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2nd row bench... but my wife really wants the captains chairs. (1 S, 2 SE's
and a SES 2005 leftover)
I have seen Freestar captains chairs I can purchase at car-parts.com for very
reasonable prices, but neither the dealer or salvage yards can answer if
the stock bench mounting holes will work with the captains chairs.
Any Freestar owners know the answer? I would like to keep my purchases
Ford.
Thanks.
Freestar from another state, and got it for me.
I love it! I tried out the Chrysler/Dodge minivan, Honda, and Toyota equivalents...
and all had their merits, but did not justify the 4-5 thousand difference with the
incredible employee discount and $6000 rebate ford has.
Overall the Freestar is not the best in every category (Power, Fuel mileage, interior
fir/finish, noise level, ride comfort, space, etc.. but it was well balanced throughout)
Another satisfied (and recent) Ford owner. I also just purchased a 2005 extended cab Ranger 4x4. Funny that I now have all American cars after owning a Subaru, Toyota, BMW, Porsche and Lotus.
So in total for my 2005 Freestar SEL with Power side doors and DVD option was $32,6XX, but after the rebates and Family plan reduction took it down to $23200.
I took all of the competitors mini vans for a test drive and remarkably... they were so
close to each other in comfort, fit and finish, ride quality, etc... none really stood out.
But when the Freestar had over $9600 in discounts removed from their price. I quickly picked up the Freestar. Your right TAMU2002, if it wasn't for the substantial reduction, I probably would have bought a Quest also. My dealer threw in a 100 month/100k mile
Ford backed powertrain warranty to close the deal too!
To me, this is the best values in the minivan market. God bless those discounts and incentives, for without them, this would be one of the worst values.
i think it is pretty funny that most of the posters seem to like the 'star.
another case of reality getting in the way of those car mag reviews.
But the clincher for me was the MUCH larger storage space behind the 3rd row. Do you have any room for groceries, shopping bags etc
after all the seats are used up in your explorer? You can probably fit a backpack back there! That also made me not get a Chrysler Pacifica because of this. But if you need full time usage of all 3 rows of seats for adults... the seating for all 3 rows in the Explorer, Caravan, Pacifica, etc is better. BUT you have to put up with NO storage space.
Bottom line... my wife regularly only uses the first 2 rows of seats for our kids, and folds flat the 3rd row to enable usage of the enormous space behind the 2nd row. Everyone has different needs... my wife's needed storage space above all others, but has the 3rd row (small) seats in an emergency. She's a shop-a-holic
Obviously you need all 3 rows for passengers, but little or no cargo space for your needs.
Looks like the perfect minivan would have the Ford Freestar chassis/frame (for safety), the cool space ship cockpit from the Nissan(Interior design), the Honda oddysy-spelling? interior (comfort and interior fit and finish), the GM parts (cheap prices and availability), Toyota built engine (Reliable engine and decent gas mileage), Chryslers stow and go seating (well engineered stowage)...
all at Hyundai pricing and 10 year 100,000 mile warranty!
Just dreaming.
i have 2 kids. each one gets their own space, although they have to share it with some cargo, they would rather share the space with mostly their own stuff than with their sibling.
my first priority is passenger comfort. the luggage doesn't complain.
You sure seem to know why we bought the Quest And a great sum-up of the ultimate minivan!
IIHS
I had originally bought it to use as my work vehicle... but my wife has comendeered it(spelling?) for herself.
She loves the ride and cargo room, which is cavernous compared to her
previous Subaru Impreza.
I did have a similar issue when I purchased my BMW about 6 years
ago(vibrating steering wheel), but I had the dealership replace the 2 front
wheels with Khumos and that solved it.
I have had bad luck with Goodyear and Michelins balancing properly.
(Funny that the 2 replacement tires were actually cheaper than the OEM Goodyears, but better rated for traction and wear.)
I don't know why, but it bothers me that all older Ford vehicles offered illuminated controls for everything, and lighted glove boxes as well, and on the newer models they're missing.
Question to Ford: Is this the only thing you can copy from Toyota...?
2002 Windstar Limited, 50K, $10,000, no more warranty,
2005 Freestar SEL, 17K, $19,000, extended warranty.
What do you folks think. All thoughts will be useful.
I’ve had a 2005 Freestar since midsummer that hasn’t had a major issue besides eating a rented copy of Dumbo that Ford still hasn’t been able to return to me from the DVD player going out until now. The other night after the kids were in bed I took out the trash walking directly past the well closed and locked doors of the van. When I got up in the morning the rear and passenger side doors were fully open and the in and outsides of the van were covered with condensation. I peeked around to see if anything had been stolen, and nothing had been touched. I pressed the button to close the doors but they wouldn’t respond. I double-pressed the buttons on the key FOB and nothing happened. I tried to open the drivers door, but I realized the doors were all locked. I unlocked the van with the FOB and tried to close the doors again, but both of them made the sound of trying to open themselves, and on the second pressing of the button they finally closed. Both key rings were in the same place they had been the night before, from before I checked at trash time, well away from little button pressing fingers. The night was the coldest night we had seen since getting the van and the heaviest amount of condensation but definitely not the wettest. The two nights since have been warmer and we haven’t had as much vapor fall out of the air. It has not reoccurred but I look a couple times each night and in the morning expecting to see the doors standing open.
Any thoughts?
Anyway, the whole Chrysler product line has no fear of ever occupying a space in my driveway, if you know what I mean.
Having said that, and not being willing to pay the ransom to Tokyo for their offerings, I find myself looking at Ford's. I know some folks have had good service out of the 2002 and later Windstars, but don't yet feel like I'm well enough informed.
BTW, I drove the 2002 Limited I'm thinking about to work today and it rides and runs pretty well but does make the same grinding noise that the 97 has been making for some years. I always thought it was the PS pump. Also it has 78,000 miles on it, not 50,000.
The DCX rides a little better, has a better turning radius, and the engine is a bit more refined that the Freestar, and they also offer stow-n-go, but otherwise there is no big difference between the 2. Also mileage is about the same.
I guess if you're used to Ford's van you should go with the 2005 Freestar. Just be aware that the '97 Windstar has very comfortable rear seats, while the Freestars rear seats are far from that, they are small and thin, and sits very low to the ground.
I definitely second that sentiment. We're as cheap as you We looked at domestic vans first and were hoping to get a killer deal--at least $7K cheaper than the imports, to no avail. We ended up with a Nissan Quest that cost LESS than a comparable Freestar! We've been happy with our van since we had it 6 months ago. That said, I still think the Dodge could be a tremendous value. And there's no way we'll pay an arm and leg for a Oddyssaey!
Tell me about the Sedona. Any towing experience?
Each manufacturer tests its own tires in accordance with the federal test procedure. The manufacturer assigns whatever number it wants to a tire. But then, all other tires of that manufacturer are rated relative to that tire, using the same scale.
So, a tire rated 680 by Michelin should last twice the mileage as a Michelin rated 340. But a Goodyear rated 680 may last the same as the Michelin rated at 340. (just an example; you can plug in whatever brands and numbers you want)
Oddly though, I'm pretty sure that comparisons of temperature resistance and traction ratings are useful between brands.
Probably the best way to guess how economical a tire will be is to very carefully read the mileage warranty with all its fine print. Compare the warranties against the prices for tires which have similar heat and traction ratings. Note though, that traction ratings tell you nothing about cornering or comfort or noise characteristics of a tire.
Rotate regularly, inflate properly and make warranty claims whenever possible to stretch your tire dollars.
I have not done much towing with mine. Just a large loaded U-Haul trailer around town a bit. No problems.
If you don't buy a Sedona, pay extra for an extended warranty.
The trans, struts, blah, blah, blah, for another $3500 came out of my pocket. Overall, I have $16,000 invested, NOT INCLUDING the purchase price.
It runs well for today, though. :shades:
I will look at the Sedona
Anyway, back to the tires, the salesman said it had new tires... big RED flag to me if the odo only says 27k. Something doesn't fit. Is the odo true? Is there a suspension problem? Was there damage? When I got there, I found that only the fronts were new. The rears were not new and had a lot of tread left but were so badly cupped that it could easily be seen and easily felt in the steering wheel.
Most times, the dealer will BS about front wheel drive, heavy engines, blah, blah, blah, and how the tire wear is "normal". Everything is "normal" when it comes to something breaking on your $30,000 car. I remember a friend of mine dying some 25 years ago. Another friend thought it was abnormal for a healthy, 22 year old guy to suddenly be dead. I said, "Not really. He was shot in the chest three times." So what's "normal" for a Freestar? 27K tires?
If the shoulder wear is only on one side of the tread, you have an alignment problem.
If the wear is only on one side and is not smooth, you need to balance the wheels and check alignment and shocks and springs.
Sounds like a maintenance problem to me.