Still has no desire factor. It really looks even more generic now.

I think that 3 bar grille is a dead end. It aint gonna be around in 10 years

Give me a break, who would honestly buy this over a 300C or Charger? Heck, even over the current-gen Impala. At least you can get the Impala with a V8 and smoke the tires.

I truly do not understand Ford. They are getting eaten alive by GM and Chrysler, both of whom are getting eaten by the Japanese. Release some REAL product that gets people talking, and stop boring consumers to death with focus-group designed cars. Blahhhhhhh.

When is Ford going get a clue? Even this new one will have no chance in hell of competing with the Malibu, G6, Lacrosse or Impala. Ford engines suck, their cars drive like **** next to GM and they break down too much. The buyers have spoken and they’d much rather be driving a superior GM product over this.

People need to head to their local GM dealer and check out their superior line of vehicles. Don’t waste your money on this Ford POS. You’re investing in a dying brand anyways. Who is going to service your vehicle once Ford goes out of business huh?

Ugly car no matter what front end it has.
It did not sell as a Passat, it will not sell as a Ford.

BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey how about the Yamaha V8? It should have been there from the beginning.

Retards.

“superior GM product” lol, what an oxymoron. Every time I sit in a GM product I poke around the interior. I always find cheap plastic, poorly designed gauges/HVAC controls/radio controls, and at least one thing broken. Take the 2002 Saturn Ion I drove for my driver’s ed test; the center council had separated from the floor and was shaking the entire time. And the car had less than 20,000 miles on it! And lets not even start talking about all the stuff that went wrong with my Oldsmobile before it died…

All said and done, Ford and GM are equally ****ty.

It’s almost indistinguishable from the current Five Hundred. I don’t know why they’re bothering. It’s going to be another damn rental fleet queen.

Speaking of rental fleets… I pulled a Hyundai Sonata V6 from the Hertz fleet in Boston this weekend… rolled my eyes when I saw what I’d been dealt, but by Sunday afternoon I loved it. Great fit and finish, really pleasing interior, smooth pickup. Man, I’d buy a Hyundai… even HYUNDAI is eating Ford’s ass now… why can’t Ford do what Hyundai does?

Gotta disagree with you guys. My dad drives a Montego and it’s a great car. Looks nice, feels nice, fits a large family of 4 (Shortest is 5′11″ and I’m the tallest at 6′7″) better than the Mountaineer and Town Car did. The engine is a bit underpowered but that will be fixed with the new Duratec. It’s a more conservative alternative than the 300 and the Charger, better looking than the Avalon (in my humble opinion), bigger and equally conservative compared to the Accord, and more pleasing to the eye than the new Camry (albeit different classes really).

Don’t knock it till you’ve spent some time in it.

Your dad is a fool Brendino. If he drives the new Malibu or the Pontiac G6 or a Chevy Impala, he would realize what a real car is. Those are the Lexus of automobiles, with Audi slaughtering interior quality and design and BMW like driving performance.

Tell your dad to wake up and take gander at the latest GM offerings. There really is nothing in the world better.

as some said its generic car really boring it doesnt have appeal what is in the mind of ford executives ?????? trying to kill ford or trying to fix it?

GMrules– I thought Lexus made the Lexus of automobiles, not GM.

Looks a mess…

A la Stanly from South Park:
.
[presses thumb & forefinger to bridge of nose, shuts eyes tight]
“Oh God Dammit.”

I think its dumb to even post an opinion on this car because its obviously a mess….It should look a lot nicer than the current version once its all done up…and with a re-worked interior and new engine…it should definitely sell better than the last model….so its not all gloom and doom for Ford like most of you try to post….Its the best they can do for now…you wont see the real BOLD MOVES for a few more years….this is just patchwork on a mistake they made before they realized they were in so much trouble…

GMrules will be getting yanked off this site quickly. The childish remarks and racist and derogatory comments need to stop. Grow up.

Oh and also stop saying who would buy this over a 300C…Top of the line Five hundred is 27,000 compared to top of the line 300 at 43,000….I think you forget that Chrysler is a luxury brand….It would be the montego that is in the 300c class…so quit making the comparisons between the five hundred and 300c because they are for two different audiences….

Yeah this is ridiculous, this car is trash, and lets not get ahead of ourselves here guys, don’t start saying people would rather drive “GM products” to this, because in reality, those truly are equally inferior, check out the Maxima, the Avalan, the 300, now THOSE are good full size sedans..

It looks like a first-gen Taurus…Ford could do much better than this.

No they are not. They are garbage, just like this Ford. Junky motors, cheap build quality and unreliable piles of crap. Nowhere near as nice as a GM.

Um, its just boring. Like everything Ford makes these days. A poorly-executed aping of an Audi-like greenhouse tops a mish-mash of all dated mid-range sedan styling cliches. I do appreciate the tri-bar grill. Branding is a good thing. But putting a tri-bar chrome grill on a lineup of low-quality, forgettable cars will do nothing to save Ford. Even the buzz surrounding the “new” Mustang is dead! GM shows life, Ford exhibits old-fogeyism at its finest.

This 500 is boring and plain, but is still better than the current one. It might boost sales, but it will also conribute to Ford’s extinction, unless they come up with some good design, soon.

erok247, you may be forgetting the 500 and montego are mostly the same car, just a different badge, name and price.

What’s with the flurry of GM fans here? What did one person create like 15 different screen names and then overload the boards with GM propaganda?

There crap is nothing special. GM is a leader of nothing and they certainly aren’t going to put anyone out of business. Especially when their own business has been in shambles for the past year and a half.

And this car is solid but bland. As a Ford fan, it is a helluva lot better than the Impala with more features like AWD and CVT. Once it gets the 3.5, it will be just fine in the market.

I wonder if GM rules just says stuff to create controversy and doesn’t actually mean any of it. Because he is saying some really stupid stuff.

I think GM rules is just an alias… I truley believe there is some kinda sneaky forum blitz thing going on here to create hype over new GM products. because I have no freakin clue as to what is so damn special about the new Malibu when it has been nothing more than a rental fleet fodder for the past decade… And the CTS offers what? to the market that isn’t already on the market…

GM is a leader of nothing, I found that out in the past when I was a diehard loyalist who got smoked by bad product. GM is just another car company that happens to spread a couple of designs across 188 different brands with a heavy mix of gas guzzling SUV’s (Oh wait, THAT is what they are leaders in! Gas consumption!)

There is nothing special about them at all. But I guess 1 person can “create” all the hype they want because after all this is the internet.

And I am Elvis Presley

GarbageMotorsCo, as much as that sounds like a conspiracy to me, the fact is that you’re 100% right, I really feel like he could be a publicity thing by GM, i mean the **** he says is SO WILD that it really is an option

It looks just like what every kid draws next to the trapezoidal house with the proverbial smoke coming out of the chimney with the stick figure family members in front of it. Like Jeremy Clarkson would say, “it’s just a big lump of car!”

GMrules says:
“If he drives the new Malibu or the Pontiac G6 or a Chevy Impala, he would realize what a real car is. Those are the Lexus of automobiles, with Audi slaughtering interior quality and design and BMW like driving performance.”

Long live the General, but far be it from me to make such a ridiculous claim that a G6 or Impala will trash Audi and BMW. Nor would I expect them to, especially considering they are about half the price of the Germans mentioned.

The real gem in this, of course, is calling the GMs the “Lexus of automobiles.” As if Lexus is some benchmark! In GMrules’ calculus, GM is the gold standard! How dare he elevate Lexus to such lofty status? A true exhibition of the incoherent poppy**** that emanates from the mouth of GM’s worst fan.

americanrevolution, get with it, Lexus is the benchmark these days, or are you too biased to see this too? Wake up

I love this updated style. I have a ‘05 white Five Hundred in the garage. See the side mirrors? They’ve reduced in height. Thats a good thing cuz the current side mirrors are like HUGE!! Big as F-150’s side mirrors.

Im gonna wait and see it in the flesh. Car mags and at the dealership in April (it said it would be released this spring).

You all haters are crazy. Don’t bother looking at this page. If u wanna read GM news, go in there. Geez!

LamborghiniZ, I was speaking from GMrules point of view. Go reread the post. Or maybe I was a little unclear in my haste. I drove a new IS350 the other day, and it was certainly a benchmark of quality, but soulless quality in my opinion. I would rather have a BMW 335 and forego a few options to stay price-competitive with the IS. The Bimmer is simply more fun to drive in my opinion, and the styling also appeals more to me.

Gentlemen (and in some cases the term is used very loosely);

GMRules and is ilk thrive on the responses to their diatribes. Simply ignore. I’m sure everyone has run into this kind of behaviour on various chat rooms or forums. For those of us that actually have dialogue on here; please, continue. If no one rises to the comments made by the few, eventually they will move on.

Just my opinion.

This would have made a great 5th gen Taurus. And they could have kept on selling the old one as the Fleet Special or something like that. They even have the rear quarter window to make it look like a Taurus.

And buy the way, does anyone read, Consumer Reports, Wards, Motor Trand, Car and Driver???? Give me something this car doesn’t have that it needs, other than a little hp.

look, you can make a family sedan look GOOD look at the a4 or the 330i or any lexus or acura even the dated accord is more ispiring than this car

They’ll dress up the Avis lot with all those bars of chrome.

That’s it. All I got on this one.

I don’t know why Ford (and Dodge for that matter) continue to put all their eggs in one basket by making all of their cars look alike. If the three bar grill worked for the Fusion.. leave it there.. give the 500 and Focus their own niche. This one track mentality is what will drive Ford out of business.

mujician: there are PLENTY of family sedans out there that actually make driving somewhat enjoyable. And you’re wrong, you’re totally 100% wrong about this car, it is NOT classified as a mid-size family sedan, it is classified as a fullsize sedan. The Ford Fusion is a family sedan, competing with the Accord, Camry, Legacy, Altima, Malibu, G6, Mazda6, Sonata, Optima, Sebring, etc. The Ford 500 is a fullsize sedan competing with the Avalon, 300, Azera, and Impala. Get your classes right. And just because it is a fullsize sedan doesn’t mean it can’t have any driving fun injected into it, consider the Chrysler 300, even the Avalon is supposed to be relatively quick off the line, even if its not much of a corner taker, it’s better than the 500. Ford can do better, lets not make bull**** excuses and try and make it seem like the 500 is all it can be, because its not.

Did somebody seriously write ” Chrysler is a luxury brand”?

Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, pauses for breath, Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

What drugs you on girlfriend coz I wants me some of them?

Jizum aint gonna like that comment above.

I have to agree with TomF.. I was also a bit disappointed when my rental company dealt me a Sonata, but by vacation’s end, I actually considered buying one. As far as the Five Hundred, the new styling “enhancements” probably won’t do much for business, but the larger engine should. Why they don’t raid the corporate V8 from Volvo I will never know, especially considering their main competitors (Impala, Grand Prix, Lucerne, 300) all offer V8s.

There are several comments in this thread defending the 500, and with good cause. For anyone well over 6′ tall and needing to have someone sit behind them, the pool of ANY car to buy is extremely slim. The fun cars (3-series, A4, any Acura) are out of the picture. So for about $30K that leaves the Impala (looks like old Sebring), 300 (trend is fading), Avalon (I’m not 75 years old), and the 500 (needs some style and horsepower – which it is now getting). However, it may be too little too late for the 500.

Bring on the Mondeo!

When I heard “THE NEW FORD 500″ back when this car first came out, I had visions of the ‘49′ concept car. I had visions of the old Galaxy 500 I had in highschool. Then they showed me this… Bland, uninspired, and just plain unappealing. The 500 could have been cool dammit. It could have been a retro styled classic Ford 4 door sedan with flair. Something with the IT factor… an instant classic. However the 500 left IT on the table…

It will have a bigger, more powerful V6 when it’s introduced in Detroit. Closer to 255 hp than the 203 or so it has now.

WOW! It’s like night and day to the current car!
.
How freakin more lame cant a facelift get?

Look at the Mazda CX-5 its a big crap, mazda should’ve stoped doing this thing another ford’s crap
http://www.mx.autocosmos.com/noticias/expand.asp?id=13987

I agree with you guys bashing Ford for making crappy products in USA but still,you cant get away with the facts that Ford makes some best Family sedans in the world,I have a Ford mondeo and i think its the best handling car ford has ever made.(i live in India)also,there is a version of ford’s subcompact sedan-fiesta-sold exclusively here with one of the world’s best duratorq diesel engines,and of course,there is the euro focus.
What ford needs to do is to make these cars worldwide in more plants to bring down the cost of production and hence, they can have a lineup(Fiesta,euro focus and mondeo)instead of those s*** cars(fusion,500,US focus etc.)
i request u guys to take time and have a look at this version of fiesta sedan which made its global degut in india in jan 2006.the styling may be a bit dull(but who cares, since it competes with aveo,accent,honda city,kia rio etc.)but it has geniune technology and underpinnings that could give its competitors a run for the money.

http://www.india.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?cid=1137382932921&pagename=Page&c=DFYPage

sidindica — that would be the perfect Aveo competitor for Ford US.. but of course, by the time they figure that out and make some production plans it will be woefully out of date.

now, coming back to this 500, i still think its not a bad looking car after all (i would like to see this without disguise ASAP so we still cannot make out what this car will look like.)
if still u guys r bashing this 500 just not for having a V8,consider the technology you get with this 3495 cc V6 engine with 265 hp like DOHC 16V,VVT-I instead of impala’s V8 which has only 303 Hp that too from an engine displacing 5328 cc and runs on antiquated pushrod technology and 2 valves per cylinder.

To all Gm lovers, impala’s family of V6 engines also have less power from their large displacement engines.
(3.5 v6-211 hp and 3.9 v6-242 hp).calculate the displacement to power ratio and the 2008 ford 500 beats the malibu,impala (even the V8 SS)pontiac grand prix etc.
and, to me, it looks far superior than both the impala(with that ugly front head and the grand prix-too many creases and curves.)
lets see the final car and give it what it deserves.

Too little, too late…

sidindica said it all (btw that fiesta looked a lot better than the current fiesta sedan on brazil….)

Why don’t Ford North American design studios design more trucks, Suvs, and niche retro cars and let the Ford European design studios(New Mondeo, Smax, New Galaxy) take over the job of designing sporty cars. Ford’s North American design studios doesn’t have any idea how to design proper cars.

Look at Ford trying so hard to be like GM. Face it assholes, you are always going to be **** next to the mighty General. The American Revolution has got your number and you are about to be wiped off the map. Ford needs to learn that nobody, but nobody will ever compete with the mighty General. They have superior engineering, quality and refinement that no crap from Japan, Germany and certainly some mexican Found On Road Dead pile of garbage could hope to match.

is the dalmatian paint extra cost option? it would be a hit! now seriously, quite like this car (fusion copycat IMO but, what can we do?)

1) I have seen pictures of the production version of this car without the mask and it does look great. Very similar to the Ford 49er concept and the current Fusion. I agree the first gen 500 just looked like an overgrown Taurus. The 2007 500 with the chrome package is an improvement though.

2) It will be getting the new 3.5L engine with the 6 speed auto. Is 265hp enough for you?

3) Have you ever driven a 500 or Montego? Absolutely the best driving cars on the road. The command seating does wonders. You just have to get past the looks, which the new bodystyle will help. Consumer Reports loves the car, so it must mean something.

I understand most people that post on here are just domestic haters, like LamZ. I will admit, the car does have a bland look. I am driving one right now, and in terms of the driving dynamics, this is a pretty nice car for the money. SO many keep saying, by this or that etc etc, but some of these listed are $10,000-to-$15,000 more money. The interior has alot of room, and is very comfortable. The AWD system is awsome if you live in a Northern Climate like I do. The new motor will make a difference on the power. It has a CVT tranny that just does not break. It is overall a nice car, with some bland looks. They are attempting to dress it up a tad, but this car is not marketed to the single 25-year olds and younger, which seems to be 60% of the posters on here who think europe rules LMFAO. You have to drive the car to apprieciate it. These people who knock it, but have never driven it, are the same people who think you should buy(insert your europen product here), have never driven those either.

For all the posters who seem to think no one cares about this car…did anyone notice the post count is currently over 60? Interesting.

All the GM hyping by one or two folks here rather than actually talking about the Ford…

What counts is under the hood. That new 3.5 liter V6 better be under there, along with the new 6-speed automatic trans.

man this looks so cheep just the way it forms the siding the doors somthing about just screems im made in mexico kinda cheep, evan the hhr is made in mexico and they look super nice this looks cheep!

“I don’t know why Ford (and Dodge for that matter) continue to put all their eggs in one basket by making all of their cars look alike. If the three bar grill worked for the Fusion.. leave it there.. give the 500 and Focus their own niche. This one track mentality is what will drive Ford out of business.”

So, um, how many decades has BMW used the same grille on all their products?

I dunno, I prefer the old ones look.

Bwhahahaha I don’t even know where to begin. Ford styling trying to be like GM? Like thehuge successes the Aztek and Avalanche were? The trucks were butt ugly before, but now they seem to be ripping off the Ford Super Duty. Rental car fare? Sorry, the Impala has that market cornered already. It’s OK. They’ll take any rental car snoozer, put a big engine in it, slap an SS badge on it and call it excitement. Malibu SS? Let me catch some air. I’m having a hard time breathing. I shouldn’t be hard on GM, after all, fixing them is cheap because parts are cheap. The junkyards are full of them.

I’ll be keeping my 05 Five Hundred a while.It will hang with the usual 3.5 Impala any day of the week and GM hasn’t come up with anything to combat the AWD system, and I like a car that doesn’t sound like it’s going to fall apart in my lap after 100k miles.

It will be interesting to see what Ford does with the interior. The web is flooded with complaints regarding the “pebble” tan interior causing dangerous reflections on the windshield. Stupid design. Also, will Ford finally add Stability Control to the list of safety features?

JD from Detroit: Please don’t tell me you’re comparing BMW’s classic, kidney shaped grille to the ****ty ass three bar bull**** Ford has been putting on its latest products, the difference is one is a classic, definitive style that defines a brand, and the other is a pathetic domestic company trying to look “hip” but really looking like garbage

Oh Lambo…another insightful post by you. Hmmm, I gather you do not like the 3-bar grill LMFAO. Really, go back to the Brittney Spears Message boards where you belong, and take down those BMW posters off of your wall, your mom needs to paint your bedroom.

bigjob: Like i say to numerous douchebags on this site, I would really prefer if you would stick to insulting me with things you can actually back up. Like for instance, you can target me on my anti-GM or pro-Toyota comments, because you have hard evidence that I say such things, you’re insulting me on something that has substance behind it. I really find it idiotic, however, when people such as yourself try and insult others using variables that they have no knowledge of whatsoever, such as your cutesy little “bedroom” comment which simply backfires and makes you look moronic for insulting me regarding something that you know nothing about, since you clearly don’t know me at all.

And here’s a tip buddy, when you’re telling someone to go back to the “Britney Spears message boards”, it’s generally not a good idea to include “LMFAO” in your post, considering that’s probably one of the most overused acronyms by little teenage girls whose idol is the very Britney Spears you insult me with. I mean let’s be real, little online chatty talk like that is for the teeny boppers and the grown up losers, though I’ll refrain judgment as to which one you are. Maybe YOU’RE the one that should go back to those message boards…

seems I stuck a nerve Lambo…mmmmm…knows all about the messageboards…perhaps to much time on the boards, and not enough time with your school work?

You are always on here bashing. The point of the Five Hundred, and this is knowledge based, is it is a good car, for the masses, which 60% of the USA are. Moms and Dad’s with 2 kids, and 2 jobs that need a dependable car that runs well, is not always in the shop getting fixed (again, knowledge based) not at a price catagory that just kills you, and a car that gets good gas mileage. It is a fine car that fits these needs, but as posted by a few, it does have some bland exterior styling. They are trying to upgrade this a tad, which the post was about. Maybe it will not succeed in that area. Alot of posting on here, and an example, is 18-year old kids, saying man, produce the euro Focus ST and bring it here, that is what will save Ford. They have no clue. That is a car that will appeal to 1%, of the buying public.

Just curious, how much seat time do you have in the Ford Five Hundred to give us a very good knowledge base rundown of this car? Some others have made some good points about this car, owners of the car, that maybe you should open up the ears, and listen. I am not expecting you to love it, or like it, but can you see it is a automobile that fits the needs, and the market, for the middle-age American population?

The Brittney post works again….YAADENCP

jimmy8: “1) I have seen pictures of the production version of this car without the mask and it does look great. Very similar to the Ford 49er concept and the current Fusion.”

There is no way in hell that a new grille and headlight treatment will make the 500 look like the forty-nine concept in any way, shape or form! What are you talking about?

one word

“Maxifusion”

Ford is going back to the paradigmmed engineering that they did in the eighties. Remember in the 1980’s when Fords started looking like egg shaped Thunderbird? Remember when Fords in the nineties started to look like deviant versions of the Taurus? Now it seems that Ford is redesigning their cars to be deviant Fusions with a grill that looks like the vent louvers of my old high school gym locker.

sidindica, the guy who posted the link about the Fiesta in India just if u wanted to know that car is Australian Desgined throughout, u may think its European but its not. As for where its built i am unsure of that. As for the 500 its an absolute disgrace that ford US would waste time and money on updating that peace of ****, Just scrap the whole car u don’t need to have that car wait for the Orion platform Falcon from Australia then Ford can get back into that market with a BANG, with a break like a year or so before the Falcon people will forget the pile of **** 500 and will be willing to buy another large sedan from Ford.