2005 Taurus

[rjschell30]

Anyone know anything about the 2005 Taurus? Looking at possibly getting one however with the problems I'm having with my Intrepid I want to make sure there are no major mechanical problems. Please someone inform me. Thanks.

[Gravesubject]

I have a '95 Taurus with 210,000 miles and a '00 (Gen IV, same as the '05) with 60,000 miles. If you avoid the rare Friday/Lemon (a few sneak into every carmaker's stable) and make sure that routine maintenance is done (particularly coolant changes and tranny service) then the cars are solid and able performers.

Cheers.

[drdisque]

also, its worth it to pop the extra money for the duratec, they come with a better transmission and hold their value better.

[yotermanic]

I haven't seen any problems with the 05s at the dealership. I have an 03 myself and love it. There's room for the kid, it's comfortable, affordable and repairable. I think Ford got the Taurus right and am sad to see it go. I loved working on them in the dealership because most of the late body style ones were just maintence gravy. I'd go for it and not hesitate. By the way, the duratec has a lot more get-up than the 3.0 Vulcan, but they do have valve problems now and then. I got the Vulcan (12V) because it gets better mileage in town and just runs forever.

[Willyum]

I have an '02 SES and it's been the best car I've ever had. (now 36K miles) Problem I see with Taurus folks is that many don't do the recommended maintenance and drive them until they have serious problems.

[Gravesubject]

Originally Posted by Willyum

Problem I see with Taurus folks is that many don't do the recommended maintenance and drive them until they have serious problems.

That seems to be a problem with the owners of lots of different cars. Some folks just want to gas up and drive and never worry about their car's maintenance schedule, then bust a gut crying when their car breaks down. Granted, some people are religious with scheduled maintenance and still have problems because they got a lemon. But that is probably much more the fault of the people who put the car together than the car itself (hence the term Friday Car).

Really, most drivers these days just don't appriciate how well their cars run day in and day out compared to cars 20+ years ago, which had to be tinkered with almost weekly to keep them in peak performance. Given the choice between constantly tweeking a carburetor to get 70 hp on 9 mpg (my first car: 1972 Merc Comet), when it ran, versus doing next to nothing to get 200 hp on 20 mpg from my '00 Red Bull....

absolutely no comparison.