STRONG BODY, for a family car it weighs a lot which makes all the difference in feeling safe and secure, it's the reason why people buy heavy Volvos. Good standard safety features. Good Road feel, secure handling, soft suspension, good power steering feel

Back seat passengers have no head rest which would help avoide whipblash. Transaxle premature failures possible, minor chassis electrical glitches, annoying fluid leakage P/S Trans fluid, Oil etc, water pump possible premature failure, Rear break lamp switch on the brake pedal recall, no manual transaxle offered, CA emmissions controls and oxygenated gasoline make the MPG go down by a whole 5 MPG Power windows work well, only the can be noisy on the last inch up when closing. Transmission, transmission, transmission. I made sure to change the fluid before the recommended 30,000 mile mark and thankfully no problems. But FORD, what in the world were you thinking when you decided to use a PLASTIC internal transaxle component? Done to save money which only ended up by costing additional money once they all busted somehow. Look at the Buicks 6 cylindar engine for the Buick Regal of the same vintage. See that crossbar on top of it? Why couldn't Ford add that to the Taurus's chassis - engine compartment? On mine the Automatic climate control is giving me some grief right now. It's the blendor door probably, it's stuck in the "heat" mode position. Even though the A/C is on and it's set to 60, the vents vent air that feels more like 90 degrees. There is something wrong with the components for the HVAC system somewhere there inside the dashboard and it's annoying me like crazy.

I have had this car for about over 2 years now and I think it's a great car. I would like it even better if It could be had with a 5 speed manual transmission but the North American Market dictates that it's not cost effective to make it available. Which is too bad not because the 4 speed auto in the Taurus is doesn't match well with the engine because that is not the case. I maintained this car meticulously and it has about 42,000 miles on it right now. I like the way it drives and it's got a strong solid body on it with nice thick sheet metal that Ford uses for it's cars. It's not a foreign car where you can open and close the door with your pinky, it's a car that is still decidedly American being mas produced strictly in the USA which is a rare find. They are manufactured in Altanta and I think possibly at another plant in Michigan. Mine was made in Atlanta Georgia USA and I'm proud of the fact. I got mine with automatic everything including the moon roof and leather. The SEL allows 3 to sit up front and 3 in the back having a passenger capacity of 6 individuals which is also a rare find. The gear shift is on the steering column rather than between the two front passengers like most FWD passenger cars these days. I love the roomy interior, all the leg room in the back seat and all the space in the cavernous trunk. With a sigh I'm glade to hear that Ford is doing away with the Taurus now to make way for the new family car which name escapes me. Ford will introduce a new large sedan and a new mid sized family car to replace the taurus and the new family car will offer a gas/electric hybrid engine option. Because the Taurus is now discontinued, economics say the value should go up from here now that they are no longer available brand new. This however might not be the case but there is nothing wrong with wishfull thinking. The stock Continental tires on my Taurus were not the best. They gave a smooth ride and they were quiet only they handled pretty miserably and they wore out unevenly despite the fact that the weels were aligned and true. All in all the Taurus and the Crown Victoria give you the best bang for the buck.

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Ford Bronco auto (ford), '90 Integra/Acura auto, '93 Saturn twin cam auto

Power. The 24 Valve V-6 is very very quick. The only problem is....the faster you drive the car...the faster the tires wear out. I'm on my 3rd pair. :( But oh well..its a fun car to drive. This car also handles very very well in snow and ice. It is a rather heavy car...and the front wheel traction control is a very good selling point.

Tires. When you drive the car as fast as I do......the tires keep wearing out :(

I purchased my Ford Taurus SEL in January of 2003. This gorgeous car was in the middle of the showroom and had been sitting there for quite a long time. Rantoul, Illinois isn't the richest of all towns..nor would anyone there want to fork out a lot of cash for a Fully Loaded (leather) Taurus. Long story short...I have driven this car over 74,xxx miles the past 20 months. All that has gone wrong with is an O2 sensor went out. The 2002 Taurus SEL's have two (2) Oxygen sensors and the sensor that went bad was thankfully the sensor near the tailpipe. I paid 140.xx dollars to have it repaired and thats all. This car (even though the gas milage is modest (19 city).....(25 hightway) is a very good car. Oh. Also..the Slide up sun roof on the car does have a few plastic pieces that broke too. All I did is manually remove them and it works great. I love my leather...seats as well. Prior this this, I owned an early Ford Taurus model and that car was pretty reliable too. Good luck in your car hunting. FORD (First On Race Day)

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n/a

Storage Room

The rest of the car.

This was the worst investment I have ever made. I have had the car for only 25 days and it has been in the shop for 10 of those days. I took it in after just 6 days of owning it because the fuel guage was not reading propely and the car stalled going around a corner. they replaced the fuel sender and fuel pump. a week later i was having the same problem. I took the car back in and this time they had it for a week and they still did not fix the problem after replacing a sensor. It is now going back in for the third time for this problem. When I explained my frustrations to the dealership they told me that the warranty covers it. I told them that when it became a lemon I will get a full refund and take my business elsewhere. The general Mangagers response to me was "thats your option". What customer service Ford has. Their Customer Relations Dept. was no help either. I would not recommend a ford to anyone nor will I ever buy one again.

Smooth ride, Good Body and milage. Cheap parts and labor

AC, Radiator Heating, Water pump, oil leak etc - All problems a car can have

Excellent Car when it is working. Good smooth ride. Spacious and comfortable. I bought this car trading in a 1988 Mazda 626. Big mistake! when it was just 1.5 year old with 50000 km. We drove about 150000 km. This car has been fixed number of times. AC broke just after 1 summer. I fixed one time. It never worked properly. Engine light came several times. Costs 800$ to fix a computer chip and sensor. 3-4 times car would not start- Alternator dead. Overheating in summer was a common problem. Fixed radiator 3 times. Water pump broke once. I only remember the problems. The last blow was the rocking: the engine mount was loose. When you apply brake or start the whole car used to rock. Finaly I decided to donate the car and got some tax write off.

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Reliability!! Gas mileage (22-31 mpg) The 3.0L engine is a great engine. Loved the keyless entry.

Turn signal switch (we have had problems with several of our Taurus'). Radiator design, leaked from day one but never got any worse.

We bought this car with 110,000 miles on it. Wonderful car. Best paint job I have seen on any Taurus. The car was used by our two teenage sons and then given back to us with 210,000 miles on it. Only repairs have been: engine fan motor, water pump, brakes, turn signal switch. I have driven it 16,000 more miles and am very sad to report that the transmission has now failed. I really love this car and hate to get rid of it but I don't think it is really worth fixing. We have been driving Taurus' since 1988, and we have no complaints about them at all. For the money, I feel they are a great value.

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87 Taurus L; 88 Taurus GL, 89 Taurus GL; 89 Taurus GL; 95 Taurus GL; 98 Taurus SE

Good power from the DOHC engine when it works properly. Descent handling. Gets 30mpg on the highway at 65mph.

Seats very stiff, tranny sux, brakes could be much better, and intake manifold too complicated for such a low end car.

I am a big fan of Ford products, mainly their trucks and other rwd vehicles. I recently purchased this Taurus SE and it has the 24v Duratec engine. It ran great for a month or so. I went on a trip to Louisiana to see my brother and while I was there, the car started making a horrible whining noise not unlike a power steering pump low on fluid. I checked it and it was full. So I passed it off as the fluid being cold as it was cooler there than back home in TX. Well, the transmission is what the problem was. I never have liked automatic transmissions in the first place. Too many things can go wrong with them that you have to rebuild the whole thing. Needless to say, it started skipping out of gear and the torque converter woudn't lock up on the freeway. Then it almost stranded me there in LA from it not wanting to stay in gear at all! I barely made it home and called around to some shops on what the problem could be. Well, I had to get the tranny rebuilt. It wasn't cheap at all! ($1650!!) The cause was the previous owner put the wrong type of fluid in it. Supposed to have Mercon V fluid only. Well, the tranny is fixed and running fine. Now the oxygen sensors are showing up as bad by the computer!! It didn't do that until after the tranny was fixed. And another problem has risen. This particular engine has a dual runner intake manifold. It uses one runner for low speed operation to enhance low end torque. It has a secondary throttle butterfly in the other runner that gets opened up at around 3500-3700rpm. Well, it isn't working right and no Ford or other mechanic that I've talked to has no idea what the hell I am reffering too. Why is it that Ford has such a good engine but none of their repair men know jack about them? I am at my wits end on how to fix it, so I jimmied the secondary butterfly valves in the open position by removing the spring and making it hold them open. High rpm horsepower has returned! Now it is a dog at low rpm and is very sluggish until the tach sweeps past 3000rpm. I think I'll stick with RWD vehicles for now on. At least they only have a normal intake manifold with a standard throttle body! All in all, Ford definately should have done something better with this car. Why don't all cars have the option of a Manual tranny is beyond me. If this car had one to start off with, these problems would have never come along. In short, great engine when it works right, descent handling but suck a*s tranny!!

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Good power from the DOHC engine when it works properly. Descent handling. Gets 30mpg on the highway at 65mph.

Seats vert stiff, tranny sux, brakes could be much better, and intake manifold too complicated for such a low end car.

I am a big fan of Ford products, mainly their trucks and other rwd vehicles. I recently purchased this taurus SE and it has the 24v Duratec engine. It ran great for a month or so. I went on a trip to Louisiana to see my brother and while I was there, the car started making a horrible whining noise not unlike a power steering pump low on fluid. I checked it and it was full. So I passed it off as the fluid being cold as it was cooler there than back home in TX. Well, the transmission is what the problem was. I never have liked automatic transmissions in the first place. Too many things can go wrong with them that you have to rebuild the whole thing. Needless to say, it started skipping out of gear and the torque converter woudn't lock up on the freeway. Then it almost stranded me there in LA from it not wanting to stay in gear at all! I barely made it home and called around to some shops on what the problem could be. Well, I had to get the tranny rebuilt. It wasn't cheap at all! ($1650!!) The cause was the previous owner put the wrong type of fluid in it. Supposed to have Mercon V fluid only. Well, the tranny is fixed and running fine. Now the oxygen sensors are showing up as bad by the computer!! It didn't do that until after the tranny was fixed. And another problem has risen. This particular engine has a dual runner intake manifold. It uses one runner for low speed operation to enhance low end torque. It has a secondary trottle butterfly in the other runner that gets opened up at around 3500-3700rpm. Well, it isn't working right and no Ford or other mechanic that I've talked to has no idea what the hell I am reffering too. Why is it that Ford has such a good engine but none of their repair men know jack about them? I am at my wits end on how to fix it, so I jimmied the secondary butterfly valves in the open position by removing the spring and making it hold them open. High rpm horsepower has returned! Now it is a dog at low rpm and is very sluggish until the tach sweeps past 3000rpm. I think I'll stick with RWD vehicled for now on. At least they only have a normal intake manifold with a standard throttle body! All in all, Ford definately should have done something better with this car. Why don't all cars have the option of a Manual tranny is beyond me. If this car had one to start off with, these problems would have never come along. In short, great engine when it works right, descent handling but suck a*s tranny!!

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1989 Mercury Topaz (never had a problem) 1983 Mercury grand Marquis (great car) 1977 Mercury Wagon (strong BB 460!) 1988 Cadillac Brougham D' elegance (fantastic car!!)

i got attached to it...the radio was pretty good, and the air/heat was pretty good. Lots of trunk space. Good visability out of windows.

Bad gas mileage Speedometer only goes to 85 Tire axle makes noise Ignition Broken Idles high Trunk leak left water damage Overheats in winter Drives like a boat

Well i have had this car for a little more then a year. It has 85,000 miles on it. I think i bought it at 80,000 miles. I didnt have any major problems with it. It started overheating alot in the winter, which was weird because...it was COLD outside! So i just kept putting tons of antifreeze and water in and it stopped. But when it would overheat it would jump forward when i went from stop to accelerate. It doesnt overheat anymore but it still jumps forward between gears, its really annoying. The brakes are scary! They are hard to push down and I am scared i wont stop in time. The driver seat...oh the SEAT...well lets just say i look like one of those rappers on MTV because the back of the seat leans back so far i have to sit up on my own, the seat doesnt even reach my back. You have to have some muscles to pull the gear shifter back. I just started noticing a few months ago that whenever i make sharp turns it sounds like the Axle is making a weird noise like its rusty or something. I got the tires rotated and supposively the idle checked. The biggest problem is that i see it claims to get about 25-30MPG...Uh...Yeah right! in their dreams! i get 15-18 at the most! And whats with the speedometer? it only goes up to 85mph! The car feels like a boat around turns. It handles sudden stops like a SEMI truck. AND the latest CATASTROPHE, i got home from a long day at work...turn the ignition off and pull the key out...AND THE CAR IS STILL RUNNING! I had to call my father and brothers to come and take the Engine fuse out, and that turned the engine off, but the inside electronics were still on so they had to pull out three ignition fuses...SO now i dont have a car! Thank God that my grandfather is selling his Toyota Camry to me this week, i cant wait. Camrys are awesome! they are comfortable, rarely have problems, can stop on a dime!, and get great gas mileage.

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Camry's are so much better! 1994 Chystler Sebring (very nice, hold up in crash hah)

Power. Reliability--we're at 93k with no major problems. Comfort. Gas mileage decent.

Door-open sensors have failed-they think the doors are open most of the time. Repair would be over $250 so I simply disconnected the dome & other interior lights to save the battery. Needed wheel berrings at 33K for one front wheel.

Great car. Smooth ride. Reliable.

Reliability; comfort.

None really. Everything that it's been in the shop for is bound to happen sooner or later on a 9 year old car.

Got it from parents when it was 4 years old with 60,000mi; Now has 90,000. No major repairs in life of car (some minor work done while under warranty) until the last two years. Brakes were done at 80000mi. New radiator just installed last week (90000mi). Was also leaking tranny fluid; inexpensive gasket replaced. A/C makes strange gurgling noise when car started, but only lasts a few seconds. Replaced original muffler last year; the way the car is designed, have to cut it out and replace part of tailpipe, making it more expensive to do. Rear swaybar/swaylinks seem fragile; have broken two in last two years; luckily inexpensive ($50) to fix. Otherwise great car. Comfortable, smooth and quite on road, and handles nice. It's not going to win any drag races, but who's buying a family car to do that? Good sized trunk. Reliable: never had it fail to start, even in the cold winters of Minnesota, upstate New York, and Iowa. It will be three more years before we can afford to replace it (just bought a new Ford Freestar 8 weeks ago), and I fully expect it to last.