I don’t like Fords as a matter of practice. You see -- I’ve had two really crummy experiences with them. My first was a 1997 Taurus. Problems started with that vehicle the first day I drove it home from the dealer and it needed a tow that afternoon. That was one of thirteen tows that vehicle needed in the 55,000 miles I put on the vehicle, and they never found the problem. The second problem is my current vehicle, the 1999 Taurus, which is in the shop as we speak due to a recall and several electrical problems that are being fixed under warranty.

I know, I know -- I’m supposed to be talking about a 2000 Ford Windstar, and that’s exactly what this review is about. I’m renting one, and have had one for the last week.

A Ford Windstar is a minivan. I must also state that I dislike minivans very much. I think, without being insulting, that they look dorky and they’re made for exactly who I’m not – a soccer mom.

The trimline on this Windstar is the SE package. It is your basic package, not a whole lot of bells and whistles are included, but it does have some nice creature comforts. The one thing I have never been able to complain about with Ford products is that they do make a rather comfortable vehicle.

This vehicle comes with a six-cylinder 3.8-liter engine that produces 200 horsepower at 4900 rpm and 240 foot/pounds of torque at 3600 rpm. It will climb hills, especially when you shut off the overdrive. By hills, I mean the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, which is where I live. It is advertised to get 18mpg in the city and 22mpg on the highway. Because I do a lot of mountain driving, I got far less gas mileage than what was advertised.

The transmission shifts gears smoothly, without any real jarring. In fact, I would say the transmission is as smooth as my Taurus. It is a comfortable shift of gears that is barely noticeable unless you floor the accelerator. This leads to a very smooth ride inside the van.

There is no flashy trim with this vehicle that would distinguish itself from any other minivan, although it does have a factory roof rack and molded bumpers. That’s the extent of the fanciness outside.

Inside, it comes with two benches in the rear that not only fold down, but slide out of the vehicle totally, turning it from a passenger van into a cargo van. It does have an 1800 pound payload capacity, and you can fit furniture inside the cargo area with the seats removed.

It also has front and rear climate controls, which was a neat idea. The front passengers can control the temperature for the front of the vehicle, and the rear passengers can control the temperature back there. This is neat for children who sometimes complain that they are too hot or too cold.

This vehicle is also equipped with an AM/FM cassette stereo. While the controls are simple to figure out, the sound is rather poor. I’m not sure if that’s something unique to the Ford Windstar or if that’s something that’s common in minivans. Either way, even hearing talk radio clearly means some heavy manipulation with the bass and treble controls.

Another funny thing with the stereo was that when I turn off the engine, the stereo keeps running. I can pull the key out, open the driver’s door and close it and the radio still runs. This vehicle is equipped with an accessory delay, which allows you to manipulate the stereo and the windows after you’ve already shut off the vehicle.

As an insurance adjustor, I’ve never been a fan of this feature on cars. There are far too many things that can accidentally be done where a car owner can be sorry about later. Windows can inadvertently be opened and I don’t trust electrical components – especially Ford electrical components – to work as advertised. Ford has a lousy history with me and their electronics.

The seats provide plenty of room inside. I certainly cannot complain about my six-foot frame being cramped. I would say that a seven-foot tall driver would run into a headroom problem, but legroom and headroom for me was not an issue.

On the other hand, the seats aren’t comfortable. They are very stiff and thin for bucket seats. There is a plastic armrest that can be lifted and lowered, but it is at an unnatural position when in the lowered position. My arm feels like it is sitting far too high for comfort. I have chosen to keep the armrest up.

I noticed that the two passengers I took – both women – got in the passenger seat and immediately raised the armrest out of the way, so it isn’t just me.

If you don’t wear a seatbelt, the seatbelt indicator will stay lit. One thing I did notice as I was sitting at a drive through window at a McDonalds without my seatbelt on was after about twenty seconds, there is an annoying alarm that comes on telling you to buckle up. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to shut up the alarm aside from buckling the seatbelt. This is a good feature for people like my dad, who for some reason refuses to buckle up.

The passenger bench seats are as comfortable as bench seats can be. They provide little support for the lumbar or the thighs; but then again I’ve never been in a vehicle that does. While they do come out of the vehicle, they don’t feel rickety and have a rather secure feeling.

Part of that secure feeling may come from a pain in the backside (literally) to take the seats out. It’s supposed to be a simple process – you fold the seat down, tug on a hook on the floor, and the seat is supposed to slide right out. I don’t claim to be the most mechanical person in the world, but it took some engineering thoughts on my end before I was successful in removing the seat from the floor.

The vehicle does come with power windows and power locks. The power windows are rather neat. The front windows go up and down just like in any other car. However, the back windows “pop” in and out, like van windows did, they just do it automatically. As far as I can tell, there is no way to raise or lower the rear panel window in the liftgate.

The liftgate does open straight up and is a single door in this model. While this is a tall vehicle, people of shorter stature (is that the politically correct term these days?) should have little trouble reaching the liftgate in its open position. I have to give Ford credit for this feature.

There are two sliding passenger doors on this vehicle which makes for a very nice option. While I wasn’t hauling around cargo or kids, I could see where this feature was a blessing (especially for cargo). It meant that with the rear seats out, you could slide the doors open and have someone pull from either direction to help load the vehicle. With the sliding doors, you can also park in very tight spaces and still gain access to the vehicle.

The doors do lead me to one major complaint. When I was growing up, my mother taught me that chivalry was not dead and that you open and close car doors for your women passengers. As I stated before, I had two different female passengers in this van.

The problem arises from the fact that some idiot at Ford chose to put the only outside key entry to this vehicle in the passenger door. While many vehicles these days have keyless entry, this particular van didn’t. This meant I had two choices – I could leave the vehicle unlocked (which I am not a fan of, even if it isn’t my car) or I could run over to the driver’s side, unlock the door, open it to unlock all the doors and then run back to the other side of the van to open the passenger door.

Well, here’s a newsflash, Ford. That’s a lousy idea. You lose major points with me on that, even if most people would find that complaint silly.

Other features include power mirrors, a SecureLock anti-theft system and dual air bags.

So, what are my recommendations? Well, I’d say if you want a comfortable ride in a minivan, then the Ford Windstar is for you. If you want a comfortable minivan, you may want to look elsewhere. I’m pretty annoyed with the idea that there’s no passenger door entry lock. I don’t like the accessory delay feature, and I don’t like the strangely placed armrests for the front seats.

I’m going to be generous and give the Windstar three stars out of a possible five. For me, that’s a good rating on a Ford. For a vehicle in general, that’s a mediocre rating overall.