Why Take A Chance?
When my husband bought a first-year Mercury Cougar, he knew he took a risk. He chose the potential "babe magnet" though it was untried, unproven, and unsuitable to a geeky 40 year old bachelor. Now that he's caught the "babe" (that would be me), and 2 kids later, he's eager to let go of the junker and get a family car.
Unfortunately for him, I have glommed onto the brand new, untried, unproven 2005 Ford Freestyle crossover. But I have a few arguments working in my favor.
First, the V6 engine was taken from the Ford Escape. We have owned a 2003 Escape Limited for 1 ¾ years with no trouble.
Second, it takes its new continuously variable transmission (CVT) in part from Audi, according to Mark Phelan, auto critic for the Detroit Free Press (you can read his review at www.freep.com/money/autoreviews/freest23_20040923.htm).
So it's not a completely new car, at least not in the two ways - engine and transmission - that should be scariest to a skittish buyer who's already been burned.
Check Out The Gams On This Lady
Is the Freestyle a lady? I think so, since she's got wide hips like me. She's pretty, too, and I do not agree with the consensus that this is a plain car. I think it's quietly elegant. It's a Jackie Kennedy, where the Freestar is more an Eleanor Roosevelt.
The roofline gracefully slopes from the B-pillar to the rear to accommodate third-row headroom. The car is lined with a full-length roof rack, which disguises that slope somewhat so that it does not dominate. The front of the car reminds me of the Escape more than the Taurus. It's solid, squarish, boxy where the Taurus is slender, sloped, and rounded. The Freestyle looks substantial, confident, and deceptively small. The back is wide but not overwhelming. The back resembles a minivan, or more accurately, the Chrysler Pacifica, a gorgeous vehicle I've been lusting after.
So it's a pretty vehicle. Not gorgeous. Not flashy. Not space-age. Middle-of-the-road conservative, classic, enduring. That's the 2005 Freestyle.
All The Advantages, And Then Some
I needed to compare this vehicle to two others. One, our Escape. Two, the Dodge Grand Caravan. The Escape because we need more space than it provides for long trips. The Dodge Grand Caravan because it's competitively priced with the best gas mileage among minivans.
The Freestyle blows away the Escape on storage. We could easily lay down the rear seats with one hand. The Escape takes two hands, and with two young children, we have to take out both child seats first. Since the Freestyle offers three rows of seating, we don't have to worry about that except for exceptionally long loads, like drywall, lumber, or a Yeti.
The Freestyle offers a maximum 91.7 cu. ft. of storage with the rear, middle, and front passenger seats all folded. With the rear and middle seats folded, it's 85.2 cu. ft. Rear seats folded yield 47.3 cu. ft. With all passenger seats in use, you are reduced to 15.79 cu. ft. That's less than the Escape, with a minimum 29.3 cu. ft. However, the Freestyle rear floor forms a well so you can add more cargo vertically than in the Escape.
The Dodge Grand Caravan has better cargo room, with a minimum of 15.3 cu. ft., but a maximum of 146.7 cu. ft. It has the stow-in-floor seats, but those only really work when your kids are out of booster or car seats. In our case that will be 8 and 11 ½ years, respectively, for our son and daughter.
Want a DVD system? You can't get it on the Escape. On the Grand Caravan there's a confusing mess of options ranging from $825 to $1395. With the Freestyle you only have to choose one option: the $995 system with 7" screen and 2 wireless headphones. It's only available on the top two styles.
Cupholders matter to parents. Whether you're transporting the tots home from preschool, or traveling 4 hours to see the grandparents, you need to know that you can yank the BK drink cup from slippery fingers. The Freestyle includes 12 cupholders total, with 4 in the front row. Two of those are in the doors at about calf level. I noticed that, unlike the Freestar, this model puts little stops on the inside of the door to keep the drink from sliding sideways. Very smart change.
Safety is very important to me. I noticed that both the Grand Caravan and Freestyle come with optional side curtain airbags. But where Dodge charges $1745, Ford asks just $695. Ford includes a rollover sensor and anti-theft perimeter alarm in the package (which should lower auto insurance rates). Dodge wraps theirs in a package with dual power sliding doors and reading lamps. I think Ford is the clear winner in this category. I would still like to know the crash test ratings. I don't want a disaster like the Chevy Cavalier of old, or the Toyota Previa.
Comfort on your mind? For $495, Ford will provide an 8-way power driver seat, 4-way power passenger seat, dual-zone automatic temperature control, and an outside temperature display. Dodge? Well, they charge $370 for the 8-way power driver seat alone. For an additional $1465 you get tri-zone temperature control (no mention of an automated system), and both rear a/c and heat. But you also are paying for a trip computer and roof rack, which are standard on the Freestyle SEL and Limited (the SEL being just $1400 more than the SE).
Gas mileage is a toss-up. The Freestyle has a respectable mileage - 20 city/27 highway for front wheel drive or 19 city/24 highway for all wheel drive - and 19 gallon gas tank. The Caravan has worse mileage, at 18 city/25 highway, but a larger tank, at 20 gallons. That's a difference of just 13 to 20 miles total per tank.
Enough With All That Boring Stuff
I test drove the Ford Freestyle last Saturday. It's one smooth ride. I noticed first how quiet it is. I drive an 2003 Ford Escape, which is incredibly noisy. Tire noise, traffic noise, wind noise - my 4 year old has to shout from the back seat to be heard. The Freestyle has little to no noise. You hear the hum of the engine, but not the tires, and not the wind. You barely hear other cars. It was so quiet I was driven a bit batty by the ding-ding of the turn signal. But I know that with a couple days of driving, and with the radio on, I wouldn't even notice anymore.
The car felt heavy accelerating from 0-55 mph out of a Michigan left turn. But cruising through a small town at 25 mph, it was smooth, light, and responsive. Steering was firm, the brakes were easy (none of the jerking I normally do in a new car), and I was able to manipulate the a/c and radio controls without looking just a few minutes into the drive. I was easily able to change lanes, and since this isn't an enormous car, I didn't feel like a road hog. I did have to watch the speedometer, though, as the acceleration is so smooth, you have no real sense of speed. I'm sure I'll adjust as I drive, but for the test drive I was a bit afraid of a speeding ticket. I didn't feel like I was driving a behemoth, which I felt with the Freestar. It handled like a car, but conveys that SUV feel too.
Now, I'm a mom. I don't much care about most of the stuff that goes into a car. So let me talk about what matters to me. Seating, visibility, legroom, doo-dads.
The seating is comfortable. It's higher than a car, but not as high as the Escape. My son has no trouble getting into our Escape (he's part monkey), but couldn't figure out how to get into the Freestyle. There was nothing to grab onto, where in our Escape he can grab his booster seat. I'm 5'9", and the driver's seat ends just past mid-thigh for me.
When I climbed into the third row seat, I was sure, absolutely sure, that the middle row seat would hit my knees. It did not! Okay, I had no room to spare. But I have a way-too-endowed derriere, so I take up more room than most others. I also had plenty of headroom. I felt squeezed on hip room, but I have the hips of three women.
While in the driver's seat, I adjusted the seat to its highest position. Then I noticed that at that height, the overhead console partially blocked the view from the rear view mirror. Lowering the seat height solved that problem. But I think Ford needs to lower the mirror slightly.
When I did a turn-around maneuver, I was happily surprised with the visibility behind me. Where the Escape's B-pillar blocks my view, I can see clearly in the Freestyle. Where the Freestar felt like a schoolbus, this car feels cozily large. I could see every angle, at every direction I turned my head. The designers seem to have eliminated blind spots. Well done!
I'm happy to report the Freestyle has automatic locks. I have missed this since giving up my 2000 VW Jetta. What happens is after you accelerate, usually around 12 or so mph, the door locks automatically engage. You're safe and sound, through no effort of your own. The car also comes with automatic headlamps, so you won't be one of those durned fools who drive around after dark with no lights. I had it on my VW, I have it on my Escape Limited, and I think it should be on every vehicle.
I like the standard a/c ducts in the back. I like the optional auxiliary climate control and dual-zone auto temp. I like knowing that if I am cold, but just picked up ice cream, I can put it in the rear cargo area, turn on the a/c back there, and still have heat on my frozen toes.
I'm not as crazy about the front console. It is much smaller than that on the Escape. It's got a coin-sorter, though, but it's still small. I guess it's marginally made up with the storage bin in the dash, but since that can't hold anything bigger than a PDA, it's useless to me. I need a place to hide a Kleenex box, my CD player and headphones, cell phone, numerous CDs, the Entertainment coupon book, my coupon organizer, stamps, driver's license, etc. Give me a car that holds all that.
Freestyle comes with an option for second-row captain's chairs with a $95 console between them. It sounds great, but then my husband pointed out that the console would have to remain exposed when we put all the seats down. So, what keeps the console from getting scratched and gouged when we slide in retaining wall blocks, drywall, lumber, or lattice? These are all items we need to buy in the coming months. It is relevant to us.
Finally, I am still dismayed that the Freestyle does not offer a towing hitch. The dealership agents don't know why. It's not mentioned as an after-market option. I have a bit of a personal interest, as my father is shipping manager of the leading hitch manufacturer in the United States. But I also really wanted a vehicle that I could hook up a tiny trailer to for free compost days at the park. We didn't get the towing package on our Escape. Now I wish we had.
What To Do?
So now we have a decision to make. The Caravan sounds cheaper until I add in items that come standard on the Freestyle. Building the two online, the Caravan (as I would want it) invoiced at $27,500. The Freestyle (as I would want it) invoiced at $27,759.
I graduated with a BS English, finally, in May. That was a struggle from 1991 on, through 3 schools, work, relationships, marriage, children. So I am proud of myself, and want to be rewarded. Dodge offers recent college grads up to $1000 off the price of a new vehicle. Ford offers just $400 and does not yet include the Freestyle among eligible vehicles. Taking that into consideration, the Caravan nets out at $26,500, while the Freestyle nets at $27,359. That's an over-$800 difference.
So I'm not sure what we'll do. Neither car is a steal. The Freestyle isn't proven. But it has my beloved doo-dads and whatzits. Will we buy the Freestyle later this year? I will let you know when we know!
Update (3-30-06): We purchased a 2006 Ford Freestyle SEL on December 30, 2005. So far, our car is a dream! It is problem-free mechanically. We have averaged 20.9 miles per gallon with combined freeway and stand-still traffic. There never seems to be a happy medium around here. We love this car and highly recommend it!
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