2006 Ford Freestar

[greenemami]

We are looking at getting a pretty good deal on a 2006 Ford Freestar with 50,000 or so miles.  Good enough that I could sell my current car and pay off that loan plus buy the Ford outright :)  I was hesitating about buying a full-size van b/c of the gas mileage (or lack thereof!) and was looking at the Mazda5, but I think that might end up being too small in the longrun and it would be super nice to not have a car payment to worry about.

Does anyone have this van and want to offer any thoughts on it?  It has been well-maintaned by a mechanic we know and trust. We would be putting two car seats in the middle row (one FF, one RF) and dsd would be sitting in the back row in a seatbelt.  Any carseat install problems, etc.?

I'd love any input you could offer, thanks!

[MacKinnon]

Has the transmission been done yet? These vans are notorious for a set group of problems, one is the transmission, which is crazy spendy to fix. There is also the a/c compressor, which somehow effects something else in this van and makes it stall out, and the computer also. I know this because I have a 2004 Freestar and I've spent over $5K in repairs in the last 18 months. Consequently, I would encourage you to be extremely cautious about this!! 

In addition to the tranny (which we've done twice, did I mention that part?), we've done the a/c compressor, radiator, control arm, sway bars, fuel hose and several other smaller things. 

It was a well maintained lease turn in when we bought it. Clean car-fax, 40K miles. It's just fallen apart since. 

Now, on the positive, I love having a van. I like that it has full size captain's chairs not the fold and go uncomfortable ones, but the back row still folds flat. I like all the safety features and air bags. But if I could do it again, I would run, not walk, away from the van!

[Eman'smom]

We just trading in our 03 Windstar (the older version of the Freestyle).  I couldn't handle all the repairs anymore.  We took excellent care of it, got everything done on time.......  Things just keep braking, the thing had bad electrical system.  I couldn't handle the stress anymore of when it would decide to start.  We bought it in 03 and it had 11,000 miles on it so really new.  I could list everything but it's prettty long.

On the bright side, it was a very comfortable drive, as I started test driving new vans I realized the new vans only handled marginally better than the Windstar.  The only carseat I ever had a problem was a Radian, everything else installed like a breeze.  The gas milage really wasn't terrible for a van either.

[Farmer'sWife]

Dh's grandma had a '04 Freestar and we borrowed it often, including two cross country trips.  I don't have any carseat insight for you, but I I don't think we ever got more than 20 mpg, I didn't like how it drove, and like a PP said his grandma ended up getting rid of it because of transmission problems.

[greenemami]

yikes!  Thanks for the input-I started reading about the transmission problems after reading your comments and it doesn't sound good.  We will still take a look at it and talk to the mechanic who owns it, but I will be extremely cautious about this one.  Thanks so much for the help!