Another one bites the dust…

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Say goodbye to the Taurus.

The last one will be produced next week.
After a 7 million run.

And a long one too. Just a bit over 20 years…

Any one here owns one? I’ve heard mostly bad things from owners.

Conversation 22 comments

  1. its a great car vince i drive one its my first car i got it when i was 16 now i m 19 still drive it i got it when it had 16000 mile now its got 90000 miles, i had driven from austin to los angeles and back and austin to all the way to florida, NC and back now i m basically adding 100 miles every day since my school is 30 miles away and the local driving…..once i didnt change the oil for almost 30000 miles and it still ran great i just wish i had got the duratec V6…………

  2. Vince:
    My brother-in-law has a 99 Taurus. he got it about 3 years ago, used.
    I think it has somewhere around 115,000-120,000 on it.

    He Claims(again, I can not personally attest to how well it runs, etc, since I see him 3-4 times a year)that all he needed was a fan blade at the 95,000-100,000 mile mark(it fell off while driving, and it was only 100 dollars to replace?).
    He also said his something about HVAC was acting up, was not working(heater died?) 6-7 months ago.

    Like I said, I can not personally vouch for if he is/isn’t hiding anything( he could be, just to make it sound like the thing is great).
    The interior looks like it’s holding up(grey cloth) ok. Nothing unravelling, etc.The exterior paint is not too bad, either. Seems to run alright, when I do see him.
    The engine could have fallen out,in between visits though, and he’d never claim that.

    Not bad, but it’s not something that I’d personally want to own.

  3. you forgot to add that something close to 1.9-2.0 million Mercury’s were built on Taurus platform.
    Read about it on thecarconnection.com , daily news.
    So around 9 million were built, in one guise, or another.

    I also read the Taurus was still outselling the Mustang(Fusion) and basically anything else Ford is selling, despite the fact the public could not buy one!!!!

  4. Ford tried some time back to launch the Taurus in Australia. I think it was to test the water for a Falcon replacement that wouldn’t be Australian made. It bellyflopped with a resounding thud and the Falcon rolls on. Hardly surprising really. It would be even less likely to succeed now as many Australians simply don’t want to buy American.

  5. SEE YOU NOW.

    The Taurus was once top of the mid-size sedan heap.

    That was two decades ago. Come to think of it the 1986 Taurus looked better, too.

  6. SEE YOU NOW…

    The Taurus was once top of the mid-size sedan heap.

    That was two decades ago. Come to think of it the 1986 Taurus looked better too.

  7. Owned a ’92 SHO. The car was a plasticy, quality nightmare. The engine, however, was a beauty. In the end the SHO was a mildly attractive, “sleeper” wrapper for a well engineered/built engine. Thanks Yamaha!

  8. Vince,
    This is sad news.
    My dad bought a first year 1984 Taurus. At that time they were top of the line. They were a revolution in American cars (they introduced the rotary climate knobs to the US public) and we’re well received. It was the top selling car for years.
    Then Ford for some reason never kept up the car. There was a redesign, but nothing special. Then another reskin and blah.
    I had a rental for a month while the dealership worked on my Contour (full of defects) and I enjoyed it. It was a competant car, but no Accord or Camry.

    Imagine Vince, if Ford had put the resources they put into the F-150 into the Taurus. With an advanced V6, state of the art suspension, advanced interior controls, etc… Maybe Ford would be in better shape.

    It’s not that Ford can’t build a car as good as Japan. It’s that Ford just didn’t stay on the ball….. That’s a shame. The Taurus used to be Number One….

    Sad…

    N.

  9. I owned two Taurus in the past ten years. I kept each one for only a couple of years. Too many problems with it.
    Like some one else mentioned, Ford should keep up with the design and quality of it.
    And it is not like that Ford or GM can’t built a better car like a Camry or Accord, they just never cared. That is the reason I drive Hondas now.
    It really is ashemed that Ford and GM are going down. They made their own bed.
    I won’t touch a Ford or GM product!!
    Only my 2 cents.

  10. They were still making that POS? Good riddance.

    My parents owned a 1987 Taurus wagon. Good-looking car with a revolutionary style (although Audi did the aero thing first) but…

    The Taurus GLX wagon’s steering wheel came off in my mother’s hands while trying to park at the mall, the paint rotted away quickly and looked like hell, the luggage rack fell off while we traveled down the road, CV joints went died at 15k miles, the air conditioning went out at around 20k miles and never worked well again, the interior passenger door panel came off in a friend’s hand when she tried to shut the door, screws fell out everywhere in the interior, the rear seats folded down and wouldn’t fold back up, the windshield cracked for no reason, one rear tail light came off and never would stay screwed in (a nice police officer stopped my mother to tell her the tail light was dangling by its cables), and I forget how man recalls were required on that beast.

    Mom and Dad have owned Hondas ever since. No one in my family has ever owned another Ford. We all, too, drive Hondas, but I’m glad to see that other people have enjoyed their Taurus. They either have low expectations for a car, or they got really lucky. Still, good for you.

  11. the guy that said too bad ford did nto put the resources(money) into the taurus like they did the F150, is correct. Trucks/SUV’s actually(from a contractor /engineer I know, used to work for GM) costs less than a car to build, yet, cost as much, or in some cases, 1.5-2 times more for SUV/truck than a car(which means Big Bucks for Big 2.5).
    Now that gas is still 2+ per gallon, and “small” is selling….
    they messed themselves over. The Fusion is ok, but the 2006.5 Kia Optima has a better interior, and costs less.
    I read on car connection that Chrysler is having a 1+ billion loss for 3rd qtr due to LOSS of truck/SUV sales, and lack of cars.

    Hmmmmm. Ford and GM on same path.

  12. Ford screws itself by creating and killing model names too frequently. Ford isn’t consistent with model branding. The Honda Civic has been around since 1973 and the Toyota Corolla since 1967. The Accord and Camry have existed for over 3 and 2 decades respectively.

    But Ford kills off its bread and butter cars and loses continuity.

    The Fusion should have been called the all-new Taurus instead. Why keep rebranding car models? Fusion is a lousy car name IMO. Fusion of what? Ford and Mazda? I’d rather have a pure Mazda anyway.

    The Lincoln Zephyr version of the Ford Fusion has already been renamed the MKZ (or something silly like that) after only one year!

    No wonder Ford is such a mess.

  13. I’m a fleet manager with 20 Taurus’s. What hurt the Taurus greatly as well were the quality control issues in the late 90’s model years. Half my fleet went down with trans problems (about 5 had to be replaced) and bad interior materials that didn’t hold up after only a year. Image a door panel being velcroed on and parking brake handles coming off ! The yr. 2000 + Taurus aren’t nearly as bad but just got out dated really quick

  14. I own a 1999 Taurus SE, with everything except leather and moonroof – its a nice car, but has had a plethora of quality issues to deal with over the years. The vehicle speed sensor failed early on in the transmission, the rear defroster button on the Integrated Control Panel needed to be repaired, the power door locks are glitchy, one of the rear tail-light bulbs wears out prematurely, various “idiot lights” on the dashboard activate for no reason, etc. I can’t stress enough how annoying the lack of quality control is a problem for Ford but the Taurus was and still is a decent car overall. Farewell Taurus.

  15. I inherited my Dad’s 1988 Taurus back when I was 16, I’m 25 now. It was an awful piece of crap. The transmission went out at 75,000 and from then on, just problem after problem. The original design was by far the best of all the transformations. I feel like today’s Fusion is an interpretation of the first design. If it weren’t for the mechanical problems and the paint wearing away, it was a decent ride. It had great power and drive nicely.

  16. To “N” above…
    The Taurus came out in 1986.

    No such thing as a 1984 Taurus.

    Ford just doesn’t committ to it’s car lines.

    Taurus? Could have remained on top.
    Contour? Rated one of the best, but quality issues killed it.
    Probe? TWICE a car of the year. Where is it now!? (I owned both models!)
    Focus? What is the future for this once top-rated small car? No one will car pretty soon! (Had two of these too)
    Crown Vic? Could it be more dated? It has survived by Cab Co’s and Police Dept. Sad.
    Thunderbird? Twice (or 3 even?) car of the year, and where did it go?

    Heck, I even had a FIESTA. Top rated small car in it’s day. Where did that one go too!?

    STUPID FORD. My 1 year old could make better product decisions.

  17. To “N” above…
    The Taurus came out in 1986.

    No such thing as a 1984 Taurus.

    Ford just doesn’t committ to it’s car lines.

    Taurus? Could have remained on top.
    Contour? Rated one of the best, but quality issues killed it.
    Probe? TWICE a car of the year. Where is it now!? (I owned both models!)
    Focus? What is the future for this once top-rated small car? No one will care pretty soon! (Had two of these too)
    Crown Vic? Could it be more dated? It has survived by Cab Co’s and Police Dept. Sad.
    Thunderbird? Twice (or 3 even?) car of the year, and where did it go?

    Heck, I even had a FIESTA. Top rated small car in it’s day. Where did that one go too!?

    STUPID FORD. My 1 year old could make better product decisions.

  18. Not that the Taurus is a wonderful car, but it is perfectly acceptable for what it is, well was. While the mags are all fawning over the Sonata, to me it and the tired Taurus are very comparable. Very basic entry-level midsized transportation.

  19. Good riddance. A thoroughly sub-par vehicle finally going to rest. Also good riddance in that Ford will no longer be able to use Taurus fleet sales to prop up it’s monthly sales results.

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