Don’t walk, RUN, with hands flailing, screaming “Oh Dear God!” until any Ford minivan is well out of rock-throwing distance. I know. They have a 5-star safety rating. That is just the selling point Ford uses to make your maternal instinct kick into “mama bear” mode, but believe me, it means nothing. That rating was awarded because once you pull into your driveway; the vehicle will never leave again! Still not convinced? Let’s recap the Ford Windstar, shall we?
Ford debuted the glorious Windstar in 1995; the minivan of all minivans. Soccer moms could now ride in style knowing that their precious cargo was completely safe behind all that reinforced steel. Little did they know the evil lurking under the hood. This evil, the head gasket, had serious issues. A bipolar auto part with little dependency and no prozac in sight, the head gasket sat there and fumed. Bitter and alone, it would blow just as the vehicle went 1 mile past the 60,000 mile mark. The warranty for the known problem with the head gasket expired at 60,000 miles. Did Ford budge on this? Not unless you were one of the few who enlisted the likes of Johnny Cochran or my mother, who insisted Ford replace her engine 3 times.
Ford realized the problem and tried to fix it in the 1996 model. Oops. They must have “fixed” it too much because the 1996 Windstar rolls. Make note of that. The 1995 Ford Windstar blows up, often needing new engines, and the 1996 Ford Windstar rolls over.
Without addressing the faulty construction of the vehicle, Ford decided the Windstar just needed to look prettier in 1997 and 1998. With the mass of contempt building from disgruntled Windstar owners, Ford took another look at the minivan and made a few more alterations, but still left the vehicle undependable. From 1999 until 2001, they changed up the body a bit, relocated emblems and added another sliding door; to enable passengers to jump out as quickly as possible, no doubt.
Then, just like Uncle Johnny who gambled away the family’s fortune and ran for the hills, Ford decided to run by discontinuing the Windstar in 2004 thereby avoiding further bad press on the matter. No doubt they realized they made trucks much better than they made minivans and decided to move on.
Oh, but what’s this? The Ford Freestar? Apparently some head honcho at Ford thought to himself, “Hey! The Windstar sucks and the consumers know it. So why don’t we keep the same general body and engine style but change the name to Freestar?” Perhaps that was to make current Windstar owners think that perhaps there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Clearly the Windstar was not free, and after repairs, not even close to affordable, but the Freestar could set you free!
Don’t be fooled fellow consumer. Ford introduced the Freestar as a replacement to the Windstar, but neither is dependable or worth your hard-earned money. Ford plans to discontinue the Freestar in 2007 and completely remove themselves from the minivan market. This should tell you a lot about their minivans. They couldn’t get it right so they’re bailing.
I personally own a 2001 Ford Windstar. Since the moment I drove away from the lot I have had multiple recalls every year and constant repairs that were covered by my warranty up until 2,000 miles ago. Every time I lugged that big silver bucket down to the Ford dealer for repairs, they would tell me they couldn’t see half of the problems I had listed, which were usually as many as 10 to 15. I think they have some gadget at the entrance of the service department that shuts off all dashboard warning lights, because my dashboard would be lit up like a Christmas tree, but as soon as the techs got a hold of it; nothing.
“The emergency brake light never turns off and the brake doesn’t work. It’s been this way since the day I brought it home. The warranty will cover it, please fix it.”
“Well ma’am, we couldn’t see anything wrong with the brake. Sorry. Here’s your big, silver bucket back.”
Not but 2 minutes later on the drive home all the dashboard lights would come back on telling me of my impending bucket explosion. Yet every time I took it in to be fixed, gosh darn it all to heck, they’re just wasn’t a thing wrong with it. Then suddenly my warranty expires and the repair tech says, “Ma’am? You do know that your emergency brake is broken and all these dashboard warning lights are lit up like a Christmas tree? This would have been covered by warranty if you had one, but since you don’t we’re going to need your first born….”
This would be about the time I start to fume, steam blows out of my ears and I give the repair tech “the look”. But that doesn’t matter because somewhere, some higher up in Ford is laughing because they knew they created a faulty minivan which would create mass amounts of revenue from excessive repairs. Then when the Windstar hit the fan (pun intended), they decided to change the name and start anew. Nay! Nay I say!
If you are contemplating purchasing a used Windstar or a new or used Freestar, please consider other alternatives. A Ford minivan is not reliable and becomes increasingly expensive to maintain. You don’t have to look far to find thousands of stories littering the internet about dissatisfied Ford Windstar or Freestar customers. And, as always, before purchasing any vehicle make sure to check consumer reports or other consumer information company that should give you an unbiased review of the vehicle you are contemplating.
