Early owner observations - 6m/9000mi

I now have a 2005 Freestyle, 6 months and 9000 miles. It is AWD. The AWD handles very nuetral, no torque steer. I did have a FWD Pontiac on vacation recently and noticed torque steer a lot.

The AWD MPG is about 18.5 mpg overall and clocks 24-26 mpg on highway depending on speed. Initially (~3000 miles) the highway mpg was hard pressed to get to 22.

The AWD has a slightly lower gear ratio but has the larger 225/60-18 tires which leads to a 1 mpg less than FWD.

Overall I'm pleased with the vehicle. I keep wanting to call it a car.

A few other observations; the suspension rides really flat which I like (I drive daily a 911 Porsche for reference.) Some people may call it harsh with the bigger tires.

Also, I have owned two BMW's and really love their feel on the highway, light and agile. I realized the other day the Freestyle has the same BMW feel on highway.

The brakes are beefy also. Oversized, dual piston caliper mated to 13" discs. (My Chevy Tahoe has only 11" disc and drum rears with associated mushy feel.) I suspect they are ceramics. There were some produced early in 2005 with bad rear pads.

Good info - looking forward to your next update. The AWD Freestyle is at the top of my short list and it's always good to hear any experiences, good or bad. Majority seems to be good so far.