The Five Hundred and its Mercury cousin, the Montego, offer near near-SUV-like space and utility. They even come with an optional all-wheel-drive and they've aced every crash test.

On paper, they offer everything the average American car buyer could want. This is a clear case of a vehicle created using a check-box form from the marketing department. ("Legroom, check... Storage space, check...") What they forgot was a check box for "Exciting" or even "Interesting."

So they are being rather quickly redesigned. The Five Hundred will get a tough-looking three-bar grill, similar to the Fusion. The Montego will get its own more differentiated look, too. The Freestyle crossover SUV, based on the same engineering platform as the Five Hundred, will also be redesigned.

Just as importantly, they will get a more powerful engine to add a little of that presently missing zip under the hood, as well.
-PVD