Faults:

I purchased this car Dec 30th, 2005. By the end of January I noticed chips in the paint around the bottom rear corners of the rear doors. The front wheels throw debris (small rocks, road salt) up and that is where it hits. A Ford dealership did repaint those areas, telling me it was covered by the warranty. After repainting it, the dealership told me they did me a favor for painting it. It is now one year since I purchased the vehicle. The paint is chipped bad as ever. Anyone else have this problem? I noticed the 2007 models have a strip on the bottom edge of the doors.

I read in someone's comments about the driver's side PW switch. My wife & I think that the auto up/down does go haywire when cold or raining, too.

I just had my brakes/rotors/calipers replaced (warranty covered).

Faults:

The mud Flaps came off in major ice storm. The dealer replaced them free of charge as he said that " They are designed to fall off when they hit an obstruction."

General Comments:

This is a great car.

The mileage is excellent: 30-33 mpg highway at 65 mph or below, 27, 28 highway at 70 mph or above. 21 in town for a big all wheel drive car is satisfactory.

The car is comfortable, has great cargo capacity, and no serious blind spots. The headlights are excellent at night.

The acceleration is more than adequate contrary to complaints that I have read. I don't know how fast they want to go because it merges fine onto the freeway, passes and keeps up with traffic on hills just fine. The real world test is traffic in Houston and Dallas where there were no problems.

Brakes are great. The all wheel drive worked very well in both a very deep snowfall (15 inches, 40 miles on unplowed roads, children in the car and we still got home) and in very heavy rain. Even with the all wheel drive constantly engaged and moving slowly on a snow covered highway the car got 26 mpg.

Everyone who sees it says that it is pretty. The complaints about "blandness" don't impress me. It is easy to keep clean as the interior is spacious and not cluttered.

The steering is a bit imprecise, but acceptable. I test drove a front wheel drive version and thought that the steering was too floaty at higher speeds.

The radio is not wonderful. The trunk has a light only on one side. With a big trunk this makes for a pretty dark interior at night.

The 5 year, 70,000 mile warranty is a vote of confidence from the manufacturer.

Faults:

My Ford 500 has been back for service several times. As soon as I think it is fixed something else breaks down. I have had struts replaced twice -my steering wheel whistles (no answer as to why) - transmission problems twice - last week the water pump leaked - nuts and bolts had to be replaced in addition to the water pump - it was recalled for new fuel straps - all this in only 36,000 miles. Not sure what is next, but I am sure it will be something.

General Comments:

Great space and seating!