2005 Ford Freestyle Engine, Horsepower, Wheels & Tires

Baby boomers wary of marketspeak will see the Freestyle as a new-age Country Squire with all-wheel-drive capability and modern safety gear--but without the V-8 and fake wood paneling. It's an updated, nonretro version of Ford's midcentury suburban icon. Some would dub the Freestyle a "crossover," an amorphous word that bumps it into the sport/utility category.

Like the Five Hundred sedan, with which it shares its chassis architecture, the Freestyle will be powered by a 3.0-liter Duratec V-6 until a new 3.5-liter is ready. That means just 203 horses have to pull two tons around by the front wheels or all the wheels via the Volvo XC90's Haldex system. The Freestyle is happiest accelerating through the midrange and is agile through corners, without giving up ride quality.

All-wheel drive is a $1700 option that includes traction control. When the system detects front wheels moving faster than the rears, it transmits torque to the back or side-to-side, Ford says, with a much faster transition than other systems. On Ford's 35-percent-grade dirt hill, the Freestyle climbed right up even after a stop halfway through, exercises that stymied a Chrysler Pacifica and Buick Rendezvous offered for comparison purposes. Much of the Freestyle's audience will get all they need with front-drive. Ground clearance is 1.2 inches higher than the Five Hundred's, but the utility in this sport/utility is its interior space.

As with the sedan, the top-of-the-line Limited comes with 18-inch Pirelli P6s, audiophile stereo, and two rows of leather seats. The Freestyle is cavernous inside, with six- or seven-passenger configurations. Hip-points are high for easy entry and exit and better legroom. The Freestyle has theater-style seats, and the (non-leather) third row folds and stows into the deep cargo floor, like a minivan's. All seats save for the driver's may be folded flat. Flipping a midrow split seat in the six-passenger version is as easy as pulling a strap and a lever for adult access to the third row. There you'll find enough head- and legroom for a six-footer, thanks to a roofline that rises 4.5 inches at the back of the car, up from a 60.4-inch height at the top of the windshield, behind the A-pillar. Evoking platform-donor Volvo as "the masters of safety," the Freestyle comes with side airbags, a rollover canopy, and rollover sensor, but only as extra-cost options.