space and comfort, the 2 necesities of childhood

Usually I write very thorough reveiws of items on Epinions. But you can get a mechanical review, a smooth driving rating, a durability, ease of use and list of options on vehicles anywhere online. Edmunds.com is especially good for this. So I am going to write this reveiw a little differently. This is going to be a reveiw based mostly on actual use as opposed to use by a reveiwer who doesn't have 3 kids to lug to soccer 3 times a week. A reveiw that will be able to tell you if you can actually install a carseat, actually fit a weeks worth of groceries or comfortaby seat 7. You will also find some information on why we chose this over other minivans, mom reasons not mechanical reasons.

I have owned the 2004 Ford Freestar for a year now. I bought it right before having our 3rd child. Cars are awesome, especially on mileage but sitting 2 next to each other is bad enough, 3 we won't even go into. SUVs are nice but even the well rated ones do not have a rollover resistance anywhere near as good as a minivans and statistics show that you are three times as likely to be severaly or fatally injured in a rollover in an SUV. So 3rd row or not my kids were not riding around in an SUV. That pretty much left us with no choice but a van.

During van shopping we were replacing a well loved 1995 sedan we had and loved for 10 years. So model year was not necesarily important but with 3 kids having something reliable was important so newer was going to end up being better. Immediately that eliminated certain makes because of price. Honda, Toyota and Nissan were out. So for the rest of this reveiw we will compare to vehicles that are in the similiar price range.

We are traditionally Chevy drivers and would have gladly considered a Chevy if their van was at all decent. The Chevy Venture was rated worst in class for safety and the Uplander was brand new, too new to trust, not to mention safety wise it still didn't measure up to other choices. This and other reasons quickly elliminated the Chevy. That pretty much left us with Ford, Kia and Dodge/Chrysler. The first 2 rated well safety wise and the last was OK safety wise so we looked into all of them.

I am awfully glad I had my husband to point out "statistics" from websites when we were shopping. The more powerfull engine in the Ford made no difference at all to me, 6 cylinder is 6 cylinder, I am not drag racing. But an 18"-24" length difference did speak volumes to me. That plus very mixed reveiws on reliability eliminated the Kia. So we started to concentrate on the Ford and Dodge/Chrysler, though with the later we would have to go with an extended or grand version to get the same size. My husband ended up prefering the Ford so we concentrated on that. Coincidentally though, 2 months later my sister bought the Chrysler and then a 2nd Dodge 3 months after that so I can easily compare now.

First things first, we had to install seating (aka carseats). The Ford has TETHER for all seating positions except driver and LATCH in both middle and the middle of the 3rd row. The design of the seats also makes installation of a carseat easier, it is hard to descibe but the seats have a flat area and then a comfort end. The base of the carseats fit very well on the flat area. First I installed my daughters Graco harnessed booster easily. Then, with some work I was able to install the base of my new baby's Graco infant seat. Later I installed a Britax convertible carseat. All this was very easily done with the middle row's LATCH. When I installed the Britax I was also able to easily attach the rearfacing TETHER to the TETHER anchor on the back of the front passenger's seat. Much easier and quicker than using the loop, something I have to do in my sister's vans and my parent's vehicles. We have the middle row bench which is easily very adjustable. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. I can adjust it forward all the way where I can actually see my rearfacing daughter at stops. This also allows more room in the rear seat for getting out in carpool line or for long legged 9 year olds. What I do NOT like is that the LATCH bars are forward of the crack in the seat and come out of the seat through "buttonholes" in the seam of the seat. This means that even after minimal carseat use the seam of the seat starts to come apart. What I do like is that the shoulder seatbelt can be unlatched and stored attached when you are using LATCH therefore it is not in the way of getting in and out of the rear seat. You can also do this with the middle rear seating position so it isn't in the way of folding the seat or of veiwing out the rear window. We also have used booster seats in the van. Having shoulder belts and adjustable headrests in all 5 seating positions makes this possible in any position, my sister's van does not have a shoulder belt or adjustable headrest in the middle rear row. The rear bench though is smaller, more kid size so the boosters seem HUGE on it. Though the advantage is my 9 yr old fits in it perfectly so doesn't need a booster in the 3rd row. You can very easily install 2 carseats on the middle bench OR the manual explains being able to use the LATCH to install a single rearfacing seat in the center of it to allow it to come up close to between the 2 front seats to have baby close to you. In the rear seat installing 3 carseats is an almost impossible task. We had a LOT more room in the backseat of our sedan BUT we did manage to do it once, it was so difficult I would never try it except in an emergency. If you need to install 3 carseats side by side there I would look into another vehicle (it is just as hard in the Dodge/Chrysler). I do also wish that the rear shoulder belts were adjustable like the front but so far I haven't had issues of not fittting.

Now that everyone has a seat, are they comfortable? There are pockets in the rear of the front seats to store things and flip down cupholders for both center positions. Then in the rear there are 2 cupholders (1 for the middle seating position) and a storage well on 1 side and 1 cupholder and a storage well on the other side. The rear seat is not adjustable but the center seat is adjustable so allows the rear seat enough leg room. The center seat can also recline partially. There are 2 reading lights in each row as well.

What about driver comfort? I have never seen so much storage space in a vehicle. There are TWO storage wells on each door. The bottom one has a cupholder area where I store a water bottle just in case and still has room to store an umbrella. Then there are 2 actual adjustable and retractable cupholders in the center console. There is also a small open storage area there and below that a flip open storage area. On the top of the dash there is a paper size push button open miniature glovebox. It will hold an 8½x11 size sheets of paper, I store my important information there and has a small well area where I can keep my cell phone charger and/or earbud. Overhead is another open storage area. I find things fly out of it because it is open. However in front of it is a flip down "conversation mirror" that allows you to see the entire backseat, when flipped down it holds items in. I also find this mirror AWESOME for checking on the kids. The conversation mirror is fully adjustable so I can have it adjusted for the driver during the week and then on the weekends when I am the passenger adjust it for that. There is also a traditional glovebox. The front seats also recline and adjust comfortably. The passenger airbag also turns off automatically if the passenger is too small. We haven't and don't plan to use this but we tested it (a light comes on to notify you) by knelling in the seat. There is also a dinging alert if the driver or passenger (if detected) is not buckled. Plus all kinds of lights to notify the driver of low oil pressure, tire pressure, windshield washer fluid, gas, and who knows what else. We also have front and rear defrosters and wipers.

Storage? The rear well is awesome for groceries, strollers and so much more. The rear seat easily folds into the floor by pulling 1, 2, then 3. It also easily pops back up (not sure what problem the other reveiwer had). Or you can flip it to face the rear to use for tailgating or the drive in theatre and whatnot. Or you can just fold it down. The middle row also folds down. We have more storage space back there, even witout the well then any minivan I have seen. The straight rear hatch also gives you more room to stand stuff up, some vans such as the Dodge/Chrysler have a slanted rear hatch that impedes having things standing for more room. In some minivans the rear seat is adjustable, so adjusting it forward will give you more storage (but less leg room) but there is no need on the Ford, you have plenty of room. We also have a luggage rack but have yet to need it so far. We actually fit a bassinette, full size stroller and luggage for 5 in the rear. I have also fit a weeks groceries for 9 back there. Or a 20" bike, 12" bike and a compact stroller.

Ride? I have found it to be a smooth ride and easy to drive. It is not as smooth or as quiet as the Chrysler/Dodge but since we were coming from an older vehicle I didn't notice until I rode in the Chrysler. After that I realised it is a lucky thing it isn't. My daughters and I are all prone to motion sickness and we all get sick in the Dodge/Chrysler, it's too smooth.

Two last nice things to have that weren't mentioned above. We have a 26 gallon gas tank (the Chrysler/Dodge's is 18). Yes it is expensive to fill up but very nice on long trips or when you have a newborn who hates to have the car stopped so cries when you fill up (so want to do it least as possible) unless you get your husband to do it. We get about 18 MPG for regular driving so a tank lasts me at least a week. Highway driving we get 22-23 MPG so we can get a good 6 hrs on a trip. Of course if you are traveling together with your sister's Chrysler and your parents Trailblazer you still end up having to stop when you still have almost half a tank of gas left. Also very nice to have is the 2 sliding doors, it makes it easy to load more than one child at a time as well as carpool line a breeze.

So far it has been a great vehicle for us and after riding in a new Chrysler, Dodge and Toyota as well as helping with the cargo in these I am so happy we decided on a Ford.