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Comments
FWD Freestyle Limited not available yet.
I drove 1800 miles already, and still like it. It is probably one of the first models, but I haven't noticed any flaws. It has a quiet ride, very tight road grip, ample pickup and amazing interior capacity (passenger and cargo). I have to drive kids to preschool and love very convenient 3rd row access.
One word of advice -- use mpg meater to measure how well you operate the CVT. Often it is not necessary to push the pedal as with regular automatic. My gas mileage averages range between 17 and 26 mpg (these are absolute extremes), but weekly average (city & highway mix) is around 23.5 mpg.
This is my 1st Ford, and I had a Maxima before. Freestyle is not bad at all. I was looking for 7-passeger crossover, and final candidates were Volvo XC90 and Freestyle. I saved $12K by going with Freestyle that has most of XC90 features...
We too:
- Looked at Volvo XC90 as first choice, but ultimately went with the Freestyle for more interior room, better price, and better fuel efficiency
- Ordered Limited AWD with all options except DVD
- Ordered Shadow Grey body with black leather
- Ordered split-row 2nd row for more kid seating
When reading this post, I felt like I was in the twilight zone.
I just checked the fordvehicles.com, and they have a "win a Freestyle" sweepstakes. All you need to do is to put the usual contact info and you're set.
https://secure.fordvehicles.com/cars/freestyle/sweeps/index.asp
You can enter once a day. (Hint, hint.
Sam
I took them both on the exact same route for Test Drive.
The freestyle wins handsdown for road handling and comfort on a VERY Twisty & Hilly road. As for power the GC had the 3.8ltr vs. the FS's 3.0ltr. Now having the 3.0 in my Escape already I know how the power SHOULD feel from the v6, BUT I also know the CVT makes it feel weaker that it really is. That aside the Freestyle was struggling on the twisty / hilly portion of the test drive, but when I got to the short 5 mile highway portion I did the Freestyle Exel'd.
In turn it's still up in the air which we will get, but Ford is giving me $13,000 trade but Dodge is giving me $15,500.
Both dealers know I'm comparing each model and are being very gracious with me while I do the test drives. I've also set up test drives with each dealer when we get a good snow to see how they do in the powder.
Odie
Price wise Dodge might give you more on trade but Dealers play the numbers at both ends. Edmunds has a great section on the games Dealers play. Well worth reading. Lots of rebates I am sure on the Minivans.
Steve, Host
It's worth the read!
tidester, host
We have placed an order for a Grey Metallic/Black Interior. We too ordered it w/everything minus the DVD.
As mentioned before, with the screen down on the DVD you can see nothing in the rear view. If we go the DVD route we can add it later.
Should be 5-7 weeks to delivery.
This also happened to be at a dealership that we have purchased from several years ago. Whew, what a difference. We won't be able to service our car there but we didn't think twice about where to order after our experiences with the dealerships close to home. On a lark, I asked for our salesman from 12+ years ago and he was still there! (Don't see that a lot around here)
Also, the General Manager personally went to get the car from another lot where they were transferring to another dealer so I could see it after driving all the way out there!
This dealership really stands above the others we visited!
So now we wait.....
Since the Limited have the memory feature, that means that a press of a memory button will adjust your seat, pedals & outside mirrors the way you saved it.
A couple of differences here:
- no moonroof for more headroom
- Limited with only Safety pkg and aux. climate, wanted homelink, but we had to buy before 11/30 ($1000 z plan rebate) so we had to take what we could find without a moonroof. Didn't need memory pedals as we are both about 6 feet and rear sensing would have been nice but not necessary.
- ours is black with black interior
- the one we ordered was a limited in pearl blue with pebble interrior, but it was made on 11/22 and most likely would not have been delivered before 11/30 even though we are in the Chicago area.
- split second row (captains chairs) is the way to go. Kids will be a lot more comfortable on long trips (only 2 for us).
We love our freestyle. Drove it in the snow a couple of days ago (yes, Chicago already had some snow) and it drove like a dream. I wasn't the worst snow, but I saw plenty of people slipping and sliding all over the place. I could barely tell there was snow with the AWD. Stopping was also very good; ABS only kicked in when I slammed on the brakes and only briefly. This car is awesome.
Only issue may be with the aux. climate control which I will ask in a seperate message.
Welcome to the Freebie owner's club.
Sam
The rest of the complaints like the type of plastics don't effect how it runs, drives, behaves so they are miniscule by comparison.
The ride height is great, much better than a Pilot which is unnecessarily too high off the ground and is less roomy than the Freestyle. I thought the Freestyle also drove better.
I am 6'2" but for some reason I could not get comfortable behind the wheel of the Freestyle, because by the time I pushed the seat back far enough for my legs, my arms were almost straight, which would be way to uncomfortable on long drives. I did not try the power adjustable pedals, but I assume they are designed to bring the pedals closer to a person with shorter legs so they probably would not help me.
That said, I would probably still buy the Freestyle if it had stability control because safety is important to me and it already has a lot of safety features going for it.
I will purchase a new vehicle before summer but if nothing changes, in terms of the availability of stability control, I will likely elect for the new 2005 Honda Odyssey. I don't particularly need a minivan, but it rode/handled great and the price is right ~$23,500. Needless to say it has both stability control and a telescoping steering wheel.
FYI- You are correct on the stability control, but the Odyssey does not have a telescoping steering wheel.
From years of having owned Mustangs/Tbird/Cougars/Mark8s, when it was time for me to own a 4 door, it took me quite some time to adjust because of the typical long legged, seat inclined far back driving that sports cars usually have. Since the 500/Freestyle have chairlike heigh/positioning, I've had to keep repeating to myself "It's not a sports car, pretend your sitting on a chair" to find the best position.
Go back and try again, something wasn't correct about the seat positioning.
Noticed that Traction control is a no cost mandatory option through December 04.
Is Ford testing the market pricewise and planning new higher prices in Jan 05?
A few options will be tossed around, but it's still being debated.
Now if only I can find an SEL available nearby with the side airbags and front row convenience options -- not many dealers seem to be stocking w/airbags in the DC area, too bad we can't wait for a year or two when this will be a required standard safety feature. And the dual zone climate control is almost equally important as a marriage preserver. We need more Freebie inventory, get that factory humming!
http://www.genuineflmservice.com/default.asp?page=H1
Click on Purchase ESP
Get a VIN from a dealer's inventory and plug it in with a reasonable amount of miles for a new vehicle
You should be able to do better than Ford's quote, but at least it's a start.
Carol
http://www.automedia.com/autoReviews/2005/ford/freestyle/rts20041- 101fs.asp?affid=
i wonder what position the pedals were in to start with.
Source: Edmunds Wagons Newletter. Click here to sign up.
So, a very few of y'all are going to have to reboot your Freestyle until the fix gets rolled in. That old Windows joke is coming true. :-)
Steve, Host
OK- Are these certain VIN # serires, production dates or do you just hang around and hope that you aren't one of the suspected 20??
JRC
I know this doesn't have any bearing but my last Chrysler minivan was the worst vehicle I owned. Parts kept breaking on it right after the warranty ran out and so I sold it after only 4 years. I am wary about being burned again by the same manufacturer.
______________
Any idea of just how soon "soon" will be?
I had my heart set on a Dodge Magnum RT (340hp, drool), but made the mistake of finally test driving the Freestyle today. I figured it would feel just too slow with the 3.0 Duratec.
I have that engine in both my Tauri (96 wagon and 02 sedan), and it's fine for those. But I feared poor performance because of the extra weight of the Freestyle.
Well, the acceleration was quite adequate. On a par with what I get out of the 3.0 Duratec on the Tauri. Note that the standard engine on the Taurus isn't what I'd call "adequate". Far too anemic for accelerating in merge lines for my tastes.
I guess that CVT really does make all the difference in the world. I see quotes of 0-60 times for the Freestyle of about 8.6 seconds, compared to 0-60 times on the Duratec Taurus of aobut 8.2 seconds. That confirms my perceptions during the test drive.
I've always thought the Taurus needed a 5-speed tranny. This CVT works just like a smooth 5-speed does, IMO. Nice and smooth.
I still can't decide if I really want the AWD or not. We don't get much snow down here in Houston, but we do get plenty of rain to make the roads slick. Granted, my traction control on the 02 Taurus has only been activated about twice that I can recall.
You can wait for the FWD version of the Freestyles which might be coming in the spring...
If so, would that make more sense than an AWD without it? For somebody who doesn't need AWD for snow/sand/etc, that is.
If only they'd made this thing a hybrid. The extra juice from the batteries would give that extra oomph that many are seeking.
But then the wait would be astronomically long, too.
Stability control won't be available just yet, it's going to be awhile before it does. There's also various reasons why the AWD/CVT (which are considered premium items) are coupled together and being released first, before other versions are released. But it's all for the best...
Would you recommend the AWD over the FWD? For use in areas that area relatively flat and without snow? Or would you recommend AWD? Or does it really matter much in that situation? Pros? Cons?
Sounds like you possibly work for Ford, from what I've read. You wouldn't happen to live on Houston street in Dearborn, would ya? LOL
I need to call a friend of mine who still apparently lives there (ain't the internet wonderful?), so I'm sure he's still working there for Ford.
Plus I'm friends with a guy here in town whose brother was quite closely affiliated with this vehicle (as well as the Taurus).
It's funny, but down here, it's very hard to get the AWD. And Limiteds (only available in AWD, I believe) are also scarce. I didn't see a single one availble in the Houston area when I searched the other day. My dealer did say that the first one they got was a Limited, though.
Personally I like AWD because whether it's snowing or rain, it never hurts to have an active system that allows you to drive out of the pending issue. If your an area that's flat, and doesn't rain, or not the type to ever trigger the traction control system, then FWD will probably suit you best.
The Haldex AWD system weights only about 150lbs. about 1/3-half of what most AWD systems usually weight. Therefore it helps with fuel economy since it only activates, when needed. Also lower maintence costs far in the future.
All depends upon the persons driving habits, and the roads you drive on constantly.
Limited's are selling higher than expected, therefore they are much harder to find. Production is shifting to produce more of those, that should help some.
Dealers ordering/getting cars with dvds and moonroofs before safety.
I need to check a non moonroof model to see if the roof console obstructs the rear view mirror which is a major error by Ford for someone my 6ft3 height.
If Freestyle wins suspect I'll be ordering one to suit my preferences rather than taking off the dealer lot. By then I expect the dealers to have come off their sticker price arrogance and be in line with Edmunds TMV pricing at worst.
Dealers here aren't able to keep Limiteds (AWD) so we had to order. We don't have much snow either but wanted the AWD for those just in case times. Plus thought it would help later down the road.
Also, only the Limited isn't available in FWD and it had some other features we wanted.
Like Lumber2, we didn't want the DVD - you really can't see. So we got everything except...
My husband is 6' 2" and didn't have trouble with the SEL w/test drove w/sunroof.
Happy shopping.
The dealer is still waiting on the print out w/everything that we sign off on....
Anyone else that ordered know how this process works? How long should it take - Dealer says 5-7 weeks but another one told us 8-12...
Just trying to estimate when to expect the new addition....
-- Unknown
I hope it comes earlier. Patience is a virtue that takes too long
Sam