Ford Five Hundred - News
Ford Five Hundred to become ‘Taurus’
Automaker to give
slow-selling sedan name of popular model
Ford Motor Co. will rename its slow-selling Five Hundred model the Taurus, a
name Ford previously used for a car that became the nation’s top-seller, two
company officials said Tuesday.
The officials spoke to The Associated Press on the condition they not be
identified by name because the official announcement had not yet been made.
The Taurus, considered by some the car that saved Ford, revolutionized the way
autos look and feel when it was introduced in 1985.
The Dearborn-based automaker ceased production of the Taurus in October after 21
years and sales of nearly 7 million, perplexing many industry analysts and
former Ford executives who said the brand name had great value.
Ford spokesman Jim Cain would not confirm that the Taurus name will be brought
back, but said new Chief Executive Alan Mulally has been interested in the
Taurus ever since arriving from aviation giant Boeing Co. last year.
Cain said the company would make news at the Chicago Auto Show later this week,
but he would not say what it was.
“It will be announced in Chicago, whatever it is. I’m not confirming or
denying,” he said.
The Five Hundred, built on Volvo architecture, sold moderately well in 2005, its
first full year on the market, but sales nose-dived last year to about 84,000
from almost 108,000.
It will get a new, more powerful engine and some cosmetic updates for the 2008
model year, when the name change likely is to take place. The new version will
be in showrooms this summer, company officials have said.
The Taurus, called a “jellybean” or “flying potato” when it first was introduced
because of its futuristic curved design, was an immediate hit, with buyers
snapping up more than 263,000 in 1986, its first full year on the market.
It became the best-selling car in America in 1992 with sales of nearly 410,000,
unseating the Honda Accord just as Japanese imports were starting to take hold
in the U.S., and it held the top spot for five straight years until it was
supplanted by the Toyota Camry in 1997. Even last year, it sold 175,000 models
in September, mainly to rental car and other fleet buyers.
Ford also sold another 2 million Mercury Sables, the Taurus’ nearly identical
twin. It is likely that the Five Hundred’s Mercury counterpart, the Montego,
will be renamed the Sable.
The company was losing billions in the early 1980s when Taurus was just an idea.
Philip Caldwell, chief executive at the time, challenged designers and engineers
to come up with a radically different car that would return Ford to
profitability.
Last year, Ford lost $12.7 billion, and it was forced to mortgage its factories
to set up a credit line of more than $20 billion as it undergoes a radical
restructuring plan.
The Taurus, redesigned in 1996, became a symbol of the company’s current ills.
It was left almost unchanged for 10 years with little advertising support as the
company focused on high-profit trucks and sport utility vehicles.
Ford, left with few desirable cars, was caught flat-footed this year when
consumer tastes shifted away from trucks. Its sales dropped 8 percent last year
as buyers went to more fuel-efficient models made mainly by Asian brands.
Mulally, tapped to rescue the company, helped revolutionize product development
at Boeing in part by taking inspiration from the broad, team-based approach Ford
used to create the Taurus in the 1980s.
Ironically, those ideas failed to catch on at the automaker, some industry
observers say.
Mulally, who in the 1990s managed development of Boeing’s enormously successful
777, applied the Taurus ideas to that project.
- The Associated Press, Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Ford's 500 Delivers
The Horses For Those Not Yet Out To Pasture
Here you are, Mr. and Ms.
Maturing Baby Boomer: your bifocal eyeglasses, your hairpieces, your dental
bridges and your new Ford Five Hundred.
Ford's new full-size sedan has the styling of a European luxury sedan but comes
at Ford prices -- something you'll really appreciate after you retire and find
that your company looted your pension plan.
It's got a comfortable ride and predictable handling for those trips to the
Florida condo, a huge trunk for gifts for the future grandchildren and an engine
powerful enough to enter a parkway without raising your blood pressure.
And a tall cabin easy to enter and exit -- particularly welcome on days when the
joints have stiffened from an overzealous workout or an afternoon of leaf
raking.
For those not yet ready for life's final step in Fords -- the Crown Victoria --
the Five Hundred seems an excellent value that's short on flash but long on
virtues.
One of two cars destined to replace the agreeable but aged Ford Taurus and
Mercury Sable, the Five Hundred and similar Mercury Montego sedans share basics
and their available all-wheel-drive systems with the XC90 and S80 sold by
Ford-owned Volvo.
Technically, there won't be a Five Hundred or Montego wagon but, in fact, the
new Ford Freestyle and also-new Mecury Montego are mechanical cousins of the two
sedans and will fill the wagon role.
The Five Hundred begins in price about $2,000 above the Taurus, but a smaller
and less expensive midsize car, the Fusion, is scheduled to go on sale next year
as an '06 model for buyers on tighter budgets.
Ford hasn't said when the Taurus will go out of production; right now, it's
being built mostly for fleet sales.
Some of the Five Hundred's competitors offer more available power, so Ford has
been taking some heat from critics who think the Five Hundred lacks oomph. But
I'm betting that the 203 horsepower under the hood will be sufficient for most
of you, unless you regularly tow a trailer or take highway trips with full loads
of passengers and cargo.
Ford might have paid more attention, though, to the engine's sound; it's a
groan, not very pleasant and seemingly accentuated by the type of transmission
to which it is mated in most Five Hundred versions -- a continuously variable or
"stepless" automatic. That transmission helps make the most of the engine's
power by keeping it in the most powerful range. So one hears a fairly steady
engine drone as one accelerates, rather than a rise and fall in pitch and volume
as gears are shifted. A conventional six-speed automatic also is available on
some versions of the Five Hundred.
Ford says zero to 60 mph takes a respectable 7.5 seconds.
It's worth noting also that, while the Five Hundred is slightly narrower than
some competitors, it beats many of them in a key area for a family sedan: rear
seat legroom, offering more than a Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler 300, Buick LeSabre,
Toyota Avalon or Pontiac Bonneville.
Like the 300 but unlike the others, the Five Hundred is available with all-wheel
drive. Otherwise, it is front-wheel driven, as are most competitors, the
Chrysler being an exception.
Impala buyers get a choice of three six-cylinder engines -- a 180-hp.,
3.4-liter, a 200-hp., 3.8-liter and a 240- hp., supercharged version of the
latter.
Chrysler 300 buyers get to choose from among a 190-hp., 2.7-liter and 250-hp.,
3.5-liter sixes and Chrysler's Hemi V-8, the latter ripping at the pavement with
340 hp.
Pontiac Bonneville buyers can select between the same 3.8-liter six in the
Impala (making 205-hp. in this application) or a 275-hp., 4.6-liter V-8. LeSabre
buyers get the same 3.8-liter six as in the Bonneville.
There's no choice for buyers of the Toyota Avalon -- the stretched Camry that's
available only with a 3.0-liter, 210-hp., V-6 for '04. The '05 model due in
showrooms in February is expected to have a more powerful engine, presumably the
225-hp. 3.3-liter V-6 available in the current Camry.
The Five Hundred comes in three equipment levels -- SE, SEL and Limited, each
available in front-wheel or all-wheel drive. Prices begin at $22,795 for
front-wheel drive versions and $24,495 for all-wheel drive.
Both those prices include four-wheel disc brakes with antilock, traction
control, power windows, locks and mirrors, power driver's seat, a split folding
rear bench seat, cruise control, height adjustable steering wheel and a stereo
with CD player.
The Limited tester's beige interior seemed well put together, functionally well
thought out and conservative in its dashboard design. This driver could have
done without the obviously fake wood trim, though. And a control as important as
that for the heater/AC fan might have been larger. But those are nits.
The Five Hundred's steering is highly assisted and its suspension is on the soft
side, but handling is more than adequate. The tester's Pirelli P6 performance
tires delivered the only harshness in the tester's ride but stuck to the
pavement like glue.
Ford calls the Five Hundred its "flagship," which would make the larger and more
expensive Crown Vic its aircraft carrier, I guess.
The Five Hundred is about 3 inches longer than a Taurus sedan but almost a foot
shorter than a Crown Vic. The Five Hundred adds 2 inches of rear legroom to the
Taurus' maximum and even beats the Crown Vic by about an inch.
Most notable is the Five Hundred's height -- 4 inches more than the Taurus and
about 3 inches higher than a Crown Vic. Ford used the height to raise the
seating position in relation to the floor for easier entry and exit. But the
Five Hundred offers slightly less headroom up front than a Taurus. Trunk space,
at least in cubic feet, is nearly identical to the Crown Vic's but 4 feet more
than the Taurus'.
The Crown Vic has a 239-hp. V-8. The Taurus is available with the same 3.0-liter
V-6 as in the Five Hundred (Ford calls it the Duratec) or with an older and less
powerful 3.0-liter V-6 called the Vulcan.
Ford would appear to deserve an "attaboy" for bringing the 300-pound- heavier
Five Hundred to market with the same engine as the Taurus but with no decrease
in EPA fuel economy estimates; both cars are rated at 20 mpg city and 27
highway. Ford credits the Five Hundred's transmissions for that. Those figures
are for the continuously variable unit. Mileage with the conventional six-speed
automatic is even better: 21 mpg city, 29 highway.
Those of you wavering among the Five Hundred, Taurus and Crown Vic might also
take into account that the Five Hundred isn't available with any factory cash
back -- at least not yet -- while there's a $2,000 rebate on the '05 Taurus and
$3,500 on leftover '04s. Ford is offering $1,000 on '05 Crown Victorias and
$3,500 on '04s.
The tester stickered at just over $30,000 with a safety package, for $595, that
includes front seat-mounted side-impact and head curtain air bags. The curtains
are designed to deploy if the car is hit in the side or if sensors determine an
impending rollover.
The federal government hasn't yet published crash test results for the Five
Hundred. There's no info available yet either on its reliability, nor is there
such data for the almost-as-new Chrysler 300. Consumer Reports deems the Avalon
much better than average in reliability, while the Taurus, Crown Victoria,
Impala and LeSabre are rated average and the Bonneville much worse than average.
'05 Ford Five Hundred
As tested:
Engine: 203-hp., 3.0-liter V-6.
Transmission: Continuously variable automatic, all-wheel drive.
Safety: Dual front and seat-mounted side-impact and head curtain air bags
with rollover sensor, four-wheel disc brakes with antilock, "Reverse Sensing
System," fog lamps.
Place of assembly: Chicago.
Weight: 3,815 pounds.
Trunk: 21.2 cubic feet.
EPA fuel economy rating: 19 mpg city, 26 highway.
Price as driven: $30,235, including destination charge.
-
Tom Incantalupo, Newsday, Friday, November 12, 2004
Is It
'Handsome' Or An 'Old Man's Car'?
Early reviews for the Ford Five
Hundred sedan give Ford Motor Co.'s new flagship good grades in interior design,
room and handling, but critics say the car comes up short in the key areas of
styling and performance.
As Ford's big sedan reaches U.S. dealerships, none of the critics is saying that
the car is downright ugly. What they do say is that the car has no standout
design features like the brawny grille and broad shoulders of the Chrysler 300
or the sharp edges of the Cadillac CTS.
Automobile magazine's Michael Jordan wrote, "As soon as you see the Five
Hundred, you can tell that it's an old man's car, perfectly practical yet
fundamentally uninspiring."
That's hardly a ringing endorsement for a crucial product that Ford is counting
on to turn around sliding sales and sagging market share.
Jim Kenzie of the Toronto Star called the Five Hundred "handsome." But he wrote,
"Looking at the Five Hundred reinforces my belief that J Mays, group vice
president of design at Ford, can only draw one sedan. He was at Volkswagen when
the current Passat was designed and at Ford when the current Euro Mondeo
emerged. They all look identical."
Steven Cole Smith, auto editor of the Orlando Sentinel, said, "I think Ford may
be overestimating the pent-up desire for a big, anonymous-looking sedan, no
matter how roomy and capable it is."
Ford seems unconcerned about reviewers' impressions of the car. "Overall, we are
very pleased with the reaction from all our constituents, from the media to
dealers, employees and customers," said Ford spokesman John Arnone. And it had
many favorable comments to cite, even though many have a mixed-bag flavor.
For example, Warren Brown, auto writer for the Washington Post, wrote, "The
exterior isn't stunning, but the Five Hundred's passenger cabin is one of the
best Ford or anyone else has developed for a passenger sedan."
Automotive critic Dan Neil of the Los Angeles Times said he believes the car's
conservative design shows "admirable restraint." He also saw a similarity to the
Passat. He wrote, "Is the car beautiful, exciting? No. But [it's] well-balanced,
grown-up, and it's a terrific packaging job. It suggests mental health, not
emotional rescue."
Ford hopes to sell 120,000 Five Hundreds a year in the United States. It said it
has 18,000 presold orders for the car. The company is counting on the Five
Hundred and two other new vehicles - the 2005 Freestyle sport wagon and the
midsized 2006 Fusion sedan - to reverse Ford Division's skidding sales.
The 2005 Five Hundred's 203-hp., 3.0-liter V-6 also has been singled out for
criticism. Edmunds.com called the Five Hundred's performance "mediocre." In a
review for the Detroit News, Paul and Anita Lienert said the car has good
initial acceleration but "quickly runs out of torque as the vehicle speeds
increase." Jim Mateja of the Chicago Tribune also wondered whether the Five
Hundred has enough power. Ford offers no optional engines on the Five Hundred.
Ford focused much effort developing a stylish interior and creating a full-sized
sedan with a lot of room. The company has been quick to point out that the Five
Hundred has 21 cubic feet of trunk room, enough to hold eight golf bags.
-
Richard Truett, Automotive News, Newsday, Sunday, October 3, 2004
This page was last updated on
02/27/10
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