AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

2005 Ford Freestyle
The styling of this tall station wagon - I'm sorry "crossover SUV"- appears to be about as generic as you can get. One commentator said Ford should have called it the "Stylefree". In a market that has gone horsepower crazy, at first blush, it appears to be market-suicide to put out a new 3-row, 4000 lb. family truckster with a 3 liter 203 h.p. engine. Ford says, look deeper, it has more usable space than the Chrysler Pacifica, and they say the Freestyle performs better with its 203 horsepower engine than the Pacifica does with its 255 horsepower 3.5 liter engine. Part of the difference is a 500 lb. weight penalty that the Pacifica is saddled with. Another difference is the CVT transmission on the Freestyle. In theory, a CVT transmission is about as efficient as a manual transmission, roughly 10-15% advantage over a conventional automatic.

In practice, both Subaru and General Motors have had problems with their CVT transmissions. GM has had enough entirely. GM announced recently that they would stop making the Saturn Vue with the CVT transmission. Audi, Nissan and Honda currently have CVT models, but I haven't heard much about users' experience with them - good or bad.

Ford claims 8.6 seconds 0-60 for the (probably front-wheel-drive) Freestyle, with EPA MPG ratings of 20/27 for FWD and 19/24 for all-wheel-drive versions. Given the size that appears to be squarely between the Escape and Explorer SUVs, Ford might have to worry more about cannibalizing its own sales than attracting buyers from the competition. Nevertheless, a sale is a sale. If you want a family vehicle that isn't a minivan, that doesn't ride like a SUV, and that says it's not a station wagon even though it really is, take a look at the Freestyle which should arrive at a dealer near you soon. I suspect that incentives should be available by Christmas, and with an employee or supplier discount, the Freestyle should be pretty well-priced.

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