Next Car

If you need to seat 6 or 7, the Freestyle is a good choice. 200 hp, 4,000 lbs; Subaru Forrester-esque. It's one of the smaller vehicles that will seat that many people. If you don't need the 6-7 seating, a Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav4 (both usually seat 5; some rav4's seat more) or even a Mazda 5 (seats 6) might be more up your alley. The problem with the Freestyle is that it's got Ford reliability (middling) and it's an uncommon model, so your annual maintenance costs will not be the cheapest.

Of course, if you can make a slightly smaller vehicle work (think Honda Fit, Matrix/Vibe or Prius), you could save a lot of money on your automotive expenses; mainly due to their improved reliability for the same $ car.

My primary concern would be with the transmission. When they fail they can usually only be replaced, not repaired. This used to be fairly expensive, but at this point there good be a good supply of used transmissions for not too much money.

We have a Taurus X, which replaced the Freestyle, and I do like the comfort and versatility of the interior, plus the car-like driving position.