Ford Freestar questions

We are looking to buy a van next year, and the Freestar is now a serious contender. I know there are some realiability issues with them, but every van we've researched has some kind of mechanical problem. So....

If you own one, what do you think about it?

-Is it car seat friendly?
-How many LATCH seats are there and where?
-How many tether points are there and where?
-Can you fit two adults comfortably in the third row?
-What do you love and hate about it?

Thanks in advance !

NO!! Is all I have to say... SOME issues don't begin to describe the problems we have had with our 2004 Freestar. I was suckered into overlooking the reported mechanical problems because of the safety features (mostly all the airbags) and I regret this decision virtually every day. We have spent over $5K on repairs THIS YEAR and we still owe on it. In fact, if you really want one, you may have mine. I will leave the keys on the dash and you can come get it.

I might sound a "bit" bitter, but it is currently in for the third time this year. First was a/c compressor, which somehow made it stall out, the timing belt is connected to the a/c compressor or something? The second was the transmission, went out with no warning at about 90K miles going 60mph in rush hour. It's in now for the radiator and another tranny (which is covered under the warranty as the tranny was just done in July). I'll answer your questions, but I'm in this forum to try to decided what to do about our Freestar. It's a nightmare! I wish we would have put that extra $5K into buying a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey from the get go...

We have a 2004 Limited. It has LATCH in the captain's chairs and the center of the third row. No extra tether points. The captains chairs are VERY car seat friendly, never had a problem. They slide forward and back, fold down and tumble up and are removable, but do not fold into the floor. The third row is OK for car seats, most do fine, some are OK, and some (Regent) are totally incompatible. It's, IMO, better than the third row in the Dodge/Chrysler vans as far as compatibility. It does fold flat into the floor, which we appreciate and use often. The third row is NOT an adult space, realistically though. The captains chairs are as big as the front seats, and take up a lot of space, rendering that third row teeny. We just put the kids back there, and the adults in the captains chairs, when need be.

I like the big, full size captains chairs and the folding third row. I did like the heated seats before they broke, I also like the power sliding doors when they work. I like all the airbags (front, side, curtain, etc.). I don't like just about everything else. The plastic trim is cheap and broken or cracked in many places, including the handle/strap to fold the third row. The paint is chipping off the dials on the dash (radio, etc.). Gas mileage is bad, bad, for a van, we're around 14 to 15 MPH for normal in-city driving. NHTSA has launched a recall into the transmission issues for them failing w/low mileage at highway speeds, with no warning. This van has made us swear off ever buying a Ford again. And my DH works (as a contractor) for Ford.

That's the thing, the Japanese just seem to wear better than the domestics or Koreans. 100K on a Toyota or Honda just doesn't feel as bad as 100K on a Ford/GM/Hyundai. They may all be running, but the Japanese will be running a bit smoother, the trim won't be in as much danger of falling off or cracking, etc.

They all have problems, but the Japanese just seem a lot less likely to have a whole bunch of stuff come at once. Yes, repairing a tranny sucks, but it's better than repairing a tranny, then having a radiator blow, after which the a/c starts going, along with various lights that stop working, trim breaking, etc. And certain repairs are a LOT worse than others. Brakes are a LOT better than trannies. Parts are a lot cheaper and if it's somewhat common, you can actually do a lot of it yourself with some simple (ie cheap) tools.

-Is it car seat friendly? Only seat I have had a problem with is that rear facing Radians over recline. Otherwise great with car seats.
-How many LATCH seats are there and where?We have a 2nd row bench. It can either have 2 seats LATCH'd outboard or one center. If you do one center no one else can use the bench because it covers the seat belts, it is two seater bench, so the middle becomes the only seat with a car seat...hope that made some sense. The 3rd row has center LATCH.
-How many tether points are there and where?There are 2 on the 2nd row, 1 in the 3rd row, and the passenger seat has one that I LOVE for DD2's rear facing tether.
-Can you fit two adults comfortably in the third row?LOL! Nope...not a chance.
-What do you love and hate about it?We were able to afford it. It hasn't given us any MAJOR problems. I know it will likely give us major problems in the future.

Just to clarify - the Freestar only has 3 or 4 TAs (depending on whether you have one under the front passenger seat). I don't since that was only available on manual front passenger seats and I have power seats (both driver and passenger) on my Limited trim 2005 Freestar. Therefore, I only have 3 TAs (2 in middle row, 1 in center of 3rd row). All of these are full LATCH positions. No Freestar, regardless of MY, has TAs for the 3rd row outboard seating positions. Also, the 3rd row center seatbelt sucks and there have been only a few successful installs in that spot over the years with many seats that I've tried. Most harnessed seats that you want to tether in the 3rd row are going to require a LATCH install. Once the 48 lb LATCH limit is reached your options for harnessing in the 3rd row are greatly reduced.

Really, the 3rd row is my biggest complaint. It's really cramped and uncomfortable. Made for kids under 12 only, IMO. I'm 5'4" and I'm squished if I have to sit back there. Also, there's no split in that 3rd row bench so it's all or nothing. Since I only have 2 kids it isn't usually a problem for us.

Captain's chairs (at least on my 2005 model) have seatbelt buckles stalks (if you can call them that - they're really not stalks at all) that are angled and fixed. This creates incompatabilities with some CRs. Old Britax convertibles and anything with a LBP installs just fine. FF Radian does not work with the seatbelts in my captain's chairs. Anything with LATCH is going to be fine, generally speaking. I can't speak for the belts on a middle row bench seat.

HTH!

If you own one, what do you think about it?

We owned a 2004 or 05 Freestar and a 2007 Freestar SEL, but I will only answer questions about the 07 as we had it longer then the few months we had the 04/05 and I actually drove it everyday as compared to the once I drove the other one.

-Is it car seat friendly? Very. RF/FF Marathon. RF/FF Radian. RF EFTA. If I recall the only place I had trouble was the third row middle FF Radian. But with a little more work it went in.
-How many LATCH seats are there and where?As far as I recall two in second row captains cars and one in third row middle.

-How many tether points are there and where? Same positions.

-Can you fit two adults comfortably in the third row? I say yes but I guess it all depends on how tall/big you are.

-What do you love and hate about it? Loved the remote sliding doors and hatch. We had a lot of options on it as it was a SEL so I would for sure go with a higher trim level over the basic if possible.

We had it for two years if I recall and did not have one problem with it at all. Nothing at all.
I think it had 60,000 KM on it at the end. It was solid feeling van for its price range compared to the Caravan and Uplander which I drove for a few months as a rental. They felt like tin cans and were cheap looking inside. I remember laughing at the sticker that they used as a reflector on the inside of the door of the Uplander...my kids bicycles even used the real deal and they didn't even use one on a 20,000 plus van.
If I had to buy an older van again I would buy another 07 Freestar Sel in a heartbeat as long as I did a through check into the past of the van.

Kecia said:

Just to clarify - the Freestar only has 3 or 4 TAs (depending on whether you have one under the front passenger seat). I don't since that was only available on manual front passenger seats and I have power seats (both driver and passenger) on my Limited trim 2005 Freestar. Therefore, I only have 3 TAs (2 in middle row, 1 in center of 3rd row). All of these are full LATCH positions. No Freestar, regardless of MY, has TAs for the 3rd row outboard seating positions. Also, the 3rd row center seatbelt sucks and there have been only a few successful installs in that spot over the years with many seats that I've tried. Most harnessed seats that you want to tether in the 3rd row are going to require a LATCH install. Once the 48 lb LATCH limit is reached your options for harnessing in the 3rd row are greatly reduced.

Really, the 3rd row is my biggest complaint. It's really cramped and uncomfortable. Made for kids under 12 only, IMO. I'm 5'4" and I'm squished if I have to sit back there. Also, there's no split in that 3rd row bench so it's all or nothing. Since I only have 2 kids it isn't usually a problem for us.

Captain's chairs (at least on my 2005 model) have seatbelt buckles stalks (if you can call them that - they're really not stalks at all) that are angled and fixed. This creates incompatabilities with some CRs. Old Britax convertibles and anything with a LBP installs just fine. FF Radian does not work with the seatbelts in my captain's chairs. Anything with LATCH is going to be fine, generally speaking. I can't speak for the belts on a middle row bench seat.

HTH!

Click to expand...

Opps, I also have a 2003 Windstar and was combining them in my head. So sorry. I'm going to go edit my answer.