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I don't know how representative their historical frequency-of-repair information is, but it has generally seemed in line with my own experience. And of course like all reviewers they review cars from a particular point of view--if that is similar to your own, then you are more likely to find their thoughts congenial. Nonetheless, I often find their observations interesting, even if we don't come to the same conclusions.
Steve, Host
How about the fact that they hate American cars and love Japanese cars? LOL
Seriously, rating a car like the Freestyle as having worse than normal reliability is a fine example of their "methodology".
Also, they do NOT factor in things like how well a person takes care of a vehicle. (Of course, they really can't).
What I do know is that personal experience with three Tauruses vs. brothers who've owned multiple Toyotas and Hondas has led me to believe that CR car reliability indicators are worthless.
http://www.autoanything.com/products/product_fm.aspx?p_id=1456&se=husky_liners_floor_mats
http://www.autoanything.com/products/product_fm.aspx?p_id=1462&se=weathertech_floor_mats
It just seems a lot of....
I have and I was amazed at how close my numbers were to the FWD Freestyle's numbers. One thing that I've noticed really changes the mileage is hills. On my way up to Truckee, 17mpg. On the way back, 29!
My everyday driving is up and down 280...lots of long, big hills and I average about 22-23 mpg.
Do you (or anyone else) know if the WeatherTech and Husky cargo liners really are custom fitted for the Freestyle? That is, do they really fit perfectly around all the curves in the back (behind the 2nd row) or just "kinda" fit in that area?
In my opinion there are two major factors to mpg that people sometimes don't think about.
- Elevation changes have an absolutely tremendous effect ... elevation changes can make a 25-50% difference in mpg. This is true of local hills and large-scale topography changes. I recently drove from Albany to Boston in one stretch with the cruise control constant the whole way. The trip has a long, slow 2000-ft rise in the first half of the drive and a long, slow 2000-ft drop on the second half. The elevation change is gradual enough that you hardly notice it for the most part. My mpg was almost 50% higher on the downhill half.
- Short drives are mpg killers. If you get to your destination before the engine has hardly had time to warm up, you will never see anything near the advertised mpg. From a big-picture perspective, gas engines are just the wrong design for short commutes, not that there's anything most of us can do about that (short of riding a bicycle, or the bus).
I would guess that most of the worse-than-expected mpg complaints on this board are from short-commuters. It's not fair to say these people have "bad driving habits" or whatever, it's just the way it is.
I don't think the concerns over actual vs real world mileage estimates can be answered anymore by two or three reasons (elevation, driving style, breakin period). There are two many other variances; passenger weight, road surfaces traveled, number of stop lights/signs during egress to your house, roof rack cargo, brands of gasoline used, etc.
What is important is Ford willing to stand behind the average user getting close to the EPA estimates over a period of several thousand miles traveled. I think a customer getting less than 20% of the lower of the EPA estimates should be a flag to Ford to look at the issue closer. After all a consumer should expect to get at least the city rating if they do 20% highway driving, shouldn't they? This is the reason that 'two' mpg numbers are provided for comparison. Don't just have the dealers put it off and ask the customer to wait to turnover 5000 miles. They are basically just waiting for the customer to forget about it or accept the condition.
The front row WeatherTech mats fit fine but, IMHO, the 2nd row seats are a bit oversized. They can be trimmed but I'm not going to cut them.
I have the Pueblo Gold with the tan interior. The Husky liner is a closer match to the interior color. The WeatherTech are a little darker but they look fine.
The Freestyle was the first vehicle for me in a long time where I did not read the comparisons, reports, reliability numbers etc. I simply compared the competitors and this vehicle just felt right.
I think if you take all the 'reliability' information posted on this and other boards, you would probably not buy any car. All brands have their problems.
Same here, though I did drive a Highlander, and decided that even if it was rated higher I still preferred the Freestyle, mainly on driving position and comfort. It's worth nothing that throwing out the hybrids at the top of the list, numbers 3-9 scored about two points apart, which isn't that significant. They also tested the AWD version, for what it's worth. Oh, and X-plan pricing helped, too.
Reliability reports or journalistic comparisons didn't matter and didn't affect the decision.
I love the CVT engine braking on the downhills. With the F-150 auto, I had to constantly brake on long downgrades: now I just stab the brake once in a while to maintain a reasonable speed.
Does anyone want to trade? It is a cloth shale interior.
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"Sales of crossover utilities (Ford Escape, Ford Freestyle, Mercury Mariner, and Volvo XC70 and XC90) climbed 39 percent in September. The Ford Escape Hybrid set a new monthly sales record (1,808) in September. Almost 15,000 Escapes equipped with hybrid engine technology have been sold so far.
Traditional sport utilities experienced the largest declines. Sales in this category were off 51 percent compared with last September. A strong showing last year, when the company offered 0 percent financing for 72 months, exacerbated the magnitude of the decline. Still, sales of these models have experienced declines in 2005 as gas prices have risen."
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Encouraging news. If you were curious, Ford sold 7,146 Freestyles in September, and 59,648 over 12 months. They sold 9094 Five Hundreds in September, and 84,240 over 12 months. If I plug a few numbers into my trust Crayculator, it says that Ford sold 41% more 500s than Freestyles over the course of a year, but in September, the gap was down to 27%, indicating that Freestyle sales have been growing at a faster rate than the 500 recently. :shades:
Anyway, I traded in an '04 Pilot for the Freestyle. One of the main reasons I orginally went for the Pilot was that it was at the top (at the time) of Consumer Reports midsize SUV's. Plus CR displayed high marks on the reliability. Well, I didn't have any mechanical problems with the Pilot (heck, it's a Honda). But, over the course of a year, the interior developed too many sqeaks and rattles for my liking. I had taken it in to the dealer 3 times to deal with a rattling driver's side window. The dealer didn't really do anything until I pointed out the pilot.org website. There are scores of complaints about the same issue. Regarding the other squeaks, the dealer told me they couldn't do anything about them unless they happened all the time. Thank you very much.
Aside from the squeaks, gas mileage really sucked (13 -14 mpg around town). My wife couldn't use it since she couldn't lift our baby over the high step in. Finally, the styling has a lot to be desired.
Long story short, I'm quite pleased with the Freestyle since it's more comfortable, quieter, looks better and get's better mileage. The reliability issue doesn't really bother me since even supposedly reliable cars can have issues. It's really a throw of the dice.
Let me point out that the Ford is my first American car I've every purchased. I've bought nothing but Hondas since 1984. So, I'm normally a proponent of Hondas. Also, I'm a lifetime member of Consumer Reports, so I always respect what they say. It's just that, in this case, Ford has come out with a really good car . . .
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Went on a trip to middle of New York state on Saturday, from down here in central NJ.
Got a average of 26.4 miles for the whole trip. Handled the hills and overtaking nicely.
The sweat spot is definatly around the 70mph/2000rpm.
Wife and me love it and our Dog, Gromit, didnt know what to do in the back with all the space she has now.
Very happy with it so far. And surprised with the milage so soon. Get average of 25.5 on my commute to work, 45 miles, 70% highway/30% town.
First Ford in a long time. Last was a Explorer 2 dr that rolled over on me.
SEL AWD 2006
Deasun, NJ, USA
I asked the dealer if these seats could be switched out to bench with another car on the lot. He said no, they had already tried that before - it is a different bolt up. I do not know if this is the true or just a line to try an get me to take as is. I didnt pursue it much further as I found another Freestyle as I wanted it. But I would check out a few other sources before trying the conversion.
I found the acceleration better in the pilot but even this may be misleading as I tested the pilot with only a salesman but the Freestyle with the whole family (5 of us) so weight may not be comparable.
Yes, I think reliability is a roll of the dice and you often will get one owner with lots of problems and one with none with the same model of vehicle regardless of brand.
It's hard to believe there are any data based on newness and volume
I must admit I actually wrote a letter to the editor protesting this--they really should have had a "new" listing under predicted reliability!
Up to 16,000 miles on my AWD SE -- No problems, is a great car.
mileage dipped a bit recently--fully restored to 20 city and 26 hiway by using fuel injector cleaner.
FYI my wife just purchased a Hybrid Ford Escape--unreal mileage (good) running around 31 miles per gallon in mixed driving!! with very little noticable difference in performance (silent and electric under 20 miles per hour--takes getting used to)
I didn't see that information reflected anywhere else, but it does raise some interesting questions.
Bring it back and tell them to do it right.
message #4565 might be what you were looking for.
I have another question regarding the radio. In my SEL, the rear door speakers are little more than tweeters. They're considerably weaker than the front door speakers. Is this normal for the model or do I need my radio replaced yet again?
Did the dealer give you updates while you were waiting or did you find this information out after picking it up?
Based on your information your car was built a little over a week after it was ordered. I ordered mine almost three weeks ago now and I haven't heard a thing. Should I call the dealer or wouldn't they know anything until it is received?
Even though I haven't had anything wrong with mine, I'm considering getting a REAL radio to replace it before it follows the path of others.
All right , it does have issues with recorded CDs (which play fine on two previous cars)
The only downfall to that idea is I'm going to lose the controls on the steering wheel.
grrrrr....
(nitro simmers)
To answer another question, I didn't just test from the driver's seat. I isolated each speaker by using the radio's menu and the rears are noticably weaker from every position in the car. I'd hazard a guess that they're aren't putting out any frequencies below 100 hz. This is the first time I've run into this on a Ford product, having owned or driven an Explorer, a Sport Trac, a Mustang, a Focus, and a Taurus.
Looks like another trip to the dealer.