Ok,

How does the the three differ?
I have read that the Aero is based off of the Ranger
The Windstar off of the Taraus
What is the Freestar?

Jay

 

The Freestar for all intents and purposes is a generation II Windstar. It shares some of the body tooling sections, perhaps 40%, so it still be fabricated using the existing Windstar assembly line. The front end, suspension and transmission are all new variations from the Windstar. The interior is all new. That's about all I know about the major differences. C'mon JT, you aren't going to abandon us here on the Aerostar forum are you?

 

the winstars and freestars are alot more expensive than Aerostars.

my mother in law blew 30 or 35 grand on a 05 freestar. NUTS!

we got our 95 aero for 10% of that. and it has more options!

 

AeroColorado:

Not going anywhere, being and owner of two 89 Aerostars.
But was just wondering about the Freestar because there has been some talk about the Windstar but not the Freestar. Was just wondering if they were closer to the Aerostars than the Windstars.

Jay

 

The Windstar is not that expensive. Around Christmas last year (not the last Christmas but the one before that) my brother bought a brand new 2004 model with power windows and locks, alarm, two side doors, CD player, A/C for $14,800; and that included everything the dealer charged except sales tax+registration.

The way he got it was kind of funny too. He bought it on Christmas Eve, and the salesman was desperate to come home. It was my brother who drove the bargain and dragged it out for hours on end, I was sitting there watching the master at work, drinking cups after cups of coffee. Finally, at 11:30pm, the salesman and his boss gave up, and begged my brother to take the deal. At the last moment they said the car came with the alarm and that would cost him another $450. My brother told them to go remove it. At that point they gave it to him for free. Frankly, I have never seen a dealer give up like that before, and it was so funny.

Just want to let you know, if you look hard enough, there are good deals out there.

 

We got our '99 Windstar for $28K out the door....Brand new SEL with all the options.

 

The Windstar chassis was derived from the previous generation Taurus. It's a unibody with a transverse mounted engine and front wheel drive.

The Aerostar has a mutant chassis that may have been derived from a Mazda truck chassis of some sort. It has a set frame rails integrated to the body, which makes it a bit stronger than the plain unibody. The platform is designed for a longitudinally mounted engine with 4wd intentions. You can look at the drivetrain layout underneath and see that it has provisions for the 4wd parts in its basic design, and not as an afterthought.

One misconception that came with the introduction of the Windstar was that it was smaller than the Aerostar. The fact is, the external dimensions of the Windstar has greater width and length than the Aerostar, but it sits a little lower. And yet, its interior is smaller than the Aerostar; it does not pass the plywood test. It's also heavier than the Aerostar by a couple of hundred pounds, and I'm not sure that you can even tow anything with it.

As for great deals, I'm guessing that you can drive a really hard bargain near the end of the calender year, such as Chrsitmas eve, on a model that is about to be replaced.

 

We had a Aerostar forever, and have a 2000 Windstar and love it. Ride better, better overall as long as you never have to tow anything. The Aerostar is a workhorse.

We were not even really looking, but found this and had to have it. All Black, rear spoiler, 16" Nice aluminum mag wheels, it rocks! Originally had some tacky graphics one the lower sides. Thank goodness one peeled, and rather than have it fixed, we just had them removed. Made the van look a million times better. Removed the Windstar, Sport and LX labels from the back, added a tasteful chrome fish and never looked back.

Only issues, the controller for the EGR valve. Replace it, van is a hot rod again.

I still miss the Aerostar.

 

We got a 93 Aerostar XL AWD in 96. It was the wife's van and she still loves it. After she drove it to town (15 miles) without any coolent she had to have a complete top end re-done including radiator. Had the AC converted to 134. Then had the front end completely re-done but it still has the original Motorcraft battery! Wife got a new 03 Windstar last year and the Aero (142,000) is now my farm vehicle. I pull hay racks and feeders with it. Even help pull my JD 3020 out of a snow bank. Now the Father-in-law just traded his Caravan in on a new 2004 Freestar ($21,000 without trade-in) It even has a positive lock front end. I really don't like driving the Aerostar (seems top heavy) but I have to say it stated everytime in -35F weather this year and it is nicer to ride around the farm in than any of my 77-79 Ford 4x4's But the wife takes it from me when the snow gets deep! I see alot of improvements inside and out on the new ones but you really can't beat that AWD.

 

> How does the the three differ?

The Aerostar is RWD, the others FWD.

The Aerostar is designed like a truck, the others are FWD mini-vans.

Aerostars came with AWD, the others do not.

You can tow with an Aerostar.

As for expensive, the Aerostar was much more expensive for Ford to produce, so they killed it even when it was selling 100,000+ units a year! Mine back in 1995 cost us $25,000+ dollars and we bought it new in May ? 1996 (after year end). So, it was pretty expensive compared to any other mini-van. It is loaded though.

 

how to change radiator coolant for windstar 1999

 

Bringing up the dead, aren't we.


Welcome to FTE!

 

Wouldn't it be the same as for any other vehicle? Open drain plug in radiator, drain into appropriate container, dispose of properly. Then follow instructions for flushing system. Then refill with a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze and distilled water.

Does a Windstar not have a drain plug on its radiator? Is it at an unreachable location? I'm sorry, but I don't know enough about it.

 

I you wanna use van like a truck I vote for aero. but as pass mover windy is better (IHMO). seems to me aero appeared when someone from ford was insperated with old MB vans of T-series, introdused in 1977 (2XX, 3XX,5XX). All these vans were build on frame like a truck but they had diesel engines and were very ascetical inside. Ford Build luxory for '86 van on truck chassis and it was revolution, but comparing with old MB vans - no leafsprings, gasoline engine, auto as standard, good interior. The problem was that MB in EU was the first company that built FWD van (MB100), then in 1990 Crysler introdused FWD wan, and then MB introdused Vito (Vin WDB638XXX). It was a begining of FWD vans age.... but now we see advantages of RWD vans. Mercedes newer tried to build mid size FWD van, ford tried (Transit of 90-s). Then MB egeeres realised that RWD van is better, but more expencive and they introdused RWD Vito-II (WBD639XXX), Ford EU discontinued FWD Transit and as cheap FWD LCV they built van-truck on Contour chassis (Transit connect). But.... MB Vito-I chassis did not dissapeare, now Crysler go on using it for newer Voyager vans. Here in Europe they sold Dodge Vans built on Vito Chassis with Mercedes engine (all these vans were made in Austria).

Well, when Taurus appeared we all thought that ege of RWD cars is over, but now we see that all BMW, all Mercedes (exept of small A-class) are RWD. so seems to me RWD mini-van by ford will be back on market, but later.

 

We bought a 2001 Windstar new and now have over 140,000 miles on it - original engine and transmission. We really like it - other than the fact it is starting to rust really bad right now, to say we are totally disappointed would be an understatement, it is the only vehicle we bought new and really took care off.
We've had all the recalls done, but the rust is really a concern......