1998 Ford Windstar GL review from North America

Tie Rods have needed replacement four times.

Steering rack expired immediately after the warranty. The front end on this vehicle is very poorly engineered for the size and weight. A friend told me its really just a Taurus front end, but the Ford engineers didn't upgrade it regardless of how heavy the Windstar is.

I have the same interior light problem as everyone else. This is really a case of poor door latch design. It seems as though this is a failure designed into the vehicle with the intent of owners coughing up the service fee for lubrication of the door handles.

I bought this van for two reasons, the crash rating and the zero percent financing. On both counts the vehicle has performed well. My wife was rear-ended by a kid driving a Neon. His car was badly damaged and the Windstar had some scratches on the bumper. The fact that Ford wanted $500 to repaint the bumper speaks a lot to their corporate shortcomings, but not to the quality of the vehicle.

The financing was great, but in the end the vehicle was worthless for trade in once the payments were done. Even Ford wouldn't give me a decent trade in value. They didn't want their own crap back.

Overall the only value in this vehicle is keeping it for its full lifetime and praying that repairs like the notorious transmission and steering failures don't nail you. I've been lucky so far, but I am very nervous about the future of my van.