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Comments
I'm sure it is just a matter of my getting used to the vehicle, but I am curious whether there are federal guidelines regarding visibility. The government likes to regulate just about everything else relating to autos. How about visibility?
Issue: "Oh but we want stability control system, ABS, and other safety nannies"..
Result: Lower fuel mileage from increased weights of these electronics.
Issue: "Oh but we can builld the vehicle entirely out of aluminum for lighter weight"
Result: Much more expensive vehicle, insurance, replacement/repair will be costly.
Issue: "I want Boron steel, one of the strongest out there".
Result: Adds quite a bit of weight to the vehicle, lower fuel mileage.
Issue: "I want my vehicle to be much quieter"...
Result: Insulation adds weight, lower fuel mileage.
Issue: "why does my new '06 with a 4 cylinder waste more fuel than my 7? of similar dimensions, etc"
Result: Through the years, more toys, safety equipment, etc has been added, increasing the vehicles weight over 600-1000lbs.
I found the hitch for the Freestyle at http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/ They claim wholesale prices. The price was right (around $82.00). I installed it myself. It took about 2 hours (even though the instructions said 30 minutes). It comes with all the required hardware (bolts, washers, nuts, even a fish wire to pull the bolts through the frame to the proper holes). No drilling, but you have to put in a couple of self tapping bolts into untapped nuts that are already welded to the frame on the passenger side. I would have preferred to tap those holes first. You have to maneuver it a bit to get it under the bumper and over the exhaust system. It is heavy, so I supported it on a couple of jack stands. All in all, it fits perfectly and only the 1 1/4" receiver shows. My bike rack fits that size receiver, so we are good to go.
I did not install any electrical connectors (at least for now). I do see an electrical connector under the frame on the passenger side. Is that a tap for a trailer light connector?
So far of the CD's that I have burned I have seen the whole gambit. Some show all the info, while some only show the song title in the main display, but not when you press the Text button. I have tried just burning the CD using Nero, I have tried RealJuke box and I have tried Musicmatch. Musicmatch is the only one that 'sort of works'. However I cannot consistently get it to burn a CD that will always have all of the information on it. While using Musicmatch, if I mouse over the songs it will display the Title, Artist, Album, etc so at that point the software knows everything there is about the song that I am about ti burn. If I take the burned CD and place it a different PC, it sees all of the info just as I would expect it to.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Yes, I have. I'm using Nero 6.x
I forget which type of ID3 tags I'm using . . . I think I have both an IDv31.x and ID3v2.x tag filled out. I use Audiograbber to rip my CD's into mp3's, and it fills out both types of tags, as I recall.
I'm not sure which set of tags is used by the Freestyle's radio, though.
Have you tried finding a ID3 tag-reader/editor to see exactly what's filled out in your MP3 files?
There are a few that will copy the basic data from the v1.x to v2.x for you . . .that might solve the problem.
Hi- I'm here - just can't keep up with you guys. Have been on vacation & trying to get my broker's license for real estate.
Need to catch up on all these posts
"I have read that Ford has already ran some 06 models through the Chicago plant. They must have been pre-production units. The only differences noted were optional rear heated and cooled seats and an available navigation system"
The 2006 Ford Freestyle order guide doesn't mention the "optional Rear heated and cooled seats". Navigation is listed however. Do you have additional info regarding the Rear Seats? Perhaps they decided not to offer that option after all.
Thanks!
Any luck w/the 2" hitches yet? It is almost time for bike camp!
Couple of things I want to check out - the brakes sometimes sound like they are rubbing - could be the issue discussed above. The radio has feedback a lot and not real thrilled w/the quality of the sound. CD has messed up a couple of time - not finding disks. There may be some little leak - I notice it hubby doesn't so we need to check on it.
The black interior gets very dirty. However, I think the peeble would have to since it is so light.
The car has been great to ride in & the kiddos love the room. We are still pleased with the purchase.
We are also still trying to sell the Disco - should have traded it! Be glad to get rid of the extra expense since I need to keep it up!
We did go on a very long driving trip from GA to OK. Didn't take Freebie though - they Suburban gave up a bit more room for the 16 hour drive plus we wanted to save the miles. The first night, locked the keys in the car at the LaQuinta Inn! Roadside assistance in Pearl MS, paid off!! Only saw 3 other Freebies on the way and the way back.
Am starting to see quite a few on the road here but still not LTD AWD. I've only seen one (black) and I know where it came from because we visited it when it was at the dealer. It was built before ours (Jan).
No major complaints - we have enjoyed the car and man it can haul some stuff! Speaking of hauling, NO power problems here. I have no problem passing, accelerating, speeding, ummmm. I mean....
Do still want the trailer hitch though -
Toodles.
I never saw a hitch with the 2" receiver for the Freestyle. Curt, Reese and Draw-tite only offer the 1 1/4". For me that was ok as I don't have any 2" accessories. My bike rack is 1 1/4". However, on the positive side, here is an adaptor to go from the 1 1/4" inch to 2". The usual disclaimers about not exceeding 1/2 the overall rating of the hitch tongue capacity apply. My hitch is rated for 350#s so it looks like 175#s of rack and bikes would be the limit.
http://www.hitchfinder.com/reese/reese_four_bike_carrier.htm
Hope it solves the problem for those in your situation.
Regarding the radio and sound, I have no "feedback" or squealing, and the sound is very good in my opinion. Of course, I have adjusted it to my taste. I have the treble about 3/4 of max, the bass about one notch above that, and I push the sound balance two or three notches to the rear for a fuller sound at the driver's seat (no subwoofer, but no lack of bass as adjusted). I burned my first MP3 for it today (using iTunes) and it played just fine.
I am preparing for a 1500 mile journey next week, so it gets its first big test soon. :shades:
http://www.canadiandirect.com/Renderer.jhtml.89.html
Hope it helps.
Sam
I picked the black because the mirror stalks, window trim, grille and bottom-side molding are black no matter what color you order (not to mention the tires) so the all-black should look cool.
My kid likes the DVD, stadium seating, aux climate controls and all the cup holders. My wife (its her car) likes the ride and feel, the third row seats for school field trips and the way the third row seats folds backwards to watch soccer games with the rear hatch open. She drove the 500 and Montego and swears it rides and handles better. I read reviews that said the same thing. (The extra weight could explain the ride. I don't know about the handling, but many years ago I shagged cars for Buick and notice the wagons handled better than the sedan counterparts.)
I like the AWD and side curtain air bags and all the other safety stuff to protect them and get them through bad conditions when I am not around.
I suspect it will be a long four weeks waiting for this baby.
As for handling I took it for a drive today in our 6 inches of s*** and it worked perfectly,nice weight,zero slide and skid,brakes worked like it was on dry road.Got to my yard and couldn't resist,floored it around my six acres and found it peppy,grippy and the Pirreli's don't look like much but what great traction.When I spun her out she came right back to attention like a good quarter horse.
buy Amarican...because you are one.
lizzzard
btw, lots of Edmunds members are from other countries - what do suggest, say, our Canadian members buy - Korean cars?
What is an American car?
Steve, Host
The more I drive my Freestyle the better it gets... I have the light grey lether interior on my FWD SEL and it shows no sign of dirt...
Thanks for the reply,I don't know everything,(I spelled American wrong).Some things I know,If I was Korean my first looks for a car would be a Korean car.If I was Canadian my first look would be to what my friends and family were building.Kinda silly huh,but that's the way us old folks are.
Is your position as host here paid or unpaid?If it's paid and your superiors are thinking about outsourcing your position to India or Asia,maybe you can understand my thinking.
thanks for all your hard work,
lizzzard.
If everyone thought like you, no one outside the States would buy a Ford and Ford's ability to earn money would be lessened and they wouldn't be able to do the R&D to bring you the Freestyle. (they aren't doing too great as it is without having non-Americans boycott their cars).
Ford may put Hertz on the market shortly - maybe they should add Mazda, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin to the for sale ad? And quit making the Ford Territory and Tourneo and Fairmont?
We're off-topic here, but I don't think you can really say Ford is strictly an American car company anymore. Just look at the current chairman of the board (Sir John R. H. Bond).
Steve, Host
I checked my Freestyle before I bought it and it's made in Ill. the engine's made in Cleveland Ohio.Many of the components are made by US suppliers with a mix of imported parts surely.But some of the purchase money is buying homes and schools and roads right here that's the reason for my tunnel vision.My retirement income allows me to have a pc and an isp so that I can enjoy this fine forum that your a part of.
In your first post you asked about the Canadian and Korean friends and if they should buy American,I sure hope they do.Down deep don't you?
all the best,
lizzzard
Draw-Tite - 75299
Reese - 44525
Hidden Hitch - 87108
Have ordered mine....hopefully will be sooner rather than later....
Am starting to look at both vehicles but was leaning more to the Freestyle to replace my minivan. Our family's other vehicle is an '03 Explorer.
I'm interested in burning an MP3 CD using iTunes - specifically, the ID3 version tags you used. I burned an MP3 with ID3 v2.2 and the track title displays fine. The album and artist come up with NO TITLE. Did you have any luck with this?
Thanks,
tjdins
I forget which type of ID3 tags I'm using . . . I think I have both an IDv31.x and ID3v2.x tag filled out. I use Audiograbber to rip my CD's into mp3's, and it fills out both types of tags, as I recall.
I'm not sure which set of tags is used by the Freestyle's radio, though.
Have you tried finding a ID3 tag-reader/editor to see exactly what's filled out in your MP3 files?
There are a few that will copy the basic data from the v1.x to v2.x for you . . .that might solve the problem."
---------------------------------------------------------
one thing that i did not say, is that i am trying to avoid re-ripping all of my music. since audiograbber only rips to MP3 and does not allow modification of the ID tags, i have not tried that yet. if i finally give up and decide to re-rip all of my music, then i may do that.
i tried using Nero to burn, but i believe my problem is ripping the CD's into MP3's.
i have been looking at ID tag editors, but i have not found one yet that can show me the difference in the tag between a song that i know displays correctly and a song that i know will not display correctly in the car's MP3 player. i'm still looking for a better editor, you will understand as you continue to read my post.
one thing that i did stumble across. i have this one album that i ripped and as i have been trying to figure out the problem, i will usually burn that album to the CD (as my reference of one that will work), and i will burn another album that does not display all of the information as i try to find a solution.
both albums were ripped and burned using MusicMatch, and as i previously stated the 1st one showed all of the information and the 2nd one did not. either intentionally or accidently, i ran the Super-Tagger on the 1st album. after i did that it no longer displayed all of the information correctly when i put it in the Ford's MP3 player. i'm going to rip and burn 2 more and after i verify the CD displays the correct information in the car, i am going to super tag a few songs on it to hopefully find the difference in the ID tags.
(responding to/commeting on threads 3093, 3108, 3109)
i tried using iTunes and stopped for 2 reasons:
i also was unable to get more than the song title to display.
iTunes does not allow you to create folders (or if it does, i do not know how). the way that i have been burning songs (for my non ford mp3 player that uses CD's), i will burn all of the songs for 1 album in 1 folder. this way it is easier to jump from one album to the next, just by pressing the Folder button. MusicMatch (when it works) does this flawlessly. (i know i'm repeating my self) i'm guessing that if i can find a program that can show the differences between ID tags, i'll be golden. worse case, i'll be re-ripping lots of music.
How is long term use and real world use regarding the wind noise? This was definitely wind/speed noise & not road noise, mostly coming from the rear third or so of the car.
Does anyone know if the 2006’s will be quieter? This is a relatively big car at a decent price point, so I am not expecting the luxury of a $60,000 car. A little quieter would be very nice. (We will have 3 children under the age of 5 in back, so noise will be a relative factor)
The 2nd concern is we did coast down a steep hill, with no foot on the gas, and the car continued to accelerate, due to gravity. Went from about 35 mph to over 50 mph. In a previous thread it was stated that the CVT will only allow car to go about 5mph over the coasting speed. Any have ideas on this? We have a few mountain passes around us and using the brakes are fine, until the roads are covered in ice & snow, then the tranny needs to help.
Finally, overall a very nice car. Handles very well, comfortable seats, lots of room. We live in the mountains of Colorado and test drove with 3 adults going up hills, at highway speeds etc. and the engine power was fine. Yes, this is not a hemi engine, but with gas over $2.50 a gallon a very nice balance between power & gas mileage. It seems the power issue is as much from how to drive a CVT (foot to the floor) as actual power.
lizzzard
Here is the link to the review. http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/pw/05freestyle_ltd.htm
Bill
Blk Ltd AWD
One anomaly though. After turning the ignition off and opening the door to shut off the CD player with the disk in it, the additional tag info was missing when I turned the audio system on again. When I reloaded the MP3 CD, the info showed again. Trying to repeat the same process, the CD player kept the extra tag info. Strange. :shades:
I'm up here in Canada, so I'm talking Kilometers.
I've been getting about 17 litres/100KM on the highway and near 20 litres/100KM in city driving. Somehow I don't think the reading is quite accurate since I've been reading on other sites that the Freebie does 8.1 litres/100KM on the highway and 11.7 litres/100KM in the city. Are there any reasons which may explain this seemingly incorrect reading? Or should I bring it in and have someone look at it? Should I be resetting all the settings every time I fill up or should I just leave it be.
I'm figuring I get about 380KM out of a full tank of gas which works out to an average of 18.9Litres/100KM.
Any insight?
Something ain't right here unless you have a very heavy foot, are driving fully loaded with a roof body etc etc
What concerned me, however, was a tendency for the engine to waver anywhere from 2000-2100 RPM with the cruise control on or with my foot on the gas holding steady at 65 or 70. This led to a noticable (to me, anyway) surging sensation in the car. If I gunned it a bit and let back on the gas it would go away for a while, but once I hit that steady cruising speed it was back. It seemed like some combination of quick acceleration up to speed prevented it, but I couldn't find a way to reproduce the steps.
Is this one of those 'learning to drive a CVT' things I keep reading about or is it a problem that needs to be looked at? I haven't done any long distance driving solo, so I don't know if it's load related or not, but I have driven it on the freeway without this happening in the past.
Thanks,
Scott
If I'm remembering correctly, there was another person who posted with something that sounded something like this. Perhaps if you do a search through the messages (using the keyword "surge" would probably work--he or she used that word in the message, I think), you could find it--I don't remember how the discussion turned out.
I, too, loaded up my Freestyle to the gills for the first time since I've had it with 5 adults, baby seat, loads of luggage, and all the accroutements that come with a small baby and while I could definitely feel the difference when I tried to charge a hill on the freeway, I didn't feel any surge.
I once was able to get it down to about 11.5L/100KM driving on the highway, but since then it's always hovering around 17, 18 or 19.
The car feels like it's driving fine. RPMs are always in the 1800-2000 range when cruising at city speed. Up to about 2100-2200 when on the highway.
I'm stumped. I'm going to bring it in, but I'm afraid I'll get that "Oh, those readings are never right." If it was one or two litres off, I wouldn't care, but it seems that other are getting the posted milage without even trying.
BRJ
I usually ride by myself with my stuff--lots of volume (my stuff, not me!) but not much weight. The only time I got anywhere near the posted mileage is when I stayed in the right lane on the freeway, drove real easy, drove on a long flat, freeway (I-5 from San Francisco to L.A.) and even then, I got 24 mpg with my FWD. Now that I'm driving more like "myself," i.e., left lane freeway speeds, etc., I seldom get over 19 or 20 mpg.
But, I guess it depends on what you were driving before as to how you may feel about that. My Explorer and Expedition did far worse for the same cargo and people hauling capabilities, so I'm not kvetching too much. I read an online article that said you can expect 75% of the gas mileage that's on the sticker. Okaaaaay, math time: .75 x 27 mpg highway for a FWD=20.25 mpg. So, unless we can get the people who come up with these numbers on the stickers to get real, or at least tell us how they got those numbers so we can decide how much credence to put in those numbers, we may be setting ourselves up for disappointment. :confuse:
A little background info... I've ripped my CDs using the AAC 128 encoder and then converted the ones I wanted to MP3 128 all within iTunes. I really can't notice any degredation in sound quality when listening to music in the Freestyle (or any other car for that matter). Have you tried using a higher bit rate and noticed an improved audio quality?
i tried iTunes and was unable to get folders working so i went back to MusicMatch for ripping and burning. you used AAC 128 to rip the music, i'm curious was there a problem using iTunes to rip? once you ripped the music, what program did you use to burn the CD? i'll reinstall iTunes and will also try using it to downgrade the ID tags. does anyone know how to tell what your tags are (2.2, 2.4, etc...).
one thing that i can say with certainty is that if you are ripping the music for the 1st time, and if you do not use super tagging, MusicMatch (so far) has been flawless for me. i get folders, titles, artist names, everything. my problem is i have easily over 20G of music on my disc that i really do not want to rip all over again (even though i have started doing just that).
to answer your sound quality question, i have been ripping at 64 and 128 both, and i am unable to tell the difference. just remember, the higher the bit rate, the less music you get on a CD.
I think the milage posted on the window is accurate by all mfrs. now.Didn't use to be but they know if you get more your going to tell everyone.The only big affects on MPG on the same vhicle are tire pressure,wind,temperature.Synth. oil can help a tad.Other than that if the vehicle is in spec.,same driver same weight the differance should only be 1%or2%.The pickup on my Freestyle is so good I ease into the throttle and milage is very satisfying.
lizzzard