My father is going to be getting a new vehicle this spring for his company car and I wanted to check to see what your experience was with this Five Hundred based Taurus compared to the original Taurus series. He currently drives an 04 Taurus SES with a Duratech. He pretty much lives out of this car and has to often drive on back-roads, often driving on rock roads.

My first question after having test driven one myself is, will this car be rugged enough and how will it do in the snow in the FWD variation?

My second question is in regards to the 3.5L Cyclone engine, his cars must be able to last at least to 150K miles without any engine or transmission problems, has there been any signs of problems with the new Cyclone engine or the new joint venture 6-speed automatic?

My third question is how do the cloth seats compare to the leather seats (as at the time the dealer only had leather) in terms of comfort. The reason why I ask this is he prefers cloth and if the seats are anything like the seats in his 04 Taurus, it would probably be a good idea to look elsewhere as they are giving him back pains.

Any feedback will be appreciated.