Faults:

There has been a recall on the seat latches.

Mileage is poor.

The sliding doors slam shut like heavy guillotines.

General Comments:

When parking on even the slightest incline, (with the front of the van pointing downhill), the heavy sliding doors slam shut with such force it would break an adult's leg, or severely injure a child. On a hill, a person can hardly hold the door open to get in or out. There is no latch to keep the door in the open position, and no governor mechanism to slow the speed of closure.

When I brought this to the dealer's attention, they said it was "normal."

This is a tragedy waiting to happen. I will get rid of the van and not buy another Ford product because of their cavalier attitude toward safety.

Faults:

Power side doors rattle.

General Comments:

PRAISE:

- Van is very un-van-like on the highway. Accelerates better than any other van I've driven and better than most common sporty cars out there. 70MPH is as uneventful as 30MPH (gotta keep an eye on that speedo to avoid tickets <g>).

- Handles quite well. Several emergency situations that could've been very serious, were reassuringly handled under stress by the Windstar's suspension and tires.

- Interior is very roomy and spacious and has lots of nice amenities.

- Love those power sliding doors!!!

- Built-in VCR and screen is a godsend when trying to keep two kids entertained on long trips. Recently completed a 2K mile round trip with the kids - more pleasant than some 1 hour trips in other cars.

- Variety of power ports (even one in the rear hatch area) is excellent.

- Dual A/C controls is very nice as well.

- I know it's a van, but I think it's a darn sharp looking one.

COMPLAINTS:

- The VCR sound controls should've been kept separate from the regular radio controls. Let's say the kids are watching Toy Story 2 for the 37th time and you're just starting to get a tad bored of it. It would be nice to have the kids listen to it on their headphones while you have the radio or a CD on up front.

- Would've been nice to include a 110v power inverter. Easily remedied by a trip to Radio Shack and < $100. I got a mid-sized unit that fits nicely under the passenger front seat. Allows the kids to plug in their Nintendo game cube or PS2, run a hair dryer at the beach, etc..

- I really would've preferred that the cup holders be part of the center console instead of this expanding butterfly setup in the dash.

- Positioning of the power port on the dash could've been done with some though as to what would be plugged into it. Anything without a flexible stalk (cellphone chargers, holders, etc..) will constantly knock your knee as you drive. Would've also been nice to have an extra power port on the passenger side.

- Sucks up its share of gas.

- Dual HVAC controls and power sliding door controls could've been engineered somewhat better. For example, there's a button that disables the rear interior door controls to keep your kids from trying to crush each other with the power doors. Unforunately, this disables all power assist from the doors, even when an adult tries to open them from outside.

OVERALL:

Even though this is really the wife's car, I've thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be the most trouble-free vehicle we've ever owned. We've taken it everywhere, extended road trips, to the beach (literally on the beach), apple picking (2 wheeling in the orchards), snowy Christmas tree trips, etc.., and it has always enhanced our experience.