[kjw86ca]

I was reading consumer guide and they said:

"News: Reversing earlier plans, Ford Motor Company will keep Taurus in showrooms through at least 2009. Another freshening is rumored for '06, and should be more substantial than the '04 updates. Ford and Mercury will soon add two midsize sedans bracketing Taurus/Sable in dimensions and price, so the older models will be recast as "value" alternatives, which likely means fewer trim and equipment choices. It may also mean no more wagons at some point."

That would be cool. And makes since that they would drop the wagon and redesign the Taurus in 06 since the Freestyle wagon comes out in 2005 and the Sable is being dropped in 2006. That would leave the Taurus with its current offerings to fend for itself. A redesign would "bring back interest" or whatever.

Also what they said about the "fewer trims and equiptment choices.." that seems to be true, also. That guy posted on here about 2 weeks ago saying that in the Taurus order book it said adjustable pedals are gone and only SE and SEL are going to be available in 2005.

-Kyle

 

[bull geek]

These next 5 years are going to be an interesting time for Ford, bringing out these new sedans, crossovers and that Escape Hyrbid. Its a shame that the Taurus is loosing the little stuff like that and its going to be disapearing in 09 (possibly), but the nameplate has been around for a while and has had a good run. Wonder what this '06 redesign might look like? Maybe some sketches/spy shots will be around this fall.

 

[Lakeshow23]

I think all that Taurus/Sable stuff is true. I read about it in a source that was different than Consumer Reports.

 

[silverknight]

well, on our new 04 we are gettin this week. we looked at the adjustable pedals, but since this car will be my moms daily driver, and the rest of us will now have our owns cars, it seemed pointless for us. i wish we had it on my moms 99 that 4 diff people drive tho.

 

[kjw86ca]

I had the adjustable pedals on my 00 and 01. I only used it the day I bought it to move them to where I wanted them...after that it was kinda pointless. Nice if a lot of people drive the car though.

-Kyle

 

[darthenstein]

I certainly hope this is true.

I just bought my Taurus a couple of weeks ago, and I'm new here, but I'm not new to the world of Taurui. My family has had both a '91 Taurus/3.8 and a '95 Sable/3.0, and I can say for their class they are the finest vehicles on the road -- among the best cars (foreign and domestic) ever made. To just kill the nameplate because 'other brands' are gaining marketshare is simply giving up...Chevy is reviving the Impala nameplate to show American heritage, why can't Ford just keep the Taurus nameplate? It's been around long enough!

As for the look of it, I hope it looks kind of like the first/second gen ones -- they're sweet!

Kind of a rant, but this was in the back of my mind all day until I read this

 

[Guest]

I have heard these same rumors floating around. I will be really happy if they keep it around a while longer - as a matter of fact, in about 2 years or so I think I'll be ready to get a brand new one! This car has been the best car I've ever had and the best one my family's ever seen so far in terms of reliability and being trouble-free - and they really don't cost much to maintain at all in comparison to other cars. I had my first problem with my car yesterday - CEL came on and I got the code read at AutoZone and it was "P0401 - EGR Flow Insufficient". I called the stealership, they ran my VIN and it was covered - they're fixing it for free today! So I definitely can't complain about that! B)

 

[tmonster]

I dont see why they would drop the Taurus name when its in the top 10 best selling cars

 

[godspunk32]

Because the nameplate is fast losing it's status as a reliable family car, because you can get other foreign cars that are just as reliable for less money. They'll bring out the new sedans and they'll vault into the top 10, and the Taurus/Sable will be winnowed out, as consumer sales decrease over time and corp. sales increase. It's the natural ebb and flow of the product life cycle. The same thing happened when Gm discontinued the Camaro/Firebird. Not enough people were interested in it, and not enough people wanted to pay for the gas. The people that were interested would just as soon buy a Mustang GT for about a grand more, and get a smaller engine with comparable performance and better milage...the only thing that Ford needs to watch is cannibalization of all it's model lines...they don't want the Taurus to attract consumers (not corporations) away from the new mid-line and full-size sedans. If that starts to happen, the Taurus will go away for good.

JR

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by tmonster@May 12 2004, 10:08 AM
I dont see why they would drop the Taurus name when its in the top 10 best selling cars

Good point!

 

[mykej27]

Originally posted by tmonster@May 12 2004, 06:08 AM
I dont see why they would drop the Taurus name when its in the top 10 best selling cars

Exactly

 

[silverknight]

people keep sayin that the forgien cars are cheaper, thats total bs, i priced out a bottom of the line kia and others and they have no options at $9,000. add power and an auto tranny, its up to $13,000. if u want that 10 yr 100,000 mile warranty, thats another like $6,000... in the end, not worth it. taurus has like $4,500 in rebates right now. u can get a 2004 SE with some options for $20,000 after EVERYTHING. thats after interest rate and all that other bs.

 

[godspunk32]

I'm not saying that imports are better (cuz we all know they're worse) but they're more attractive to people now, because people in this country know about the late 80s, early 90s design flaws in many domestic cars. The also know that cars from the period from Japan ran forever. We all know that neither of these stigmas still applies nowadays, but the stigma persists. Ford is offering so much in rebates now because they're trying to push as many 04' models out the door to make room for the 05' models.

I do agree with you, a base model Taurus can be had for a competive enough price to a Kia/Hyundai/Honda/Toyota...I saw a dealership around Philly pricing base model Tauri at less than $10,000 a couple weeks ago. These may have been 03' leftovers or may have been 04's that they were trying to ditch.

JR

 

[iafphantom*genIwagonv6*]

say what godspunk? .....u saw new taurii SE for 10k? where? whats the name of the dealer??? My dad is looking for a car and this sounds tempting!

 

[godspunk32]

It was about two weeks ago, and it was somewhere in the Philadelphia area...If I see the ad again, I'll PM you with the info...

JR

 

[Postmortem]

In my city, cheapest 2003 LX were 13K, probably with some hail damage. My sable was $13,988 plus delivery fee of 760.00.

 

[Blue Vulcan]

I hope they can figure out how to stop using the cheapest iron they can find to build their engine blocks so they can maybe fix their brown coolant problem by 2009....