Ford Freestyle Meet the Members

jackief

Our Freestyle is getting slightly better gas mileage than the MDX, but not significantly so. Freestyle is still in breakin period (hit 2k mi yesterday). The significant difference however is that it takes regular gas not premium. The MPG is falling between the MDX and the Volvo xc I traded in. But with the cheaper (relative) gas it is costing less to operate. Since I have the longer commute, I get the car with the higher MPG.

vicenac

We've got a SEL FWD for it's fuel economy. Not seeing that coming through yet. Our car is black and pebble. The glare on the windshield is so strong sometimes I can not see the front of the car. The pattern on the plastics inside the cabin is so harsh, I feel I rub against sand paper - like when adjusting the seat with the door closed or resting my elbow on the door.
After 1,000 miles I can hear some noises / vibrations that were not there before. Two times the engine had problems starting!!!
We love how we can fit everything inside and have a lot of room. We are moving up from a Honda Accord. There is a difference in refinement.
I absolutely love the solar tinted windows. We live in southern California and in a full sunny day the interior is worm but not boiling hot.

bobw3

I wasn't expecting Honda/Toyota quality, but the FS is pretty good. The Honda Pilot and Toyota Highlander both would have cost me a whole lot more for less space inside, so that's why I went with the FS.

brandy1909

Hi everyone, we purchased our Freestyle about a month ago. Before doing so, I did some research. The first of which was to read everyone's messages from this site, which was a big help. I now know, what type of trouble to look for. My husband and I had gone to the dealer a few days prior to look at the Ford Hybrid SUV. Once we sat in it or I should say squeezed into it we decided it just wasn't for us! We also checked out the Toyota Hybrid SUV. As we were walking away from looking at the Ford SUV we walked by the Freestyle SEL FWD. I asked the salesman about the car, I haven't even seen a commercial on it, knew nothing about it. Well, it was love at first sight. I told the salesman get me the key! I want a closer look inside. Well, after looking, test driving, we told the saleman, that we wanted to do some research on the car before deciding. Well, I dragged my poor husband down to re-look at the Forester again! That was the third car on my list to consider buying! He said the same thing, he said the first time "it's too small and no style". Of course you know what he than went to look at "The Tribeca". I piped up with no way... I refuse to climb back up into another car. We presently own a Chevy Trailbrazer! Even after reading all of your messages, I couldn't get the car out of my mind. "Had to have it!" LOL! Why.. oh .. why hasn't Ford done more with advertising it. Living in sunny :shades: Florida, we were afraid of the glare problems so many have experienced, we haven't! My girlfriend said it's because we're short.. LOL! Not sure if that's true or not... Gas mileage we're getting - best way to describe it... WOW ! City: approx. 24 some times a little more, Highway: 28 to 30 miles to a gallon... let's say we're thrilled... our Chevy :lemon: Trailbrazer if we were lucky we got 13 in the city and 17 on the hwy! The space in the Freestyle is great. I love not having to climb up into my car, as I had to with the Trailbrazer. We have taken a few short trips. Living in Florida, just going to Orlando is a short trip when you live on the coast.. LOL! So far, we haven't had any problems and we just love our new car! Everyone, who has either seen it or sat in it, can't get over the room. All ask the same question "Why hasn't Ford done more advertising this car, not only does the car equals the Forester but out shines it! Shame on Ford for keeping the Freestyle a secret!

daire

A couple of days ago, we picked up the new 2006 Freestyle Limited FWD we ordered last month, and we love it! We took a small road trip to "Grandma's" and it got 27.7MPG average on it's first tank! It had 3 miles on it when we picked it up, and now has 467. The ride seems a bit stiff yet, but I love the CVT and the driving ease. Love the memory seats too! My DH is 6'3", while I am only 5'6" so we have quite different seat and mirror adjustments. It took us awhile to figure out that the key fobs were programed with one set to mem.1 and one set to mem.2, but we finally have the correct fobs in hand. It was a little discouraging to hubby the first time he unlocked the door with the wrong fob, and the seat moved forward and up so that he couldn't get in! Now we will be taking it on an extended road trip from Minneapolis to Philadelphia for a dog show, so we'll get to see how it performs out on the rad and how the cargo capacity works for us. So far, the windshield glare some have spoken of here has not been a problem for us, but we find the LED on the radio difficult to see in glare. So far a VERY satisfied Freestyle owner! :shades:

dwalton

My new 06 black on black Limited is to be build on the 17th of October. I cant wait for it to arrive. I ordered it before I knew it was available with the NAV system, but I was able to add it one week after I ordered it. I noticed that in Canada the Limited includes a lot of stuff as standard that is optional in the USA. I think if you are buying a Limited you would want it loaded and not have to deal with adding a lot to the starting price. I only added the NAV system and the 60/40 second row seats. I am a National Sales Manager and wanted something that would replace my 95 GMC 4X4 top of the line pick up truck that would also look respectable. I dont like cars and I think this is a good compromise.

stmss

We picked up a 06 silver Limited last week. Yes, my understanding in Canada there are really only 3 options on the Limited - navigation, DVD and 2nd row bench. We have all three. We did not order it, we simply had the dealer check local inventories and provided you had a couple of colour options, selection wasn't bad. Found ours in transit to another local dealer and only had to wait a week for the train to arrive. The nav system works well and has more features than I expected. Still getting use to all the audio options - ie control from the steering wheel, nav package, rear seat. The kids changing the radio stations from the back (until I found the disable up front). The only problem I have so far is the auto lights not really knowing when to go on and stay on at dusk. May just block the sensor and have them on all the time - I am use to this with my other cars.

tourist1234

Hi...live in SE Michigan. We bought our Titanium Green Freestyle LTD May 1st. After 6 months it has been a really good car. The only glitch was the CD changer not recognizing home brewed CDs and MP3s. Took it to the dealer and had it replaced in an hour. New CD player now recognizes everything.
The car was primarily for my wife because I drive a company car. Her short list was the Toyota Highlander, Honda Pilot and the Ford Escape. Like others that posted we saw the Freestyles on the lot while checking out the Escape and she test drove one. She knew immediately the FS was what she wanted. I made her go back and retest the Highlander and Pilot. We have taken one long vacation to the SE US and the Freestyle was perfect. It handled the ups and downs in Virgina, Kentucky and North Carolina well. No problems climbing long grades and good smooth acceleration. We make regular trips to Northern Michigan to see the in laws and I am always impressed with how comfortable the ride is. Another real plus of the Freestyle has been how easy it is to get in and out of. My parents and in-laws are up there in age and have a great deal of trouble climbing into SUVs and trucks. When we got to pick them up and drive them around they have found they really like the Freestyle. The downside is they always call us first when they need to get out.
We are at 12,000 and still happy.

jethrojackson

Greetings,

We love our 2006 Freestyle so much that I started a blog:

http://fordfreestyle.blogspot.com/

As one who drives a lot of miles, I'll do my best to keep it updated with problems, mileage and misc info about our Freebie.

I enjoy the Edmunds forums on the Freestyle and read most of the posts before we pulled the trigger and ordered one.

Hopefully my blog can provide info to prespective new owners and fellow owners alike.

Jethro

tourist1234

An addendum to my own post. The CD player does not now recognize all CDs. I found that it will not recognize CDs burned using iTunes and using the AAC Protected format. I need to burn in the MP3 format to get them to play.

bellaspop

Hi,

I'm the proud owner of an '05 Norsea Blue/Shale SEL. I picked it up on June 30th and have a little over 5000mi. I'm really satisfied with the car. It's got all the room convenience and style that I could hope for and the command seating is great for my long commute. I've been a member of the site since July and figured I'd say hello.

sandy_j

I have an 05 AWD SE that I bought in January 05. I've put 23K miles on it-highway, rural, and long trips (Portland, Oregon to Lake Shasta, California, and others). It's Oxford White-the "whitest" white I've ever seen on a car.

I absolutely love it!!! I'm already making my plans to buy my next one.

I haven't noticed any extreme "noises" or anything like that. I will say that I still have trouble sometimes closing the doors all of the way. The car is basically airtight and the door doesn't shut easily with the windows up. It's a minor issue so I'm learning to "slam" the doors.

As far as the CVT, according to my dad (long-time mechanic) the CVT isn't a new technology, just new to Ford. I now have trouble driving a car with an automatic transmission and I won't even think about driving a stick shift anymore!

tedberger

i have an 05 SEL (built 11/04) so one of the first units i suppose. good car overall, but wished the 05 limited fwd had been available last march... was told that ford was having trouble with 18's on the fwd drive units? starting to see a few more units around here in so cal. ford should hit the promo drives, marketing/advertising harder because the fs is really quite a good family and business car. it's fresh and easy on the eyes, although a guy said to me recently.. "hey, nice car, how's your wife like it? i'm a ford guy, so i only drove the new fords like the 500, fs, exp. - boss said get the fs and i'll pay the higher lease rate. appreciate the forum!

mickeysue

I finally grew up and bought a 4 door car, a 2005 Silver Freestyle. Explorer Sport models have been in my past and I love the smooth ride of the Freestyle. I bought it as a combo Christmas, Birthday, everything present. I use an electric scooter to get around and it is easier to load, with room to spare. All of my friends ask what is it? I tell them a cross-over SUV/station wagon, and they admire it. Still too new to see many on the road, but look forward to hearing from other owners. I will keep on trucking in my new Freestyle and love the looks I get.

bchauvin

Same problem with the doors. Doesn't matter if the window is down. Seems to be a problem with the latching mech.

Anyone else having issues with the doors not closing?

bchauvin

Often I cannot close a door on my Freestyle. This has happened on the Driver, Passenger and Rear Passenger doors. Opening a window (to releave the air pressure) does NOT help.

Anyone else having this issue? I know of at least one more on this site who has.

sandy_j, "Ford Freestyle Owners: Meet the Members" #64, 16 Nov 2005 9:03 pm

bobw3

For me, opening the windows solves the hard door closing problem, but there are double rubber seals on the doors (both on the door itself and car), so I think that it's just the rubber on rubber pressure. They tried to make it seal really good.

magdad

Yeah, you have to really slam them to get them closed. It doesn't really bother me all that much.

bchauvin

I don't think it's a rubber seal issue. I think it's a latch issue. I can slam the door as hard as I want, still it doesn't latch until I lock/unlock the door.

Really, the door should latch if you gently close the door, leaving a gap that can be further latched by pushing the door closed a second time. Try it out. Then, next time the door doesn't latch try this.

vicenac

I only have a problem with rear doors and it seems to be common. Like with other cars, I've noticed that holding the door, I mean keeping your hand on it, to stop it from bouncing back, does the trick. It was the same with my Honda Accord and Volvo 740.

marshall2

I just had to write and thank Edmunds for their superb web site. I must of spent 2 months reading all of the interesting and important research that is available at our finger tips here at their web site. I have owned Dodge Caravans, Explorers, Chevy trucks, and my last vehicle was a 2003 Windstar. The only vehicle that ever gave me any grief was the chevy truck. So I have been blessed with good reliable vehicles so far in my life. So lately I've been checking out Mazda 5 and the Tribute, Toyota's RAV4, the Highlander, also the new Chevy Equinox. But I fell for a2006 SE FWD FS.I plan on installing front row Leather on the seats, maybe tinker with the Audio too! But I'm looking forward to see how she handles in the snow. We live about 25 mi. east of Buffalo in a beautiful valley town called Cowlesville, the winters can be brutal at times, but not this year yet. So thanks again to the wonderful folks here at Edmunds, keep up the excellent work! From a fellow car enthusiast!!

Karen_S

Thank YOU for the nice compliments. It's always gratifying to know our site has been so beneficial.

coldcranker

Ford did not heavily promote the Freestyle because they were belt-tightening their ad budgets and they concluded that their ad budget was better spent on products for younger people, who tend to be more easily influenced by "cool" ads. That being said, Ford did (and does) put out some ads that appeal to the cerebral side, an approach that works better on the targeted demographic of 32-49 year olds buying Freestyles. Younger adults tend to be more concerned about styling (the Freestyle doesn't excite them) and the image they believe goes with driving a certain vehicle. This is just based on majority behavior, the way marketers think.

coldcranker

Does anybody know if Ford has new, revised, updated, more refined software to put on the car's main computer for better gas mileage, etc.? I do know that it is sometimes done by car makers. It would be similar to getting an updated version of Microsoft Word that works better.

I hope they do. There was some vague statements made earlier about someone getting lower RPMs at 70 mph after the dealer re-flashed (put new program on) the engine computer.

saabturboid

My wife and I purchased a used '05 Norsea Blue AWD Freestyle last night. It had been traded in at a Toyota dealer after only 12,000 miles. So far we love the vehicle and can't find anything wrong with it which makes us wonder why someone dumped it after so few miles. We live in Minneapolis and drove the vehicle home last night in the midst of a snow storm. Even with the stock Continental tires with 12,000 miles on them the car (or is it a truck?) did great in the snow. We are very excited and look forward to many good years with this vehicle.

- Chad

freealfas

No good way to say why they would have dumped it so soon, people do it all the time for as little as they didn't like the color. Enjoy the purchase like the rest of us and you get the benefit of not taking the depreciation hit for a great, safe, reliable vehicle...

rick2456

Hello all, Rick here from Atlanta, GA. Decided to get away from the [non-permissible content removed] cars and take a chance on a 2005 (65 miles) Gray SEL AWD with leather and a moonroof. Nice vehicle and my major concern of the engine being a bit weak has not been an issue. I like the room, especially the headroom being 6'1". We don't get much snow and ice here, but my job (environmental scientist/geologist) takes me out to the beach and the boonies where the AWD could come in handy. Not to mention it being a bit safer on wet pavement. Time will tell and in the meantime, see you all on the forum.

sportman

I am two weeks from the end of the first year with my Merlot Limited - 18,500 miles.
Why doesn't Ford promote this vehicle? All my friends are very impressed when they ride in or drive this vehicle, many wonder why they spent so much on German and Japanese imports.
The ride, the room, the handling, the economy, the ammenities all are world class. WAKE UP FORD!!! (Continuing to peddle Explorers is short sighted).

bobw3

I think Ford realized too that they haven't advertised the Freestyle enough:

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060616/FREE/60614006&Search- - ID=73248151259060

"Ford Motor Co. marketers learned a tough lesson when they dialed back spending on the Ford Five Hundred and Freestyle last year. And they intend not to repeat the mistake with the Fusion...The Five Hundred sedan and Freestyle crossover went on sale in September 2004. Marketing support began to tail off midway through their first year, Perry-Lube said.

Sales of the Freestyle have been disappointing, and Five Hundred sales have hit the low side of Ford's target.

When the Five Hundred and Freestyle debuted, Ford executives said they expected annual U.S. sales of 100,000 to 125,000 for each model. But in 2005, Ford sold 107,932 Five Hundreds and 76,739 Freestyles in the United States."

This is what happens when they don't market a car properly, but for the Fusion and probably Edge, they'll get more sales. Maybe in '08 the spruce up the Freestyle's styling and advertise it more.

It's amazing because they could really market the Freestyle to families that want something between a minivan & SUV and because of the good MPG, and smooth CVT that more luxury cars are getting. At the people like us who own them can appreciate them, and it makes our car more unique.

extraz

Hello,

Thinking of getting 2006 preowned Freestyle w/16,000 miles... How does it compare to Explorer? And if I buy, should I purchase an extended warranty for $1700 or is there a warranty for the transmission..if so, how much? Any advice would be helpful...
Thanks,
Potential Freestyler

stevedebi

"Thinking of getting 2006 preowned Freestyle w/16,000 miles... How does it compare to Explorer? And if I buy, should I purchase an extended warranty for $1700 or is there a warranty for the transmission..if so, how much? Any advice would be helpful..."

Unless you are towing, the FS is a much better family vehicle.

Find out why the previous owners sold the FS.

motorcom

Should have the 3yr/36000 mile warranty intact. We moved our family of four from a 97 Explorer to a 2007 Freestyle LTD and are extremely happy with the car, ride, room, mileage and features.

Unless you are towing or going offroad I don't really see a reason to have an Explorer except to ride a little higher and use more gas.

If you like the car get the extended warranty for peace of mind.

bobw3

For $1700, what does it cover and what's the deductable? I just purchased from www.fordwarrantys.com this warranty:
Extracare
5 yrs / 100,000 miles / $0 deductible $1425 final price

So the price really depends on what you're getting.

van8

We have had our freestyle sel awd for just about a year and not a problem.I own a lincoln town car a Ford country Squire Station wagon. The Freestyle is the best ford product we have owned. As I watch Ford's stock plumet I now understand why! The Freestyle was never marketed.Somebody in ford made sure this car was not marketed because it was a clear threat to the explorer.

There are all these firings and new executives talking bull! Hey Mr. Ford drive a freestyle and you will decide to market the car! Maybe you should hire back the person who planned this car and fire some of the new fancy talking bull artists who now have your ear and are going to take you right out of business following fads. Just read the reviews by the owners of the freestyle and you will realize you have a great car in the Freestyle.Oh well I am sure you are not listening to your customers any longer so our biggest risk is you go out of business and we will not be able to get parts for any of your vehicles.

tidester

News? Views? Thoughts? Experiences? Directions? Rumors? Fun? Hassles? Tell us about them here!

Also, try to be helpful to noobs by directing them to the proper Freestyle forum for solving problems.

tidester, host

passat_2002

I've got a good recipe for zucchini bread. Anyone interested?

tidester

Congratulations! Of course, you're driving your Freestyle to pick up the ingredients.

tidester, host

volfangary

I like old war movies! Anyone else?

dougmalissa

zucchini bread? Do you live in California?
I'm looking for Pumpkin Pancakes. I drove to IHOP in my Freestyle and found them there.

kjnorman

So we now have two "Meet the Members" threads. May I suggest that that you consolidate the other thread into this one.

I liked have the single general thread before. I am not going to track all these multiple threads - its too much work.

tidester

May I suggest that that you consolidate the other thread into this one.

The other one has "owners" in the title so I thought I'd split them out to be more inclusive. But we could still merge them. Anyone else have an opinion on the matter?

tidester, host

snowombat

I just bought a 2007 Freestyle Limited. It is AWD and would like to know what to expect when I drive it on snow.... Here in Montreal we have lots of snow!

passat_2002

Very good traction and a strong desire to move to Florida.

tidester

These "Meet the Member!" discussions are great! They generate all kinds of wonderful ideas for discussions with broader appeal. Based on your question, someone went out and created a Ford Freestyle: Winter Driving topic!

tidester, host

stevedebi

"Based on your question, someone went out and created a Ford Freestyle: Winter Driving topic!"

That's pretty interesting, seeing as it was you, the host who created the new topic.

tidester

Modesty inhibited me from taking credit!

Seriously, the point is that anyone can start up a new topic.

tidester, host

bobw3

Do you get a commission for every new topic created!

tidester

Do you get a commission for every new topic created!

If I did then you would surely have seen zillions of them by now! :shades:

tidester, host

dnash

Anyone else have an opinion on the matter?

Yeah. This is terrible. I do not have time to go through all the new threads. The old system was fine. The biggest difference for me now is that I will now only be looking at these threads when I want a specific piece of information, rather than daily reading. Please send me an e-mail when we get back close to one. Otherwise, good bye and good luck everyone.

stevedebi

"Otherwise, good bye and good luck everyone."

I too am considering my options. I may well leave the forums as well. I suspect that they may not be of any real interest anymore, being split up and disjointed like they have become.

But I am giving it a shot for a few days.