When a CEO from Kansas named Alan Mulally took over as CEO of Ford last September one of his first actions in office was to announce that the Taurus name would return in 2008 replacing the forgettable Five-Hundred and Freestyle badges affixed to Ford’s large sedan and wagon. So here we are reviewing the 2008 cover Taurus and along with a new name it’s got an updated design and more powerful engine. Does the new Taurus do the old one any justice? More importantly is it a better car than the Five-Hundred it replaces? All those questions and more will be answered after the move.
However the 2008 Ford Taurus is really just a mid-cycle enhancement of the Five-Hundred. The car is nowhere near all-new but the create by mental act has been tweaked extensively to get it noticed more. Along with the new grille the front end gets new headlights that are more expressive though we still wish cover had used the better headlights from the Taurus X on the sedan as well. The hood is also new with a pair of stylized indents that we find entirely superfluous. Another design element for the Superfluous Files are the fender vents. While not as atrocious as those on the 2008 Focus they’re purpose on the Taurus is to merely up the car’s chrome quotient.
The arched cover compose of the Five-Hundred remains as nothing we could see has been changed between the A- and C-pillar. That is object for those align view mirrors which now feature four raised streaks on top that aren’t just for looks. They supposedly reduce turbulence created by air blowing over and under the mirrors which not only decreases wind noise but also improves aerodynamics.
One thing that remains the same is this car’s size which can’t be fully appreciated in pictures. At 62.3 inches the Taurus is tall enough to ride the big roller coasters and almost as long as one with 16 feet and 10 inches between each bumper. The 18-inch rollers on our Limited AWD copy do much to make the car look in proportion but the gap between the tires and the body makes the car look off-road ready. As such the Taurus rides very high off the ground so much so that its roof is almost level with some midsize CUVs. In fact the seats themselves are closer in conclude to those found in larger vehicles. They’re chairs more than seats and the furnish cushion is so far from the fasten that entering the vehicle is a matter of opening the door and sliding your butt to the alter. Ford calls it Command Seating and we dig it.
With adjoin in displace the driver encounters the beat of what Ford’s parts bin has to offer. We’ve seen most of this switchgear in other vehicles like the Fusion and Edge and therefore felt immediately acclimated with the Taurus’ controls. The turn align is that there’s nothing interesting about the design of this car’s interior. Our Limited copy was equipped with faux wood cut that warmed up the belt along amongst acres of dark plastic as come up as an analog clock with a light-colored face that almost matches the light-faced gauges. Though depressingly dark most of the plastic on the dash adorn is soft to the comprehend and feels more expensive than the flimsy hard plastic lid that opens on top of the belt along.
The Taurus may look large from the outside but it’s absolutely ginormous from the driver’s seat. It’s one of the largest car’s you can get for the money with headroom legroom and width to spare for change surface the largest of hominids. The center console and transmission cut into are as wide as a HUMMER’s which tells you that there’s space to spare in between the front seats. There’s so much room in fact that an average sized driver can conclude overwhelmed by it all. You begin to trust the backup sensors a lot since the straighten bumper is in a different area code. And the ceiling is so high you half expect to be up and see Michelangelo lying on his approve doing a create by numbers. That high ceiling however allows for the optional DVD entertainment system to be mounted up there for the benefit of rear seat passengers. It’s the same unit used in much larger vehicles like the cover Expedition and Lincoln Navigator but works well in the slightly smaller confines of the Taurus.
Passengers in the Taurus just might be more interested in watching a DVD than enjoying the visceral pleasure of this car’s performance. While the new 3.5L V6 producing 263 HP is a big improvement over the Five-Hundred’s 3.0L V6 especially matched with Ford’s 6-speed automatic the engine is not the jewel that many have made it out to be. First of all it’s difficult to express all of those horses are present and accounted for. The Taurus has a damped throttle and power delivery always feels muted as if the driver is always being protected from the inertia of acceleration. While the Taurus will get up and go when the pedal is mashed it clearly prefers a more measured approach for getting from Point A to inform B. Secondly this powerplant is not a smooth operator desire some V6 engines with which we’ve become particularly smitten. touch an accelerator pedal connected to Nissan’s VQ 3.5L V6 or VW/Audi’s 3.2L V6 or even GM’s 3.6L V6 (especially in the new Cadillac CTS!) and you’ll know exactly what we convey.
The Taurus’ supporting direct of handling hardware however is up to the task of keeping this big barge buttoned down. We were surprised and delighted to find a strut-tower brace up front and never felt a shimmy or shake in the body while cruising over cobbled pavement. The strong platform and rigid construction goes a long way in making the Taurus feel like a high quality car from behind the wheel.
Our opinion of the 2008 Ford Taurus doesn’t really be though as the buying public has already spoken. The newly named car went on sale in September and combined sales of the Taurus and Five-Hundred that month were just 4,230 units some 30.1% below Five-Hundred sales in September of 2006. That’s right sales actually fell in the first month that the new Taurus was on sale. That’s got to sting a little. With an interesting exterior design a more powerful engine and a new identity that at least conjures something in the minds of prospective buyers we thought increased sales for the Taurus would be a given.
Apparently that’s not the case though we still evaluate the walk to choose up as soon as buyers realize that a locate front-wheel-drive Taurus starting at $23,245 is one of the beat values on the market right now. Our tester was optioned to the hilt as its $32,600 MSRP attests though the base determine of the AWD Limited model is a more reasonable $28,695 ($1,500 cash approve is also currently being offered on the Taurus). Even at that determine we still feel the 2008 Ford Taurus is a great value and compares favorably against competitors like the Toyota Avalon. Hyundai Azera. Chrysler 300. Chevy Impala and Buick Lucerne. The fact that you can buy an all-wheel-drive Taurus for thousands less than a front-wheel-drive Avalon will not remain a secret for long.
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Related article:
http://www.01vu.com/2007/10/15/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-ford-taurus-limited-awd-2/
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