This is my first vehicle that is not a car. I have never owned a motorcycle, motorhome, pickup truck or anything else other than mostly big roomy sedans. I like my creature comforts when tooling down the highway enroute to one golf resort or another. With about a year left to go on the Oldsmobile I got to thinking about minivans, and decided to do some research. I relied, too, on a friend who is now in his third straight minivan (no Fords)for advice on what, besides the cupholders, are the advantages of minivan ownership.

I used the Internet to do the research, relying heavily on Kelly Blue Book (www.kbb.com ?) and www.edmunds.com. Both are really good sites whether you are buying or leasing, and whether it's a car or a truck. Bottom line is that between them and my buddy (although he is absolutely not a Windstar guy) I decided that if I was getting a minivan it was going to be Ford's. It was a close call over the Honda Odyssey.

Truth is there are a lot of great vehicles out there nowadays. Maybe you won't go wrong with any of them, but I am thinking that for the money you can't get much safer or more comfortable. I've been driving mine now for about four months, and I believe that I am ready to evaluate it. I don't know much at all about the technical stuff, but I do know that I am satisfied with the gas mileage. The ride is nice, of course, when your vehicle is new you are careful to miss most bumps larger than a bottlecap, but nevertheless I did not miss a few and I can tell you from experience. It's a nice ride.

I got the SE model with the "radar" in the back. That's the rear sensing system that saved me from an accident in a supermarket parking lot this past week. I never saw the guy, and I never would have had a chance if it wasn't for that alarm going off just in the nick of time. It's been the better part of 30 thirty years since I hit something I wasn't aiming at, and I can tell you I am real grateful for this alarm system. It would have been a minor ding I am sure, but it would have ruined a great driving record. Thanks again Ford.

If this model doesn't have enough bells and whistles for you, well I gotta tell you that you are pretty spoiled. No matter though, they have two others, I think, loaded with even more stuff if you have to have it. The right side back door opens and closes at the push of a button. That's pretty neat, makes me wish I had gotten the left door that way too. You know what else is pretty neat, the outside mirrors - not only are they "powered mirrors", they are heated. To melt the ice which we will be getting our fair share of starting any day now. No more scraping mirrors. Works for me.

I could go on with what I like about it, but if you're looking to buy one of these or one of the competition's versions, then I better tell you what I don't like about it as well. Gotta be fair. The right front door cannot be opened with a key - there is NO keyhole. My vehicle has "keyless entry" so I shouldn't complain, but I don't keep that little "doo-jigger" on my keyring (It's my emergency backup in case I stupidly leave my keys in the car, again), and sometimes it would be handy to access that door with a key. For someone else or for packages, for example. I am not crazy about my cupholders. The ones in the front section of the car just under the radio that you have to pull out like a drawer. Well, they're a little chintzy if you ask me. I don't trust them to hold my medium diet pepsi, and they don't hold my coffee mug. So, what are they good for? Like the song says "Absolutely Nothin'!"

The only other thing that really bugs me is the back door/lift gate or whatever they call it. If anything ought to be "powered" this is it. I'm guessing that if there is one feature that costs Ford the most customers this would have to be it. I believe that the Ford people would do well to hire themselves a woman engineer to check this door out from the point of view of people who are less than 6'1, 220, and make it so it's a wee bit more user friendly. Dumbest door I've ever seen.

If you are thinking minivan for your next purchase. You might want to just take my word for it. I did the research. Windstar is a good deal.