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TEST DRIVE
Ford Five Hundred delivers
Ford really reached into its history to name the big sedan that has replaced the trend-setting but aged Taurus, but that’s all that is retro about the 2006 Five Hundred.
Unlike, say, a Fairlane 500 or a Galaxie 500 of the 1950s, the spelled-out Five Hundred is a family car, plain and simple. There’s nothing flashy about its styling and nothing mammoth or ultrathirsty about its engine — things that couldn’t always be said about the 500s of the '50s.
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2006 Ford Five Hundred
(click on photo to enlarge)
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So get in the 2006 Five Hundred as a driver or rear-seat passenger and only an ardent antique car collector or someone seriously lost in the '50s — to borrow a phrase from singer-songwriter Ronnie Milsap — would yearn for an old 500.
The 2006 Five Hundred also will make you quickly realize the Taurus, which had a "jellybean" design that influenced sedans that followed, is a smaller car.
Headroom and legroom is very good, with ample room for five adults, only one of whom will grow uncomfortable because the middle of the rear seat is not the best place to be.
For 2006, Ford gave its flagship sedan a wheelbase 4.5 inches longer than that of the Taurus, resulting in a body that's 3 inches longer, 1 inches wider and — perhaps easiest appreciated — 4 inches taller.
Put the four-door Five Hundred on the road and the expanded dimensions mean the driver has a higher and slightly better view. The Five Hundred has a lot of glass, so there's no lack of opportunity to appreciate the scenery, and while the Five Hundred is not a dawdler, it's not a car meant for rushing along.
There's no reason to think Ford won't eventually up the horsepower and send out a high-performance Five Hundred as it did with the Taurus. For now, however, buyers will have to make do with a V-6 rated at 205 hp (at 5,000-plus rpm) with 207 pounds-feet of torque.
That's hardly overwhelming, but the Five Hundred, remember, is a family car, so what's bad about needing 7.5 seconds — or so most car magazines say — to hit 60 mph when the EPA figures are a realistic 19 miles per gallon in the city and 26 on the highway.
Plus, the Five Hundred test car, a Limited with a base price of $28,230 plus $675 delivery and a bottom line of $33,130, did have visual and creature-comfort goodies. The interior features dark leather-vinyl, woodgrain and some bright metal trim.
Both power front seats were easily adjustable, and a good driver’s position is easily attained. The instrumentation — standard — is very legible, with a 120 mph speedometer and 7,000 rpm speedometer ... numbers you don’t want to chase in this sort of family car.
But driven sensibly, the Five Hundred is pretty much what it purports to be: an All-American family car, albeit one engineered with some help from Volvo, a part of Ford these days.
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