Ford Taurus, ,, Y?

[dtl 2k2 sport]

Okay not only is Ford in large trouble over here, but they are now bringing back a great rental fleet filler. The Ford 500/ , cough excuse me, the new Taurus. This car should just be left in the grave yard, along w/ the Free Star. http://www.blueovalnews.com/index.php?categoryid=12&p2_articleid=483.
Still ugly today as it was back then. And my boss at the dealership is all excited about a few cheap rentals in his fleet w/ the blue oval on them. Ughhhhh.

 

[1996xlt]

Glad they changed almost nothing to make it different from the 500

 

[IAmTodd]

I think Ford would do much better in the US if they brought their Euro models over. They have some great cars over there that sell very well and no designing would be necessary. Just making provisions in current plants to produce them here. Which would be rather costly I would assume.

 

[BrooklynBay]

They would have to make some design changes such as the place the steering wheel, gauges, linkages, brake pedal, throttle pedal, emergency brake release, clutch pedal on manual transmissions, A/C blower, ducts, glove box, master cylinder, power brake booster, etc. are placed for driving on the right hand side of the road. Emissions laws are stricter in some places such as California.

 

[kfkodiak]

It's the Aussie stuff that would really rock. GM can bring that stuff over, why not Ford?

 

[chriswells78]

They would have to make some design changes such as the place the steering wheel, gauges, linkages, brake pedal, throttle pedal, emergency brake release, clutch pedal on manual transmissions, A/C blower, ducts, glove box, master cylinder, power brake booster, etc.

That stuff is easy. It's all designed on computer, all they have to do is use the invert function and VIOLA! it's all backwards. Then program it into a couple CNC machines, BAM! you have dies. Make the parts and put them together.

 

[dtl 2k2 sport]

BAM! you have dies.

How about just letting the car die!! Go forward, not backwards ford!

 

[Mbrooks420]

The Taurus made Ford tons of money. So far in the last few years it's made more bad choices than good, maybe it's time to reduce the fleet and go back to basics when they made a quality product people could afford. With this crappy ass "bold moves" campaign they are beating to death it's no wonder they are on the road to bankruptcy.

 

[Glacier991]

The Taurus was one of the best selling cars in the history of American automotive manufacture. I'm with Mbrooks420. In fact in the 90's the Explorer and the Taurus were FORD's backbone for profit.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Just imagine the bread and butter the Explorer would have been without the rollover fiasco.

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

I have a Motor Trend '05 Car Of The Year issue and they had lots of praise for the Five Hundred. I've driven one, and they're not bad for a big family sedan. The biggest problem was the name. "Five Hundred" just didn't have the same brand recognition as "Taurus", so although the car was decent, they felt the need to resurrect a popular name for it. Same goes for the Mercury Montego, now wearing the resurrected Sable nameplate.

Other than a few minor changes such as canning the useless CVT in favor of a 6-speed automatic, and a couple cosmetic differences like the chrome "Fusion-esque" grille and taillights, the car is more or less a rebadged Five Hundred.
They upped the ante in the horsepower department too, which is the one thing MT griped about in '05.

Would I buy one? Maybe. I have virtually no use for a family sedan, but I'd give it a look if I were in the market for such a vehicle.
One major bone to pick about it though...No FFV option!!!! Only the Crown Vic/Grand Marquis have FFV options for the whole passenger car lineup for '08. It wouldn't have cost them much, if anything to add it. For that matter, add it to the whole line! People such as me that have access to inexpensive E85 fuel would have a whole lot more new vehicle choices than are out there at the present time. If a person doesn't want to run E85, they don't have to. The vehicle will run just the same on gasoline as it would on alcohol. It just seems stupid that they only select one or two models each model year that have the FFV option. I'm sure I know the reason too...Big oil has their hand in that. That's a whole 'nother topic to rant about though.

I know it's a long, long shot, but I'd be the first one beating down the showroom doors if I found out I could buy a new Fusion with a V6, 5-speed stick, and FFV option. Better yet, make a FFV Mustang! Ford would get lots of my money if that happened!

Oh yeah...Ditto on bringing Australian Fords to the US market. Just don't bring the hokey 1960s names like Fairlane, Falcon, etc. along with them.

 

[zembonez]

Not really so sure why the Taurus gets knock about so much. I've put over 100K on my company cars (2000 and now 2007 models) and they have been rock solid reliable safe and quiet cars without issue.

I know there are more exciting vehicles out there but they do their job pretty well. I would rather drive 350 miles a day in a Taurus than my wifes 06 Accord Se anyday. The Accord is great for in town short trips but is sucks on the highway...

 

[UKExploder]

Australian cars are Right Hand Drive mates.......& Australia believes a ute is the most versatile vehicle so loads of coupes were modified to be a ute, or pickup.....

{'ute' = utility vehicle} of course some utes were cool lookin', like the '60s Valiant ute {pickup}

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Just don't bring the hokey 1960s names like Fairlane, Falcon

And what was wrong with those names? They were a hell of a lot better names then Fusion, Focus, Taurus, Sable, Escort, Topaz, and so on.

 

[axiom]

My dad complained to all hell when Ford dropped the Taurus for the Five Hundred and if you ask me, it was the most retarded move they could've made. The Five Hundred was nothing more than a generic family sedan that had absolutely nothing going for it in terms of something new. The Taurus was at least an established name that people knew and trusted, they knew what to expect when they got in a Taurus. Affordable, established, a huge success, why in the world would you drop it in the first place?

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I was in favor of droppng the Taurus name. The 97 we had was the biggest picece of **** I have have ever owned. I want to run over every damned one I see.

 

[nssj2]

thats part of the reason why the name "taurus" was dropped. many people saw them as, well, pieces of ****. ford couldnt just drop their economy family car segment, so they changed the name. people who bought a "500" thought they got a good midsize car, nothing related to the taurus. now that ford has established somewhat of a better reputation for their midsize car, the taurus name is back to attract the loyal ford buyers back. its all psycological marketing.

 

[IAmTodd]

thats part of the reason why the name "taurus" was dropped. many people saw them as, well, pieces of ****. ford couldnt just drop their economy family car segment, so they changed the name. people who bought a "500" thought they got a good midsize car, nothing related to the taurus. now that ford has established somewhat of a better reputation for their midsize car, the taurus name is back to attract the loyal ford buyers back. its all psycological marketing.

You have it rather backwards. People knew the Taurus name. The Five Hundred was a little on the ugly side and very under powered. After a facelift of that vehicle and some more power they want it to be recognized again as a solid family car.