The Taurus SHO was one of the peak experiences of Ford’s golden years, which started in 1983 and ended…all too soon. It was unlike anything that had ever come out of Detroit; well, for that matter, Germany or Japan. 220 hp from a naturally aspirated 3.0 L V6! That’s nothing now, but in 1988, that was absolutely amazing, more so for a roomy FWD sedan.
But the best thing about the SHO, from my point of view: No “Eurosport” or other loud badges, stripes, spoilers. The SHO didn’t need to trumpet its name or pump up itself; it was the real thing. And for that, it had my deep appreciation.
R&T takes on its story and a test, and although it’s not a real comparison test, the Acura Legend is used as a frame of reference. Rightly so.
Four wheel disc brakes and 168 feet to stop from 60 mph. Why do contemporary cars stop in 25% less distance?
I’d say primarily due to tires and more sophisticated computer control of the ABS
I had a 1995 SHO as a company car. We stuck with American brands at that time and there was no question as to what I should choose; nothing else was like it.
Our fleet policy was to change cars in the 70-80,000 mile range, but I wouldn’t turn it in. I finally let the fleet manager have it at 120,000.
One downside then… I frequently couldn’t lend the car to colleagues, as most didn’t know how to drive a manual.
“One downside then… I frequently couldn’t lend the car to colleagues, as most didn’t know how to drive a manual.”
Given how many employees treat company cars, I’d consider that an upside.
140 MPH was easily attainable.
I own a 1989 red SHO and have had it up near that mark per the speedo. Thinking of selling if anyone is interested.. one owner low miles.
I bought a new 1989 Ford Taurus SHO which spent many weeks at the Ford dealer’s shop. Three clutches. Two transmissions. Cheap materials and shoddy workmanship. The Yamaha engine was reliable; the rest of the car was not. Severe torque steer and balky gear linkage made the car a chore to drive.
I can relate. I kept my 1989 SHO (purchased new) for just over three years, and it was a horrible owner experience. Fantastic engine. It was fun, fast, and practical.
But…
– rear window defroster was incorrectly installed, with broken heater elements printed on the glass
– the so-called leather on the driver’s seat bolsters showed premature wear within weeks.
– the fabric on the front seats started to stretch within weeks.
– the instrument panel lights threw a very uneven light pattern
– air conditioner failed – twice
– sound system failed – twice
– front passenger door lock failed
– weld between frame and muffler support bracket failed
– clutch replaced twice, which did not fix the problem I reported originally – turned out to be a defective clutch linkage bearing, where it enters the bell housing
– after only three years, lip of trunk lid started to rust
– steering rack failed, with gears stripped off the rack (!)
– steering rack failed a second time, somehow ripping out a bolt holding the rack to the chassis (!!!)
I sold the car after the steering failed a second time (fixed under warranty), frankly fearing for my life.
It took Ford another 5 years to finally give up on the ‘Quality is Job 1’ slogan.
I thought these cars were great back in the day. Practical, great performance stats, though I never drove one. The one actual person I knew who had one also had a Porsche 911. Enough said.
I did consider a used 90 Legend coupe, and test drove one. I was very impressed with how it drove, how it looked, the prospect of Honda reliability. Objectively it might not have been as good as the SHO, but subjectively the Acura was had a nice dashboard, exceptional seats, a slick shifter, buttery smooth clutch, and plenty of power. It also had a price tag that I didn’t really need in my 20s, so I walked away.
These came out back in my autocross/club racing days. Test driving one, the car itself was competent, and felt much more nimble and small than it was. But the engine was sublime. Gobs of power, silky smooth, anywhere on the tach. In hindsight, this was some sort of peak in Japanese complex intake runner length engineering, to flatten the power curve, to take the peakiness and “high end” power down into the lower rev range. Mazda, at the same time, was doing this sort of thing with its Le Mans rotary engine program, quite successfully, but with different engineering.
I was not in the market for a “family car” yet, but if I had been…
In the end, the dealers were giving these away after a year or so, finding that the buyers wanted automatics, and these only came with 5-speed manual transmissions.
Ford did deface the SHO with spoilers, air dams, ground effects add-ons, and blackout trim, and trumpeted its name with “SHO” emblazoned on its rear bumpers in huge embossed letters, meaning you couldn’t remove it. The interior was any color you want as long as it’s grey (black on later models) with sport seats that weren’t as comfortable as the regular ones and more blackout trim replacing the woodgrain. Too bad it was so tacky, because if it was trimmed like a Taurus LX I would have seriously considered buying one new.
Well, mine was very nice. Hunter green with tan leather interior and if anything more upscale than the LX my in-laws owned. Maybe by 1995… last year for the generation… things had changed.
Unlike some mentions above, I never had any mechanical issues. Clutch lasted through my entire 120,000 miles, west and tear was minimal. Only repair I recall was changing brake pads at about 100,000. Otherwise, just normal maintenance.
Oe of our people bought the car from the company when I was done with it. I know he ran it past 200,000 miles.
Buddy of mine had one in the mid 90s and actually went street racing with it. Toronto had an active race subculture using local multi -lane highways for 4am match races. He did well against the ricer crowd but got pasted by serious machinery.
The review of the ’89 would surely have sold me if I’d been young bachelor looking to celebrate a snazzy promotion!
I was never seriously in the market for one of these, but as a Ford Guy always drooled over them. Nice to get the CC-ers’ testimony that the engine was everything I’d heard it was.
I know the 1996 SHO has the oval styling unloved here, but this minty one is awfully appealing (again, though I’m not seriously in the market): https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/dealer/ford/taurus/2429633.html
That Generation 3 (1996-1999) SHO with the “oval styling unloved here” has an engine with a flaw which was fatal to those experiencing it. In those SHO cars, the engine was a V8 developed from the Ford Duratec design. But unlike in the Ford and Jaguar Duratecs, Yamaha developed a shortcut to attach the camshaft sprockets to the camshaft: they swaged them rather than using a retainer key or other positive mechanical locking device. It was a mistake. The swaging process was inadequate; too many sprockets shifted on the camshaft. Unlike the original SHO V6 engine, the V8 was an interference design (Yamaha thought that since it used a timing chain rather than a timing belt as in the original SHO V6, it would be okay) and once the cam sprocket shifted, the engine suffered catastrophic damage as valves collided with the pistons. The quickie fix that was developed was to apply Loctite to the sprocket and camshaft but that was inadequate, too. Welding or pinning the sprocket to the camshaft was the only real solution. Whoever buys that minty car needs to have it done as soon as the transfer documents are done!
A dozen years ago, we bought a rode-hard-and-put-away-wet ’93 SHO to be our youngest son’s first car.
Go ahead, say it…what were we thinking?
I was remembering the ’55 Chevy 210 my Uncle Charlie had in the field, a non-runner, as I recall, but only $5. Hey it was 1970. I was 13.
Dad said no. Didn’t want to do that to Jon, and besides, I was allowing myself to embrace some automotive diversity, GM family that we are.
Jon wanted this car and the price was reasonable, I just had to run some new brake lines and do a few other things that have become long-forgotten.
A year or so before, a dear friend bought Pittsburgh Steeler legendary wide receiver Hines Ward’s Cadillac STS, the one he’d turned in for that new Escalade in 2006 after the Black & Gold won their fifth Super Bowl. I got to drive this STS…AND the SHO.
THE TWO WERE FAR MORE SIMILAR than the STS was to the Cadillac DTSs my friend and I would rent when going on client appointments in distant cities.
Especially over 100mph. This lifelong Chevy guy was IMPRESSED with the driving experience the SHO delivered.
It was DEFINITELY more car than Jon needed at age 17.
But if ya know the significance of the ’93 SHO – first one with an automatic – you can probably predict the weak spot of the car. The AXOD tranny gave up the ghost and we had it scrapped…the SHO had simply sat too long (three years IIRC) under a tree after years of being ridden hard and put away wet.
And you know what Neil Young said about rust.
But I could’ve only imagined what it was like when new, because with one foot in the grave, it was still quite impressive.