Eric91Z
06-11-2005, 06:22 AM
Well, finally getting off my duff and getting pictures of the wife's new Ford Five Hundred. We picked this car up a couple months ago as a replacement for the wife's '00 Dodge Durango. She really misses her SUV, but it has been a nice replacement.
Now, my wife is not much of a car person in anyway, at least when it comes to what she drives. Given that, when we went looking for a replacement, it had to be comfortable, look good, drive nice, have 4-doors, and plenty of room. Also, was going to be FWD.
We ended up looking at the Chevy Impala, Dodge Stratus/Chrysler Sebring, and on a last minute urge, the Ford Five Hundred. The wife liked the Impala, until she sat in the Five Hundred. She really likes the stadium style seating of the Five Hundred and the fact that she does not have to drop down as far to sit down. Very important at this point with her being right at 9 months pregnant (due any day now).
Anyway, now that we have had the car for awhile, thought I would give a little report and get some pictures up. We ended up getting the base model: SE. But for a base model, it is pretty well loaded for our needs. The wife did not want leather anyway, so that made it easier. It has the 3.0 V6 Duratec motor and the 6-speed automatic. Has traction control, ABS, AM/FM/CD, huge 4-wheel disc brakes, and 17" wheels and tires. So far, we are very happy with the car. My biggest compliant is the complete lack of power off the line or down low. Other than that, the car is quite nice. It has a nice smooth, quiet and controlled ride. Only time it is a handful is if it gets really windy and you are on an open highway. Then it does get blown around a little. I think that is a function more of the tires and shock/spring setup because the car is plenty heavy. The interior is pretty nice and comfortable and everything falls right where you want it from the driver's seat. Really don't have to reach to get to anything. There are 2 cup holders by the shifter, two in the rear fold down arm rest, and one in each door for a total of 8. Stereo is pretty decent unless cranked way up on a song with lots of bass. I was very paranoid about the paint as there were a couple little scrathes in it from the get go that were not noticed until we got the car home. Since then, I have done a complete initial Zaino job on it, but only have one coat of Z5 on there right now. Kind of waiting for my time off when the new baby comes to get a few more coats on it.
The car cleans up very nicely and we just got the windows tinted (by Iowa law since the wife does not want to get pulled over - meaning no tint on front side windows). I, personally, think that made a big difference in the look of the car. Before it was just way too much open glass. Now it needs to have the ride height dropped a little and some nice polished or chrome wheels on it. Other than that, very happy with the car. Although the wife has already said she wants another SUV when this one is paid off and would like that to be a used Navigator with those big, shinny, chrome 18" wheels (I think they are 18's).
Anyway, here is a picture from the other day. And there are more in my gallery - if you click the link in the upper right of this post. Or use this link of the pictures button in the upper right doesn't work:
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1135
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/500_Tinted_1.jpg
Thanks for reading.
Now, my wife is not much of a car person in anyway, at least when it comes to what she drives. Given that, when we went looking for a replacement, it had to be comfortable, look good, drive nice, have 4-doors, and plenty of room. Also, was going to be FWD.
We ended up looking at the Chevy Impala, Dodge Stratus/Chrysler Sebring, and on a last minute urge, the Ford Five Hundred. The wife liked the Impala, until she sat in the Five Hundred. She really likes the stadium style seating of the Five Hundred and the fact that she does not have to drop down as far to sit down. Very important at this point with her being right at 9 months pregnant (due any day now).
Anyway, now that we have had the car for awhile, thought I would give a little report and get some pictures up. We ended up getting the base model: SE. But for a base model, it is pretty well loaded for our needs. The wife did not want leather anyway, so that made it easier. It has the 3.0 V6 Duratec motor and the 6-speed automatic. Has traction control, ABS, AM/FM/CD, huge 4-wheel disc brakes, and 17" wheels and tires. So far, we are very happy with the car. My biggest compliant is the complete lack of power off the line or down low. Other than that, the car is quite nice. It has a nice smooth, quiet and controlled ride. Only time it is a handful is if it gets really windy and you are on an open highway. Then it does get blown around a little. I think that is a function more of the tires and shock/spring setup because the car is plenty heavy. The interior is pretty nice and comfortable and everything falls right where you want it from the driver's seat. Really don't have to reach to get to anything. There are 2 cup holders by the shifter, two in the rear fold down arm rest, and one in each door for a total of 8. Stereo is pretty decent unless cranked way up on a song with lots of bass. I was very paranoid about the paint as there were a couple little scrathes in it from the get go that were not noticed until we got the car home. Since then, I have done a complete initial Zaino job on it, but only have one coat of Z5 on there right now. Kind of waiting for my time off when the new baby comes to get a few more coats on it.
The car cleans up very nicely and we just got the windows tinted (by Iowa law since the wife does not want to get pulled over - meaning no tint on front side windows). I, personally, think that made a big difference in the look of the car. Before it was just way too much open glass. Now it needs to have the ride height dropped a little and some nice polished or chrome wheels on it. Other than that, very happy with the car. Although the wife has already said she wants another SUV when this one is paid off and would like that to be a used Navigator with those big, shinny, chrome 18" wheels (I think they are 18's).
Anyway, here is a picture from the other day. And there are more in my gallery - if you click the link in the upper right of this post. Or use this link of the pictures button in the upper right doesn't work:
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1135
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/500_Tinted_1.jpg
Thanks for reading.