Solid Body,nice smooth interior,big trunk,safe road feel,exterior looks,good bumpers,can drive for hours with this Taurus.Fuel consumption is good for this size of car,about 11 kilometers on 1 litre.stainless-steel exhaust,easy to service engine and filter.

Cooling system recall(install coolant by-paas kit),transmissionfluidcooler in radiator way to small(install B&M supercooler),doorhinges wear out to soon,so lube them often to prevent,a bit noisy brakes when pressed hard,electric windowmotors could be bigger,lube your seals to prevent.

I read so many good and bad reviews on the internet about the Taurus but I only can give you my own review.I got the car in 2001,I liked the bodystyle and the interior.Nice and smooth interior without sharp edges.Seats are comfortable and lots of room.Has columshifter,the right place for an automatic,floorshifter takes away space and is not needed.I have the Vulcan V-6 with the AX4S transmission.The car drives very smooth,european road feel,engine is not noisy,for normal driving engine has plenty of power and torque,but is not a real fast car.Transmission shifts good and firm but is a bit slow in upshifts and downshifts.Putting the shifter in drive,have to wait about 2 seconds or less to engage.Better do so or you kill your forward piston clutch.Ford dealer did all the maintance and recalls and for almost 5 years that I have the car I do it myself and the Taurus has now about 185.000 kilometers and is doing fine.Paint is still good and no bodyrust is observed.In the coastel area where I live in Holland it is rather salty,and in wintertimes,roadsalt is used.So I wash te car often,spray with fresh water the underside.After 10 years on the road this Taurus isn't a bad car.Good thing for the Americans that they don't have to drive French or Italian cars,Russian or Spanish.Then you will know how fast cars can break down.This Taurus is build solid with good materials and parts,but some parts could be better,I know.Serious trouble untill now I did not have but there are some points I have to mention.Cooling system had problem,heater stopped working,rust in system.Stupid designed cooling system that blew coolant foam in coolant bottle and coolant became acid due to airation.Ford dealer installed a coolant by-pass kit.But had to flush and backflush the system and heatercore twice and works fine now even after a few years.coolant tank replaced with new design clear bottle.Filled it up with good european quality coolant.The transmissionfluid,Mercon,I check it every week,was slowy darkening and was slowy changing smell.The stock transmissionfluid-cooler in the radiator is way to small to cool the fluid.Also is this a design flaw.As we all know this heat kills your transmission.And this problem of overheating transfluid also happens with european cars but some people don't want to know.So I installed a B&M Supercooler,changed the fluid with fresh european Mercon and transfluid stays brightred even after 2 years.For the rest of the car,no electrical problems,O yes,the domelamp didn't want to go out,lubed the doorhinges and the locks with WD-40,light went out.lube them every month.Windows didn't operate,common older car problem,lubed the rubber glass seals with silicongrease,works good now,but had to remove the interior door panels to lube the system.Had to buy new push-pins to lock the panels,you can only use them one time.Electric window motors are a little bit to small,could be stronger.That are the only things I had with the car so far in 5 years.Drive it everyday to my work and back and seems to be a dependaple car.Hope I can keep it for a few more years.

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Mercury Zephyr 1978,Ford Taunus 1982,Ford Escort 1988,Ford Sierra 1992,Ford mondeo 1995.all automatic.

Large Size
Power everything
Simple dash layout, intuitive
Nice exterior styling
Affordable for families
I feel safe in this car

Could use more power sometimes, but I'm used to my T-Bird and Mustang!

Nice car! Large 4-door sedan does everything you ask of it. Large interior, my 6'4" friends can sit in the back seat and I don't have to move my seat to make room. HUGE trunk. Simple dash controls, easy to find everything. GREAT cupholders. (Believe me, this is more important than you first realize.) Peppy engine, though could use more power in such a big vehicle. Power everything, totally loaded. In this case, 'boring sedan' is exactly what I wanted. I don't want to be noticed, just leave me alone to run my errands and go to work, but at the same time, the current Taurus styling is sleek and attractive. No more trouble than any other car if you take care of it. It's big, simple, affordable, and has everything I could ask for. What's not to love?

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Dodge Intrepid

Acceleration - 24V DOHC
Room
Comfort
Handling

Waiting for transmission problems to surface.
Delayed transimission engagement when shift from forward to reverse.
Exhaust pipe rattle.

I bought my Taurus in Feb 2005 with 10,000 miles on in. I had heard of the transmission problems with this model so I made sure I found one at the dealer that had the extended 75,000 mile power train and engine warranty offered by Ford on thier "almost" new cars. I commute 100 miles a day round trip on the freeway to work, often conjested stop and go traffic for stretches. I now have 45,000 on the car and am pleased to say the car has been great. I am starting to notice a slight vibration in the steering wheel when braking, but I figure at 45K, brakes are probably about ready to be done. I pretty much have all the options including leather, floor shifter for tranny, and sunroof which is always nice on those sunny days. The 24V DOHC is the engine to have on this car, my freind has the standard 3.0 ltr and the difference in performance is very noticeable, especially when accelearting quickly for freeway merging. I have noticed some exhaust pipe vibration (rattle) at low RPM's, but it is not constant and nothing that would be a major irritant. I think the transmission sometimes shifts too soon in city street driving, causing a lugging feeling, but I simply shift out of overdrive and it is fine. I have had the tranny serviced regularly and same with oil changes. My wife has an 2002 X-Type Jag which she bought around the same time I bought my Taurus. She paid considerably more for the Jag than I paid for my 2004 Taurus. I admit her car looks cooler than mine, but mine accelerates faster, gets better MPG (I avg. 24MPG on my freeway commute), has more interior room, is more comfortable on long trips, and is cheaper to maintain. Considering all (value for the money, reliability, comfort, driving charateristics) I have been very satisfied with the purchase.

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Mazda 626
Jaguar X-Type
Early 90's Taurus

Good Body-durable
handles well
roomy trunk

Difficult to fix nearly anything
almost purposly positioned difficult for anything under hood
even simple repairs costly

I was thrilled when I got this care, leather seats, disc changer, etc. . . THEN the problems started. If you like to do your own repairs this is a HORRIBLE vehicle to have. the way the cylinders on this car are positioned it is impossible to change the back 2 spark plugs. It must literally bu put on a lift in a shop and is time consuming and expensive. The thermostate which SHOULD be an easiy thing to do is buried and the entire dash board must be removed to reach it. The combined climate control and radio CD system is such a pain that even the specialty car audio places in my area wont touch it. The ENTIRE UNIT must be removed at the dealership and sent 3 hours away to Cleveland for repair, the only place that will touch it, so no climate control for the 1+ week it will be gone plus the cost from the dealership to reinstall added to the cost of the place in cleveland to fix it. It has a sound body and handlees well, but you can tell when you lift the hood- FORD MUST NOT THINK YOU HAVE ANY BUSINESS UNDER THE HOOD OF YOUR OWN CAR AND MAKES IT AS DIFFICULT AS POSSIBLE TO FIX ALL PARTS. Having had previous problems with other cars (escort, tempo)I will not be purchasing another. (4 different people have tried to replace my plugs besides my fiance and myself- no success)

FAIR DEAL IF YOU DONT MIND BLOWING MONEY ON A DEALER TO FIX EVERYTHING

Okay, this is a follow-up to my prior review - it has become apparent in my Taurus that when shifting from "Park" to "Reverse" that the transmission very audibly CLUNKS. My mechanic mentions the transmission is going, and I've only just put 3,500 miles on the car in the last two and a half months! WTF? I've heard this is (again) a common problem. The dealership wiped their hands of the car, basically said "You're messed now!" and laughed at me. I've looked into new transmissions for the car, and the prices and time estimates to get them scare me a little bit. I bought the Taurus thinking that it was mechanically sound, but the dealer claims "mechanically sound" is that it works. Fantastic. So the transmission's going, the brakes still need to be replaced, and I've only had it for one oil change. Isn't it grand.

Velvet power from the (underrated) V8.

V8sho.com- Bunch of nutcases hopped up on speedparts who've horded the masses having no disregard for public roads. I hope the seagull of happiness projectile vomits in their tired shoes. Also, no more special editions of this car yet from Ford. The basic motor is now retuned and in the Volvo XC90. 4.4 litres and apx. 315 HP. No way that it would retro fit this platform with this gearbox.

Solid car, and in-tune with driver inputs and needs.

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First sports sedan.

Roomy inside, big trunk

Bad design, bad on gas (19 mpg), ugly, old-fashioned looking (now), cheap, unreliable parts. Ford has tranny problems in general, and this tranny is extremely hard to get to, which makes the repair more expensive

I do not like this car! First of all, it is just too heavy and clunky. I guess it's just an obselete design for the new millenium.
That being said, this car finally makes me believe all those bad things people say about Fords:
1. This car had only 30,000 miles on it when I bought it in April 2005, but had been sitting, so I replaced all 4 dry-rotted tires and had the wheels balanced and aligned. 4 months later, I started hearing a lot of rattling underneath my front end. After a short while, I needed two new front tires (in fact, I lost most of my tire on the highway when it blew; I got to the shoulder just in time) because it was misaligned again and wearing down tires too fast. $500 in repairs to the axles and replacing of the CV boots AND joints--not too bad. Then 4 months later, it was misaligned again. Two new tires and another repair (I was told it was not the same repair, but still...) cost me another $450. Now it's fine, but I'm not expecting it to last. My friend/mechanic says this is a common problem on Fords; They always use a cheap part on the drive shaft that usually fails quickly.
2. It has horrible pick-up. I hold up traffic in the fast lane trying to pick up speed. It literally takes ten seconds to go from 40 to 50 mph or from 50 to 60 mph. Sometimes, it would rev higher and not go much faster. Transmission? Maybe. Well, after only 20,000 miles of owning this car, the transmission failed. And I mean failed big time. I was at a red light, and when it turned green, there I was: Car was in "neutral" no matter what gear I tried to go into. Luckily, I was close to my mechanic's garage and I turned off the car and turned it back on and it took me (after restarting 2 or 3 more times) that one mile to the garage. It needed a whole new transmission, there was nothing else that could be done. I put in used tranny for $1200. New one would have been almost $2000. I put it in. Most people would have, but I didn't want to take such a big loss on the car. It does have low miles. I'm done with it, though. I bought another car that runs good and I plan to try to get some of my money back out of the Taurus by selling it. Hopefully it will do better for someone else. Just not the car for me.

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82 Ford Grenada - that was horrible too

I must admit - I really like the styling of the car, it's very sleek and the paint seems to be holding up rather well. I enjoy the upper-level features that a more expensive car offers me - the availability of cruise control, and a power seat, and the keyless entry has been a wonderful luxury when moving places. The sound system is good, it's been mistaken for something from Alpine, so I guess I can't complain.

The ventilation system doesn't seem to work all that well - the A/C worked more effectively in the Corolla - it had more power to the basic level.

I bought the car in early April 2006 after struggling with my prior car over the PITA Colorado mountain passes - the Toyota Corolla didn't do so well, but passable. Anyway, I figured that for moving off to a faraway college, I would need more space to transport everything I needed in one swoop, and I figured a bit more power couldn't hurt either, it would be welcomed after the fairly small Corolla.

The Taurus had no major exterior defects - a few scrapes on the bumpers, and a few dings, but nothing to warn me off. It had just passed over to 80,000 miles and had new tires.

I took it for a test drive, and the brakes hit me as a little "touchy." That was the word I used to describe it to the sales associate, but even though I've had some legal training, I forgot to ask what it was.

NOTE: IN THE AUTO SELLING PROFESSION - IF THE POTENTIAL BUYER DOES NOT ASK A PARTICULAR QUESTION, SUCH AS "WHAT IS WITH THE BRAKING SYSTEM," THE SALES ASSOCIATE DOES NOT HAVE TO DISCLOSE ALL OF THE INFORMATION!

I wish I would have remembered that - the brakes soon got less "touchy" and the car developed a horrible shimmy at the front end when braking hard - the Corolla NEVER had anything like that. I come to find out, through a friend who owned a Taurus before me, that this means the car needs new brakes and rotors. God, I was pissed. Ah, the nuances of purchasing used goods. I REALLY wish I had thought to ask.

As a note of later findings - I found out that the car was driving on snow tires in April - again, I didn't ask, so the dealership was not obligated to tell me, but boy do I wish I had noticed and asked. Snow tires in May are no fun at all.

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My first car was a 1996 Toyota Corolla sedan - I loved it, but sold it to my younger sister so that I could get something with more space and more power - the Taurus fits the bill.

Comfortable to drive, nice body design.

Electrical problems, constant oil leaks, acceleration difficulties, gas mileage, ABS system, and the list goes on.

My advice to you is stay away from this car. I bought my car in 2004. Two weeks after it was purchased there was an oil leak. A friend of my husband's replaced a gasket. A month after that, leaking oil again. Different gasket this time. Then the ABS light started coming on. Still haven't got the money together to fix that...I had about three different garages tell me it would be about $800 to fix the brake problems. Then the speed sensor went. Just had that done ten days ago. Now it is leaking oil for the third time. Another fun problem is the driver's side and rear passenger side tires. We keep replacing tires, and though I haven't had it checked I believe something with this car is causing the tires to keep being ruined. It is not nails or faulty tires...had that checked. We have had to replace tires over and over. Just bought brand-new tires, now the same ones are going flat again. Sad but true, American-made cars are trouble. My next car will be something I can't pronounce.

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1990 Ford Ranger, 1996 Ford Explorer, 1969 Ford Galaxie

Strong smooth V6, comfy seats, good rear seat room and trunk space. One of the few wagons left on the market.

EVERYTHING ELSE - Even worse than the quality of this vehicle is the service we received from ford. Had they actually listened to us and fixed the problems the first time, we would have only been in 4-5 times instead of 10. Service department was so inept, and so rude that my wife at one point left in tears without getting any repairs done.

WORST DECISION I'VE EVER MADE!!! Please read this review if you are considering a Taurus, or any ford for that matter! We paid top blue book for our 2002 Taurus wagon w/ 28K miles. Had every option except the moonroof. We had a baby coming, and were under the impression that Taurus wagon was a reliable family car. Boy were we wrong. Our experience: 1. Within days of purchase a loud squeak developed, from the wheels. Even though we we explained to ford that it was happening at all times, they decided it was the break pads, lubed the calipers, and gave us a $400 repair estimate for new front brake pads. 2. We pleaded with our salesman for help, and he was able to get the repairs done at no charge. We brought the car in a second time and had the work done. 3. Squeak came back next day. Now apparently the rear brake pads were the culprit. We again were told we would have to pay for new pads. Again we called our salesman (who was very helpful) and found that our car was actually still under manufacturers warranty. Not only was this not disclosed to us at the time of purchase, but we found in our sales paperwork that somebody at North Bay Ford had forged my wife's signatures on the disclosure that acknowledges the warranty (or lack of) coverage on the vehicle. They agreed to replace the rear break pads at no charge, but gave no explaination regarding the forgery or why or warranty wasn't disclosed at the time of purchase. 4. Squeak returned again. We explained to ford that it happened at all times. They still wrote up the ticket as "breaks squeak when used". They could not duplicate the problem and did nothing. We just accepted that the problem was here to stay. 5. At this same visit, we indicated that the engine was surging violently when idling. It was so strong that the whole car jumped and the you could see the RPM's fluctuate. It was worse when the A/C was on. They wrote the ticket up as "car runs rough when at stop" and (suprise) could not duplicate problem. 6. We brought the car in two more times, and finally the service manager drove the car and found the problem: Cracked spark plug. They replaced under warranty. 7. Engine misfire (as ford calls it) returned three weeks later. Another cracked spark plug. Replaced under warranty. 8. One week later - same problem. Third cracked spark plug. Replaced under warranty. Dealers explaination was that three cracked spark plugs in succession "just happens" on a three year old car w/under 30K miles. 9. Two months later: A/C just stopped working. Not only did the a/c stop, but hot air just came out of the vents at all times. Ford found that the Compressor Front Seal was blown and had leaked out all the refirgerant. Repair estimate was $750. Because our manufacters warranty had just expired and we had so many problems already, they split the cost with us. During the repairs, for also found and internal driver problem to the PCM. They replaced the PCM at no charge (which was to their credit the one good thing they did during this disaster - would have been a HUGE expense to us). This was all in the first six months of owning this car. Here we are 11 months in and the loud squeak is still there (worse than ever) the engine misfire has returned (another cracked spark plug I suppose) and the engine makes a hideous screaming noise when it starts up. We purchased an extened warranty for another $1100 through an independent carrier. This warranty probably will only cover a portion of the numerous expenses that await us but it's better than nothing (at least it will cover a new tranny, which most reviews indicate will need replacement arount 50K miles.) Do yourself a favor and shell out the extra few thousand for Japanese. Do not support this company in any way. Working families deserve better than this pathetic excuse for a vehicle.

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