I have several Freedom apple trees, most of which have been bearing fruit for a few years. I cannot comment on their resistance to CAR as we have no issues with that at our location. We are located in the Allegheny foothills of Western NY, supposedly in zone 5a although we routinely see temperatures colder than - 20 F most winters.
I have found Freedom to be a vigorous grower, early and dependable annual bearer. Some other Freedom growers have reported difficulty with pruning and tree shape, I have not had any of these issues. From my notes, I can tell you that Freedom ripens about Oct. 15th at my location. It will slowly drop fruit from early October through the new year. I would rate others like Honey crisp and sweet Sixteen as better for fresh eating, however Freedom is a good general purpose apple. Fruit size is quite large, not bad fresh they are also good for pies and sauce, also a good wildlife apple.