2001 Ses

[nhbfan]

I'm considering purchasing a 2001 Taurus SES with 26k miles. It's a program car (possiblity a former rental). Do you think this is a good idea? Have Taurus models later than 2000 improved in reliablity?

[Jazer2002]

Was there ever a problem with the '00 models? I think they may have tweaked the tranny with the '01, just to make it a little smoother, but other then that, there are no major updates to set it apart.

-Jazer-

[NVKnight]

I did what you are talking about, I bought a former rental 01 SES. Has the newest version of the 12v OHV V6 motor, Ford calls it the "Vulcan". In the 01 and later models, they boosted power to 157, up from the 155 that the 00's had and the 145 that the 96-99 models had. You might not feel 2 horses, but there was a lift in torque too, 5 lb/ft I think, so you use those horses. Also new in 01+ is an updated version of the AX4N transmission, now called 4F50N. Smoother shifts and slightly modified shift points make the car a little more efficient and a tenth or two faster on the quarter. If you have 15 minutes to spend, you can raise the horses even more for free. Jack up the left front, pull off the left fron tire, remove the plastic inner wheel well/fender wall from the front half, then use a phillips head screwdriver to remove 2 screws and yank off the intake silencer. This is a two fold benefit: remove the restriction from the intake and take a good look at where the intake pipe is, its right there in the fenderwall. You now have a slightly poor mans CAI. Spend the $60 and get a K&N or other less restrictive panel filter, or jury rig a cone to the intake pipe where the silencer used to be and free up another horse or 2. Thats all Ive done so far, and my best quarter run is now 16.55. Spend 60 bucks and cut 3/4 second from your quarter time, sounds good to me.
Also note that Ford freely admits that the motor comes "muzzled, constipated, and starved". The intake is too small for it to run real HP numbers, the exhaust is constrictive, and the fuel delivery system is too small. If you do the math, the motor needs at least 15 pound injectors to run remotly close to potential, and Ford supplies 14 pounders, and a dinky 60lph fuel pump. If you want a dependable car, just do what I did above and be happy. If y ou want to shock the hell out of a lot of people, get a Mustang 65 mm throttle body, 65 mm MAF, redo the intake pipes to 65mm, rig a cone in the wheel well, get a mustang 110 lph fuel pump, bigger fuel lines and rails, 19 or 24 pound injectors, remove the resonator, put on Flowmaster 40's and then get a chip custom burnt for the changes. Can you say 250 or more HP? If you really want to get crazy, there is a bunch that do fully customizable, on the fly change chips. Check out www.sctuner.com for thier gear. One of the guys there, a dude named Jason King theorized 300 hp from the motor WITHOUT ANY OTHER CHANGES! To really get the most from the engine, do it all. 350 or more hp can be generated by the motor with a little money and a little patience, but above that things get really expensive. The tranny wont take much more then that, so it would need to be bulletproofed. The engine internals are Hypertetic (SP?) so really, going over 250-275 or so and you risk blowing the internals.
But back to your question. The 00+ Taurii are good cars, no problems, safe as hell and affordable. Why pay 5k more for a camery when the taurus is better in nearly every catagory?

[bruno4]

I have just purchsed an April 2000 Taurus SES with the Duratec DOHC engine (200 b.h.p).
Do yourself a favour and go for this with floor change and bucket seats. Get a private version for around $12K, there are plenty around. You can haggle easily at the moment as there are so many Taurus' about. I paid £12k for mine, it has a host of extras, as at the time it was the top model prior to the SEL.

I've studied this car for months before purchasing, the Vulcan is past its sell by date and because there are so many Taurus' around, you will get a Duratec for the same money.

Get a full service history and enjoy what to me is a vastly underrated car.

The seats are hard, but comfortable on long trips.

I'm from England and my friends back there can't believe how cheap cars are here. An equivalent model in the U.K would be around $19K!!!