Faults:

I found sand all over the engine when I was checking the oil. Ford claims they know sand can get in, but do not believe it's a recall item. In other words they won't do a thing.

General Comments:

Car handles and rides great. I love the new CVT transmission too.

Faults:

Rear bumper (driver's side) screws are loose, allowing the outside of the bumper cover to move approximately an inch.

Engine hood takes excessive force to close. I have to drop it from about 2 feet before it will latch.

General Comments:

I love this car. Why Ford cannot sell more of these, I do not know.

The car is large and luxurious. The trunk is huge.

The safety systems were over the top, literally. Canopy airbags, side airbags, and of-course front and passenger airbags.

A great Haldex AWD system with traction control. (Traction control can be disabled if desired).

A very smooth transmission with great acceleration, and best of all, better gas mileage! I am getting around 0-60 times of 8 seconds. My gas mileage is around 24 mpg with some stop and go traffic (based on my 44 mile round trips to work and back).

Four wheel dual caliper disc brakes with ABS, that are very good at stopping the car. The brake system even has EBS (an electronic brake system that increases the brake pedal force and distribution in emergency braking situations).

It has Volvo inspired and designed safety systems; an engine with a Porsche heritage (originally a 2.5 liter Porsche designed engine that Ford purchased and bored out to 3.0 liters), a German designed and built CVT transmission. (Ex. VW owner here, I do love German design)

Faults:

Rear brake pads have gone already.

Also, the instrument panel goes out occasionally, usually when I hit a bump.

Now the transmission is slipping out of gear and having trouble down shifting.

General Comments:

I love the comfort of the car, the large back seat for my three kids, and the enormous trunk.

Faults:

I've owned my '05 Five Hundred SEL for almost two years now. I think the car drives great.

Lately though, the transmission seems to hesitate starting from quick stops.

Also the instrument cluster intermittently goes off line. All the gages drop and the digital display turns off. I have about 5,000 miles left on the warranty and hope the dealer can fix this. I'd like to know if anybody else has had similar problems.

Faults:

Several TSBs performed, rear suspension and transmission.

Suspension is terrible in winter; rough, harsh, noisy, bottomed out once over speed bump in car park. Improved now temperature is above 0C. Suspension not good enough for such a heavy, large car.

Transmission is sluggish when cold in winter, unresponsive, slow, flares (high revs).

Driver's window goes down when push button to close it.

CD player and stereo cheap; won't play MP3 CD and sound quality is terrible.

Knock in steering re-appeared although fixed once.

Trunk doesn't automatically open up when requested. Unlatched, but have to manually lift. Difficult for those with big fingers; painful/dirty in winter.

General Comments:

Comfortable, excellent visibility, needs more power, but can live with the 3.0L V6.

Easy to drive; relaxing good turning circle.

Dash displays (inc. radio) impossible to read in bright sunlight.

Would question quality and reliability.

Wiper blades are non-standard, can't use typical after market blades.

Mixed results with dealers; one bad, one average and one reasonable.