to Freestyle or not to Freestyle

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pandus13

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Hi fellow Bittogers.
can you let me know what I should be looking in a Ford Frestyle? (or run from it and why....)
problems know of it includes regular cleaning of Throttle Body, some eat original brakes, and the dreaded CVT failure.
in my area most are 2006 vintage with 110K-140K (which means they did some maintenance...) with a rarer cream puff at 46k-86k

Thank you and my best wishes goes to our NE coast friends hit by Sandy.
 
I guess I'll response since one of 6 or 7 people who own one...

You touched on all of it: throttle body is sensitive to dirt, so it needs cleaned regularly, and the cost of replacing the CVT is insane. I've already decided I'm going to swap a 6 speed Aisin box into mine if/when the CVT goes, but I'm not expecting that any time soon. The brake issue was a small number of pads on some '05's, so that's been long-resolved. My brakes last longer than any other car I've had.

As far as the transmission, statistically speaking the failure rate is very small--it's just expensive when it happens. However, the fear on an out-of-print transmission has made the car a great deal in the used market. Personally, I thought it was worth the risk. I could buy a new transmission and still come out ahead. Thing is, I reall like the driving dynamics of the transmission.

As far as the rest of the car, going with FWD vs. AWD saves some fuel and reduces some maintenance and complexity. I have the AWD and it works well, I just have more fluids and an extra filter to change. Plug change is a hassle because of the V6, but the rest of the maintenance is super easy.

I love the car. It's been very reliable for the first 130K, a faulty air compressor being the only real "repair". It's still blowing cold but leaking PAG oil, so I have to fix that. It drives surprisingly well, and the cargo space is great. I actually looked at the Mazda5 as well, but the FS won the space/fuel economy contest. I do some off-road driving which the Mazda5 would struggle to handle, so that was a consideration--but mostly it came down to space. I've been happy with the car 5 years later. I still don't really see anything in the new market that touches it in this regard, and I'm always looking!
 
Originally Posted By: JOD
I guess I'll response since one of 6 or 7 people who own one...

You touched on all of it: throttle body is sensitive to dirt, so it needs cleaned regularly, and the cost of replacing the CVT is insane. I've already decided I'm going to swap a 6 speed Aisin box into mine if/when the CVT goes, but I'm not expecting that any time soon. The brake issue was a small number of pads on some '05's, so that's been long-resolved. My brakes last longer than any other car I've had.

As far as the transmission, statistically speaking the failure rate is very small--it's just expensive when it happens. However, the fear on an out-of-print transmission has made the car a great deal in the used market. Personally, I thought it was worth the risk. I could buy a new transmission and still come out ahead. Thing is, I reall like the driving dynamics of the transmission.

As far as the rest of the car, going with FWD vs. AWD saves some fuel and reduces some maintenance and complexity. I have the AWD and it works well, I just have more fluids and an extra filter to change. Plug change is a hassle because of the V6, but the rest of the maintenance is super easy.

I love the car. It's been very reliable for the first 130K, a faulty air compressor being the only real "repair". It's still blowing cold but leaking PAG oil, so I have to fix that. It drives surprisingly well, and the cargo space is great. I actually looked at the Mazda5 as well, but the FS won the space/fuel economy contest. I do some off-road driving which the Mazda5 would struggle to handle, so that was a consideration--but mostly it came down to space. I've been happy with the car 5 years later. I still don't really see anything in the new market that touches it in this regard, and I'm always looking!

Thanks. A lot of insight.
I figured out that after 5-6 years and 110k+ miles most of the crashing CVT transmission where weeded out and the most on the market will be the maintained ones.
did you know of any successful Aisin swap? any problems or special treats?

P.S.
you think the 110k-140k could be because of coming close to the second 60k CVT service?
 
Pandus13, out of curiosity are finding the used prices/availability of these worthy of the concerns over reliability &costs
 
My Dad has an '05 Freestyle (AWD CVT model) bought it in'07 IIRC, with about 37k mi (so JUST out of warranty)in the time he's had it, he's up to around 80k mi, has had a couple cvt issues, but so far, the extended warranty the dealer sold him has covered them. (fingers crossed)
other than that, the seals went out in either the rack, or the PS resevoir, to the point he was leaking through a bottle a day. (within a couple months of pouring a new concrete driveway, those stains will be there for years...)
and last winter the rear pads either froze, or wore down so low, that instead of the usual wear tab chirp, it was just like digging a bolt into the rotor or some such..
and they CAN chew through the tires. dad's been getting about 30k out of a set of the stock Conti's from the Ford Dealer.
But hey, you live in Chicago, where these things were assembled, surely you can find someone who works/worked on the line that can help you w/ maintenance!

there was also a corrosion issue, (Forget if there was a Recall, or just a TSB) on the back lift gate.

as for the Aisin swap, i could see that working fairly well, just remember to swap the TCU(if it's separate from the ECU)
pretty sure 1) the non CVT Freestyle/FiveHundred's had Aisin trans. 2) I know my uncle's Zephyr(later MKZ- Lincoln's vers. of the fusion) has the same Duratec 3.0, and it has an Aisin trans.

you could also go the "upgrade" route, and put the Duratec 3.5 & 6F from the later years of that body after they came to their senses and went back to the Taurus name.(that's the engine/trans pkg in mom's 09 Taurus)

and as with all things, i could also be talking out of my butt.
 
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Originally Posted By: cmorr
Pandus13, out of curiosity are finding the used prices/availability of these worthy of the concerns over reliability &costs

they sold some in the Chicago area. also they produced them here.
and they seem to be on the used dealer lots for some time.
so they are pretty equipped for under $10K
I opened the thread to find more about the reliability/costs.
 
I own an 07, im a tech by trade.I have 125k on mine, brakes 1 throtte body, oil changes, tires, trans service 2 times. Nive car in my opinion
 
At first I thought the post was about a Winstar. (Where's my coffee?) I've got a neighbor who has one and she's had pretty good luck with it. IIRC, some years had an ECM early failure and shortage from Ford.
 
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Im a drivers ed teacher, licensed by the State, and have done a few road tests in Freestyles. My first reaction was that they rode REALLY nice and seemed to have more than enough power. The brakes seem to be excellent as well (dont ask me how I determined that! haha) And all of the people who I met that owned them really liked them.
 
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Originally Posted By: pandus13

did you know of any successful Aisin swap? any problems or special treats?

P.S.
you think the 110k-140k could be because of coming close to the second 60k CVT service?


I don't think anyone has done the swap yet, but I've already put together the parts list. Long story short, I tried to buy a second one with a dead tranny. Great shape besides that, guy was asking 1K for it! He ended up selling it locally before I could get it picked up. I was going to do the swap, just for a fun project. It's straightforward since the same car comes w/that transmission (500). You'd need the tranny, cooler, ECU, drive axles and mounts--all of which can be had for cheap. Maybe I've owned too many Volvos, but random parts for this car are shockingly inexpensive., at least to me.

Still, while I've prepared for this, I don't expect I'll be doing it anytime soon. Most of the input shaft failures seem to happen very early on, or after 150K because folks have never had it serviced. The other failure mode is people/quicky lubes putting in the wrong fluid. That results in almost instant failure.

People could be dumping them @ 120K because of the transmission service, or because they didn't do the 100K service? Who knows. I've done the servicing on the transmission myself, and it's reasonably simple. Drain and fills are super easy, filter is kinda easy--made more complicated because of a mount which needs removed. I do a drain/fill@ 30K, drain/fill/filter @ 60K.
 
Originally Posted By: Kruse
At first I thought the post was about a Windstar. (Where's my coffee?) I've got a neighbor who has one and she's had pretty good luck with it. IIRC, some years had an ECM early failure and shortage from Ford.


Freestar = Windstar minvan

Freestyle = Taurus Wagon (later Taurus X)
stupid decision they made that all the Ford Models had to start with an F, and the Mercury's with an M. thank god someone came to their senses within a couple years...

wonder what their plan was for the Mustang....
 
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They are known for expensive transmission issues. I'm one of those guys that learned early on, if it is known to happen, it's going to happen to me. So, based on that "solid" advice, I'd avoid one.

Saving money on a car rarely works out, and it's generally a risk I'm not willing to take.

Unless, these transmissions are readily available on ebbay for cheap, I'd steer clear.

I do like the way they drive and they are plenty powerful and I love the way the CVT feels. But, once again, that's not enough reason to take the risk.
 
Originally Posted By: kkreit01
Step up a few years to the Taurus X: D35 + 6 spd auto.


Bingo. Just got a 2008 Taurus X back in September and I'm loving it. You can definitely tell this thing shares a platform with the Volvo XC90.
 
Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Originally Posted By: kkreit01
Step up a few years to the Taurus X: D35 + 6 spd auto.


Bingo. Just got a 2008 Taurus X back in September and I'm loving it. You can definitely tell this thing shares a platform with the Volvo XC90.

can you share more details?
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Originally Posted By: kkreit01
Step up a few years to the Taurus X: D35 + 6 spd auto.


Bingo. Just got a 2008 Taurus X back in September and I'm loving it. You can definitely tell this thing shares a platform with the Volvo XC90.

can you share more details?


Click here and here.
 
Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: G-MAN
Originally Posted By: kkreit01
Step up a few years to the Taurus X: D35 + 6 spd auto.


Bingo. Just got a 2008 Taurus X back in September and I'm loving it. You can definitely tell this thing shares a platform with the Volvo XC90.

can you share more details?


Click here and here.


Thank you

any impressions after 2 months of use?
 
My first impressions still hold. I could not be more pleased with the Taurus X. I'm glad I took the advice to look for one of these. One test drive and I was sold.
 
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