Five HundredFord Five Hundred looks like just another conservatively styled family sedan. But peel away the Passat-like sheet metal and you will find a well engineered, highly competent chassis, much of it lifted from the Ford-owned Volvo S80. The Five Hundred sedan will be sharing this new Volvo-derived platform with the Ford Freestyle untapped markets.
I leased a Ford Five Hundred from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in Ontario, Canada and it has proven to be a nightmare since day 1.
I felt I was given a bad car although I am a long-time customer of Whiteoak Ford Lincoln having leased 2 other cars from them since 1998.
I leased a dealer demo and was not good at judging the condition of the car when I took it out. Since the first week I experienced breakdowns when the engine just stopped running moments after I started it.
The car has been in for service 12 days since I leased the car from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in October 15, 2005. It's been in for service 5 separate times for a variety of repairs such as: air intake switch, pcm replacement (when the engine would not fire after the air intake switch was replaced), pcm re-programming (when the engine would not fire again weeks after the pcm was replaced), steering repair and rear strut replacements. What's unbelievable about the strut repairs was when I complained about excessive thumping noises in the rear of the car, the Whiteoak Ford Lincoln service department replaced the left rear strut. When I picked up the car after a couple days, I still heard thumping noises in the rear. When I brought it back, they replaced the right rear strut.
You'd think that the rear right strut would have been checked when the left was replaced.
Now, I still hear slight thumping sounds in the front of the car and don't know what to do anymore because I've already reported this observation and the Whiteoak Ford Lincoln service department insists that there is nothing wrong with it.
Another thing that frustrates me is that I've written 2 letters to the President of Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in Ontario, Canada and I have not received a call from his office to address these problems.
My Ford Five Hundred experience leased from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln is a total nightmare.
Purchased a 2006 Mercury Montego----knock on wood----it has been everything I wanted in an automobile. The five star rating for the car(with side air bags) was a pleasant surprise after the car was already mine.
My "testing" has shown my mileage to be, at a conservative speed of 60 to 63 miles per hour, varying from 28.3 to 29.2, depending on the hills etc. when using the cruise control. The auto was to be a Grandbaby Buggy for my wife.
At this point, we could not be more pleased.
When I drive it I like the ride and the seating better than a standard sedan. I drive a Sport Trac and have gotten spoiled about being "up".
Hope my "luck" holds---really happy at this time.
Sorry to hear about your problems. I hope it was just one of those things and not what I can expect to occur.
I also hope this car is not on the Ford/Mercury hit list.
I have an 06 500 as a company car. Now has 105,000 miles on it. Only problem is every once in a while, the dash goes out. All gages go to 0 but car keeps running. It has happened only twice so far, not sure what it is. Engine keeps running, it is not a safety issue. We love the car, great room and comfort.
I have an 06 500 as a company car. Now has 105,000 miles on it. Only problem is every once in a while, the dash goes out. All gages go to 0 but car keeps running. It has happened only twice so far, not sure what it is. Engine keeps running, it is not a safety issue. We love the car, great room and comfort.
Have same problem w/2005, 500 limited, did you find a solution for the problem? My dealer has no idea what i'm talking about and will need the car for a couple of weeks. Help. H.
Have same problem w/2005, 500 limited, did you find a solution for the problem? My dealer has no idea what i'm talking about and will need the car for a couple of weeks. Help. H.
It almost has to be a ground problem in the gauge cluster. For all the gauges to go down at once, you'd either have to lose power to every gauge, or you'd have to lose ground. Since each gauge gets its own independent signal, the likelihood of it being the power side of each gauge is very very small. They probably all get one ground though, and if it's intermittent, all the gauges would drop out when the connection to ground goes away. If I were a betting man, I'd bet it's in the connection between the gauge wiring harness and the gauge cluster
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2005 Excursion XLT 4x4 with 5.4 3V & 4R100
1989 F250 XLT Lariat SuperCab 4x2 with 460 & C6
1987 Crown Vic Two Door with 5.0 & AOD
1986 Yamaha V-Twin Virago 1100
For my sanity, please try to use punctuation and capitalization. I try to help the people who post, but it's impossible to do when the post is indecipherable.
Maybe they updated the 06 version some but we have had some problems. Both front struts have been replaced, one of them had the bearing on top going bad and then the other was leaking, this was about 6 months apart, swaybar bushings wear quickly creating a rattle thud sound also. Ours is the limited awd model that we bought used. Also when driving we can hear an occasional chirp. I think it is the traction control pulsating the brakes just enough to get noise. Doesn't seem to matter if going straight, corner, smooth or bump. My wife also got some bad gas this winter, full of water, that screwed the fuel pump so we had to get 2 new pumps put in. I think the car has like 80,000 miles on it now. Mileage isn't that great, 20-maybe 23. Some of the weather stripping is coming unglued around some the doors. It does seem to run good and ride good and seating position is good.
I leased a Ford Five Hundred from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in Ontario, Canada and it has proven to be a nightmare since day 1.
I felt I was given a bad car although I am a long-time customer of Whiteoak Ford Lincoln having leased 2 other cars from them since 1998.
I leased a dealer demo and was not good at judging the condition of the car when I took it out. Since the first week I experienced breakdowns when the engine just stopped running moments after I started it.
The car has been in for service 12 days since I leased the car from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in October 15, 2005. It's been in for service 5 separate times for a variety of repairs such as: air intake switch, pcm replacement (when the engine would not fire after the air intake switch was replaced), pcm re-programming (when the engine would not fire again weeks after the pcm was replaced), steering repair and rear strut replacements. What's unbelievable about the strut repairs was when I complained about excessive thumping noises in the rear of the car, the Whiteoak Ford Lincoln service department replaced the left rear strut. When I picked up the car after a couple days, I still heard thumping noises in the rear. When I brought it back, they replaced the right rear strut.
You'd think that the rear right strut would have been checked when the left was replaced.
Now, I still hear slight thumping sounds in the front of the car and don't know what to do anymore because I've already reported this observation and the Whiteoak Ford Lincoln service department insists that there is nothing wrong with it.
Another thing that frustrates me is that I've written 2 letters to the President of Whiteoak Ford Lincoln in Ontario, Canada and I have not received a call from his office to address these problems.
My Ford Five Hundred experience leased from Whiteoak Ford Lincoln is a total nightmare.
That's terrible....but, it kinda sounds like a "Service" problem to me, and hopefully not a problem with the model itself. You're right. They definitely shoulda checked both sides! I just bought a 2007 Ford 500 this past weekend. I was definitely roped in by the classy look of an economical car. I fell in love with the look and feel of the driver's seat. The visibility is fantastic. I am a former owner of 2 Taurus's. I sure hope I don't have problems with my new 500!
I own a loaded 2005 FFH SEL, which I bought used in 2007, at 68K Km's, on an impulse, without any research. It was a steal, even then, at 40% of its original sale price when new. This is my first Ford, I used to drive higher end Pontiacs before, but since GM was late with G8 I bought FFH as an "in between the leases", temporary car.
I haven't had a single issue with it for more than two years - I've put 50K Km's on it since I bought it. I started thinking about moving to 2007 FFH LTD AWD, and this is the reason why I googled this topic.
Reading this thread, my initial response was worry... but then I rationalized it a bit: since the first article posted in it, which was in Jan 2006, there have been almost 6000 people reading it. My post is eight in the thread, and only three or four previous are talking about real issues. If I can take this as an indication, plus my own experience, Ford Five Hundred has been a great reliability success for Ford engineers.
My feeling is that engineering success was not paralleled in marketing this vehicle. Personally, I am happy with its somewhat low profile, and that as a result of it I could get a safe, reliable, comfortable North American vehicle at a deep discount. The move of rebranding it a 'Taurus' was in my opinion bad marketing as well. Ford Five Hundred was perceived more upscale, even if the new Taurus has more impressive specs. Great for consumers -bad for Ford!
I have a 2007 Ford Five Hundred and love, love, love it. I have the Limited AWD edition. Very roomy, quite smooth ride. I have owned it for three years now and never experienced a problem. I have owned ford my whole live and don't think I will ever divert to anything else. I believe that if you take care of your care like a part of the family it will last you a very long time. If you decide to get one I am sure you will love it. Good luck!! I average abut 26.5 mpg with the AWD.
When looking for a second car my wife, we looked at a 2005 500 for her and we ended up buying it and she loves it. When the lease came due on my Ford Escape, we looked around and found another 2005 500 Limited for me and jumped at the chance to buy it. Even after getting my car certified (bought as a repo), it still cost just over $10K CDN total to buy.
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My Ford Five Hundred Experience - A Nightmare 
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