Why no V8 option? w/ AWD it's almost 4000 pounds. The new 3 valve 4.6 would have been perfect.

I wish Ford would come out with a mid-size RWD V8 car. They just don't want to do it.... in North America at least. What happened to the good old days?

Well, I don't think Ford has a V8 that would fit under the hood of the 500 right now. In the 500, the engine sits sideways in the bay, so the engine can't be too large, or it wouldn't fit between the firewall and front bumper. The current engine, the Duratec 30, has a 60° V angle.

-The 4.6l V8 (Mustang) has a 90° V angle, so it's too large.
-I can't find the data on the 3.9l V8 (TBird), but I'm also guessing 90°, since it's in the same family.

These other Ford V8s fit lengthwise (front of engine=front of car).

The old Taurus SHO had a 60° sideways V8, but it was made for Ford by Yamaha, and it isn't used anymore. And it "only" made 235hp.

When the new Duratec 35 is ready in 2005, I'm 100% positive It'll be used in the 500 . It looks pretty nice at 245 hp with 240 lb/ft of Torque. Those numbers aren't too far off the Mustang's GT specs; and if Nissan if able to get 280hp from their 3.5L, I'm sure Ford could do it too if they feel the need.

How many cars in the 500's segment offer a V8? Honda,Toyota, Mazda & most others have V6s, Volvo has inline 5s. The Passat *does* have a W8, so does the Bonneville.

I think Ford wants to launch the 500 with a proven engine at this point so they have less worries. They're already debuting 2 new transmissions with this platform.

I do agree that, for marketing purposes, it would be nice.

I have a 2000 Taurus with the 3.0L 200HP Duratec and I can tell you it has plenty of power. I don't think this car will need (or fit) a V8, but that may be something Ford considers in a few years, to increase sales. Besides, the car isn't being marketed as a sports sedan.

Numerous reasons, let's just look at a few:

1. It won't fit, the 90 degree mod v8 is simply too big to fit in that vehicles engine compartment, same holdss for the smaller Jaguar designed 3.9l v8 from the Lincoln LS. Fitting either would require a complete redesign of the cars front end. That would mean greater weight, and poorer fuel economy in the v6 versions.
2. Even if they could fit the new 3v mod v8 in the car that engine produces way too much torque and hp for use in a front drive car, it's a lot more than the Passat's w8's output. AWD would of course be necessary, as it is in the Passat w8, and Ford doesn't have a transmission available to handle those kind of loads, so they would have to spend a fortune engineering one to fit. They don't have the money, and I doubt it would generate that many more sales, VW's Passat W8s aren't exactly flying off the lots.
3. Big v8s get worse fuel economy than moderately sized v6s which are adequate to do the job, this hurts the automakers CAFE numbers for the sake of entertaining a few enthusiasts. Not a good bargain. Ford would just as happily sell the performance enthusiasts a smaller number of Jaguar XJRs as they would a slightly larger number of $45,000 Five Hundred V8s. I can't see a limited production V8 version of that car coming in for less than that.
3. A 245-270 hp 3.5l v6, like the Duratec 35 due in about 18 months is a much better fit for this car than any V8 i could think of. Ford could not have that engine in time for the Five Hundred's launch, largely due to what in retrospect look like some bad gambles they took in the 90s, e.g. gobbling up the PAG brands rather than investing money in product development, not designing the uratec V6 to accomodate displacements larger than 3 litres, I don't think they counted on Nissan here. But they don't seem to be too interested in putting the Duratec 35 in the car. It seems that they would rather reserve it for other vehicles like the as yet unnamed Mercury crossover, the Aviator, etc.. I imagine it might show in in some performance variant of the Five Hundred, but not as a standard option. This of course has to do with CAFE, and the limits on production capacity fot the one plant producing the Duratec 35. The Duratec 30 has much greater capacity available because it produced and used in Europe too.
4. It's time to get off this insane horespower race! Just my opinion.
5.With a new vehicle architecture, though Volvo based it's extensively modified, defining what is essentialy a new market segment, tall crossover based sedans; two new transmissions, including the largest implementaion of CVT technology by any carmaker to date, and aa new to Ford flexible production system, they have enough on their hands to cope with. The ive Hundred is not quite the sort of make or break proposition that the Taurus was 20 years ago, but it is close. If it loses Ford become a niche player in passenger cars. They have limited resources and they need to marshall them wisely. Going after a few enthusiasts and potentially losing the broader market, not bringing the project in on time and within budget, and losing a high build quality at launch would be foolish.

Very well thought-out response, Ned. I agree that a V-8 would only appeal to a certain number of enthusiasts, but I am one of those and I think it would be GREAT! You make several very good points, but the luxury cars are going the way of performance and if Ford wants to keep up, then they will have to have at least offer a performace option - supercharged v6? - I don't know. Otherwise the Five-Hundred will not do well.

i agree with this 100%

look a gm they have 3 (that i can think of at this time) ... supercharged v6
impala ss monte ss and the gtp...
plus gm a has the gto the ssr
chrysler has the hemi and the cross fire ..

ford has the vick and the stang yeah
ooo ya the zx4 st focus and all of 150 hp


ford needs more power they can do it ...

ya the 35 is coming....but will it be to late for the 500 people go and by this beutiful car and it is a dog... not very good... the 30 make 220 with the vvt and 200hp that is hardly enough to make a 3330lb taurus enjoyable....i could not imagine what a 4000lb car would fell with 200 hp .. never mind i do my old suburban was 5000 and only 210 hp but it had 325 ft/lbs tq ...



my oppinon ford needs a v8 to stay or a supercharged v6 to stay in the game...
people want some thing reliable , luxurius, and fun to drive

You forget the CVT has 5.19:1 final drive ratio. It'll make the most of the what the Duratec will put out. Althoug, the 35 Duratec will be a welcomed addition.

If you want more power, just install a 75Hp shot of nitrous and buy the extended warranty.

first prob nos is not covered in the warranty


second ford can drop a v8 in there if they wanted to look at the sho gun (festa with yamaha SHO motor) and i see some were of a foci with a v8 and rwd conversion (sorry cant remember were or what i was called)... the 4.6 was going to be made for a fwd car but ford ran out of money and had to use the 4.6 in the stang... now ford is hopefully coming back around ... they can do that God willing ... and start using the hericane motor for all other aplications...

Well of course you remove the NOS before you take the car into the shop for the warranty work. It works well. Many years ago I had an IROC with a 350 in it and 6yr/60K warranty. They fixed everything through the whole warranty period.

There is a word for that. I believe it that word is called fraud. As in deceiving in order to gain a benefit to which one is not entitled.

Just a thought...

I' ll Tell you why, 1. as mentioned earlier Ford wanted to release this car on a troublefree capable powerplant. 2. Do Not Pass Judgement Yet - the CVT Transmission is alot more efficient than any of the imports automatic transmissions and the engine gives alot more power than it does in a current taurus sedan. 3. here is the best part, I have drove this car and it is very capable and has more pull at higer speeds than a taurus with a 4 speed has.

higher top end doesnt always mean faster... the most power comeing of the the 30 is in the lincoln LS making 220... not bad but the sho made that in 1989... and weighs 2900 not no stinking 4000...yes i know the cvt is more efficent than a regular auto but it would have to produce the equivalant of 40 more horse at the wheels than the current 200hp in the taurus... for some reason this does not ad up...


taurus lb/hp

16.65

500 lb/hp

20

this means the 500 has to pull 3.35 more lbs per one hp than the taurus ...
the car seriously needs more power... to compete ...


talking about competeing what is ford going to use in nascar once the taurus is out of production??

The SHO V8 has been resurrected for use in the Volvo XC90 SUV. It's been punched out to 4.4L and puts out 315HP/325LB-FT. Yamaha will be building the engines and shipping them to Volvo for installation. There is a write-up about in this months Car & Driver.