95 ford taurus SHO any good?????

[Bud-sc]

Me and my wife found one at a dealership with 150,000 miles on it. The dealer only wants $800.00 down for it. Even though it has that many miles on it would be worth to put the money down on it???

[brokenantimatter]

Yes....god yes....if the engine is sound.

Even if your not big on SHO engines there are other people that are you could easily sell the car and make profit with a little work and financial investment in the car.

[shorod]

Is it a 5-speed transmission or the automatic? If 5-speed, you would have a hard time going wrong for $800. Not sure if you're getting it for $800, or if they need $800 with other monthly payments or something.

However, if it is the automatic, you will want to drive it in varying fashions. If the transmission does anything funny, you may want to walk away. It may seem to shift at high rpms and fairly softly under aggressive acceleration, that is somewhat normal, but if it shifts really hard, or makes a lot of noise shifting, that will likely be a high-dollar repair in the near term. Make sure the overdrive works too. Count the shifts, or have a co-pilot count them and make sure you see (on the tachometer) and hear 4 shifts. The repair for non-functioning OD can be cheap, but can be a good negotiating point or expensive if you opt to not do it yourself.

Also, pull as many spark plug wires as you can reach and inspect them for oil residue. The spark plug well seals tend to leak and will cause misfires and damage the wires. Again, not a bad item to replace, but you will pay for it if you don't want to do the work yourself. The engine looks intimidating, but it's actually quite tech-friendly.

With that many miles, the timing belt should have been replaced at least once (interval is 100k miles for automatic, I think it's 60k or 80k for the manual). If they claim it's been changed, make them show you proof. If you were to pay someone to do the work, expect to pay around $600. Having proof the valve adjustment was either performed or checked would be a plus too.

Don't get me wrong, a properly maintained V-6 SHO can run for A LONG time, but an abused one could be a royal PITA.

You should also visit www.shotimes.com for more suggestions as well.

-Rod