is the Ford Freestyle basically just a rewrapped Subaru Forrester?

[PlatinumGold]

not that that is a bad thing.

i'm kind of interested in trading in our Ford Windstar for it. i think it will serve our needs as well as the Windstar with better gas mileage and better versatility.

 

[sniperruff]

why not trade your windstar for a freestar? they are completely different cars.... right?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
why not trade your windstar for a freestar? they are completely different cars.... right?

the windstar and the freestar??

no same car with a few modifications to style.

actually, the fact that the freestar is just a restyled windstar is its biggest selling point, all the bugs have been worked out.

but the freestyle gets better gas mileage, is smaller, and mb more versatile.

 

[NTB]

How big is the freestyle? if it's a compact-sized vehicle - and they're marketing it as a semi-suv, if I'm thinking of the right vehicle - aren't they competing with themselves? They've already got the Escape to fill that category...

Nate

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: NTB
How big is the freestyle? if it's a compact-sized vehicle - and they're marketing it as a semi-suv, if I'm thinking of the right vehicle - aren't they competing with themselves? They've already got the Escape to fill that category...

Nate

it's more of a tall station wagon than a small suv. it seats seven so it really doesn't compete with the escape. it's smaller than the explorer.

think of it as a tall station wagon.

 

[EvilYoda]

I thought that Subaru was under the GM umbrella...?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: NTB
How big is the freestyle? if it's a compact-sized vehicle - and they're marketing it as a semi-suv, if I'm thinking of the right vehicle - aren't they competing with themselves? They've already got the Escape to fill that category...

Nate

freestyle is a large sized station wagon... ford claims it's a "crossover" because that is the trendy thing to call station wagons

ok, its about a foot longer than a passat wagon
5 inches wider
and 5 inches taller

compared to an exploder
its 10 inches longer
2 inches wider
5 inches shorter

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: EvilYoda
I thought that Subaru was under the GM umbrella...?

it is, it was more a general observation in that the freestyle seems similar to the subaru, not that ford actually copied it.

on the other hand, the ford salesman said the freestyle was basically a rewrapped volvo, that's probably true.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: NTB
How big is the freestyle? if it's a compact-sized vehicle - and they're marketing it as a semi-suv, if I'm thinking of the right vehicle - aren't they competing with themselves? They've already got the Escape to fill that category...

Nate

freestyle is a large mid sized station wagon... probably about the size of a passat wagon. ford claims it's a "crossover" because that is the trendy thing to call station wagons

no they call it a "crossover' because it is taller than the typical wagon, like the forrester.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

no they call it a "crossover' because it is taller than the typical wagon, like the forrester.

i like to make fun of the term crossover. car based wagon = station wagon, but that is marketing death!

and it uses the same platform as the volvo XC90 and one of the volvo cars

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: sniperruff
why not trade your windstar for a freestar? they are completely different cars.... right?

the windstar and the freestar??

no same car with a few modifications to style.

actually, the fact that the freestar is just a restyled windstar is its biggest selling point, all the bugs have been worked out.

but the freestyle gets better gas mileage, is smaller, and mb more versatile.

He was being sarcastic.

 

[sniperruff]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: sniperruff
why not trade your windstar for a freestar? they are completely different cars.... right?

the windstar and the freestar??

no same car with a few modifications to style.

actually, the fact that the freestar is just a restyled windstar is its biggest selling point, all the bugs have been worked out.

but the freestyle gets better gas mileage, is smaller, and mb more versatile.

He was being sarcastic.

eh a little bit... =P

i wasn't sure if they are different. they sure do look like the same damn car to me!

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: sniperruff

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: sniperruff
why not trade your windstar for a freestar? they are completely different cars.... right?

the windstar and the freestar??

no same car with a few modifications to style.

actually, the fact that the freestar is just a restyled windstar is its biggest selling point, all the bugs have been worked out.

but the freestyle gets better gas mileage, is smaller, and mb more versatile.

He was being sarcastic.

eh a little bit... =P

i wasn't sure if they are different. they sure do look like the same damn car to me!

they are pretty similar. the freestar has better seat management (backs seats tumble down into a pit (which also functions as trunk when the back seats are up.

freestar isn't a bad vehicle as far as minivans go.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

The freestyle seems more like a volvo x70 awd( i think that's the right name). It's the awd station wagon.

I sawa freestyle on the road, and I guess I'm getting old, cause I liked it.

 

[Rallispec]

"Consider the 2005 Ford Freestyle. It looks like a compact SUV. But it employs the same underpinnings used by the Volvo S60, Volvo S80, Ford Five Hundred and Mercury Montego sedans. It also owes much of its being to Volvo's V70 and XC70 wagons, as well as to the Volvo XC90 SUV.
"

from http://www.washingtonpost.com/.../A55233-2004Oct22.html