In Praise of the ... Wait for It ... Ford Taurus

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mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
The fleet car and work horse of the Ford dealerships in the 1980's and 1990's was the Ford Taurus, a strangely designed sedan that looked like a dolphin in a gray flannel suit. I never owned a Taurus, but I drove them as loaners at my work place and in other situations. No sport sedan, and never praised much at all in the car magazines. However I noticed that some of them lasted 20 and 25 years as personal commuter cars, and many are still on the road years and years after they were discontinued. Sort of a crypto jeep for the working family.
 

verporchting

Lifer
Dec 30, 2018
2,879
8,933
Er, no. Sorry MSO. Drove a few of them (fortunately never owned one) and found them to be rubbish. There are good under rated cars out there, but that’s not one of them. ?

Just my own opinion and not that it matters. Plenty of people must have liked them because they sold a ton of them, but … I just can’t remain silent while someone says SPAM is as good as Filet Mignon, lol.

It’s meat, of a sort, I guess? But premium steak it’s not.

YMMV. ?????
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
There's no doubt the Taurus was hard to love. After five or six years it became mostly a fleet car. However, I watched the director at my work place, a biomedical research outfit, run his Taurus as a commuter car for years, and it wasn't new when it got there either. However, I did notice when he showed up after retiring from that job, from another exalted academic post, he had upgraded to one of the higher priced BMW's, so I guess after all those years of Taurus, he wasn't doing that again. Something about Taurus kept it on the road. Either it didn't break down much, or it was easily repaired, because despite their clunky driving, they were doggedly durable. I don't know how Hyundai is today, but back in the 90's, those things would burn up an engine in five or six years, fini. I had a friend who owned one, and you could see the engine block coming out the tailpipe.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Yes, when Buick was made in the U.S., in the 60's through 90's, it was a step above U.S. cars in general. My late wife's mom had one that lasted for about 25 years and looked almost new right along. The current Buick's are made in China, I believe, and are not a comfortable ride for anyone over 5' 7", or so I've heard.
 
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snagstangl

Lifer
Jul 1, 2013
1,606
768
Iowa, United States
My friend had one is high school. He carved a C L I out of plastic, in the same font as name badge on the trunk. He glued it in front of the original. Man we were geniuses back then.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Ref. Sweethomealabama's post:

Minivans used to be the symbol of humdrum utility until a car writer pointed out that a minivan is the sexiest car in the world, denoting that a guy had not only found a wife but reproduced enough children to need a van! You can't get much more fundamentally sexy than that.
 
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