[fordsho]

Man I haven't been on these forums in a very very long time. I don't even know if most of the older crowd is still here or not but Hello! I started looking into the car market again and every now and again I look at the older gen Tauruses. Test drove a 2016 Ford Taurus SHO a few weeks ago and the build quality of the interior is just

I still look for a SHO every now and then but their hard to keep up with maintenance and parts are becoming harder to find.

I saw this For Sale 2005 Ford Taurus | UCG and I immediately remembered this forum It seems like a pretty clean example but is vulcan powered but also has a floor shifter which is weird as I remember all the vulcan's coming with column shifters.

Like I said I looked at the newer tauruses and they just don't feel like they were built as good as the older gen's. I've owned every single gen aside from the 4th so I'm wondering if I should get one. What's the verdict?

 

[chartmaker]

Man I haven't been on these forums in a very very long time. I don't even know if most of the older crowd is still here or not but Hello! I started looking into the car market again and every now and again I look at the older gen Tauruses. Test drove a 2016 Ford Taurus SHO a few weeks ago and the build quality of the interior is just

I still look for a SHO every now and then but their hard to keep up with maintenance and parts are becoming harder to find.

I saw this For Sale 2005 Ford Taurus | UCG and I immediately remembered this forum It seems like a pretty clean example but is vulcan powered but also has a floor shifter which is weird as I remember all the vulcan's coming with column shifters.

Like I said I looked at the newer tauruses and they just don't feel like they were built as good as the older gen's. I've owned every single gen aside from the 4th so I'm wondering if I should get one. What's the verdict?

I have 3 Bulls, '03 Taurus sedan, '05 Taurus sedan, and the one in the pic, bought to replace my '03 Sable wagon sold to a friend. This wagon in the pic, been in VA all it's life and no rust. Super clean.
Our daughter drives the '03, and our grandson in college drives the '05 for his Job.
Our wagon is the hauler but family car '11 Buick Lucerne.
Last Summer I rented a Malibu for 4 days and 270 miles. If someone gave me that car, I would sell it rather than drive it. I would rather drive one of my Bulls.
The Buick is nice but not reliable. Waiting for fix for leaking power steering. However, really like heated steering wheel, heated seats, great mpg.
-chart-

 

[rjacket]

Main issue with the Taurus is a poorly performing transmission. Duratec is a good engine.

Fusion, 500 / Taurus that came after G4 would be a better option given the right engine / transmission combination.

There was an increased emphasis on quality and these vehicles were more up to date after Taurus had stood still. Fusion has much better driving dynamics (is Mazda based), 500 / Taurus is very spacious (Volvo based).

 

[kekaye56]

I had an 06' 500 and drove it for 230K miles before passing it down to my Grandson. We loved it so much in 2010 went to Ford to buy a new one only to be disappointed to find out it was a 3 year run. So we kept driving it until 18' when I pulled up next to a new Taurus that looked like a clone of our 500. So we went shopping an found a used 17' that felt like our 500 only had more bells and whistles and a bigger motor. Loved the extra power from the 3.5 but found out too late about the dumb design of the internal water-pump. Now 5 years later, still driving it and loving it but anxious about the water-pump issue.

 

[prariedom]

As someone who buys a lot of cheap cars, I could recommend fourth gen, provided it's in good condition - we've had three and they were reliable and enjoyable to drive - and I see a ton of them running around still. First and second gen were very popular but they disappeared quickly around here, while the same year GM A bodies in particular seemed to just keep going. Too bad, I thought the second gen was superior in looks, handling, performance, etc. to the A bodies - but then I got over 500k out of several A and W bodies 🤷‍♂️.

A good rule of thumb to me is if you see a lot of a 20+ old generation of cars it's usually a good bet.

@Chart: my parents have a 2010 Buick, extremely similar inside to the same year Impala, lots of trouble. Sad thing, they paid $2k more for theirs with 80k than we paid for our '17 Impala with 30k, both bought in 2018.

The 500/Tauruses are indeed quite nice, and the Montego even nicer . The only 'bad' I heard was the Volvo brakes, but we have had Volvos in the family and brakes were not an issue.

Fusions however, while I like them, have several class action suits for bad transmissions and fb marketplace and Craigslist are full of Fusions for sale with bad transmissions here in Eastern Iowa. Might not be a safe bet?

 

[Automender12345]

I wouldn't recommend buying a Gen 4 Taurus to anyone who doesn't work on cars. I bought a 2001 Taurus with a 1000 mile warranty. In that time the heater core was plugged, front caliper frozen, transmission input seal leaked at real cold temps and timing cover started to leak. I had two other Taurus at that time and knew all these issues are common. I didn't pay a dime but what if a single mother bought this car and found these out after 1000 miles. She would be laying out at least $2000 to $3000 plus her car payment. Great cars if you do the work yourself because the cost for parts was less than $200.

 

[Tom S]

I wouldn't recommend buying a Gen 4 Taurus to anyone who doesn't work on cars. I bought a 2001 Taurus with a 1000 mile warranty. In that time the heater core was plugged, front caliper frozen, transmission input seal leaked at real cold temps and timing cover started to leak. I had two other Taurus at that time and knew all these issues are common. I didn't pay a dime but what if a single mother bought this car and found these out after 1000 miles. She would be laying out at least $2000 to $3000 plus her car payment. Great cars if you do the work yourself because the cost for parts was less than $200.

This is my thoughts as well. I have 3 but that is because I do my own stuff. 3.0 Vulcan you can about guarantee a timing cover gasket job along with the oil pan gasket is in its future. Low cost for parts high cost for labor.

 

[chartmaker]

Great used ones are out there for a price. $6K.
~58K miles.
-chart-