Ford Five Hundred sedan shapes up as four-door car sculpture
Bob Plunkett
Date Posted: 5/10/2005
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CHICAGO, Ill. -- The BP Bridge in Chicago's Millennium Park, a stunning sculptural span for pedestrians designed by superstar architect Frank Gehry and clad with panels of polished stainless steel, streaks in a sensuous arc over Columbus Drive as we zip beneath it in a new four-door sedan cast in smooth sheetmetal by Ford Design Director J Mays.
With its high arching silhouette and taut character lines honed from a blunted prow to the stubby tail, Ford's fresh treatment for a mid-size sedan also works as a sculpture of sorts, but it's a kinetic one with four wheels attached and the potential of swift movement for the transport of as many as five passengers.
Like the Gehry-built bridge, this new sedan from Ford takes a different tack from conventional design in terms of its shape, size, components and purpose.
Ford tags it as the Five Hundred and taps it as the new flagship vehicle for Ford's evolving car fleet of 2005.
It comes together at Chicago Assembly Plant, where Ford's famed Model T was once built, but the Five Hundred fosters airs of a precise European touring car due to a tight platform borrowed from Volvo, Sweden's automaker now under the corporate umbrella of Ford.
Consider the Five Hundred as a responsive four-door sedan with the body of a mid-size model but the cabin of a big car with seats for five plus luxury gear and an enormous truck with a capacity greater than large sedans.
It's a tall package too, due to the bowed roof.
Doors run deep to make cabin entry and exit easy and seats are elevated so passengers sit about four inches higher than in other sedans of comparable size. Ford labels the design as 'Command Seating' and compares the upright seat position to that of a high-hiked crossover SUV.
And while the beltline is high, so too is the wrap of windows around the cabin so a driver has good sight lines with virtually no blind spots -- note triangular glass in rear roof pillars to diminish corner vision blockage.
Essentially, the cabin for Five Hundred was designed around the body sizes of intended occupants, with more than adequate room crafted for long legs and broad shoulders.
It's this attention to personal space that makes the car feel like a larger vehicle than the linear dimensions categorize it, and this perceived spaciousness means you don't mind spending time strapped inside the cabin.
The cabin layout pitches a pair of bucket seats up front divided by a multi-function console and followed by a rear bench for three with seatback split 60/40 in sections.
Issues of personal safety in the car are addressed with strong structural elements and energy-absorbing crush zones front and rear plus a variety of active and passive safety systems aboard.
All trim versions contain dual-stage frontal air bags for front riders with smart sensors in place to track the severity of a frontal crash along with the driver's seat position in proximity to the steering wheel and whether seat belts are being used.
Side-impact air bags for front seats and curtain-style air bags for front and back rows are offered optionally.
Equipment promoting active safety includes a fast rack and pinion steering mechanism and four-wheel disc brakes tied to an anti-lock brake system (ABS) and traction control system (TCS).
Ford builds the Five Hundred with front-wheel-drive (FWD) or all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction.
The AWD device is a sophisticated electronically-controlled system developed by Haldex, a Swedish pioneer in AWD mechanisms.
It's always engaged and automatically splits the engine's torque between front and rear wheels to keep tires sticking securely to pavement, wet or dry.
The point of the AWD hardware is to maintain forward momentum and keep the Five Hundred operating in a safe mode.
To test it, the tarmac of a parking lot at Soldier Field on the Chicago Lakefront contains parallel rows of plastic pylons defining a narrow chute just wide enough for the Five Hundred to run in a straight line.
At the mid-point of the chute, however, the path jigs over one lane to the left due to a barrier of cones extending from the right that blocks the direct path.
&&& Object is to run the vehicle at 40 mph and -- without tapping the brake pedal -- whip the steering wheel quickly to the left, then to the right, then back left again in order to veer around the barrier.
This side-step action amounts to a brief lane-change maneuver, one which in real traffic could possibly avoid a disaster by deftly steering around a potential hazard -- perhaps an on-coming vehicle or a pedestrian -- that suddenly appears in the intended path.
Make this three-turn sequence in a car with only FWD and the rear tires will probably break traction at some point in the sharp turn sequence as the vehicle begins to spin out of the lane and out of control.
&&& Try it in a Five Hundred outfitted with AWD, though, and the car makes the side-stepping dance in three crisp turns and continues on course as the electronic controller modulates power between slipping and non-slipping tires.
Such a display of agility signifies that the driver can maintain keen control over the vehicle, which ultimately translates to a key defense mechanism for safe motoring.
All issues of the Five Hundred draw power from a 3.0-liter aluminum V6 engine. The plant produces 203 hp at 5750 rpm plus torque of 207 lb-ft at 4500 rpm.
Shifter choices are a nice six-speed automatic transaxle by Aisin for most FWD models or a continuously variable transmission (CVT) by ZF-Batavia for all AWD and some FWD models.
Trims for Five Hundred consist of the well-equipped SE, deluxe SEL and top-flight Limited.
The SE edition carries the CVT and 17-inch aluminum wheels, a keyless entry keypad, air conditioning, power controls for windows and door locks, six-way power for the driver's seat and a stereo system with in-dash CD player.
Five Hundred SEL adds the six-speed automatic shifter for FWD versions, foglamps and heated mirrors plus dual-zone climate controls, a six-disc CD changer with MP3 capability and a fold-flat front passenger seat with power controls.
The Limited rolls on 18-inch aluminum wheels with Pirelli P6 tires and the cabin is dressed in leather with heated front seats and a premium audio package aboard.
Ford sets MSRP points for the Five Hundred SE at $22,795 (FWD) and $24,495 (AWD). Limited trim goes for $26,795 (FWD) or $28,495 (AWD).
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| 2005 FORD FIVE HUNDRED VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS |
| Description: |
Mid-size 4-door sedan |
| Model Options: |
Mid-size 4-door sedan |
| Wheelbase: |
112.9 inches |
| Overall Length: |
200.0 inches |
| Engine Size: |
DOHC 3.0-L V6 |
| Transmission: |
FWD: Auto/6 CVT, AWD: CVT |
| Drive: |
FWD, AWD |
| Braking: |
Power 4-disc ABS/BA/EBD/TCS/VSC |
| Airbags: |
2 (front) plus opt. 2 (side) plus opt. 4 (side curtain) |
| Gas Mileage: |
FWD A/6: 21/29 mpg, FWD CVT: 20/27 mpg, AWD CVT: 19/26 mpg |
| MSRP Price: |
SE: $22,795, SEL: $ 24,795, Limited: $26,795 |
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