RLSH700

That is ugly.[:'(] Ford needs to go on a chrome diet and they need to quit looking like a cross between weird and ugly. It reminds me of the latest crop of GM minivans.

The reason why GM has failed in the minivan market is that they don't put in any effort into it. In 1997, when they came out with the Venture, the then updated Silholette, and Trans Port (Montana), they offered an engine that wasn't among the best in class at that time. Then they waited until 2005 before making any real changes. They were downright dangerous in the crash test. The marketing strategy they used was foolish. The only difference between the Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac vans were the badging and some options. Their minivans were only competitive in the Chevy market but not in the Oldsmobile and Pontiac market. This means that the GM vans would be competitive against Plymouth but not against the Dodge or Chrysler. The problem that has effected GM's latest minivans is that they are very ugly. Again they haven't seperated the Chevy from the Pontiac, Saturn, and Buick models. They should offer their new 6-speed transmission in the newest models as well as the higher tech High Feature engine in the Saturn and Buick model, and the supercharged 3800 III in the Pontiac as an option.

The Windstar was competitive at first. The styling was good, the engine was powerful, and it was about the safest. The problem that the Windstar had was it was plagued with severe transmission problems and numerous head gasket failures. The second generation failed because of the bad reputation the Windstar emerged from these problems. Many of the first generation also plagued the second generation. The engine had fallen behind in power as had the transmission. The Chrysler 3.8L was more powerful than the Ford 3.8L when the Grand Caravan was updated in 2001. By the time they made the Freestar, Ford's image had been damaged. Ford needs a more powerful V6 family that both more fuel efficient and is more reliable than the 3.8L/3.9L/4.2L.