Ford Five Hundred AWD

[Henry A Harper III]

> "Five Hundred is the first sedan in its class with available
> all-wheel drive. The electronically controlled All-Wheel-Drive
> (AWD) System reacts within 50 milliseconds to distribute up to
> 100% of the available torque to the rear wheels, ensuring that
> you’ll be more surefooted on the road in a variety of
> conditions."
>
> Anyone know any more details?

_Car & Driver_ had a writeup a couple of months ago in the new model year
issue. The Five Hundred is based on the XC90 platform, so it's the Volvo AWD
system that uses a viscous coupling. Also going to have a CVT as standard,
but the only engine is a gutless (according to C&D) V6...whereas the XC90 is
now (or soon) available with a V8 (from Yamaha, a bigger displacement
version of the V8 from the dead Taurus SHO). For my entirely hypothetical
new car buy, the D-C 300 with Hemi and AWD sounds like a lot more fun. Not
at the gas pump though.

Henry