Freestyle. Sure, it’s a name implying a certain versatility, but it’s also one from which you can infer something of this vehicle’s mercurial nature. Based on the same Volvo-developed platform as was the Ford Five Hundred, you can reasonably view the Freestyle as the Five Hundred’s car-like station wagon. Looking at it, though, we see a midsize SUV; inside, it resembles a seven-passenger minivan. In fact, Mercury’s minivan, the Monterey, also uses the Freestyle chassis.

The Freestyle’s free style reflects the kind of automotive morphing for which the car industry came up with its “crossover” designation – although Ford might even see this term as too limiting.

Regardless, the vehicle is a version of that subset of SUVs known as crossovers. Save maybe for its innovative use of a continuously variable transmission, there’s little about Freestyle to save you from free-floating ennui. However, the Ford is roomy, competent, offers smooth handling, and was judged to be the safest vehicle in its class. As Ford’s first crossover, it’s the company’s answer to the favorably reviewed Chrysler Pacifica.

Imagining the Freestyle as the station-wagon version of the Ford Five Hundred requires one to overcome the notion that the two vehicles should strongly resemble each another. Certainly, both have that peculiar cast of all-American exuberance that’s graced nearly every Ford since wagons were woody and Volvos unidentifiable. However, in its styling, the Five Hundred calls upon more German influences than does the Freestyle, which instead sports a rising roofline that suggests the occurrence of an abomination between a Nissan Xterra and a Greyhound Scenicruiser somewhere in its past.

That said, the two Fords also share a great deal.

Like the Five Hundred, the Ford Freestyle’s torque can emerge from a 203-horsepower V6 to course through either a front- or all-wheel-drive system while being governed by the aforementioned CVT, with uses infinitely changeable drive ratios rather than the staged ones found in conventional trannies. Both also come in base SE, midrange SEL, and deluxe Limited trims permitting various arrangements of standard and optionally equipped tire sizes, airbag arrays, interior materials, and other features. In addition, both are roomy, but accelerate in a way that seems slower than their claimed zero-to-60 times state.

The test Freestyle was a midrange SEL with standard 17-inch aluminum wheels (versus the Limited’s 18-inch versions), antilock brakes, fog lamps, and front-wheel drive. With a base price of just more than $26,000, it had the reverse-gear sensing system and such interior-based options as leather trimmed seating, a three-passenger second row bench, and both side air curtain and front side airbag arrays to bring its price to just more than $30,000.

Thus enhanced, the interior’s utilitarian setting was set off by a simple and easily read dashboard, excellent command position, and easily accessed and comfortable front seats. This comfort also extended to the Freestyle’s rear, where headroom and legroom abounded, and even the third row of seats seems adequate for occupancy by adults. Not only did the two back seat rows fold flat, but so did the SUV’s front passenger seatback. This provided an unusually large amount of storage area that included a 9.5-foot conduit for lengthy cargo.