Happy enough we bought it off lease

Review is for a 2005 Ford Freestar Limited with 4.2L engine and 4-speed automatic transmission. It is fully loaded with all the major options, including stability control, side air bags, DVD player, etc. This was my company lease vehicle last year and we liked it so much we bought it a few months ago. We've had it for almost 2 years and 24,000 miles. The April 2005 Consumer Reports auto issue said some negative things about it that I thought were unfair and that prompted me to write what I hope is a more balanced review.

For starters, this is our family hauler. My wife uses it for the usual household errands during the week and the family uses it for weekend trips to the cabin, often hauling one of our boats behind. It is an excellent car for family road trips and its competent towing was quite a surprise to me. Since it was a company lease the 1st year, I'm not sure of the new price, but I paid $21,900 for it after 1-year and 16K miles. This price was "out-the-door", including taxes, title, plates, and a 7-year/75K mile warranty. I did a fair bit of shopping and couldn't come anywhere near this price on anything else, especially given the incredible success we've had with this vehicle: To date it has not been back to the dealer for a single repair.

Prior to this, we had a Mazda MPV and prior to that, we had a Ford Windstar. While we liked the Mazda, it was a bit too small and there were a lot of little things we had come to appreciate on the Windstar that were missing on the MPV. For example, for about the 1st month we had the MPV, we had been walking away leaving it unlocked because we didn't realize the power sliding doors didn't "remember" to lock after they closed as they did on the Windstar. There were lots of other little touches (lighting, controls, etc.) like this that we really missed once they were gone. The Freestar adds all these little things up to make a big impression on us, plus Ford fixed the one thing we hated about the Windstar by adding a fold-in-floor rear seat.

What we like:
The entertainment system covers all of our tastes from cassettes to DVDs. We especially like the speed sensitive volume control that lets us directly control how much louder the stereo gets with vehicle speed (some models only give you an on/off option). Given the stop-and-go highway driving we do, automatically adjusting volume is a must for us. Contrary to what Consumer Reports says, the ride is about the best you will find for long trips: I get tired after an hour in my daily commuter, but have spent 8+ hours driving the Freestar without fatigue. The driver controls are easy to find/reach and logical in their use. We get about 24 mpg on the freeway which give us a satisfying 500+ mile range. It tows our 17' ski boat with ease, and much to my surprise was more competent pulling our 26' sailboat (which hits the Freestar's full 3500 lb towing capacity) than some SUVs I've used. The brakes are responsive and the traction control and stability control come in only as needed with minimal intrusiveness (unlike some vehicles I've had that stopped dead when the stability control kicked in). The engine delivers plenty of power and the transmission is quite smooth and free from the "gear hunting" I've often encountered on other vehicles when towing. The rear seat folds into the floor without removing the headrests (another "little" thing vs. the Mazda) and the floor well makes a convenient "trunk" that keeps things from rolling around when it is up. With the rear seat folded and the middle seats out, we can haul just about anything we want (including 5 pre-hung doors I picked up just last week). While the Freestar is by no means a sports car, the steering is nimble and precise for a vehicle this big and it handles well in all types of driving, including heavy snow and rain. The two-tone exterior paint looks sharp and it has held up well against the inevitable parking lot dings. Its not the quietest car we've had, but wind and road noise are well within the acceptable/good range. Finally, the keypad entry (on the drivers door) has more of those nice little features, like allowing you to open a specific power sliding door with the touch of just one extra button.

What we don't like:
There are too many annoying chimes. Why can't Ford wake up and realize I might want to clean out my car while listening to the radio without all those irritating chimes going off? They also ding away when I open the door to see while backing up a trailer. I also find it rather irritating that the DVD screen blocks the majority of my view out the rear window. (I don't remember this being a problem on the MPV, but can't say for sure.) While we're reasonably happy with the highway fuel economy (24 mpg), city economy has been a bit disappointing at 16-17 mpg. Both my wife and I also find the front headrests and armrests rather uncomfortable. The arm rest flips out of the way to resolve that problem, but I've had to argue with my wife to keep her from removing the headrests or turning them around backwards (where they lose all safety value). By far the most annoying thing is removing the middle row seats. They're not as bad as removing the rear seat in the old Windstar, but the seat latches do not release cleanly making the seats difficult to remove and replace. (Fortunately removing the middle seats is relatively rare, but it is still annoying.)