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So brought the car in for some work at Donway this morning.... and they provided me with a rental (thank you!)..
a Ford Taurus...
and let me tell you. When you drive a car that is THAT s***y, it puts a lot of things into perspective.
Hell, I think my convertible has less cowl shake than the taurus (definitely less wheel hop during acceleration)...
not to mention that you don't know what you have until you miss it.. like a turning radius.. how is it that I'm hitting full lock on the taurus when driving in my underground parking?
I mean, that's never happened before.. hell, the mustang is a full half turn away from full lock... and you'd have to be drifting the focus to need full lock... suddenly, I know why taxi drivers do 3 point turns when they have 4 lanes worth of space to turn. They want to, but they can't!
I could go on about the interior of the car, how uncomfortable it is, how the interior design in general is a greater embarrassment than ford's decision to put cup holders in the way of the gear lever on all new cars...
I honestly cannot fathom just how crappy the new taurus is.. it's the crap you'd scrape off of crap.
I can't wait to get my car back now...
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i take it, it was the 2006 Taurus? as the new 2008 is not for sale yet?
if it was I can relate, I had one for 2 days and wow... it looked cheaper on the interior tirm parts then my friends 2001 model.... and I felt tiny in it, like I was in Grandpa's Car.
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Ford Taurus/ Buick Century, aimed at the same group of buyers. Old.
I drove one two years ago. The best thing about it was the sunroof.
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all i know is that i like out '99 Taurus wagon
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NikiterZTS,Apr 13 2007, 12:53 PM Wrote:all i know is that i like out '99 Taurus wagon
[right][snapback]234612[/snapback][/right]
I had a 95 Taurus wagon. Kids were younger, still going to elementary school.
Other than the wonky transmission, it was a pretty good car, in my opinion. The 2006 that I drove, was totally different, more like a $%%^&&^$ Buick Regsl/Century, made for old folks
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Tauruses are for older people that need a useable seating space for passengers, and room for a family. The SHO suspension is a lot better.
People lacking kids or regular sex might not understand. ;)
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Reading reviews about the Fusion remind me of the reviews for the Taurus when it came out. I haven't driven a Fusion, but have kept an interest in the reviews about them. I don't have the time to just go into a Dealership and test out a few vehicles.
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What you have to remember is that the current (not 2008) Taurus is a 13 year old design. How does driving your 2006 Mustang compare to driving a 1995 Mustang? Then you get the idea.
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OAC_Sparky,Apr 13 2007, 01:39 PM Wrote:What you have to remember is that the current (not 2008) Taurus is a 13 year old design. How does driving your 2006 Mustang compare to driving a 1995 Mustang? Then you get the idea.
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*ahem* 2007 mustang...
you're totally right tho, however, for a car that's not even a year older than the current gen platform, it stands in stark contrast.
ie.. I complain about some of the cheapiness of the new models/platforms, but it's nothing compared to going back in time with the older platforms.
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I've got a 2006 Fusion, and the only part that sounds anything like the Taurus is the turning radius...its awful. I crank the wheel more in this car than i EVER did in my focus...and its really quite sad, and makes parking it a bitch.
But other than that nothing else is the same, the V6 will lay a patch like no one's business, and the interior is really upscale for the price, the trannie is great, and cup holders are behind the shifter in the middle of the console.
The seats are great too..big fan lol
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DP,
The Taurus was neutered by the bean counters from the get go and aside from the SHO was a fleetmobile... I'm not surprised at your reaction to it, hell, I test rode in a 2005 Taurus before moving to the Focus and the '05 Taurus felt and looked cheaper than my '86 Taurus was <_<
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we had an '87 taurus (with the digital dash with those backlights that burnt out quicker than most lightbulbs should)... it was a great friggin' car.. I still have a place in my heart for the pre-bubble car tauruses.
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The thing is, that was a car built 20 years ago. Were you to drive it today, you would likely feel the same way you do as the late 90's Taurus by comparison.
I used to think my '72 Torino was an awesome driving car too.
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oldeguy,Apr 13 2007, 01:04 PM Wrote:NikiterZTS,Apr 13 2007, 12:53 PM Wrote:all i know is that i like out '99 Taurus wagon
[right][snapback]234612[/snapback][/right]
I had a 95 Taurus wagon. Kids were younger, still going to elementary school.
Other than the wonky transmission, it was a pretty good car, in my opinion. The 2006 that I drove, was totally different, more like a $%%^&&^$ Buick Regsl/Century, made for old folks
[right][snapback]234616[/snapback][/right]
Yup ... had an '88 taurus wagon (Ford of Canada had the "one price" strategy - same price for sedan or wagon - but the wagon had the 3.8 standard!) and it gave me 260,000 refined and inexpensive kilometers. That was the car that really gave me a lot of hope for Ford's future.
The thing is today's Tauri haven't really moved the bar much on those early ones ... it's the rest of the industry that's caught up and surpassed them ... but there was a time when the Taurus was the pacesetter in that segment and made Car and Driver's 10-best seven years in a row.
But at the end of the day don't forget it's mission ... reasonably priced family transportation ... read NOS's (IIRC) account of driving a brand now Camry - cars in that segment will rarely meet the needs of most on this board.
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The Fusion is an awesome car, just couldn't get past the Auto only option on the V6 Models.
My grandparents had a late 80's Taurus sedan too, with EVERY option on it, and it really was an awesome car back in the day. Then they got a newer one, didn't like it or keep it long, and got a Contour SE (it was the same colour as the Edge...Obisidian), and liked that alot, but got the crummy service from Ford, and jumped ship to Volvo. My parents had a Contour SE with the V6 and 5spd, one that was from the KC Missouri plant, and it had a very rare interior that wasn't available on models in Canada (the leather colour and bolstering was different than cdn models). They liked that car a lot too, but got crummy service from ford, and terminated their lease early.
I think that in the last 2-5 years, Ford has made some seriously awesome cars compared to what they had 10 years ago or more...they are moving in the right direction, just doing so too slowly...
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Drivesthebeast,Apr 14 2007, 12:11 PM Wrote:The Fusion is an awesome car, just couldn't get past the Auto only option on the V6 Models.
My grandparents had a late 80's Taurus sedan too, with EVERY option on it, and it really was an awesome car back in the day. Then they got a newer one, didn't like it or keep it long, and got a Contour SE (it was the same colour as the Edge...Obisidian), and liked that alot, but got the crummy service from Ford, and jumped ship to Volvo. My parents had a Contour SE with the V6 and 5spd, one that was from the KC Missouri plant, and it had a very rare interior that wasn't available on models in Canada (the leather colour and bolstering was different than cdn models). They liked that car a lot too, but got crummy service from ford, and terminated their lease early.
I think that in the last 2-5 years, Ford has made some seriously awesome cars compared to what they had 10 years ago or more...they are moving in the right direction, just doing so too slowly...
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Noticed a common thread throughout your post...crummy service from Ford.
It must be very frustrating to the people who build a Ford to have someone on the "team" screw it up for them.
It's almost like saying the car is great, but don't buy it new.
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oldeguy,Apr 14 2007, 02:21 PM Wrote:Noticed a common thread throughout your post...crummy service from Ford.
It must be very frustrating to the people who build a Ford to have someone on the "team" screw it up for them.
It's almost like saying the car is great, but don't buy it new.
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Bang on ... but a common thread throughout the industry IMO. I bought two new Honda's in the mid-80's for my wife at the time (85 and 88) -- both were excellent cars, but based on my experience at a number of Honda dealers I swore in 1991 that I would never buy another Honda or Acura in my life - and frankly it's been easy to do so far.
Maybe I'm just lucky, but for all the crappy service I've rec'd at the Ford stores, and I've had my share, they haven't come close to p!ssing me off like the Honda boys did.
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oldeguy,Apr 14 2007, 01:21 PM Wrote:Noticed a common thread throughout your post...crummy service from Ford.
It must be very frustrating to the people who build a Ford to have someone on the "team" screw it up for them.[right][snapback]234707[/snapback][/right]
Unfortunately, dealers and their employees are not Ford employees; any more than Walmart employees work for Nintendo -- yet Walmart sells Nintendo Wii's. Walmart buys Nintendo products form Nintendo, and sells them to the public; just like the dealer buys vehicles from Ford and sells them to the public.
You might ask, "What's the difference?" and to the customer, there isn't one. They unfortunately see the dealer as "the Face of Ford", rightly or wrongly. But the difference is that unlike a Ford employee; as a salesman or service rep, today you could be selling or servcing Fords, tomorrow you could be selling Nissans across the street ( or like in the USA, off the same lot ). There is an arm's length relationship, and in the end Ford has little real recourse against dealers that treat customers poorly.
Generally, my dealership experience has been ok; I 've dealt with more good dealers than bad; the only really bad one went out of business. Unfortunately for Ford, it only takes one bad dealer to sour the brand.
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I've had one bad experience with a Ford dealer. It was enough to say no more new Fords, I'll buy used. Sorry
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You can blame the fall of the Taurus on the dillweed that read the study back in the early 90's that women buy more cars than men. Upon this realization is where all curved lines and frilly crap started. I remember the taurus has round stereo....A ROUND STEREO! :lol:
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