By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
:shades:
********************************
These strong results for Ford cars were accompanied by other leading vehicles this month, including Ford Escape with another April sales record, up 5.4 per cent versus last year, and Ford Freestyle with a sales increase of six per cent over last April (Ford Freestyle has best April on record - up 6%). Ford Explorer 4-door also saw a sizeable sales increase this month with a rise of 16.3 per cent since last year.
*********************************
Paying for a higher powered vehicle that may actually produce less horsepower with regular fuel than a Freebie is not in the customer's best interest. Use of non-recommended oil and fuel may affect your warranty coverage - whether it truly caused problems with your vehicle or not.
We all know that there is little to be gained by adding a higher octane fuel to a vehicle - perhaps more of a marketing ploy - at the gas pumps. An engine not designed for higher octane won't take advantage of it. That being said, gas stations do sell a lot of mid-grade, however.
Fuel type is not a bad vehicle selection criteria in today's climate. Mazda, for example, announced their CX-7 crossover vehicle recently. 244 HP with premium fuel for a 3900 pound vehicle the size of a Ford Edge. Taken down to regular unleaded, it sounds like it could be a Freestyle (HP to weight), but with less space, fewer seats, for about the same money.
The specs for the CX-7 state: "REQUIRED Fuel - Premium (91 Octane)". It may be marketing and engineering driven, but in the end, the word Premium will affect the marketplace (customers). :shades:
What about fuel types & gas mileage? may be of interest.
Steve, Host
Ongoing maintenance and operation costs are harder to predict but you can expect that premium fuel will always carry a premium price in relation to regular.
The price variance here usually runs between .10 and .30 cents a gallon between regular and premium. My '99 van has used a bit over 5,000 gallons to date, so that's somewhere between $500 and $1500 that's stayed in my pocket. ($1,000 using your number). Not a huge number but stuff like that adds up.
Steve, Host
My 2005 SE DOES show the tenths place after turning 10,000 miles. I now have over 21,000 miles on it, and the tenths place is still showing.
As best I can tell, there's simply not room to display the tenths after you get to 10,000 miles because of the compass info.
As best I can tell, there's simply not room to display the tenths after you get to 10,000 miles because of the compass info.
I do not have the compass option in my SE. Perhaps this is why the display can show the tenths place.
The Freestyle has plenty of room aft of the front seats. It would make a nice drifting car with a Ford GT engine. This could be an SVO option for the Freebie. :shades:
I live in Colorado & wonder how the Freestyle handles on snow and steeper hills? I'd like to have one, rather than a regular SUV, but I have to be able to get in and out.
Thanks,
MGDVLT
mgdvlt
Thanks
Phinfan63
If I were intending to tow only very occasionally, I'd consider the Freestyle.
If the towing was on a more regular basis, I wouldn't consider the Freestyle.
I find the Freestyle snow/ice handling somewhat disappointing (with stock Pirellis) but I have not owned any other AWD. Maybe just the tires.
You might have better luck with the AWD SEL, which has 17 inch wheels. That is what the original poster has. I gather you have the Limited.
On April 23, 2005, I bought a FWD SE Freestyle. On April 28, it was in the shop for the transmission light. I got the vehicle back at the end of the day. On April 30, the light was back on, and the "Blue Bomber" as it has since been affectionately known to me and my family, made its way to the driveway (conveniently, this happened at around dinnertime on a Saturday). On Monday morning, May 1, the bomber was dropped off for repairs. Without getting too verbose, that was the last I would see of my vehicle until July 1! A second attempt at reprogramming the mechatronics, two attempted mechatronic replacements, and two transmission shipments (the first ones the geniuses shipped to my dealer was so badly damaged that it was leaking fluid in the shipping container) and I finally had my "new" two+ month old car back.
Ford's customer relations can be best summed up in the word - poor. Once they have the vehicle off a dealer's lot, they could care less. The one thing they promised me (reimbursement of one car payment) never happened. So I sued them. Needless to say, it took almost a year for everything to settle, and all I got out of it (besides some agita) was $5000.
I should have taken my neighbor's advice last summer and just dumped it then.
Anyhow, the bomber has been in service almost a year, with really no problems since. Only thing I can warn you all about is (besides buying from Ford in the first place), be careful with that back window - the piece of glass alone is just under $1000 for the part - I know, because some imbeciles decided to vandalize 5 cars in my neighborhood on Easter night!
Good luck and happy motoring.
I'm sure the aftermarket Satellite radio topic has been discussed before, but I wanted to share my recent experience. I decided to purchase & install an XM Roady XT radio based on its features and price in my 2005 FS Limited AWD. For 49.00 (after $20.00 rebate) you really can't beat it. It was a snap to install. I ran the antenna from the center of the upper dash, along the seam to the right side, then down under the glove box then up to the unit which sits behind that little bin in front of the shifter. I ran the power cord to the outlet in the center console. A rather clean looking install and the reception via the wireless FM modulator is great. I've already preset all my favorite stations and am planning a local 'trip' tomorrow to see how it performs on the road.
I know the best installation for the antenna is on the exterior roof but if I can get this good a reception (3 out of 4 bars) in most instances, I'm satisfied.
If all goes well, then I will also get the companion remote for more convenience.
Best regards -
M. J. McCloskey
Sooo, exactly how much COULD they care less?
Hint: it's COULDN'T care less.
Sorry to hear about your experience.
Indeed,in this case, your neighbor's advice would have been precious.
Hope my advice will be too: BUY TOYOTA!
Dan
The tires do make a difference.
Just out of curiosity, which Toyota has the mix of features that would match the Freestyle? I didn't even know they had a crossover vehicle like the FS. All I recall of the Toyota line is conventional SUVs, which are taller, narrower, and don't have an "adult-sized" 3rd row? They have nothing in this interior size that will get FS-class MPG.
When I bought my FS, I turned in my Honda CR-V extended warranty. I had to go to my Honda dealer to sign the paperwork. They were looking at my FS, and noted that I could have bought a Pilot for the same price. I told them that if Honda had made a vehicle like the FS I certainly would have bought it. The Pilot does not have the room and features of the FS. Neither does Toyota in the 4000 lb weight class.
I'm not sure of the local laws in your state, but in CA if the car is out of service for a total of 30 days for the same problem (not 30 consecutive days - 30 cumulative days), the dealer has to take it back as a lemon.
3-rd row room is IRRELEVANT when your brand new car seats in a shop for a month...and is basically a POS underneath ALL seat rows.
i realize anyoe could have a problem.
3-rd row room is IRRELEVANT when your brand new car seats in a shop for a month...and is basically a POS underneath ALL seat rows."
And don't judge a whole library by one book. My FS has not been in the shop yet, though I only have 4300 miles. However I have not seen a plethora of "shop hostage" Freestyles. I was responding to your opinion that the person should have bought a Japanese car.
The FS is not a "POS"; this person got a bad transmission, that's all. It happens, even to Japanese cars. I had three Camry sedans in the 1990s, and all of them had engines that seemed to be defective, showing up after the first year. The last one blew the head gaskets about 1000 miles out of warranty, and Toyota refused to replace them. Therefore all Camrys must be a "POS", right?
Of course, as it turned out, the mid to late 1990 Toyota engines had a design deficiency that caused sludge to occur in the engine oil. I didn't know that until I had sold the last Camry I'll ever own...
My FS rides better than any Honda I have owned in the past 10 years, and I prefer the handling to the Toyotas I have owned. So far it has been in the shop less than my Honda CR-V or any of the three Camrys.
I do believe that a Freestyle not built to spec can have a number of maladies - this is a complex vehicle, as are most modern vehicles. It is too bad that customer service is spotty when it comes to resolving those problems with a subset of FS. They are losing Ford customers. :shades:
Sacrilege! :P
One problem is really being able to compare car problems between cars. Do you look at frequency in the shop, repair costs, times it left you stuck someplace, etc. Plus there are no accurate measurements anyway. There's Consumer Reports and JD Powers, but I'm really not sure how you compare a red half-circle to an open circle. Does this mean that a red circle will have 1 major repair for every thousand cars and a open circle will have 10 in a 1000, or 2 in 1000, or what? I know that a red half-circle is better than a open circle, which is better than a black half-circle, but what is the real difference? I don't know?
I think that in today's car market, most cars have a pretty decent quality level overall. Of course if you have to rank them, some will be on top and some at the bottom, but if you have 20 manufacturers, the top 15 may all be within fractions of each other in quality differences, so then it doesn't really matter if your 2 or 12 or 6, because all of the top 15 are so close. But I wouldn't want to buy in the bottom 5.
Problem is that I'm just speaking rhetorically, because the real data isn't out there. So people look to their friends & family to see what they drive and problems they have and make their decision. I've had good luck with my Ford products, but I've also had good luck with Toyota, my sister has had great luck with Saturn. I had a Mazda RX-7 that had constant problems, but I wouldn't say that all Mazda's are bad.