99 tough taurus

my mother in law rolled her 87 sable, (dont drive drunk), and asked me to find her a nice used car. i found a 99 with 64k. very nice shape, fully loaded cd player and all, for $5995. im sure i can get the price down a bit. but my question is are these newer taurus's pretty rugged? she does not have the greatest respect for cars. she dont change oil enough or even pay attention to normal maintenece. (she drove on a lil donut on the sable for a month once, on the front and let the oil go for 6 months)
i suggested a old Ltd, caprice or diplomat, but she wants to get modern.
also is there any thing in this year i should look for? thanks guys for any insight.

my mother in law rolled her 87 sable, (dont drive drunk), and asked me to find her a nice used car. i found a 99 with 64k. very nice shape, fully loaded cd player and all, for $5995. im sure i can get the price down a bit. but my question is are these newer taurus's pretty rugged? she does not have the greatest respect for cars. she dont change oil enough or even pay attention to normal maintenece. (she drove on a lil donut on the sable for a month once, on the front and let the oil go for 6 months)
i suggested a old Ltd, caprice or diplomat, but she wants to get modern.
also is there any thing in this year i should look for? thanks guys for any insight.

I'll throw out my opinion here with the expectation that other people will too. The car you mentioned is far, far overpriced. 3 months ago I bought my Taurus, an '02 SES (CD, power seat, moonroof, heated mirrors, etc.) with 35K for $8000. If you have $6000 to spend, you should be able to find an '01 or '02 with the same mileage as that '99.

I agree with your mother-in-law: Newer is generally better. I wouldn't go looking for a Caprice or similar.

If she wants a bigger car I can wholeheartedly recommend a newer Crown Vic or Grand Marquis. The drivetrains on these things are pretty much bulletproof--don't forget that police fleets have been using and abusing these for years. They're rear-wheel-drive so they're easier to work on (and I like RWD for driving anyway, but they don't do well in snow/ice/rain for some of the poorer drivers), the newer ones make more power than the 3.0L DOHC and are quite snappy, and the gas mileage is probably pretty comparable to the V6s you see in the Taurus.

The newer Taurus (2000+) is fairly rugged. In your case, I don't see any reason to get a Taurus older than an '00, probably more like '01.

The transmissions are not known for longevity but I don't usually hear of too many people with the Vulcan (3.0 OHV) who have serious transmission problems earlier than 150K. The Duratec (3.0 DOHC) seems to be a different story as these are tougher engines and they probably tend to be a little more abused (much like it's hard to find a SHO these days that isn't approaching death because they were beat so hard). While the transmission may leave more to be desired, both 3.0L engines are excellent and are well-known for longevity. IF you still go with an older Taurus, DO NOT buy the 3.8L--they eat head gaskets like candy.

Good luck, and feel free to ask if you have other questions.

thanks, i have a newer crown vic, ex state patrol car, so i know there tough as helll, but she thinks there to big.
i guess i didnt realize taurus still had tranny troubles. maybe should look more at the 98 bonneville.
thanks

thanks, i have a newer crown vic, ex state patrol car, so i know there tough as helll, but she thinks there to big.
i guess i didnt realize taurus still had tranny troubles. maybe should look more at the 98 bonneville.
thanks
Like I said, I would rather see you go with something newer, since you can probably afford it. Up to you, of course.