Found On Road Dead!
Written: Jul 14 '01
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Pros: Convenience, comfort, gas mileage was good for a van, decent power, lots of features
Cons: unreliable engine and transmission
The Bottom Line: A nice van but not reliable at all.
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| Chevyman16's Full Review: 1995 Ford Windstar |
Note:All of the bad things I am about to say about the Ford Windstar only affect Windstars with the 3.8 litre engine. This is the engine used in over 90% of Windstars (even the base models) but if you have one with the old underpowered 3.0 litre you should be alright.
My parents bought a 95 Windstar LX loaded with most options in 97. It had about 50000km on it. We really liked it. It was in perfect shape when we got it and we bought it from a dealership we had bought from before and they were really good to us. The bad part of the story doesn't start until our last year of owning the vehicle.
We got an extended warranty on the van because our previous vehicle that we traded in on it (a 93 Mercury Sable) had quite a few problems before the warranty ran out and we didn't want to have to pay a lot of money to keep the thing running. The extended warranty went to about 120000km I think. For the whole warranty period we didn't have one problem with the van. It ran perfect, had good power, was comfortable and we really liked it. I can't remember us having any problems with it at that time.
The bad news happens later on around 145000km we got a recall notice (actually an extended warranty on a defective Ford product) stating that they will cover the cost of repairs to the head gasket on Ford Windstars up to a certain mileage and date (not very far ahead of the current date at that time). We took the van in to our local dealership (not the one we bought the van at) and this was a big mistake. They say they checked it out and the headgasket was fine. About a month later (past the extended warranty date for the headgasket) at 150000km my parents were driving on the freeway and all of a sudden cold air blew through the heater. Then my dad noticed the temperature gauge was almost as high as it could go. He immediately pulled over. When he opened the hood there was antifreeze everywhere! They got it towed back to the local dumbas$ dealership. They looked at it and basically said "Sorry, it's not covered anymore. It's gonna run you $1800-$2000 to get fixed." Needless to say my dad was kind of ticked off.
The next decision we made was a good one. We called the good old dealership we bought it at (who we had been unfaithful to by bring the van to the other dealer in the first place). They told us they would come pick up our van (from the local dealership) and tow it for free out to their dealership. There had been a lot of complaints to Ford and we were waiting to hear there decision on whether or not they would cover the cost. Meanwhile my mom has to drive to work every day (a 45 minute trip) and my dad has to drive to work at a different time in the morning and a different direction. Our only running vehicle at this time was the trusty old 1983 Pontiac Grand Prix (still running at this time). We called the dealership to see if they could do anything about this and the guy we bought the van off called Ford and seemed to really make some noise. Anyways in no time at all he got Ford to pay half the cost and he decided to chip in 1/4 of the cost. This left us to pay only 1/4 of the cost and we were pretty happy about this. A week later we got a letter from Ford saying that they were sorry but there is nothing they could do. This notice meant nothing because our dealership had already got Ford to pay half. If he hadn't done that we would have been stuck with a big repair bill. In the end the dealership replaced the headgasket and while the engine was out they replaced the spark plugs which did need replacing and they also replaced a belt that was worn. Even with all of this the total bill came out to about $1200 which we paid 1/4 of. This was much less than the estimate the a$$%hole at the other dealership gave us.
The van seemed to be running fine after this and we were planning on keeping it for a while still. However about a month later with about 155000km on the van mom said something weird happened a couple times when she stopped at a redlight. When she stopped at a redlight and then started to go again she stepped on the gas but the engine just revved up like it was in neutral and then clunked into gear with a lurch. We had a trusted transmission mechanic take it for a test drive but it didn't do anything wrong when he was driving it and it didn't most of the time when we were driving it. He said he would have to take the tranny out to find out if anything was actually wrong and that's already getting into big money. We decided to trade it in as soon as possible on a smaller more economical car. We traded it in and it had seemed to be working alright until the day we were driving it in to pick up our new car (the worst possible time) it started going into neutral at stoplights a few times and when my dad pulled into the parking lot of the Dodge dealer. My dad felt terrible and was really upset by ripping off the Dodge dealer but if we hadn't traded it in we would have been broke. Ford puts cheap a$$ parts in their vehicles that are known to fail and the customer ends up paying for it in the end!
Our Windstar gave us reliable transportation most of the time we owned it. The only other problem we had was when we were in Florida the starter connections had gotten corroded and the van wouldn't start. We couldn't get it started even with a boost and had it towed to a Ford dealer. They claimed it was a dead battery so they would rip us off when it only needed a new $5 part. Ford dealerships suck. I only know of the one good one that saved us a lot of money on our blown headgasket.
Our Windstar was totally reliable up until about 150000km but that's when the whole friggin drivetrain gave out! This is unacceptable especially considering how much it costs to get these parts replaced. It's also almost impossible for most people to work on these vehicles. Our 1983 Pontiac Grand Prix has never once been in a garage the whole 3.5 years we have owned it. We do all the work on it ourselves and have spent about $100 in repairs the whole time we have owned it.
The other day I just got off a long day of work and was driving in the grand prix with the windows up and the stereo turned up and there was a windstar on my right with a Quebec license plate and he had his left turn signal on. I figured he didn't know where he was going and was trying to get somewhere so I slowed down a bit to let him change lanes in front of me. He didn't change lanes and I soon realized his had his 4 way flasher on not his signal light and he was going about 25km/h in a 50km/h zone. Don't know why I thought he was turning, but anyways all of a sudden I realized I could hear an extremely loud knocking coming from the Windstar engine. Right away I thought of our old van and all the complaints about the Windstars that I had read. I passed the van and a little ways up the road I stopped in at a car lot to casually look at cars and listen to the racket from the Windstar as it passed by. I waited for it to come over the hill and I could hear it before I saw it! It was the loudest, most unhealthy knocking I've ever heard from any engine. That engine had to be TOAST. It looked like they were just trying to make it to their destination and give up on the vehicle. If it's knocking that loud you don't keep driving it unless your not worried about fixing it anyways. It sounded like the engine was about to blow up right then literally. It's undescribable. I'm a major car nut and obsessed with engines and this was kind of amusing to me to be able to listen to an engine in such bad shape. :-) I thought it was fun but I definately wouldn't tell the owner of the van that. Anyways with the amount of 95 Windstars giving up the ghost out there, you are bound to see something like this eventually.
Now that I've told you all the bad things about the 95 Ford Windstars I'll talk about the good things about it.
Performance: The engine had good torque and power at all speeds. The transmission shifted extremely smooth most of the time that we owned it. The gas mileage that we got was surprisingly good for a van with this big of an engine. Handling was alright for a van and the brakes worked really good.
Comfort/Features: The front seats were really comfortable. The back seats weren't great for long trips and were impossible to fall asleep in but our van didn't have the bucket seats in the back, it just had 2 benches. The buckets seats (actually called captains chairs I guess) are a lot more comfortable. The air conditioning worked great with the rear air. There are vents in the ceiling that work good to keep all passengers cool. You can close the vents if you want. The rear heater was awesome. I guess it was kind of a safety hazard as it could melt a plastic bag if one was left right next to the vent on the side of the floor. But it sure heated us up fast in the winter. There are plenty of lights in the van all the way to the back so you can see in the dark. There was 3 power outlets in the van which was handy. Sometimes I plugged in my Discman to the power outlet at the middle seat so I didn't waste batteries and on our trip to Florida we plugged a portable refrigerator thingy into the very back power outlet. This was really handy. The factory stereo only had a tapedeck and am/fm but it was decent for a factory system. I also liked the design of the interior on this van. It was nicely done. It's hard to remember all the little features cause it was a while ago, but there were lots of them and it was nice.
Safety:Most people know that the Windstar got rated for 5 star safety rating so I guess it's pretty good for safety in a crash. Not so safe to get stranded out in the middle of nowhere in the winter but at least your safe in a crash I guess.
Anyways, as you can see I have plenty of good things to say about the Ford Windstar but I don't think they're worth it unless you're rich enough to be able to afford the repairs. In that case you could probably buy something a lot nicer than the Windstar though. I have heard a lot worse "Windstar Horror Stories" than ours since we only had the 2 major problems. I bet that guy from Quebec could tell you a good story about his Windstar. The newer ones have corrected some of the problems but on www.cartrackers.com (forums and then go to the Ford Windstar page, its the only vehicle that gets its own forum on here. lol or go to "My Lemon") there still seems to be a lot of problems with the newer Ford Windstars. I wouldn't recommend one.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 18000
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1995
Model and Options: LX moderately equipped
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Epinions.com ID:
Chevyman16
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Member: Mike Kennedy
Reviews written: 33
Trusted by: 7 members
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