(This latest COAL comes to us by way of CC reader Leon Eckell, aka eckell3)
This past April, while returning to my car after a visit to the notary, I caught a glimpse of a small “Buy Here, Pay Here” used car lot across the street from my bank. There was a very attractive 1999 Firebird for sale which I decided to investigate and ultimately ended up buying. I’d always liked the fourth-generation Firebird and I figured that I could rely on my then-current car, a 1990 Volvo 240 DL, as a winter daily. A month later, when I returned to exchange my temporary tags for permanent license plates, I noticed a 2006 Taurus in SE trim sitting on the lot. As it had a number of things my Volvo did not–like cloth, A/C and solid bodywork–I decided to take it for a spin; I was growing tired of fighting the tin worm and Old Red was truly beginning to fall apart. Having grown up with Tauruses, I also knew how to work on them quite easily, so I bought it, using the Volvo as a trade-in.
The fourth generation 2000-2007 Taurus came about after a good amount of customers found themselves turned off by the famously ovoid third generation model. Though the doors were the same, Ford managed to cobble together more conservative front and rear clips and a traditional dashboard. While often derided as a rental car special, the fourth-gen Taurus offered compelling value–both used and when new–for anyone looking for a solid mid-sized family car.
By the time my 2006 model had rolled off the line, the Taurus was relegated to fleet sales, with the Fusion more or less taking its place. Fleet buyers could snag a fourth-generation Taurus for another year before the car was finally discontinued, but only with the 3.0 Vulcan V6, making 153 horsepower in its final transverse configuration. My Taurus was a former fleet car originally sold to a business in Alexandria, VA and was picked up from an auction by the car lot. It had 119,812 miles on it and was in good condition, barring a few dents at the bottom of the passenger side front door and some scrapes on the right rear wheel arch.
Though the Taurus ran nicely and drove well enough, I had to personalize it a bit for my comfort. The Taurus came with the factory CD player radio and since I use an iPod for music, don’t listen to the radio much and never use CDs, I was faced with the choice of either spending several hundred dollars on replacing the radio with an aftermarket unit (the radio is in the trunk and the panel with the CD player is a control head, meaning a replacement would require running a large harness from the rear to the front) or just listening to CDs. A look at an a online forum offered a third way, though: with $10 worth of Radioshack parts, screw drivers and a soldering iron, I could bypass the CD player and play my iPod. It requires a CD to always be playing, but cuts off sound from the CD player and re-routes the input to the iPod. I chose this option, using an old Keith Sweat CD to keep the radio switched off.
I also swapped the folding clamshell center front seat for a full console out of a 1998 Taurus that bolted up perfectly with the brackets to which the flip console had been attached.
The car mostly ran well for the brief time I had it, though I came across some issues including a misfire under load, fixed by replacing the plugs and wires, and a bad vehicle speed sensor. The latter manifested itself as transmission slippage and banging into gear once the car was warmed up, but luckily a $40 part and twenty minutes of my time solved the issue. Apparently, most of the time this VSS goes bad on the Taurus/Sable, the speedometer works fine.
As I mentioned, the Taurus was otherwise good to me, and I netted pretty good gas mileage to boot. I was looking forward to a long-term relationship with the car but once again found myself with a wandering eye. By September, I was again at my bank and again looking at the used car lot across the street. This time, a mint 1997 Buick LeSabre with low mileage was being let go for cheap. Having also grown up with those cars and liking them quite a bit, I jumped at the chance to make a deal and promptly went home to grab the Ford’s title, soon driving off as the owner of an older and nicer Buick (which can be seen above, to the left of the Taurus).
Related reading:
Feature: The Rise and Fall of the Ford Taurus (And Mercury Sable) In American Popular Culture
Lots of these in the school districts fleet (though they are slowly being fazed out) and I have found all of them to be solid, workmanlike cars. The furthest I ever drove one was from Gallup, NM to Pueblo Pintado near Chaco Canyon. It is a 180 mile round trip that has great variation in road conditions and types of road. I found the car to be just fine, soft and comfortable and surprisingly with an manually adjustable lumbar.
The Vulcan actually returned high 20s in fuel economy on the trip. If I wanted a commuter car to drive into the ground and wanted to buy used and cheap, I could do much worse than a Taurus.
I will take the stacked light Pontiac that is lurking in the background on a couple of Taurus photos. I can almost make out the “GTO” on the front grille in one of them. Surely that must have belonged to someone working at the car lot; I can’t imagine a mid-sixties GTO for sale on a “Buy Here, Pay Here” lot.
It is a 1965 GTO. I have pics of the car and I am in the middle of writing it up. It is the owner’s car and it is not for sale(though I am told that they get a lot of offers to buy that GTO) and it has not moved in years but it just sits there being assaulted by the weather day in and day out which is sad as it once won awards(the trophies are in the trunk) and is now left to rot.
This is interesting, because it’s kind of the opposite of what I do. Once I buy a vehicle that’s it, I figure out the quirks and keep it as long as possible.
A Taurus with a 3.0 will get the job done, for sure. One of the Mrs’ cousins had one and ignored transmission problems for a year until it was undriveable and she had to scrap it and finance a Fusion. I wonder if it was the VSS?
Longtime Taurus fan/owner here who had done decent (but not meticulous) maintenance on a ’99 that’s been very trouble-free. The “oval” design theme was not for everyone, but I think it’ll wear decently in the longer term. (I wander what CC will say about it in 2035?) Ford was probably unhappy with their depreciation curve, but that means great values in used Tauri that one can drive for a long, long time. If I had to drive coast-to-coast right now, I’d still rather drive it than my newer vehicle. A friend called their used Taurus a great “send your kid off to college” car.
Second on the stacked light Goat!! Hope you clicked a few of it as well.
Yup. I will be posting them in another write up.
Keith Sweat line had me in tears. Too funny.
I would ask who Keith Sweat is but the question mark on my keyboard doesn’t work. I need a new keyboard for my pc!
It’s funny that you mentioned it as being a rental car special. Sometime after 2001 when my dad’s Pontiac was in the shop, he had rented a brand new Ford Taurus. Surprisingly he had let me take it for a spin one night, so I immediately picked up a friend and we just cruised around. I had been so accustomed to my dad’s old 1990 Pontiac which only made the Taurus feel so luxurious, comfortable and roomy in comparison, with its shiny paint and chrome trim. I remember how smoothly the Taurus drove. I have to wonder what would have happened if I owned a car like that for long term. The stories of bad Ford transmissions with a short life span had completely put me off.
Here in your car, do you feel safest of all? Can you lock all your doors? Is it the only way to live?
I never had a Taurus bit I DID have that Keith Sweat CD! It was an unfortunate period in college that saw me experimenting with various genres of music…If you had asked me which singer would be least likely to ever be mentioned on CC, that would probably be it (assuming I could remember him of course).
Anyway, nice little story, keep ’em coming. Seems like a good car, cheap, roomy, maintainable, decent looking restyle after the ovoid, what’s not to like.
Certainly its an improvement on the ugly ovoid thing Ford tried to sell here, it looks like they used a modified Falcon rear and modded Mondeo front to give it a makeover, the ovoid version thats been littering my street has gone the Asian students who owned it finally dropped the price into 3 figures and someone bit,
Over time, I have driven dozens of this generation and the previous generation Taurus. The only turd of the lot was the one I bought.
Gas mileage: 12 mpg to 20 mpg with the Vulcan V6. Better use 89 octane or it would be pinging like crazy.
Comfort: Great, no complaints there.
Drivetrain: Flawless transmission, shitty engine. Oil light started flashing when below 1000 rpm at 57,000 miles. After three dealers (under extended warranty) it was discovered the crankshaft bearing had excessive clearance. It also took fits of either making a lot of power or hardly wanting to pull itself.
Brakes: Intermittent. Never could find the reason for the hard pedal or the anti-lock mechanism kicking in sporadically.
Other than that, it was a great car. On the flip side, my sister still has her ’97 that has well over 200,000 miles and she hasn’t maintained it anywhere near what Ford had recommended.
If I remember from one of your posts that it was considered a red letter day at the Shafer house if you went over 20 mpg in one filling.
If I drove the speed limit or no more then 5 miles per hour over and did not use the A/C it then I got between 24-26 mpg with it.
You have a very impressive memory!
That is indeed the same car. For an overlap of about four years, I also had a Crown Victoria police interceptor – it generally got the same to better fuel mileage and had no issues in the power department. It was the most disappointing car I have owned. All the others I drove were as consistent as can be.
It had the SES trim; never thought about it being a Taurasses!
Had a 2003 as a loaner when my 1995 Contour was in for recall work. I found it to be roomier, and that was the only advantage it had over its European-designed sibling, which was notorious for its cramped rear seat. The Contour (aka Mondeo) handled better, rode better and fit better ergonomically. I couldn’t wait to get it back.
I think Alan Mulally realized his company was full of issues like this and started pushing his “One Ford” policy, not just to maximize economies of scale but to get the strengths of its international divisions into every product it sold.
This generation of Taurus always seemed like the quintessential fleet car to me. Many of the remaining ones are in private hands now, but it seems like when new, the vast majority were either white, beige, or silver, and low-trim models. The highline versions (SES? SEL? One of those) were far less common.
I usually chuckled when I did see an SES, as the rear valance read “TAURUSSES”. The car with multiple personalities?
Seems I remember hearing somewhere that the reason the SHO was dropped with this restyle was that they wanted to play up its image as a safe, reliable car, and the hot-rod SHO didn’t fit with that image. Aside from the fact that the third-gen SHO was far from a hot rod, I always questioned that decision. Do you *want* your car to have a bland and milquetoast image? Safety is good, but you can mix it with excitement. Refer to Volvo and their turbo models for examples.
My friend’s mother owned a black over tan leather SES. With the spoiler and sportier wheels, it actually looked like somewhat of a muscle sedan. They kept it as an third car after she bought a new ’07 Camry (sigh) too.
Great story! I never had much of an opinion on this generation Taurus/Sable. I never saw much overly bad or good about them, just really forgettable styling. I guess that’s what they deserved after the overly oval fiasco. Coincidently, I think the only times I’ve ever ridden in them have been rental vehicles. Ironically, my high school track coach started driving an ’06 silver Taurus after his beige Buick Century bit the dust.
Please forgive the juvenilia, everyone, but the “Taurus-SES” badging brought this to mind (apologies for possible repeat):
I respect the Taurus/Sable for what it is: very good family transportation. If I were looking for one it would be a Sable LS. The last 4th gen Tauruses were severely decontented. They even eliminated the rear sway bar.
The Sable looks cleaner to me as it lacks the window in the C-pillar. The rounded rear makes the car look smaller than it actually is. The Sable also has the Duratech engine.
Thank you very much for this write up. You seem to get bored rather quick with your cars. I tend to stick with mine for a long time, very much like DougD. By the way the http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/ has some excellent articles and threads on the quirks and Fordisms of these cars.
Great job on your COAL entry, Leon. Glad you enjoyed your Taurus.
FWIW, I had a 2005 Taurus SE as a rental for three weeks when the rear end of my ’04 Accord LX was smushed at a stoplight in a snowstorm. I don’t think Tuari are bad cars, and I once briefly owned a ’92 Sable GS, but I didn’t really enjoy my experience with the newer Taurus. I never could get comfortable in the front seats, the power from the 153hp Vulcan was anemic at best, and the car felt more lethargic than the older Sable ever did. Gas mileage was nothing to brag about either. Even with my feather touch on the throttle I could never eek out more than 24mpg even on extended highway runs, though I guess that was about par with the older Sable, if memory serves me correctly.
On the other hand, I did enjoy the smooth ride and the convenience of the flip-fold console. Still I was glad to get my Accord back from the body shop. It was like being reunited with an old friend.
P.S. Is that Morrisey I see on your I-pod? You’re musical tastes have indeed changed – for the better!
Great write up about a once truly revolutionary car. By this time, the car was relegated to fleets. However, you could do a lot worse than buying this generation of Taurus for cheap transportation.
I’ve always liked these; I have many memories of hooning a couple with an ex-girlfriend. First car I ever lost control of was a deep green 2000? SE with 5 spoke wheels. Apparently doing 45 through a snowcoated parking lot isn’t the best idea. :/
This generation Taurus is also the first vehicle that let me find out what the dashboard tastes like in the event of understeering around a shard left turn and riding over the curb into a fire hydrant. (I was crammed in the middle and hit the radio/center HVAC unit in an accident). No injuries for any of us (there were five of us in the car and a dog) and surprisingly enough, that thing drive home. Still haunts me to this day, though 🙁
Ive never liked these. Now, I cant deny that the Taurus much like any other halfway competently built 4 door sedan makes a great every day family car. Or a cheap beater. Or a daily grinder to do the dirty work while you save your good ride for nice days. In those respects, a used Taurus is a great investment. My parents bought my sisters ’98 in order to let my mom commute in it. Save the miles off of the Expedition, save gas, and basically use it for the grunt work. My ex g/f picked up a ’01 for $2K a few years back after she sold off her Jeep. Having driven both cars a few times, I can say its the exact experience youd expect from a bread and butter sedan. Itll wallow you wherever you want to go, just don’t be in a hurry. The 3.0 V6 may be reliable as a stone, but its pretty asthmatic. Granted, my own ‘daily grinder’ was a ’03 PT Cruiser GT with the 215 hp turbo 2.4 and 5spd stick. Entry level as performance cars go, but compared to a family car it was like Spaceball 1 at ludicrous speed.
It may sound like Im knocking these cars, but Im really not. More like I have little use for cars of this caliber…since my expectations are geared towards more hoon-oriented metal. But for what they are (sensible basic transportation) theyre as good as anything. Guess Im just not a sensible kinda dude.
Oh, the 2000-2007 Taurus. I could write a book on these cars. I drove dozens of them during my stint in the service department at a Ford mega-dealership in 2013.
Frankly, I hated them. Even the “nice” newer, low-mileage ones. Compared to say, a 2006 Fusion, a 2006 Taurus felt like a car designed in 1990 with a vaguely modern shell surrounding it. I suppose they’re fine if you want the cheapest possible large-ish, late-ish model car, but if you look at the details, these cars are horrible. Structural integrity? Meh. The Vulcan V6? Durable, sort of… but when a 3.5-liter Impala seems smooth and luxurious in comparison, what exactly does that say about these engines? Ride comfort and interior quality were OK, given the ancient underpinnings, but these cars were so mediocre in every other way it just turned me off to them completely. One drive in a 2006 Fusion, then a 2006 Taurus will make anyone realize how comparatively junky these are. They don’t age well either – lots of rust around the rear wheel wells, transmission failures, electrical issues galore. Not things you see in older Fusions, and they’re getting on in years these days.
For a bottom-of-the-barrel, cheap, basic, comfy semi-large sedan, I always preferred the Impala (driven loads of those too). But I guess you could do worse than these… I would certainly take one over a Sebring/Stratus or Intrepid.
Can we just learn more about the Firebird? Seriously, I love The Taurus–there is a pristine example at The Henry Ford that I would be proud to drive today–the car was so ahead of the competion
The run for 2007 Taurus was short. Only a few months in summer/fall 2006, and then the Atlanta plant closed for good October 27, 2006. So a rare model year, if found.
Back in late 1999 I found myself working at a little Ford dealership in northern Michigan. My parents decided they wanted something that got better economy than their 1995 Explorer, so I told them to come down. We had gotten in a truck load of new 2000 Taurus’, and I promptly picked out a Toreador Red SEL sedan for them, and parked it in a corner of the shop for them to see. The SEL was the top line model, and featured unique alloy wheels, electronic climate control, leather wrapped steering wheel, autolamp, the keyless entry pad on the door, and the Duratec engine as standard. That was all this car came with, and was all they needed. They bought it and drove it over six years till Dad decided he wanted a truck. I kinda hated to see it go. Today it’s still running around East Tawas, MI, though it’s pretty rusty now.
I’m including a pic of it I took on the day they traded it off for the truck.
One thing I have to say about these cars, they are more often than not, a good car to be in if you are in an accident. I have seen a number of them involved in some pretty rough crashes, and the passengers were able to walk away…
I enjoyed my 1998 Taurus SE, she was Pacific Green, my favorite Turquoise-Blue Green. I bought her in April, 2003. She was outside her garage only 1 night. I saw her as I was coming home after a 3pm-10pm shift at a new job. The next day I stopped and wrote down the ph # on my way to work. She had only 17K miles on her. The winter before, her owner had a heart attack and so they did not go to Fla for the winter. I was blessed. My dad and I went with the owner as he took her back after her lease was up. We bought her before she was put back on the lot for sale. God had a hand in this. I drove her until late 2013, We kept her well maintained. I love to drive, safely, positively … no tickets. Picnic gear, a variety of my art projects and bringing home a dresser or other “finds” at antique stores of fairs were “no sweat”. She was my first car with A/C. My parents were happy that I had a car I enjoyed.
Now. I digress: My first car was a 1968 Chrysler 2-door, with a white vinyl top. Her seats were white with Turquoise insets in the 4 seat positions. 383 V8, 2chamber carburator (not 4), automatic transmission. (No A/C). I loved this car so much… I bought her the summer of 1977. Later in tge ’90s I found an ad which showcased my car and an ugly station wagon. 1968 was a special year for Chrysler… I purchased that ad from ebay. I grew up knowing most of the car models on the road.