Freestyle is normally front-drive, but it will also be available with an optional all-wheel-drive system. Electronic controls that gather information from the anti-lock braking system and other sensors allow the all-wheel-drive system to react within 50 milliseconds, which is much faster than systems that rely on viscous couplings. Traction control is also available, providing torque transfer from side-to-side.
As for the inside of Freestyle, this clearly benefits from Ford's decision some time back to triple the amount of development money it put into interiors, with each trim level getting different setups.
''From the SE and SEL to the top-of-the-line Limited,'' says Mays, ''Freestyle offers multiple levels of comfort and luxury, all with craftsmanship, precision and use of fine materials at the forefront.''
The SE and SEL feature a high-tech, carbon-fiber-look for a sportier, more rugged theme, while the perforated leather seating surfaces with built-in heating elements give the Limited series a European look.
The center stack is faced in a hydrographic burl-pattern wood grain on Limited models, while the SEL and Limited trims offer a leather-wrapped, console-mounted shift handle and leather-trimmed steering wheel with redundant audio controls.
Ford understood correctly that families tend to need more storage spaces than any other buyer group, so it loaded Freestyle up with nooks and crannies. There's a recessed lid in the top of the instrument panel for pens or whatever, for example, and the optional overhead console in the front holds sunglasses and garage door remotes.
That overhead console also gets the convex ''conversation mirror'' you can find in some minivans and it performs the same function here of letting the driver see what the back seat passengers are up to.
Over all, it seems clear that the Ford Freestyle feels very much like it's going to do solid business with the people who want something more useful than a sedan, smaller than a minivan and less pretentious than an SUV.
Whether or not Freestyle comes to define this segment remains to be seen, but it's going to be hard to knock out of the track towards that goal.
As for the inside of Freestyle, this clearly benefits from Ford's decision some time back to triple the amount of development money it put into interiors, with each trim level getting different setups. ''From the SE and SEL to the top-of-the-line Limited,'' says Mays, ''Freestyle offers multiple levels of comfort and luxury, all with craftsmanship, precision and use of fine materials at the forefront.''
The SE and SEL feature a high-tech, carbon-fiber-look for a sportier, more rugged theme, while the perforated leather seating surfaces with built-in heating elements give the Limited series a European look.
The center stack is faced in a hydrographic burl-pattern wood grain on Limited models, while the SEL and Limited trims offer a leather-wrapped, console-mounted shift handle and leather-trimmed steering wheel with redundant audio controls.
Ford understood correctly that families tend to need more storage spaces than any other buyer group, so it loaded Freestyle up with nooks and crannies. There's a recessed lid in the top of the instrument panel for pens or whatever, for example, and the optional overhead console in the front holds sunglasses and garage door remotes.
That overhead console also gets the convex ''conversation mirror'' you can find in some minivans and it performs the same function here of letting the driver see what the back seat passengers are up to.
Over all, it seems clear that the Ford Freestyle feels very much like it's going to do solid business with the people who want something more useful than a sedan, smaller than a minivan and less pretentious than an SUV.
Whether or not Freestyle comes to define this segment remains to be seen, but it's going to be hard to knock out of the track towards that goal.
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