Ford 500... just one problem
 

http://www.automedia.com/images/rts/...041101fh00.jpg
http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/FordFiveHundred/
http://www.automedia.com/autoReviews...1fh.asp?affid=

Priced from $22,000 - $30,000 with an AWD version for around $25k.

The only problem with this car, for now, is it only comes with a 3.0 liter V6 206HP engine. No other engine options are available yet.

But it is built off the Volvo S80 and has the very same AWD system that is in the Volvo XC90. I'm sure it will not be long before they come out with a 300HP+ V8 version. This is the great thing about ford, now you can get Volvos and Jags at Ford prices!

"Ford (proudly) admits that Volvo contributed significantly to the Five Hundred's state-of-the-art safety technology. For starters, the "Volvo-inspired" platform offers class-leading stiffness with relatively soft crush zones designed into impact areas. When equipped with Ford's Safety Canopy and side airbags, Five Hundred should earn top crash test ratings."

Unfortunately it also inherited that unique Volvo quality - blandness - it is as boring as a lump of breadpudding, and about as engaging as watching paint dry ;)

Oh yeah its pretty bland but that doesnt really bother me. Just like Subaru they are really ugly but great cars and a lot of fun to drive. And the 500 doesnt look bad, just really plain but....those rims would HAVE TO go! lol

its still a ford though, so reliablity is gonna suck. u mensioned the fact that you can buy a jag at a ford price. look at the roof line of a jaguar x-type and a ford touras, exactly the same.....

Volvo and "fun to drive" cannot exist in the same thread- let alone the same sentence. :)

I have driven a number of the modern so-called "sproty Volvos" - and they are so bland and boring and unexciting I almost fell asleep at the wheel.. ;)

Have you ever considered it might be fords at jag and volvo prices?

You should have brought a Playboy mag with you along for the ride,,,you know so you dont fall asleep.

Have you considered that their rubber band transmission is a problem waiting to happen? Audi and Saturn got rid of it for it's horrible reliability, Ford just didn't learn i guess...

No - they bought up all the remaining ones for 3c on the dollar - and are now able to sell "Jaguars at Ford prices".. :P

When I took the RX8 in for service, the pool car I was given to drive was a black Ford 500. It's an extremely bland looking car both on the outside and inside. Despite the fact that I'm a pretty dyed-in-the-wool Ford fan, I can't say I'd recommend the 500 for anybody but the elderly and soporific. The car is enormous, rear seat room is never a problem even with the front seats at the back of their tracks. The driving position might as well be from an Explorer and the engine (despite the fact that it was supposed to be released with a 3.5L V6 option), a 3.0L Duratec V6, is wheezy and underpowered for the mass of that vehicle. The steering is extremely light, but suprisingly accurate and the car, despite its mass, handles with reasonable authority, but there's no way you can have much fun driving it as it's decidedly cruising-oriented. I'll see if I can dig up some of my photos and vids of the drive (not that it was anything really worth mentioning).

as far as i can tell this car is right on. Its a family car. Thats it, its for some 40 year old guy to drive to work and to drive his kids around.

That car is as exciting to look at as a naked retirery

Except the Camry does this better and cheaper and with a better resale value ad a proven track record.

currently under development under the lincoln brand is CD3... coded for the future name of Zephyr... (IMO terrible name)... based on the same architecture of the 500.

the 3.5 liter duratec v6 will eventually make its way into it... as will the hybrid gas-electric.

reliability shouldn't be an issue :P

as mentioned earlier, the 500 is for old people :?

I was under impression that the '06 Lincoln Zephyr was a Mazda 6 spinoff...it certainly has the same front-drive architecture, basic chassis proportions and mildly detuned (210bhp) 3.0L V6.

The CD3 is actually Ford's new midsize platform...shared by the Mazda 6, Lincoln Zephyr, Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan. The 500 does not share this platform. Rather it is a spinoff of the Volvo S80.