1996 Ford Windstar GL review from North America

The transmission sensor blew only two weeks after I got the car and my troubles never stopped after this (it was the cheapest repair!).

The air-conditioning unit failed three times on me. The first two times, the repair lasted less than three months, the third time, I refused to get it fixed.

The radio-CD player was eating up the CDs. We could not extract them normally, I had to unplug it and remove it manually.

A seal broke in the firewall. This seal is located right above the fuse box. The water was linking through the firewall, into the fuse box. It took five visits to the dealer, for a total of about 80 days to find out and fix the problem. They had to change the engine control box, the fuse box, the wire bundles, the radio, a battery, the security system, the remote start system and many other secondary electrical systems. Everything fried! The total cost was about $6000CDN.

This is without mentioning how fast the tires and the brake pads wear out (and I am a very slow driver!).

It is a comfortable car, when it runs!

It does not handle well in pronounced curves. The power steering kicks back in a regular pattern while in a long tight turn (i.e. clover-leaf highway access ramps).

I only dealt with a dealer (the same, where I bought the car, I'm a slow learner!) for fear that garages would try to put the blame on one another if something went wrong. That dealer still used such a tactic internally, each department blaming another one for the slow and poor repair (electrical, body shop, parts, service).

The service was non-existent. They would never return my calls (except when they needed money!). They could never properly diagnose the problem. All they wanted to do is change a part, and see if it would fix the problem! An expensive way (for me anyway) to repair a car.

That was my first and last Ford.