1995 Ford Windstar GL review from North America

The parking brake has never worked. We took it to the dealers so many times I gave up, it still doesn't work today.

At about 28,000 miles there was a strange sound coming from the transmission area. I took it to the dealer numerous times, but they found no problems. At 40,000 miles the transmission failed - just out of warranty.

At 103,000 miles the head gasket failed, just past the 100,000 mile recall.

Today the transmission is failing again.

I have had a very poor experience with two dealerships with the problems above. Example: I heard a clicking noise from the front right wheel, they said it was the brakes. (They only had 5000 miles on the latest brake job). I picked up the car, started to drive off the lot, same noise, ends up the wheel had a crack in it. I asked to see my old brake pads (I knew they were still good after finding the real problem) They wouldn't give them to me.

I now take my cars to private auto shops, they are less expensive and do better work.

Point to make on the van as a whole - quality is not job one after reading some other comments, I am obviously not a lone. As I have talked around with fellow drivers and mechanics - Ford has a reputation for having poor transmissions. They need to fix it.

My previous car was a Toyota Tercel, it was totaled when someone ran a light, it had 146,000 miles on it and all I ever did was change the oil and fill it up.

My next car - not Ford.