Well evidently the Ford Fusion is the Taurus replacement. The 500 may very well end-up replacing the Grand Marquis, or it's just a "Taurus-Plus".

So far all of mine have been YFs, whether they are SELs (with leather, sunroof, auto climate control, and info center), base models (with/NL), or Montegros (which have some of the options the SELs do like auto-climate control and info center).

The base 500 is no fun, period. If you get one, demand a Montegro, at a minimum. I do like the SELs since they have leather, sunroof, and all the extras the Montegro come with.