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Comments
I agree, though: if you need to haul a lot of things besides PEOPLE, then you need something with a V-8.
Have you taken it to Ford yet?
Hopefully the computers on that part of the Freestyle will store codes. Otherwise, they'll have to wait for it to happen to them before they can get an indication of exactly what's causing the issue.
When it's like this, can you rev the engine at all? Do the rpm's measure on the tach?
At least in the mountains of eastern Tenn. and Ky. Steep grades don't bother it at all.
Out of curiosity, is your fuel tank near empty? Just an idea, one that I've seen affect other vehicles.
I recently had a somewhat similar experience in my 96 Taurus wagon, but it would happen on the road, and it was after the car got warm, and both times the fuel tank was below 1/4 full. It turns out that the fuel pump was just getting too hot and it was starting to fail.
Your problem could be a fuel pump issue and not an engine or transmission problem. Unfortunately, if it's fuel-pump related, Ford will have to get it to "act up" while they have it in their posession in order to diagnosis it.
If it's engine related, then codes should be stored. Not sure about transmission problems.
Hey thanks Bruneau1 for letting us know about your successful order of the Limited FWD. This is a pleasant surprise as the last bit of news I got was that Job1 for the LTD FWD would be May 2/05, and I spoke to my dealer as recently as 3 days ago he was unaware of the earlier build date. Can you shed a little more light on this sudden reversal.
Just two additional questions...
1.Will you be able to get those original 18" wheels or is there still a supply shortage.
2.If they substitute with 17" will they factor in a price adjustment.
Any other helpful tips you have to offer. I hope everything goes well for you and thanks again.
We've had the vehicle in three times already. (In less than a month!) It's coming from the back and we had the brake pads replaced, rotors sanded and a de-glazing process done (which I'm not sure I understand because I don't believe they are ceramic brakes but am giving benefit of the doubt -- this is not my area of expertise). Service is now saying there is nothing else that can be done. I mentioned taking next steps because the noise was unacceptable and the service manager is now going to ask Ford engineering but still feels they have done everything possible.
Is anybody else having a brake problem? Do I have a lemon???
My advice to you is to be more cautious over this matter as you say the asst.mgr was ambiguous and vague about any price adjustments.My wife is also antsy over the ordering problem as this is intended to be for her new vehicle.As far as the 4/11 date you mentioned , again make sure what you're getting and get confirmation from the mktg mgr.This may be just a coincidence and not to rain on your parade, but lookup this website
http://www.arifleet.com/pnews/2005OrderCutoff-2006Startup031105.pdf
and you will find that 4/11 is the order bank open date for the 2006 models.If you're getting price protection then you're way ahead of the game(with new improvements), otherwise you will be stuck with expected price increases.
If you are ok with the 17" wheels then you can also console yourself that the availability of cheaper steel wheels for snow tires will be an advantage should you require them in the future.
Am taking a big interest in how you make out so please let us know. In my case I just have to continue to wait.
I have read in detail the information related to the TSB. Our brakes are not grinding. It is a squealing or squeaking. In fact, when it rains or snows, the problem diminishes significantly.
In general I love the car and would prefer to get this fixed. I just can't afford the time to keep hauling this thing in on a weekly basis.
Ford had 3 tries to fix/recreate the problem without success. Since I posted the first message, it happened a third time.
> Hopefully the computers on that part of the Freestyle will store codes.
They found no specific codes that relate to the transmission on each of the 3 occurences. They had test gear on the car and ran it 17 miles the first time, 30 miles the second, and 35 miles the last time without the problem occuring again for them to find a cause.
> When it's like this, can you rev the engine at all? Do the rpm's measure on the tach?
The engine runs fine and you can rev it to the limiter. It just won't engage the transmission. Multiple restarts, shifting it from P down to L and back with revs in each gear yields no movement. Every time it's at the dealer they clear the codes (none tranny related) and restart it and it will run.
Rather than deal with the lemon law and an unhappy customer, Ford has agreed to take the car back, cancel my loan, and refund my down payment. I'm out of pocket for the two car payments paid. It sounds like a fair deal, so I signed off on it and the car is gone. I drove a 500 SEL FWD and a 500 LTD FWD both with 6 speed autos. I'm not sure it's the car I want to replace the Freestyle as I like the wagon versatility. The dealer is a Chevy dual and I was impressed with the Malibu Maxx and may go that route.
Good luck to all on here. I loved the Freestyle, but needed a reliable car given my odd hour commutes and long family trips in the vehicle.
It may sound way too obvious but it sounds like the anti-chatter grease wasn't used when the pads were installed.
High frequency chatter will sound like a squeak. Brake pads usually are installed with an aniti-chatter grease behind them to dampen the chatter and eliminate the squeaking.
my .02
I am planning to get captain's chairs in the second row without the console so we will have access to the third row. Rear facing will likely go behind the passenger seat because that seat is obviously used less often than the driver's seat, so I can pull up the driver's seat some to accommodate the rear-facing seat if I need to. In the Limited, the second row captain's chairs adjust back and forth, too. The seat will be rear facing for another five months.
Has anyone had any problems putting a rear-facing Roundabout in the captain's chairs? (I don't want to just try it because I have my carseats professionally installed.)
Out of curiousity, has anyone put two carseats next to each other on a 60/40 bench and still been able to have access to the back seat?
Thanks!
Rachel
I can answer your last question about the 2nd-row benchseat. We have 2 carseats (I think they are both Graco), but both are front-facing as my kids are 4 and 2. We have the 2nd row bench seat in our SE. At first we put both carseats in the 2nd row. When 1st installing our carseats, we learned that if you have 2 carseats in the 2nd row and you want to access the 3rd row w/o removing a carseat, you have no choice but to configure the carseats behind the driver's seat and in the middle (not behind the front passenger's seat) because these 2 seats are connected, i.e., one fold-down piece. The seat behind the front passenger's seat is separate from the rest of the bench in terms of folding down. However, it is still difficult to get the "separate" seat down because the middle seat carseat gets a bit in the way (may depend on the type of carseat). You have to sort of squeeze the fold-down seat past the carseat.
We have just moved both carseats to the 3rd row to avoid the fold-down issue and found it to be much better. Besides, my kids want to sit back there, you get a better view of them on the conversation mirror, and adults have more legroom in the second row. Hope this helps.
By the way, the April, 2005 Car & Driver did a six way comparison of SUVs. Regarding stability control, all six vehicles had it, though the Ford Explorer was the only one with "roll stability control".
There is a note saying that stability control could not be completely disabled on two of the vehicles (not the Explorer), "which can affect skidpad and lane change numbers." No major feature is without some tradeoff it seems.
As for cheap my guess is the american car buyers like cheap.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0503/30/A01-132711.htm
This got me thinking about the roof structure of the new Freestyle. While Ford has utilized some of the safety features along with the AWD system from the Volvo XC90, I'm not clear if they've done anything with the actual roof structure to prevent a collapse in a rollover. I'm guessing that they're not using Boron Steel like the Volvo XC90 does, due to the added cost.
Any Ford insiders or folks in the know care to comment?
Thanks!
Peace, all.
*************************************************
Robert Lane
29 March 2005
Unlike GM's Saturn Vue, Ford Motor Company is placing a lot of confidence in their CVT transmission. Starting on 04 April 2004(they mean 2005), Ford will equip all Five Hundred SE front wheel drive models destined for dealer stock with Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVT). Through the end of 2005, Ford will allow retail order types: 1, 3, A, X and Z, along with fleet sales to order the Aisin 6-speed transmission.
Any unscheduled dealer stock orders will be converted to be built with the CVT.
Beginning in 2006, the CVT transmission will be the only one available on the Five Hundred SE front wheel drive model.
You're kidding, right?
Ford has a dealer cash incentive or spiff on the Freestyle here in the northeast that allows the dealers up to $2500 a unit sold payout when modest sales targets are reached. Most dealers are hitting the mark and the out the door prices reflect the "hidden" rebate. In the Boston area papers you see advertised cars below the cost shown here on Edmunds.
Name me an alternative engine that's already in the Ford family that could have been used over the 3.0L.
Three different dealers had a crack at the problem due to where I was stranded and Ford's 35 mile rule on towing. Framingham got the first shot, Hyannis the second, and Muzi the last. It wasn't until the third time that I leaned on Ford's regional rep and got satisfaction of sorts.
I am sure that all of the cars have varying levels of dealer holdbacks, based on milestones and end of season performance. Time will tell how the Freebie will do.
2005 Freesyle and have had it to the service center three times!! The brakes are still squeaking!!!Did the replacement pads stop the noise?Its gotten so bad that every time I stop they squeal. It seems like this may be a problem with several of the Freestyles. I checked the Kansas Lemon Laws and this may not be bad enough of a problem to bring it in.Thanks!
Since FWD freebies have the regular box (AFAIK) I'd like to hear from FWD owners who have used the Freestyle in snow how well it does.
My driveway for example slopes up, enough to have stranded several FWD cars in as little as an inch or two of snow and made us buy snow tires for the car I'm selling.
I am not a big fan of stereotyping. That being said, this is exactly why it pays to do your homework when buying a car. Come to discussion forums like this, read the reviews, talk to friends. If a Detroit vehicle is not your thing, don't buy it. But do make sure to look at the discussion groups at Edmunds or others on your Honda, Lexus, Toyota, Hyundai, etc. before buying one of those as well. They are not without issues either.
I was told that I shouldn't have bought my 1986 red Taurus sedan years ago. Too new, too many thing to go wrong, made in Detroit. I thought the Freestyle SEL I bought would replace it, but the Taurus runs at 20 below zero, has the original stainless steel muffler, and have just now worn out the floormat under my accelerator pedal. I have replaced a water pump and a fuel send unit in 19 years. Not bad for Detroit iron, I think. Just breaking it in.
I'm going to go with the captain's chairs and no console in the second row. I'm going in today to buy.
Thanks for your feedback.
Rachel
Your talking about the 3.0L OHV V6 engine, that was found VIllager/Quest of years ago, you believe that to be excellent or your pulling my leg here?
Honda has had lots of problems with the Pilot. They have had even more problems with the 5 speed automatic used with the Pilot, TL, and Odyssey. Lots of 2001 and 2002 Odyssey and TL owners are having transmission failures just out of warranty and Honda hasn't been offering much to reduce the cost of tranny fixes.
I think it's unfair to categorize GM, Ford or DC as not being with the program. All have invested heavily in new models. Some have been hits (300, Magnum) and some have been misses (G6, Ion). Sure the Freestyle would have been a better vehicle with a 230HP engine and a 5 or 6 speed auto box. Sure the Volvo stability software would have been a great feature. The bottom line is that Ford built the car to a price point in the market and you can't have everything when PRICE is the driver. The bottom level trim Pilots, Highlanders, and 4Runners start at 30K or above with a V-6. They run close to $40K fully loaded. Compare them to an XC90 T-5 at that price and you have apples and apples. Consider the Chevy Cobalt or even the Mazda 3. Both are premium small cars and offer much more than the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla market standards with equal or better interior materials quality. It will take a lot of good product from the Big 3 to win consumers back. I'd say a lot of the product is there now in the pipeline, it just isn't at the price points like the Freestyle or 500 which still have a price/value component. Move up to the near luxury price point and you get Pilots and 4Runners which didn't have a lot of price/value consideration in their development. Just my 2 cents of course.
BTW, the conversation mirror makes it easy to have a bird's-eye view of the 3rd row when driving. This is not so in the 2nd row, b/c you can't see anyone behind the driver's seat.
The downside of having them in the 3rd row is that you can't hand them something while driving or stopped at a light. I guess you could toss something back there, but that might get ugly.
If you have (or plan to have) more than 1 child it is good to know all of the Freestyle carseat configuration pros/cons before purchasing. We learned after purchase, and found that there's no perfect configuration once you have kid #2.
I hope the captain's chairs work well for you. We went with the benchseat so that we could fit 7 passengers total. I would imagine the captain's chairs make it easier to get the kids in and out, though. Good luck.
Not trying to pull your leg here because you know more about engines/drivetrains than I do.Maybe using the word "excellent" for the Villager 3.0L was a bit excessive but it was great for its time.BTW,its an OHC V6.However I think any mftr trying to build the perfect car and sell it at the lowest price point is a losing proposition. I think the key to all this is to form QUID PRO QUO alliances, even with the competition. Why waste money on additional R&D when you can use components from a common and proven parts bin and free up the resources and concentrate on designing vehicles to meet specific customer needs.
I think the Freebie is a well designed job and hells bells I would be glad to purchase it If they only offered it in the Limited FWD trim today in spite of what the naysayer auto scribes tell everyone.Heck if one is wishing for the Duratec35,say in model '08 with the new GM/Ford tranny, Ford is not going to leave money on the table and then the future gripe will be that it will be overpriced. So take your pick, I still want the Limited FWD today.
http://www.freep.com/money/autonews/honda30e_20050330.htm
I have a suggestion: Get the Freestyle, and have the dealer install the remote auto start in it. (We got our dealer to throw it in for nothing). Then the car will always be warm for you in the winter and cool in the summer too.
Huh?!! I gotta find a professional hypnotist to brainwash her into becomming a trucker. At 35% savings you can cover big gas bills easily. LOL,she won't even drive my hot 2001 Explorer Sport Trac under any circumstances !