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Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:00 am

I'm thinking of updating my aging 90 Fairlane to a Ford Taurus around a 96 or 97 model... They only imported them here for a couple of years... Sadly they were'nt a huge sales success down under. But, who better to ask then you Yankee guys about these cars. Are they any good or does anyone know of any problems they have heard about Taurus'

Cheers Greg

Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:55 am

I will say that the Taurus SHO was pretty peppy!

But as far as a standard Taurus, I don't really have any input, they're just your basic everyday car. They're very popular for rental cars over here. Not the best quality. I wouldn't go out looking for one.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:02 am

Between their not selling well plus there not being too many around since they weren't imported in large numbers it seems to me illogical to consider buying one. Over here there are a lot of them but they are of just average reliability. They are not hard to fix because there are so many of them. Certainly fixing them in Australia is going to be harder than here.

I don't know much about Australian cars but it seems to me there were a lot of cars manufactured there that it might make more sense looking into. Weren't even Beetles and other VW's imported in knocked-down form and assembled there?

Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:44 am

What's the need for this car, again -- a winter driver?

I could four cars (not counting the Fairlane) in your sig. :P

Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:25 pm

I have had 4 Ford Taurus (Taurii?) as company cars, there were great, with nothing but scheduled maintenance. Never kept one over 60,000 miles though. Had an early Sable (Mercury version) electronic dashboard was not reliable, left me stranded several times ... when the speedometer is out the car won't run.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:28 pm

If a car can't give you 60,000 miles these days reliably it's pretty bad. None of the cars I've owned started acting up until well after 60,000. That's when things like water and fuel pumps and timing belts start to go.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:38 pm

My wife and I have a 2003 24valve Taurus with all the shit on it. It is pretty damn quick and rides pretty good. For the money, it was either this or a high mileage import.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:38 pm

Every time I go to the junkyard, I see about 10 or so Taurus sitting there. There is nothing apparently wrong with them, they aren't crashed or anything. I wounder, why are they there. Then I remember "Oh yeah, they'er Ford Tauruses."

Mon Jul 11, 2005 12:58 pm

my wife's daily driver is a 96 ford taurus wagon I like it for 2 reasons...

you can fit a type 1 engine, type 1 transaxle, and 5 people in it all at the same time!

It is hefty enough to tow a Ghia with a tow bar

It has 180,000 miles on it and has never had any major problems (all maintenence done on time). Sadly I think it is not much longer for this world... probably another 5-10k miles on that thing and it will be dead. It still has all of it's original pep and coooold A/C but it is slowly eating coolant as if it is going to blow a head gasket any week now. My wife wants me to swap a SHO engine in it when this engine goes, but I am hoping I can just get her a nice Volvo wagon instead.

I don't like driving it, I have a Subaru WRX and a Karmann Ghia, so a huge car with no cornering or acceleration to speak of is not my cup of tea. It is front wheel drive which is annoying in such a large car. My wife loves hers and is sad that it may die soon.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:28 pm

Nice wife you got there, asking for an SHO engine! I think she wouldn't mind a little performance enhancement on that car better than a Volvo.

Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:36 pm

Thanks for your input guys... I will definately investigate further before I buy one... I will check with Ford here as well in relation to parts availability... I can get a really clean 97 Taurus for $9000 AU with only 44,000 original kms on it. I know they're only an average car but, I don't want anything really flash. (It is nice to drive a car every now and then when nobody takes any notice of you)
I mainly need another large Ford for winter driving and for towing my projects from time to time. Also a little easier to squeeze the family in on a long trip as well :)

If this does'nt work out I'll just buy another later model Fairlane

They did bulid VW's here 79SuperVert up until around the late 60's I think but, all the new VW's are imported now and at the moment on my budget (large mortgage) are cost prohibitive to own and maintain.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:06 am

Between myself and my parents we have had 5 Tauras/Sables. They are pretty reliable, but stay away from the 3.8L engine. It has a flaw that costs about $800-$1000 to fix when the main seal goes out. Other than that, just normal things. My wife currently drives a 2001 with 110,000 miles. We replaced a couple of sensors on it, about $100 each. The plastic coolant tank sprang a leak around 85,000 miles. Other than that, just belts, fluid changes, tires, etc. The first set of rear tires went 80,000 miles before we changed them. I know, I should rotate the tires. It has been a very good family car.

Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:28 am

Thanks Brettlt...

I could just buy a Falcon which is the Australian equivalent of the family Taurus but, I think the Taurus has a few more extras such as leather trim, power-everything, etc for a bit less money then a locally built Falcon.

I will keep all things mentioned in mind when making my decision.

Thanks guys

Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:15 am

My brother bought a '96 taurus for his daughter to drive to college..He drove it down to Ingleside from Dallas and we were supposed to drive it to DC for her..Well half way there the car's tranny went..He made the most of the 400 mile drive in first gear only able to go about 20mphs..We took it in and found it was a defect in the Taurus car that the tranny's were crap..$1600 to fix..Decided against it and towed the car back to Dallas and told her she was out of luck..

Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:26 pm

when i worked for the illinois dept. of transportation they had a lot of tauruses...they led tough lives on the construction sites and seemed to always be in the shops with broken motor mounts, struts, sway bars and transmission problems...my folks also owned one (late 80's wagon?)...it looked like hell but ran for a very long time with very negligent maintanence...i remember it having electrical issues with it's windows/door locks...i've never been very fond of Ford's interior design and comfort, but that's just my opinion...

Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:49 pm

Aussie Greg wrote: Thanks Brettlt...

I could just buy a Falcon which is the Australian equivalent of the family Taurus but, I think the Taurus has a few more extras such as leather trim, power-everything, etc for a bit less money then a locally built Falcon.

I will keep all things mentioned in mind when making my decision.

Thanks guys

The Aussie Falcon sounds like a fun car, rear wheel drive, V8 or turbo 6. The Taurus looks like a dog compared to a Falcon.

Thu Jul 14, 2005 9:14 pm

I had a '65 Ford Econoline pickup once, it was really cool, but I like my new doka better 8)
if anyone catches me putting money down on a tarus please kill me, I've been possesed by the demon of boring cars...

Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:54 am

The new current model Falcon is far superior to the Taurus thats for sure but, in the used car market around 95 to 97 year models the Taurus is a little better. It has taken Ford here along time to get their shit together and build a really good Falcon/Fairlane

Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:46 am

Aussie Greg wrote: I'm thinking of updating my aging 90 Fairlane to a Ford Taurus around a 96 or 97 model... They only imported them here for a couple of years... Sadly they were'nt a huge sales success down under. But, who better to ask then you Yankee guys about these cars. Are they any good or does anyone know of any problems they have heard about Taurus'

Cheers Greg

Taurus's are great! If you enjoy replacing burned-up autmatic transmissions on a regular basis which happens to most of them at about 50 to 60 thousand miles. Maybe there's a reason they weren't popular down under. I never understood why there were so many sold here.

Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:10 am

Man I wish I could get my hands on a latemodel Falcon over here. I've watched the V8 supercars on TV and those things kickass. RWD, V8 and the rest all add up to curb hopping, sideways sliding fun to me!