Major Tq steer!

[ModMech]

I drove an '06 Freestyle this last week on an out-of-town trip, and although it is MUCH better (more comfortable etc) to drive on long trips than any Wind/Free Star product, one thing I did notice under moderate to hard acceleration was SEVERE "torque steer".

It is *possible* that this was partially due to the road surface, but even with that it is something that should have been caught in the design and testing phase of development - and corrected.

As for the CVT, it's GREAT. You don't even notice that it does not "shift gears", it just moves/accelerates like you would expect.

My conclusion: Decent, if not even a "nice" vehicle that will transport a medium to small family in style, that handles well, and is very comfortable to drive but is "squirrely" under moderate-hard to hard acceleration.

Oh, the fuel economy is nothing to be proud of.

[glenncof]

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.