I spent 11 years in an '06 XLT 4.6L V8, putting on nearly 160k miles in that time. The trans was replaced once, and the second one was starting to have issues. The water pump had to be replaced fairly early in its life. The radiator was replaced multiple times. Even with that, I loved it. It had decent get-up-and go for a big vehicle, it hauled people and gear beautifully, and handled reasonably well.
At the end of March, I said goodbye to my '06, and welcomed a '17 XLT 3.5L to my driveway. It's the first vehicle I've been passionate about in a very long time. It looks awesome ("badass" according to my daughters), it has more room inside, but isn't overwhelmingly large like an Excursion or Suburban. The engine has enough grunt to make things pretty fun, if desired. I had a chance to push its handling limits on a twisty mountain road, and was very surprised at how well it did - including leaving a BMW X3 far behind. So far, it's been a really fantastic vehicle, I have had no mechanical issues (almost 7k miles), and the gas mileage is 4+MPG better than the old Ex. The modern technology features are really nice, but those are pretty similar across all brands. That said, in comparing to the new Mazda CX9, I was surprised how many more features the XLT has over the top-line CX9. My complaints...A little sluggish off the line, rear window does not open separately from the rear hatch, windshield wiper stick is on the opposite side from the '06. In hindsight, I still wonder if I should have gotten the Sport model for the more powerful engine and better handling.