Why you should buy this car: The Five Hundred is exactly what middle America needs: an old school Yank tank with reasonable gas mileage and laudable safety. If you re in the cop or carriage trade, or have a wife whose idea of packing light squares with Joan Collins , the Five Hundred s cavernous trunk will whale your Jonahs with ease. And the Five Hundred s all-wheel-drive option ($1700) may do nothing for the barge s handling, but it s snow joke for cold climate commuters.

Why you shouldn t buy this car: Because you have a pulse.

Suitability Parameters
· Speed Merchants: No
· Fashion Victims: No
· Treehuggers: No
· Mack Daddies: No
· Tuner Crowd: No
· Hairdressers: No
· Penny Pinchers: Yes
· Euro Snobs: No
· Working Stiffs: Yes
· Technogeeks: No
· Poseurs: No
· Soccer Moms: No
· Nascar Dads: No
· Golfing Grandparents: Yes

Vitals
· Manufacturer: The Blue Oval Boys
· Model tested: Five Hundred Limited AWD
· Model year: 2006
· Price as Tested: $27,930
· Engine type: 3.0L 4V Duratec 30 V6
· Horsepower: 203hp @ 5750 rpm
· Torque: 207 ft.-lbs. @ 4500 rpm
· Redline: 5800 rpm
· Wheels and Tires: Pirelli P6 Four Seasons, P225/55R-18 97T M+S
· Drive type: AWD
· 0 - 60: 8.0 secs.
· 1/4 mile: 16.3 sec @ 88 mph
· Top speed: 112 [governor limited]
· Fuel economy city/highway: 19/26
· NHTSA crash test rating front/side/rollover: 5/5/4

[by Robert Farago]

Related:
Jalopnik Reviews: 2006 Ford Five Hundred SEL AWD, Part 1, Part 2 [internal]

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