fun series. As always Andre is a star and the chemistry of all is great.

Hahhahahahhaha!!! “I say they’re all doors, but it says one of them is a jar…” Best Dad joke ever, Nathan!!!! @4:03

I wish they still made these 3/4 ton truck based SUVS. My 03 Suburban 2500 feels much more stable towing my 7000lb trailer compared to my 2017 Expedition, but expo with the ecoboost and 10 speed tranny pulls it effortlessly.

"if you want a viper mixed with a truck, here you go". *Ram srt10 enters the chat with an actual viper motor under the hood*

Could you guys publish the stats of these vehicles when you release these comparison videos? It would be helpful to know HP, torque, curb weight, 4x4 or not, most relevant towing capacity, and price. Just throwing a quick table in the video description would really help the audience grasp what you are comparing. Thanks for doing these, looks like you guys had fun.

Where's the 8.1 burb at?

The only thing slower and more comical was Andre's Hummer towing his ski boat for a 0-60 time of 35.77 seconds back on 21 MAY 2020. Great video. Can't wait to see their "transformation" to Overlanders.

The cheap car challenges are my favorite

I used to own a 1999 GMC Suburban 2500 it was the best SUV I ever owned. The suburban was a fleet vehicle for quest star and they maintained there fleet very good. I bought the suburban with 130k. The 5.7 v8 was awesome. Great at towing and plenty of room to sleep in. I miss it and I wish I still owned it.

Congratulations Andrey!!!!!!!!!!!!

fords have that very common problem with the door sensor not sensing when it's actually closed. There is a video of how to fix it sometimes with just spray lube.

Great series and video

Super fun video once again guys!

Love the everyman’s rigs just having fun. The OP diesel wars were ... ^~^

It's generally a good idea to use the low gears on a 4L60E (without tow/haul mode) while towing. Otherwise, you're just asking for torque converter failure.

On my old 4.3 4 Speed auto you just towed in 3Rd gear and let it run at 2600 Rpm which made plenty of power to hold speed on hilly sections

The door ajar light on the excursion is very common and sometimes can never be fixed lol. The sensors in the back doors and glass set it off.

You all are so fun! Love the editing too!

The musketeers....you guys are great these vids are awesome

LQ9 is 340hp and 380ft lbs of torque and it’s probably underrated. Never brake torque a GM!!! It slower when you do.

These old beasts were pretty good in their day. Really....they are all 20 years old and running on 20 year old engineering. And a 7000 # trailer is a load. For sure more gears would help reduce the RPM drops between shifts.....and they would not have to run so hard to gain speed. Of course the SUVs of the current day would perform better but hey, it's 20 years later. I had two late 90s Suburbans. Just great vehicles. They were incredibly comfortable, durable and so spacious. They still look great to me. The Caddy just looks like an old Caddy. The Excursion is just too heavy duty and a total gas hog. So I'm pulling for the Burb.

Thats an interesting coupler setup there....

I would like to know if you swaped the old air filters, that can make a huge difference in the vehicle´s performance

Another test i think would b cool would b doing intake exhaust and see if it makes a difference in performance

Great episode 👏. When you guys get to Moab call Trail Mater, and Matt's Off Road Recovery if you run into any problems.

Great video

A 2500 burb with a 454 / 4l80 would’ve been a closer comparison to the other two.

Yessir this makes me love my 03 Escalade EXT even more, the durability and looks, performance is all great

That was awesome should have ran premium in all three trucks good job keep up the good work😎

Admiral methodical lol. Love it

The squeal from the excursion was "normal" they really all do that with age, i forget the reason but i knew once apon a time. youll hear it in 4.6s and 5.4s as well

Loving this series.

Thanks!

At the end of the video on the results page y’all put Ford Expedition instead of Ford Excursion lol. I think the excursion is still the best tow rig out of all of them. Great video!!!

I’ll take the GMC any day of the week, the GMT400 Yukon/Suburbans were fantastic units

Great video, although your results said expedition instead of excursion...🙂 excited for the next one!

My Favorite RU-vidrs for sure

Loved the James May (Captain Slow) reference. Can you guys print a T-shirt for Andre with’ Admiral Methodical’ in huge letters and surprise him…. Lol excellent series, please make this a permanent event.

I have a 2000 GMC Yukon XL. 1500. She has 260,000 miles and still working strong pulling trailers and going across state.

i thought that was a big block suburban at the beginning. but i was surprised to see the 350 when they popped the hood. always loved the real vortec motors. when i was younger i had a 1500 z71 with the 305. actually got great gas mileage 28mpg hwy but it could outrun the camaros and mustangs in the 1/4 mile. in the tahoes they got more power than the trucks. then when the ls motors came out i was like wait this doesnt feel right wheres the power. now that im older and can have nice things i have an s10 blazer with a built vortec motor in it. just a little 350 that can outrun the new corvette. and get better gas mileage. nobody believes my gas mileage but the math doesnt lie and neither do the results. if you dont need to turn rpms to make power you dont need to drain the tank to do 30 mph. most of the stock ls motors have a 3000+ rpm stall convertor. i ran an 1800 with my motor and hated it. swapped in a 1650 and i wish it was lower. torque is the only thing that matters when your building a motor in my eyes. yes rpms and hp are cool. but without torque youll never get either of those.

And the 4L60 its very lazy 1st to 2nd like the old 700R4 . If it had 4L80 and optional 4:10 basically a 3/4 ton would be mint ive owned both.

I would love to see an episode were you put a supercharger on that VTN or a big turbo it would be awesome there’s a guy in Russia who does that in those things are monsters he puts giant tires on them lockers on the front and rear and tears up the countryside

I had a 99 yukon and towed a 20' enclosed trailer with a race E30 inside and all the gear....it was at Denver altitude.....seemed to do just fine...not fast, but it worked....

Wasn't expecting a James May reference. Also a screenshot of 17:33 is my new favourite image

Ya'll need to do the same test but with the GMC suburban XL 8.1 l

LS over everything

That hitch really puts some leverage on the receiver.

I’m a diehard Escalade girl … my caddie has been places where other cars get stuck ! (Maybe it’s the driver😂😂) anyway I found your channel because I’m thinking about getting a camp trailer … this video was great .. but I already knew the outcome .

That Escaladed quickly! Quite surprised.

I like the top gear reference 👍

I don’t get that back in the 90s when trucks only made around mid 300 torque and low 200 horse power people merged onto the highway slowly because they didn’t have enough power to speed up but now that trucks have enough power to we are forced to speed up and waste gas for what safety? I’m not buying it. I’d rather slowly get up to speed use less gas because we are all paying double the amount for gas we did a year ago.

These videos make me really love my 02 Escalade….

All closer than I thought they'd be