2005 Ford Freestar

We were happy with our 2002 Ford Windstar so when the lease was up, we returned to our Ford dealer to see what minivans they were currently offering. They no longer made the Windstar and replaced it with the Freestar so we looked at it, took it for a test drive, and decided we would lease one of those models.

To me, a car is a car, and as long as it has enough seats for all the people I normally need to transport around, enough room for all of the sports equipment, and gets us from point A to point B to point C and back, I am generally happy. My husband, on the other hand, always likes the newest electronic gadgets so off he went to discuss the options available for the 2005 Freestar. As we had family issues and time constraints to deal with, we needed to take delivery of a vehicle on the lot, or one that was available from another dealer located in the vicinity.

After discussing the available options, we were presented with a proposal to take the dealer's wife's 2005 Freestar, which she had driven for a few months and was about to turn in. With almost 6,000 miles on the car, I was not sure about it, but we were given a discounted price and a full warranty, so we decided it was a good deal.

This minivan seats up to seven people, with the front two seats and first row of passenger seats being captains chairs. The last row seats three people on a bench seat. This bench easily folds down into a well creating a flat floor in the rear of the van. All of the captains chairs can recline and the two in the in the passenger row can be removed for carting cargo.

We did have one occasion where we had five adults and two children in this vehicle, and it was a bit tight. As I was the adult who had the honor of sitting on the bench seat between my two children (then aged 6 and 7), I can absolutely say that it was not very comfortable. First, there is only a small amount of room between the two passenger captains chairs in the second row so that for an adult to climb through, it was tight. Second, if adults are sitting in those chairs, they need to be pushed back to allow them legroom, which means that there is very little legroom for those sitting on the bench seat. Our excursion took place in the summer, but if we had been wearing winter clothing and coats, we would have been even more uncomfortable.

There is a message center box on the dashboard, which keeps the driver informed of what is going on with the vehicle. In a small window below the gas gage, by pressing a button marked "info", the driver can see such information as the odometer, the number of miles to go until the tank is empty and the average number of miles per gallon. Additionally words will appear indicating such tings as a door is ajar, the washer fluid is low, the tire pressure is low and the fuel cap is not on properly.

Most of my driving is on city streets and traffic and chauffeuring my children back and forth to sports and activities. Currently, my Freestar is indicating that I am getting 10.3 miles per gallon, but when we have taken an extended trip on a non-traffic filled highway, the reading has hovered around the 15 mile per hour mark. It has a 26 gallon tank, which currently costs quite a bit of money if I have to fill it completely.

Our vehicle has a 4 speed automatic transmission, a 4.2 liter V6 engine and 4 wheel anit-lock brakes. We have been two New York winters with this vehicle and the traction control has kicked in on more than one occasion on icy roads. The transition to the traction control and back was seamless and the fact that it was activated was noted in the message center on the dashboard.

Our vehicle came with an AM/FM radio with a six-slot compact disc player installed, as well as a DVD player attached to the ceiling. In addition to radio controls in the standard place on the dashboard between the front two seats, the steering wheel has buttons on it for volume, mute and seek, as well as buttons for cruise control.

There are four power outlets in this vehicle, which at first I thought was more than we would ever need, but since we usually drive to our vacation destinations, we always seem to have to charge cell phones, a Blackberry, a PSP game, and Gameboys. In the past, we have forgotten chargers plugged into outlets in hotel rooms, so that we appreciate having the ability to charge while we drive and not leave anything behind.

An overhead console mounted on the ceiling between the driver and passenger seat gives you the temperature outside, tells you the direction you are driving, and has a small mirror that can be pulled down so that the driver can see the passengers. My husband keeps it down so he can see our children in the back seat, but I find the mirror distracting. In addition, he does not mind driving with the DVD player screen down, but I find that when the children are watching a DVD, all I can see in my rear-view mirror is the back of the screen. My husband is taller than I am so it might just be our individual perspectives.

The audio system allows for different radio stations (or one radio station and one CD or DVD) to be listened to in the front and the rear of the vehicle. With the use of the wireless headphones, our children can watch a movie, and we can listen to whatever we want on the radio at the same time.

One thing that our vehicle came equipped with that I very much appreciate is the Homelink Wireless Control System. Buttons built into the driver's visor can be programmed to open and close automatic garage doors and gates, so that a standard garage door opener is not needed.

A keypad near the driver's door handle allows you keyless entry into the minivan, and holding the "unlock" button on the remote control will remotely start the car so that I can warm it up before I leave my house on cold mornings.

While it is nice that the two passenger sliding doors can be opened electronically by simply pressing a button either on the ceiling console or next to the door, the car must be in park to do so for safety reasons. Both of the sliding doors and the tailgate can be opened by pressing certain buttons on the remote control, which is nice if you have your hands full with packages or children.

One of the safety features on this vehicle is that when you are backing up and get too close to another object you will hear beeping. While this is a good safety feature to ensure that you do not back over anybody or anything, it can be quite annoying at times. For example, as I am backing out of my driveway each morning, I hear the beeping. Why? Because my curbside mailbox is in the car's sensory range, even though the mailbox is to the left of the car and I am backing out to the right. In fact, I never back out toward the mailbox as we live on a dead end street and have no reason to go that way. Other times, when I am backing into a parking space, the beeping begins when I still have plenty of room behind me. The beeping gets faster and faster as you get closer to the object, which sometimes is a low-hanging tree branch.

There are other audible alerts with this car, such as a "dinging" noise if you leave your turn signal on for more than half of a mile, or if you leave your lights on with the key in the ignition after turning the car off.

Thankfully we have never had to test the ability of the airbags, but there are driver and passenger front and side airbags along with a "safety canopy" along each side of the vehicle which drop down in the event of a crash between passengers and the window and act similar to airbags.

Our 2005 Freestar is taken in for servicing on a regular basis, and up until fairly recently we have not had any problems. We did need to have the rear brakes replaced after owning the car for about two years.

We have been pleased with this vehicle as it has not given us problems, and has the room for all of the baseball and soccer equipment we need to tote around, as well as room for our family of four plus three friends. The overall ride is smooth and quiet, except for the noisy children in the back seat!