Any opinions on the reliability of a 1999 Windstar? There's one for sale near me that is in pristine condition in terms of the body and the owner claims to have replaced the transmission. There's about 112,000 miles on it and the price is right.
However, when I read online reviews about it in terms of blowing engine head gaskets and repeated transmission failures, it seems like a poor bet.
Doug
Which engine? The 3.0L has less power, but also fewer problems. I had friends who owned one and never had a problem. However, people (including me) kept asking them if they had problems. Finally all the questions caused them to worry that it was going to fail (and it had over 100k miles) so they sold it and got a new Odyssey - which promptly had the transmission fail. Meanwhile the Windstar kept going....
Personally, I would not get one, especially one that had the transmission replaced, unless it was a really really good deal. It is not just that they are alleged to have problems, it is also my belief that once you have mechanics of unknown skill doing major work on vehicles, the repair bills often spiral out of control. Shoddy repairs often lead to more shoddy repairs.
Ed
One never knows when they buy a used car how well it was maintained or how it was used or abused but at 112K it is likely the gasket was changed if it was one build during the time of bad non asbestos gaskets and if the tranny lasted 112K it is likely to last another 100K as well.
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