I drove the SEL first. It felt just a little sluggish on the way out of the lot (I'm currently driving a 96 Sable, for reference), but was fine on the roads around the dealership at speeds up to about 50 MPH. The Shale cloth seats weren't as dark as I'd feared. Radio was ok. (Various people have said bad things about it. It's ok.) Overall, it was a familiar sort of experience.
When I got back, the salesman asked if I wanted to drive the Limited with AWD. Sure! It didn't have the sluggish feeling that the SEL had at first. It did have a moonroof, which took just enough space out of the headroom to give me a problem, but I'm 6 feet tall with a 30 inch inseam, so all of my height is in my torso. No moonroof for me!
I actually got the Limited out on the highway briefly. Acceleration was good, as was visibility.
The only annoying thing is that it will take a while to get used to moving my left leg to a position where it doesn't hit the cupholder in the door. Either that or I'm going to pad the thing with a bit of foam rubber.
I went back this morning and placed an order with the salesperson I've been working with. Chris Clayton is a Ford employee and was good enough to make a Friends and Family discount available to me, which substantially reduced the need to negotiate (and the price!).
So now I'm waiting for a blue SEL with shale interior, AWD, and CVT to show up from the factory. They're quoting eight weeks, but I'm pretty sure that's worst case. We'll see what actually happens.
(As
tarkrai marks his calendar...)