I’m only 16 so I wasn’t really alive during the Taurus era, but I wonder what was the deal with this generation Taurus. Apparently it’s the favorite Taurus generation of many people out there
I don’t know much about it, IMO it’s the ugliest Taurus among all generations because it looks like an alien/bug despite being kinda cute at the same time. Is there anything more about it other than that?
by soladois
23 Comments
Fleet buyers.
These were EVERYWHERE in metro Detroit, mostly bought by Ford employees and suppliers with their employee discounts.
Rental car fleets
It kinda wasn’t, it sold really well & was the best selling car in the us in 1996 but it was a lot of fleet & government. The polarizing design didn’t take off like the original did & it was the beginning of the end. People now like them because of the weird design & they’re built ok
Cheap?
Because it was built with passion when they used to care. The only other thing I can recall is the ‘quality is job one’ ad campaign. They’ve been making cars for 100 years and still can’t get it right.
My parents had a sedan and a wagon from that gen, they were great cars but neither made it 100k miles
These cars looked weird but they drove really well. The ride was cush, the interior was pretty good, the cabin was roomy, and they were fairly reliable outside of the eventual transmission failures that came much later*. And a lot of the transmission failures really weren’t that, it was the VSS that caused that hard 1-2 shift. My girlfriend now wife had one while we were in college, and we loved that damn thing so much.
It had some downsides but the cheap bar to entry more than outweighed those downsides. I remember when you could pick these cars up for $1500 and drive them into the ground as 8-10 year old cars. There were far worse ways to spend $1500 back then.
*Edit. I don’t know how the hell that sentence got all jacked up.
My aunt has one of these
95 and still daily’s it, bought it new after her teenage son trashed her Gran Torino
It did?
I unironically want the SHO from this gen – what’s better than a V8 blob
The best “Used Bar of Soap” car of all time.
I had a 97 Taurus GL. Has Vulcan V6 in it, instead of the Duratec. I bought it with 80k miles on it, put another 80k miles on it. Rust on the frame meant I had to put it down. Only repairs I had to do while it was road worthy were:
– Replace leaf spring
– Replace brake lines that busted due to rust
– Speed sensor
Otherwise it ran great.
I bought a ’98 Sable back in ’05 from one of those “Buy Here, Pay Here” places where you paid by the week 😬
Actually quite a decent car, till my ex’s dirtbag brother crashed it
Everyone has that one car that they absolutely can *not* stand the looks of, and for me, it’s this one (along with its wagon counterpart). The droopy, overly-rounded front and back ends just… 🤢. I can’t.
My friends mom had two generation of Taurus SHO. We had fun being stupid teenagers in those cars.
People bought the melty soap bars, no idea why
You have to remember that approaching the year 2000 there was a lot of focus on being perceived as modern and dare I say “futuristic”.
But there was a decent amount of backlash about the styling. It was no surprise the reasonly quick redesign in 2000 was pretty bland and pedestrian.
It was simple and solid drive train wise.
I had one of those that made it to 300K miles.
They were cheap and fairly reliable cars. Nothing fancy, to be sure, but they got the job done.
Ford was making better cars in the 90s than they do now imho.
It didn’t actually sell all that well, at least by the standards set by prior Tauruses. The previous two generations were the best selling cars in America. When this generation came out sales dropped so much that the Camry and Accord took its place as the best selling sedans in America
Before SUV’s were totally dominant, this was THE middle class family car. Especially if, like my family, your dad still didn’t forgive the Japanese for WW2 🤦♂️
The GM W body cars were a little too big and too old fashioned. Mopar was abandoning the K car and the Intrepid was just…weird. The Taurus was more modern and well packaged than any other domestic offering in its class.
I have fond memories of this car..rose tinted no doubt. My family bought a blue GL wagon off the lot. By the time it was done it was rough. My dad had to cut the middle section out of the plastic bumper with a reciprocating saw to get more air to the trans cooler. Before that it wouldn’t shift out of 1st in hot weather. I blew both cv shafts doing reverse donuts in the snow. A semi backed into the driver’s side destroying both doors. The alternator must have gone 3 times. Someone stole it out of our driveway and then just…left it with the driver’s door open at the end of our street 🤣
But the jump seats ROCKED. The Vulcan never gave us any problems. It was spacious and comfy as hell.
I wish the Northeast salt didn’t claim them all because I’d definitely rock a cheap one today.
The catfish