2006 Ford Five Hundred SEL

When Ford introduced its all-new Five Hundred sedan for 2005, it was in many ways the equivalent of the company's revolutionary Taurus in 1986. Like the curvaceous Taurus 19 years earlier, the Five Hundred redefined the American family sedan. But while Taurus was mostly about styling and character, Five Hundred rewrote the rules of packaging and powertrain. Ford says they "took a look at the attributes that make crossovers popular and sought to deliver some of those qualities in a sedan. While the industry tries to create new car-based crossovers, the Ford Five Hundred stands alone as the first crossover-based car."

Styling

The fast-growing "crossover" segment includes a variety of fairly tall and commodious "cross-breeds" of passenger cars with SUVs and/or minivans trying to blend their best attributes. Available in small, medium and larger sizes, their common mission is providing the best possible combination of van-like people-and-cargo capacity, SUV-like versatility and all-weather capability, and car-like driving dynamics and fuel efficiency.


Freestyle, Ford's excellent new crossover offers three rows of seats in an SUV-like body on a new "Volvo-inspired" platform (because Swedish automaker Volvo is owned by Ford and is part of the corporation's European-based Premium Automotive Group). Five Hundred is the 5-passenger sedan version of essentially the same vehicle with conservatively handsome styling. Three inches longer than Taurus but a foot shorter than Ford's Crown Victoria, it cleverly crams a big-car interior into a midsize body and adds a 21 cu.-ft. trunk, one of the largest anywhere and, actually, the largest trunk of any sedan in North America.


Three Five Hundred flavors are offered. The well-equipped base SE comes with air conditioning, 4-wheel disc brakes with ABS, 17-inch aluminum wheels, keyless entry touch-pad, speed control, power windows, mirrors and locks, 6-way power driver's seat and AM/FM/CD audio. The mid-range SEL adds dual-zone air conditioning, 8-way power driver's seat, 2-way power front passenger seat, fog lamps, heated mirrors, electronic message center, premium sound system with steering wheel controls and 6-disc CD and leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob. The top-of-the-line Limited loads on 18-inch bright aluminum wheels, a premium Audiophile sound system, leather-trimmed seating and heated driver and front passenger seats.

Interior

Newly available for 2006 are leather-trimmed seat in the SE, available satellite navigation in the Limited and a new Family Entertainment System in both SEL and Limited. Other options include all-wheel drive, reverse parking assist, traction control, power adjustable pedals and moon roof.