are ford taurus any good.
I had one in the mid '90’s that convinced me not to buy one again, but I have heard they have fixed the problem. They had a problem with the motor mounts that caused the transmission to go crazy.
Absolutely. In fact, my Ex got the kids and the Taurus which I regret every day. The important issue is routine maintenance. It is not uncommon to be able to put over 200,000 miles on Taurus’ and Explorers’. Don’t let a die-hard Chevy nut tell you that Fords are no good. First-year production cars are always a headache for all automakers, and ocassionaly every manufacturer produces a lemon, or “Monday Morning” car. However, Taurus, Explorer, and the F-series have been well established for years and they keep improving on a product that is reliable. GM, on the other hand, is plagued with retirement and worker benefits packages which dictate that this expense be made up elsewhere, like in design and developement and research that makes the product reliable. Simply put, GM hasn’t been able to afford to make a reliable product since the fuel crisis of the Carter years. And…be very careful when it comes to modern trends like “Flex-fuel” cars. Remember that diesel fuel was once the best and cheapest way to go. Now it is just aother resource exploited by dishonest Washington Liberals and spineless Conservatives. Trust me!
My Dad had a 94 Taurus put alot of miles on it but the extended warranty got used alot. Transmission, motor mounts, and if you really want to see how good of a mechanic you are try to beat warranty time for replacing power steering lines,these are the toughest and they go bad alot.Car got rear-ended and totaled,good ridance
I bought a 91 Taurus in 1993, it was fine for the first 5 years or so than it started falling apart. The final straw was the fuel pump failing on the Delaware Memorial bridge with a 4 year and an infant in the back seat. We got rid of it after that since my wife no longer wanted to drive it. My Dad bought a 2004 that had an stalling problem that took about 6 months to diagnose. Even though it had less than 20k miles it was out of the factory warranty. Fortunately he had an extended warranty that paid for itself many times over by the time the car was fixed. Both cars were maintained properly, especially the 91.
Ed B.
New Taurus (Ford 500) or old Taurus? The new Taurus is a fine car, and the later versions of the old Taurus are pretty good, too. I had a 1986 Taurus where the doors developed rust prematurely (~75,000 miles), but you are probably loking at a much newer version. At the time, I found it to have the best handling of any midsize car.
I have an '01 Taurus. I bought it used and I suspect maybe it didn’t get a lot of love from it’s previous owner, but I have had a lot of problems with it. Coolant reservoir cracked on the bottom and it took me forever to figure out where I was leacking coolant. Starter died. EGR system is having issues. The transmission used to slam really hard at random times, but that problem mostly went away by itself. The oil filter won’t stay screwed on, so it drips on my cat and smokes and stinks like crazy. There’s a clanking noise in the suspension I can’t diagnose… I’m pretty handy and parts are easy to get, so for me it’s been kind of a fun adventure. But I can’t recommend it as a good car.
Being honest the 97 Taurus was one of the more troublesome vehicles I ever owned. What year Taurus are you looking at?
There’s a clanking noise in the suspension I can’t diagnose.
Most likely it’s the front sway bar links.
Yes, they are very good. I had a 98 and when I let it go it had 288,000 miles on it. I put 1 alternator and 1 starter on it. THATS IT! Along with tires and brakes and normal p/m items. It was still getting 30 mpg and no oil was leaked or burned.
The first generation Taurus, 1986-1995 was not very good.
second generation 96-99, bullet proof.
third generation 00-08 bullet proof but my 01 does not get as good gas mpg as my 98.
The main problem with the early Tauruses was the automatic transmissions, which were troublesome. I had an 88 “MT5” model, which had the 4-cylinder engine and a 5-speed manual transmission and is is one of the best cars I have ever had. It got well over 30mpg and I never had a single mechanical issue with it. Unfortunately, when I got it it had a lot of cosmetic damage and I ended up selling it for a lot less than I should have.
I guess it depends on the year…Sister-in-law had a 96 and 2001…both piece of crap. Both had less then 100k miles and she pumped THOUSANDS into the car to keep them running…not to mention the THOUSANDS the dealer spent on warranty work. She bought a used Camry with 150k miles on it last year…and she says it nice not having to go to the mechanic every other week.
The nice thing about the used Taurus/Sables are you can get good ones very cheaply. If the previous owner did all the maintenace according to the schedule, the car will likely do fine. I recently got a 96 Taurus wagon for $800.00, and other than plug wires I have not had to do anything to it. It just runs and runs and runs. I have gotten several other used Taurses and Sables for my wife and kids for similar prices and have had similar results. I own three of them right now. Bottom line, if you get a used Taurus that has been well cared (check the service records) for you can get a good used car for not a lot of money.