Ford Taurus Built For Speed
The 2006 model year will end the heralded Taurus name and for this writer it’s a bittersweet time as Ford retires what once the best selling vehicle in all of America.
When Ford introduced the Taurus together with its cousin the Mercury Sable in the mid 1980s the vehicle represented a radical exit from the standard American auto of the day. Reasonably enormous, front wheel drive, and terribly aerodynamic, the Taurus quickly rose to the pinnacle of the American car sales charts and was the fastest selling auto for many years in a row. A much delayed “reskinning” did not happen till 1996, some a decade after the Taurus and Sable were first released. The new style, understood by some to be ugly, quickly cost Ford sales as newer and more modern Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords out gained the line. Slight changes in style incorporated with the 2k model year took some of the edge off, but by then the Taurus was said to be too wrinkled and outmatched by the competition.
I acquired an all new 1994 Taurus and kept the vehicle for 7 years, racking up 117,000 miles before deciding it was time to trade in the automobile for something newer. I found the ride to be comfortable, the inside room to be expansive, and I enjoyed the overall style of the vehicle. I was also one of the first folks to get a Taurus in the then new Hunter Green color, an attractive deep green that was admired by many .
When 2001 rolled around, I elected to lease a Saturn L series rather than going with the Taurus. I needed something similar in size with the Taurus and at that time Saturn had a lease deal that might not be beat. In addition, I wasn’t impressed with the Taurus which I felt had been out-engineered by other autos in its class. So, I took home the Saturn and donated my Taurus to the Kidney Foundation.
The 2005 model year represented the final year that Ford would offer the Taurus through dealers; for 2006 the Taurus is only as a fleet automobile and it is unchanged from the previous year’s model. The slow selling Sable was mercifully put to rest one year earlier.
For Ford, concentrating on wagons and SUVs meant neglecting much of their automobile line up, including the Taurus. Bigger and stronger SUVs, including the Expedition and Excursion, were introduced as America’s tastes continued to shift from passenger cars to SUVs. In addition, the ever popular F Series pick up vans went through regular style and engineering changes every four years or so as did the Explorer, Ford’s midsized SUV.
Higher gas prices and changing tastes are once again impacting Fords’ line up. The beefy Excursion is gone and new autos including the 5 Hundred and Fusion are now part of the line up. These two new models represent a fresh change for Ford and a guarantee the attention once given to the Taurus would be given to the new models. For that, I am glad.
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Tags: Ford, performance, review, specs, Taurus
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 25th, 2010 at 5:34 am and is filed under General Repair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.