Thank goodness for warranty Huh. All lemons youve only had it two months. How do you like the car despite the problems. I t must have taken you awhile to dig up this thread.. What color is your car. Size off the motor. A first post like this makes me wonder what your coming posts will be like.

 

<sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff>

Allright, who let the smelly old troll in here? One post here, and it's soley to bash a product? Something stinks.

 

it is a black on black limited, with an automatic 6spd, and a 3.0, without the awd.

 

Sales person here:

We've sold a fair number of them where I work, mostly the Mercury version called the Montego. Speaking objectively we've only seen a problem with one Freestyle ("station wagon" version) and that was a very early built '05 and the CVT has had some leaks. Wouldn't you know it belongs to the wife of one of our detail people

Haven't heard much in the way of complaints from monitoring a dealer site where someone or another is constantly complaining about problems with the 6.0 diesel. If there was a consistant, or any real problem whatsoever these people would likely be discussing/cussing it.

Most ridiculous complaint heard was one of our customers saying "it rode too smoothly", he liked his Taurus better ... makes NO sense to me.

Highly recommend a test drive!! Lots of car for the money and if the 500/Montego are too big take a look at the Fusion/Milan. Lots of rave reviews there also.

 

Im looking at a 500 too. But this Fusion has got me wondering if I should get one off those. Clyde any comments from people that have bought one off those. Its pretty early yet I suppose. Thanks for the input.

 

The Fusion is a really nice looking car and from a styling standpoint, is much nicer than a Five Hundred. If I needed a car, I'd buy a Fusion in a second. I think it's a great value for what you pay.

 

Yeh its the best styled car Ive seen from Ford in a while. The Mercury Milan is a neat car too,. I am really excited about Fords cars as off late.

 

Bad news good news kind of thing. As most of you have heard about the layoffs and plant closings, the upswing is that ford is now re-focusing on more american designed cars, instead of trying to keep up with foreign trends. I think that is fantastic news and I'd like to see what the designers can come up with.

One thing thought I wish that ford would take a page from the forein companys in their small truck line, as I am a contracor and I would love to own a 4 door snub nose small frame truck, with a 10' stake body and dualie rear.

 

A few lookers, but lots of positive feedback from their test drives ... so far no takers.

The new car business is really in the toilet!! With all the promo's, freebies, and discount pricing we're so "sold ahead" it will take a long time get back into equilibrium. The only people buying new iron now are people who pay cash and don't seem to worry about money. That's where the Montegos and 500's are going. Used vehicles too unless they're under $6000.

 

"Rockledge", the picture you posted of the lowered Ford 500, is that real or is it Photoshop? My question is what kind of wheels are those and what kind of suspension? I may want to do that to mine -

thanks!

 

It's a photochop. And the pic isn't even my doing. I grabbed it from a thread in another forum (re: Taurus SHO) so I honestly don't know what kind of wheels those are. Sorry I can't help you out.

P.S. Welcome to FTE!

 

I've had my 500 for about a year and 15000 miles. Only had a couple of minor problems, typical of any new car, Jap or US. I love it.........

 

Fusion is great car, but its in first year of production. I would never buy car that is or was in 1st year of production.

 

Just thought I'd share some new information with anyone interested.

Just got back from a week in Florida. We were supposed to get a Hertz Focus but when we checked in they had given us a '06 Chevy Malibu hatchback that didn't have any working interior lights. I expressed that "I didn't speak Chevrolet" and needed some help. The guy that eventually helped us said he didn't either and offered to upgrade us into something that worked. He came back with an '06 Chevy Impala and asked if that would work. I replied jokingly that it was still a Chevy and pointed out that there was an '06 Ford Five Hundred SEL sitting right next to the Impala. He said, "Would you like that one?"

To shorten the story a bit we spent a week with a new Five Hundred and I really didn't want to turn it in. Comfortable, quiet, great ride. The gals had the back seat and commented that they could see everything, wondering how they could have such a great view from the back seat. Ford calls that "stadium seating" and it really works.

There were four of us and we loaded the trunk with two large suitcases, three large "carry-ons" that we had checked and three carry-on bags. On the trip back to the airport we also had a med sized cooler back there too!

This car also had Hertz Never-Lost GPS system and for $45 a week (a freebie this time) will become a requested item in our future rentals. Took us right through the Tampa maze at night like we had a local guide in the car with us. I had my GPS with but didn't use it the Never-Lost worked so well ... in color too!

According to the dash display we overall averaged 23.3 - 23.5 mpg. Not bad for such a large car that doesn't feel like a large car. The CVT tranny was a bit of a disappointment. Would prefer to have the six-speed auto, both for mileage and vehicle control (downshifting to decelerate) in traffic. Underpowered? Not a problem in my opinion, it is after all a family sedan not a Nascar racer. More than adequate.

In summary, the wife wants one and so do I. Pretty sure that when we rent again we'll bite the bullet and pay more up front just to get such a nice car to travel in. When the Five Hundreds start showing up as program cars we will be doing some serious looking.

Roger