2005 Ford Five Hundred Limited review from North America

Dashboard storage compartment lid bubble.

Exterior: The Limited has chrome on it that the SEL and SE lack. Personally, I love the chrome accents. I even purchased the aftermarket trunk handle trim and chrome license plate frames. I am not thrilled with the “brushed chrome” look of the honeycomb grille and rims. But they compliment each other. If I replace one then I have to replace both. And I worry about chrome rims being stolen. Overall the exterior has a clean, sleek, and upscale appearance. It is understated and classic. I will freely and gladly admit that I love the conservative styling.

Under The Hood: The Five Hundred is obviously not built for speed or racing. I have heard complaints about lackluster performance. However I have found the Five Hundred is more than adequate for my wants and needs. It has good pickup and speed for the traffic conditions here in the DFW metroplex area. Even with the trunk fully loaded for a 5 ½ hour drive it had good acceleration and stopping power. It is a sedan and not a street rod or muscle car. It performs wonderfully.

Fuel mileage: When I first got my Five Hundred she already had about 2,500 miles on the odometer. For the first couple of months I was only getting about 17 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. Almost a year later and at 8,000 miles on the odometer I have seen a significant increase in mpg. I now get 23 – 24 mpg in city driving. I haven’t been on a highway trip lately to gauge my mileage with just open highway. But combined for daily driving I’m getting about 27 mpg. I have the FWD 6 speed.

Interior: I have the leather interior. I find the seats have plenty of support and are comfortable without being hard. Fit and finish on the inside seem high quality. I like the faux wood accents. Granted real wood would look better, but it would also cost significantly more. I love the look of the interior. The dash board compartment lid is well known to be prone to bubbles in the 05 models. Though I have found a car cover prevents the interior from heating up to the point where it bubbles. However, I do have a scheduled appointment to get the replacement lid installed. I find the ride to be quiet and smooth. “Command seating” is not something that can just be explained. It is something that has to be experienced to truly understand. The best way I can try to articulate the “command seating” is to say that it is like having a truck or SUV view of the road, but with a sedan. It makes getting into and out of the Five Hundred easy. I do not have to stoop to get in or feel like I have to climb to get out.

Audio: Many think it could be better. I am more than satisfied with the sound quality from the stock stereo. I did have to do some adjusting to the levels of bass and tremble. Otherwise the radio has good reception. I enjoy being able to preset 12 FM channels and 6 AM channels. The 6 disc in dash CD changer allows me hours of whatever music I want to listen to without commercials or paying for XM radio. I can burn my own MP3’s and with upwards of 100 song per CD means I can drive for hours listening to music I love, can sing along with, and not hear the same song twice. Besides, I’m not out to rattle the neighbors windows.

Space: It is a big car. It is a large size sedan that drives like a smaller car. It does not have that “big boat” feeling. There is plenty of leg room, seat room and head room. I am short by most standards, but have some friends over 6 feet tall. Lack of space, foot room and head room has not been complaints. With the 21.2 cf trunk I have had more than enough room to haul anything I have needed to put in there. We have a small business and I can fit all of our stock, all of the set up supplies such as lighting displays, and some of my crafting tools in the trunk when we do shows. As well as all the Christmas presents and luggage when we went to visit family in another state.

Safety: The Ford Five Hundred consistently gets high safety ratings from various crash tests. The command seating and open large windows means few {if any} blind spots. The steering wheel controls became 2nd nature on my first drive home. Granted it was almost a 4 hours drive. It is nice not to have to take my hands off the wheel to change radio stations, volume or mute it all together. Setting the cruise control with just the flick of a thumb.

Other: I love the fact that the back seat arm rest has a storage area and cup holders. The dash board storage compartment is something I use almost daily. The keypad by the drivers door means I don’t have to store spare keys in a magnetic holder under the car somewhere or worry about locking my keys in the car. All of the controls are easy to reach and easy to use. The moonroof has been a wonderful “nice to have” item. I like fresh air when driving, but find cracking a window can be noisy. There is some noise with using the vent function of the moonroof, but far less than with cracking a window.

Overall: I get good gas mileage. It has a conservative, sleek and clean look inside and out. It rides well and has plenty of room for people and for cargo. I have been more than pleased with my decision. I love my Ford Five Hundred Limited.

I know the Ford Five Hundred it not right for everyone. But it has been a perfect fit for me. It had everything I wanted and needed for a price I could reasonably afford.