Nothing in 1st year and 11K miles. Oil changes at each 5K miles is it. Tires and brakes are wearing fine. Interior cloth is somewhat hard to keep clean (light color pebble interior) so would recommend either the leather in black or grey, or the cloth in grey.
Great vehicle. Room for 7. Great MPG - 20 City, 26 Hwy and 23 avg in 1st 10K miles. Did not have to return to dealer for any problems after delivery! Rides great and very quiet. May be a little underpowered, but makes up for it with very high gas mileage for a SUV crossover. Can haul almost anything with the rear seats folded. Can haul 1500 lb utility trailer with no problem. Do not know why these are not Ford's best-selling models, highly recommend.
I really liked the Freestyle, but the engine and transmission could not handle towing a small pop-up camper so we ended up buying the Nissan Murano instead. Ford needs to get their heads out and put in a better engine/transmission which would make the Freestyle a great family car.
FYI, the Freestyle has been replaced by the Ford Edge, although I don't know if the towing issues have been resolved.
We drove a Murano and were not at all impressed. Also, with Nissan's recent near-bankruptcy due to massive reliability problems with the Titan and Armada we decided to steer clear of them. We LOVE the Freestyle. It is such a great blend of SUV and car (Actually, it's a station wagon as far as I'm concerned, and I have no problem with that). Ford's reliability is unquestioned, and they now rank ahead of Toyota and Honda. Congrats on a great vehicle!! I hope you get as much great service from your Ford as we have from ours (one of which went 320,000+ miles with only routine maintenance).
<<Also, with Nissan's recent near-bankruptcy due to massive reliability problems with the Titan and Armada we decided to steer clear of them. We LOVE the Freestyle. It is such a great blend of SUV and car (Actually, it's a station wagon as far as I'm concerned, and I have no problem with that). Ford's reliability is unquestioned, and they now rank ahead of Toyota and Honda. >>
I thought I would point out the above is 100% inaccurate.
Titan and Armada had problems, but they were NOT the cause for Nissan's then-decline as the trucks came out AFTER Nissan got in trouble. This is FACT.
And prove that Ford's reliablity is "unquestioned" because I would certainly question it after my Focus went into the dealership for the TENTH time.
And Nissan might end up buying Ford (helps if you actually read some auto magazines before posting).
Just wanted to correct the statement that the new Edge replaced the Freestyle. It didn't. The Edge may be a companion in the Crossover market for Ford, but the Freestyle remains in production. The Edge appears to be smaller, albeit more powerful. But if you still want to haul 6 or 7 people, or a chunk of cargo without going the full-size SUV or Mini-van route, the Freestyle is still your rig.
Sorry, you are wrong. The Freestyle is going away.
Here is just one article I found, this one from autobytel.com last month:
"The automaker released a sketch this week of the new 2007 Ford Edge, which will go up against the Pontiac Torrent when it arrives on the market next year."
"The Edge replaces the Freestyle in Ford’s lineup."
The edge is not replacing the freestyle, in 2008 the freestyle is going to be renamed TarusX and is going to have the 3.5 liter and a six speed trans.
Ford, like all in-trouble auto makers, screwed up its marketing again. They suddenly realized the Taurus brand had a lot of equity and so are renaming the Ford Five Hundred with a Taurus brand as well as the Freestyle. VW just did this in America by renaming the Golf the Rabbit and sales went up 89%.
The Freestyle is a mistake because the market for minivans is shrinking and Ford's share has always been small relatively speaking. Ford should focus its efforts on crossovers like the Edge since that is the fastest growing mass market.
The TaurusX will get the Edge's engine and transmission allowing it tow up to 3500lbs.
I believe the earlier poster who criticized the Murano is mistaken. Our Murano is a very reliable, smooth, and comfortable CUV compared to our other vehicle, a Ford Windstar. I like to drive the Windstar, but it has many quality issues that Ford failed to resolve. I believe the Ford Edge and Freestyle are better designed and more reliable than the Windstar, but the Freestyle is underpowered and the Edge was not available when we decided to buy another car.
I am in the market for a non SUV, non Minivan, and the Freestyle actually fits it to the T. I sorely wish either GM or Ford brought back the real 9 passenger station wagons as they were the most versatile vehicles around, you can seat a family of 9 in them without cramming them in, OR you could go to the lumber yard and fill the back up with enough materials to build a deck. You can't do that with any minivan or SUV that I know of, and I have seen a lot of them.
Right now, the Freestyle is high on the list, but I am hesitant mainly due to the underpowered engine. I may wait to see if Ford really does come out with a higher output engine in this platform. They can call it whatever they want, as long as I can fit my 3 kids, wife and mother in it, without having to be right next to them while driving. If not, then me being a Ford man, will sadly buy a Chrysler Pacifica.
Why the Pacifica? It presents the same problem you want to avoid - underpowered for the weight. The vehicle itself is supposed to be good, and as a market failure is very affordable with huge discounts, but its engine is unable to successfully cope with its large girth.
Ya Nissan is going to buy Ford or was that Renault bought Nissan.
Ford is the strongest of the Domestics brands. These auto mags your reading are clearly based on rumours and hear-say as none of it is fact. The Taurus X is the replacement of the Freestyle, Edge was an all new model. Ford has continued to prove they can weather this economic storm by doing what they do best; build quality vehicles people want to buy. By the way, Freestyle is a great vehicle all around. The only time its underpowered is if you #1 want to race it or #2 want it move REALLY fast when it's loaded down with people and/or stuff and no vehicle does anything quickly when under major load.
I AM CONFUSED! What the H!@# is Ford trying to do to us! How many Ford Tauruses do we have. Ummm lets see... there's the Ford 5 Hundred, the Ford Freestyle, The Ford Edge, and the ORIGINAL Ford Taurus. For which ALL of these are Tauruses. Can't THEY MAKE UP THEIR MINDS instead of confusing me! I think that's dumb, don't you think?
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