Ford Freestar- Should I Buy One?

dudette3

Hi we are thinking of getting a Ford Freestar for my younger brother. He is a 25 year old male, how have car insurance rates been on this unit? I think he is interested in a base level model, not much add-ons. What kind of prices are people paying for this vehicle? What kind of fuel mileage are you getting? I would appreciate any information that you are able to provide. Thank you for your time.

lesmark

I purchased a 2004 Freestar in Feb. On June 2, 2006 I came out of a store, started the van, put it in gear and nothing. To make a long story short, the transmission was gone (with 45,000 miles on it)! Apparently this is not an uncommon problem. (check out some of the other postings. I would not recommend the Ford...

donnie2494

THE ONLY WAY I WILL EVER DRIVE ANOTHER FORD IS IF I WIN IT IN A RAFFLE. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO DEAL WITH ALL THE MECHANICAL PROBLEMS. TRY A SIENNA. IT'S A MASTERPIECE COMPARED TO THE FREESTAR.

cowboys59

On December 15, 2007 while driving at approximately 40 mph the transmission on my 2004 Mercury Monterey went into neutral. No warning, no nothing. Luckily I was able to coast onto a smaller side street and call my husband for help. My van has just over 46,000 miles on it. I had the van towed to two different Ford dealerships. Both refused to pay for the repair even though I purchased the "Easy-Care Gold" extended warranty. My husband changed the transmission fluid at 30,000 miles just as the warranty called for. The dealership wants proof. How do you provide proof of maintenance performed at home? And after the research I have done regarding this particular problem there is absolutely nothing the owner can do to prevent the transmission from failing. Of course neither dealership said a thing about this being an ongoing problem. Does anyone know what I can do to get Ford to pay the $3500 for the new transmission? Also, shouldn't there be a recall for these transmissions before someone is hurt or killed? I filled out the complaint form with NHTSA. Is there anything else I can do to help get some action?
Thank you.

tbrown61

NO!!!! do not buy this piece of junk. unless you own stock in a transmission shop, you will after you repair your freestar. :lemon: :lemon: :lemon:

msq1224

Hopefully you did NOT buy a Freestar. As you will see if you search on Freestar Transmission they are prone to potentially dangerous catastropic transmission failure. (No warning...surprise, you're permanently in neutral!)

dtownfb

I'm sure you have gotten this resolved but you should have a phone number on the contract to call. If not, call customer service.

cocohead

NO, NO NO!!!!!!!! :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: :lemon:

old89lsc

My family has 4 children, and we currently own a 2001 Windstar. It has been very reliable but now has 100,000 miles on it. Our two youngest are twins, 2 yrs old, and sit in latched car seats in the middle captain chairs of our current van. The older two climb into the third row, going around the captain chairs, and sit in booster seats. Our twins are occasionally prone to do what 2 yr olds are prone to do: fight. We have friends with a van in this configuration, but had to put one of their twins in the back row and one in the middle. Since that is so much less convenient when they fall asleep or even in helping them get buckled in, it is still our preference to keep them in the second row. As such, we need some space between their car seats to prevent world war 3 when traveling.

I have seen some affordable Freestars, but they almost always have a middle bench seat. I have found used captain chairs available, but not having been inside a Freestar I am not sure that I can swap the bench for them.

Does anyone know if you can swap out the middle bench for captain chairs?

If not, how much spacing is there between the car seat positions in the middle bench?

coltonamt

Don't do it unless you have stock in or own a transmission shop.

fordexpo

I have been buying and selling vehicles for years on the side now. I started looking at Windstars with around 120,000 miles on them, These things are Ford Taurus's under them. I love to read al of the problems in the forums. Every vehicle made has been critisized as Junk within 30 or 40,000 miles including Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevy and so on in these forums. I am really amazed how poorly people maintain cars,trucks and mini vans and then complain. Well I sure make good money if I can get them before the poor maintainace is so bad that they are not worth crap. Just finished cleaning and and selling another Winstar with 149,000 miles on it and outside of replacing the front wheel bearing and some filter and fluid changes, It was pretty good vehicle and I even guarnateed it to the person buying it. Now I have a 04 FreeStar SEL loaded 123K miles and have decided to keep it with the 4.2 V_6, same engine in the F-150? I also look real close at the engine and transmission because poor maintianance is easy to see within a few minutes of looking under the hood and bottom side of any vehicle. As far as the folks that seem to have car problems at 30K miles, You will never own a good car of any brand I am sure.

nadineb

You can buy my Freestar for close to what I paid for it if you promise to never sell it to anyone and never have children riding in it. There is no way I will ever drive this vehicle again. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

tbrown61

I have a freestar for cheap, you buy it and ill fill the tank, and wave bye bye :lemon:

nadineb

These vehicles need to be retired off our nations roadways for everyone's safety. Rear end collisions waiting to happen. :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: :lemon: :lemon:

susanhai

Shoot, you can have mine too! I am what my husband calls "anal " about my car maintenance.... I take excellent care of my autos and drive almost all of them past the 250,000 mile mark. You must have gotten ford's version of a lemon... a car that works with no problems! My transmission went out without warning at 59,000. I wouldn't wish this P O S on anyone else. :lemon: :lemon: :lemon:

rosco804

I live in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada... just down the road from Oakville where the Freestar/Windstar are assembled... I owned a 96, 98, and 2000 Windstar and I loved everyone of them, but at the time, Ford had the red carpet lease program, so I was trading them in ever 2 years, or for me about 60,000 km's (running well and still under warranty)...

I understand the issues, but after switching to a 2003 Honda Pilot for 4 years, but after that lease expired, I ended up going back to a Freestar... big reason: cost... I purchased a loaded year old 2005 Freestar Sport with 30,000kms on it... I saw the original invoice from the dealer, as it was in the glove box... 34,000 taxes in... I paid $18,600 after 13 months!!!... and I must say its been fine, EXCEPT for when I had the problem with water that got into the PCM (power control module), which made the whole vehicle shut off while driving! Ridiculous, but after researching the problem on Edmunds I found the solution and solved it myself... it was simple and cost me under $10...

Would I have rather purchased a Honda Oddesy or Toyota Sienna? ABSOLUTEY, but they were twice the price, and I couldnt afford one at the time or I might have considered it...

Anyways, I understand they arent the best of the best, but I enjoy my Freestar, other than the 4.2L sucks gas big time...

Thanks for reading....

R.M.

philvid

No !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1776gwash

No, never the auto is a piece of garbage. It not Ford's fault it is the union workers that build garbage.
So now most auto built by Ford are garbage too expensive.

touchdown1

Just bought my second used Freestar for under six grand, only because of an accident that meant I needed a quick replacement. Not at all sure whats up with all the negative posters. I already miss my first one, put a load of miles on it and it certainly ran cheaper than my brother in law's Honda Odyssey that had its tranny fall off. Just a good reliable vehicle. Let the other posters on this site pay 200 bucks for a headlight on their import if they really want to.