It always seems that the pencil pushers keep driving Ford stock and sales down the toilet. They made billions off of selling the panther platform and cars with the Coyote v8, even the 4.6 ltr engines were dead set reliable and the first choice for fleet sales especially. Any time they sell and design something cheeply and unreliable they always loose money. Ford really is the epitome of both extremes.
I own a Freestyle to this day and love it. It has so much room and rides great. I know the cvt is a week spot in it but I guess I have been blessed that mine is still going strong with no issues and almost 180,000 miles on it. This car has been very reliable and still looks great against all suv made today. Its a shame Ford didnt stand behind it and promote it better. I guess they made more money with suvs than cars. But I guess thats Ford for you, make a great car and then discontinue it and promote the Explorer instead. Oh well.
The new Explorer is absolutely junk. They break down a lot. The Freestyle has a DuraTec engine which is one of Ford’s better engines. If you maintain the CVT properly, change the fluid when you’re supposed to, you should Be fine. The CVT is actually far better in this than the current Nissans which are awful. The Freestyle is a very underrated vehicle.
@@omt4293 Ford EXplorer first generation and second generations is best. The new Explorer is junk. Ford Freestyle is great and nice wagons, this problem is junk CVT transmission, is one shit
@@fernandorocha-dx1wv my friend has a 2012 Explorer that was a good vehicle I don’t know what happened to the new ones. I agree with the CVT. But if maintained right, it should be fine. But they should have put a 6 speed automatic instead.
Still have mine with 180k on it. I think the problem is they advertized these as a "sealed system" that didn't need it's fluid changed, which as we all know, is never the case.
There's always survivors. I have an Intrepid with a 2.7 in it. It has 278,000 miles on the original engine and transmission. The majority of them are long gone now due to problems with the 2.7. I take care of mine. It's one of the most reliable engines I have had.
I have an 05 Freestyle. It has 197,000 miles on it now. Still runs and drives great. It gets great economy for a vehicle it's size. They were well designed for what they are. We really like ours.
Yes they did, that was the revised version. That was also the better version with the more powerful v6, and the 6-speed automatic replacing that dreadfully unreliable CVT
My cousin & her husband had one in that same color. I believe theirs was a limited with the black interior with wood trim. I always liked the way these things looked. I've ridden in theirs & it was comfortable & spacious.
I decided to purchase the Freestyle last July. Saw a 2007 SEL with only 50k miles. Engine is very good but that darn CVT always worries me. So far so good but let’s see how it goes.
@@BabyBugBug yeah the engine is a DuraTec which is usually top notch from Ford. But I’m approaching 60k miles soon so I’m gonna change the transmission fluid and the filters. I think that’s the reason the CVTs on these fail because ppl didn’t change the filters. But hopefully it will be ok
@@omt4293 Totally right about that. Most people don’t change fluids. I liked these older cars because they tend to be a lot more simple than the rolling pile of electronic garbage they make now. Good luck! 👍
@@BabyBugBug lmfao that’s why I got this. I had a Suzuki Aerio and it’s transmission failed at 140k miles. Was told not to fix it as it had other issues too. So I decided to get an older vehicle and an SUV because I’m in New York and the highway driving is more dangerous now. I saw a Kia Rondo with 41k mikes on marketplace and it sold in one day (was $6k), then I saw the freestyle, I got this. Guy made a good deal with me because he couldn’t sell it he had it for 8-9 months. But it’s been a year since I got it….it’s been a great vehicle so far. And yes it’s sad that the new cars are not nearly as good as the older cars. Thank you!
Still have ours, 18 years later and 180k on the clock. Biggest complaint is we could never get the EPA stated milage, which was a major reason we went for it. The interior is really cheap too. Other than that it is fine. The rust is going to kill it eventually, but otherwise it was pretty trouble-free.
Had a 2007 Freestyle SEL and liked the versatility, AWD, and interior space. Didn't like the plasticky interior (which did not seem to be made out of quality materials, despite what the MW review says; the dashboard was all hard, hollow plastic), the underpowered engine, and the CVT. Ours started making the dreaded input shaft bearing noise at around 140K miles. The car was worth a lot less than the cost of a new transaxle, so we got rid of it.
this Freestyle is very very similar to our Ford Territory here in Australia! I'm dissapointed to hear the Freestyle had a CVT what a let down! we did things right, our Territory came at first with a 4 speed auto then a 6 speed!
The CVT wasnt the same JATCO CVT used in Nissans, Dodge/Jeeps and Subaru. It was far more reliable. And Ford decided to use their own design, Powershift Dual Clutch in the Fiesta/Focus. Which is just as unreliable if not more so, than the Jatco CVT.
The thing with the Freestyle CVT….if you maintain it, change the fluid every 60k miles and it’s filter, you will be fine. Problem is ppl don’t maintain it.
the JATCO CVTs in most of the nissan cars up until 2018 had serious enough liability problems that there were a couple of lawsuits as well as quite a few recalls.
