I've owned a 99 LC and 98 and 2000 Expeditions. Zero problems with the 98 Exp for 3 years. One minor sensor failure on the 2000 Exp in 3 years. Zero dollars spent on both as they were under warranty. The 2000 had 55k when I bought it and 83k when I sold it to buy the LC. My 62k mile 99 LC has broken down three times in the first 4 months, twice stranding my wife and kids. Go figure! From my long experience owning cars,( probably owned over 30) a newer car is generally more reliable than an older one regardless of mileage or make. Now a six year old LC is probably going to be more reliable than a six year old Expedition too. But I've owned American and foreign brands and the American vehicles I've owned have all been fairly reliable. Same with the foreign. Now the LC is a lot nicer than an Expediton, so you really aren't comparing apples to apples in that regard. The LC will be more expensive to fix when it breaks as well. A good bit more.
The LC definitly has a smoother engine. Better ride, Quieter. Handles much better. The Expedition is more family friendly and might make a better soccer mom type vehicle. Its larger and easier to get into and out of. Better gas mileage believe it or not. I would routinely get 20 mpg with my Exp 5.4l engine on trips. 15 mpg around town. The newer Expeditions are even better and handle a LOT better. That was the reason I sold the 2000, scary handling characteristics. I'm going to get flamed for saying this, but from what I've learned, the 100 series LC is NOT Toyotas most reliable model. Frankly Toyota made its reliability reputation with the Camry, Corollas, and their small pickups.
A lot of their other models haven't been able to meet that same high standard in reliability in recent years. Still good, but not as perfect as the above vehicles. Of course the more complicated and powerful vehicles become, the less reliable. Toyota had serious problems with head gaskets, sludge problems and electrical issues in a lot of models. They alienated quiet a few long time customers by denying warranty on sludge engines for years, claiming lack of maintenance, when they knew it was really a design flaw. And read about problems with the new Sienna minivan's supposedly run-flat tires. No spare and your'e screwed if you lose a tire as they are on back order nationwide. The final straw for me was the horrible dealers who continually rank near the bottom nationally for customer service. I had the same theory you did. Buy a higher quality, but older vehicle. It has turned out to be about a $5000 mistake for me. Your friend might have the totally opposite experience though. I'd tell him to find a used one with a good extended warranty and that would probably be the best of both worlds as they are awesome driving vehicles, but somewhat expensive to repair.
