Ford Taurus?

Question

I hear a lot of bad stuff about the Ford Taurus, such as transmission and engine problems. I own a 2003, it works like a charm, no problems, noises or anything, and yet a lot of people seem to hate this type of car so much (maybe because it's the first aerodymically designed car in 1986). Anything else out there?

Answer 1

The Taurus *had* some problems initially... Allow me to explain.

The first Taurus was VERY aero, and basically reinvented Ford's image. Two engines are available... the 3.0L, and the 3.8L. The problem is, the 3.8L engine's gasket was underengineered, so if you don't treat it gently it may give out right after 36000 miles (i.e. right after warranty). When Ford started putting the 3.8L in Windstars (which is a HEAVIER vehicle!) it really strained the engine and more problems popped up, esp. the bad gasket. Eventually they issued a new thicker gasket, and that solved the problem.

Taurus also suffered from poor paint. This is one of those years where EPA ordered all paint to a new formula which lacks bad chemicals, and it took a few years for the car makers to find a really GOOD formula. In the meanwhile, a couple year's worth of cars went out with good looking paint, but the clearcoat separated from the paint in 3-5 years, and the car end up looking like a leper.

Finally, Taurus used the infamous AXOD transmission, one of the first Ford tranny with OverDrive, and it is, again, underengineered, and it doesn't tolerate high fluid temperature that well. One of the most often added aftermarket is a transmission cooler, which extendeds the life of the transmission, as does aftermarket rebuild parts. Later revisions of that transmission increased fluid reservoir size and circulation and helped a bit.

Another thing is the 1995 styling change, that made everything into ovals, and the headlight "bug like" was very badly received. This, plus the fade of the Taurus SHO (which tried to squeeze a V8 into the engine bay) just didn't bode well for the model, and Ford quickly revised the nose to something more resembling traditional nose in 1997.

Ford also introduced better engines, such as the DOHC 3.0L Duratech engine, which is based on the Euro-style 2.5L Duratech orginally in the Contour (i.e. Mondeo in Europe). That high-reving engine produce 200 HP easily and with a bit of tuning can probably do 250 or 275 w/o any sort of forced induction.

Your Taurus is late enough to have all its bugs worked out, so it should be quite reliable. Have fun. :)

Answer 2

Upon it's introduction in 1986, the Ford Taurus was a hugh hit. The problem was that Ford didn't keep it updated, thus the resale values feel through the floor. Had they kept up with what buyers where looking for, it would still be a success. For the most part they are reliable, and you can buy a decent one really cheap. For 2008 Ford has brought the Taurus name back, and maybe a little bit of the old excitment of the mid 80's when it was first introduced. Good luck to Ford, and keep yours until the wheels fall off. The Audi 5000 has the claim to fame for aerodymics, it was introduced before the Ford.

Answer 3

Funny thing about that actually...Taurus did not make the Consumer Best Buy, yet my car with the same body type did?

I own an upgraded Mercury Sable, it was the only American car that was listed as a "Best Buy" in Consumer Reports the year that I bought it...not one other American car on the list, kind of pathetic really.

I think what happens is that the Taurus ends up with a decent amount of bad reports on the tranny and such, thus formulating a bad review over-all...but that does not mean that "every" Taurus owner will find themselves having similar problems necessarily, it just cautions those out shopping to chance it at their own risk.

I love my car, it has absolutely no resale value...but I planned that one out, it helped me get it at a steal. LOL

Cars like ours are meant to be kept until we run them into the ground...or as in my case, until you pass them on to a teenager who will more than likely crash it anyway. LOL

Answer 4

Coming from a family of Taurus connoisseurs (we've owned four, including a '93, '99, '03, and '05), I can give you a pretty good account. Tauruses are reliable as far as engines and transmissions, and they get fairly good gas mileage. Unfortuantely, they are also a rather noisy ride and somewhat uncomfortable (I can personally account for this). Also, they're not very stylish. This probably explains the widespread hate of Tauruses.

Answer 5

If the Taurus never existed, we'd still be driving boxes on wheels. Ford was the first company that said "wait, we need a car that actually has style and isn't rectangle upon box upon cheap cloth and plastic UPON wheels.

Answer 6

The Taurus has been around so long that Ford has worked out all the bugs now.

Answer 7

I owned a 2001 and enjoyed it. It was a nice crimson red color. I never had any problems with it but my family sold it. They said I needed something newer so I ended up with a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire.

Answer 8

They seem to have a few reliability issues from reading owners reviews on Taurus's.

Answer 9

these cars are proven to be reliable, most problems arise from people not taking care of maintenance on thier cars

Answer 10

That's pretty new, you shouldn't have to deal with exploding engine for quite a while if at all.