2008 Ford Taurus Review
Ford has made some 500
changes to the new Taurus, changes that were already scheduled for
the mid-cycle freshening of the Five Hundred. This family of
vehicles, loosely based on the same architecture as the Volvo S80
luxury sedans with some detail changes to the suspension systems,
also uses the same Swedish Haldex all-wheel-drive system as the
Volvo when it is ordered as an option.
The weak 3.0-liter V6 engine
has been dropped in favor of a new 3.5-liter, 24-valve V6 engine
that makes a full 30 percent more power. It's the same engine that
powers the larger and heavier Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers
and MKZ luxury cars. Likewise, the CVT transmission has been
replaced by a new 6F
six-speed automatic.
This new powertrain makes the
Taurus a whole lot more fun to drive than the ill-conceived Five
Hundred was. Its 0-60
mph acceleration
performance has been reduced by more than a second and a half, from
9.2 seconds down to 7.6 seconds, which is a huge chunk of
performance. The new engine not only makes more power, it gets 10
percent better fuel economy, even after adjusting for the new,
stricter testing procedures EPA has mandated for 2008 models. On the
open road, we found the Taurus to be very quiet and smooth.
Taurus competes directly
against other larger sedans on the market, chief among them the
Toyota Avalon, the Chevrolet Impala, and the Chrysler 300. Against
that competitive set, the Taurus is the largest car in the group,
and carries four five-star safety ratings for front, rear, side and
rollover crashworthiness. The big kicker in all of this is that,
with all the new styling, interior, engine, transmission and
standard features upgrades, the price hovers only about $250 above
comparably equipped versions of last year's bland, slow Five
Hundred.
The 2008 Ford Taurus features
two models, SEL ($23,245) and Limited ($26,845). Each is available
with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, called SEL AWD ($25,095)
and Limited AWD ($28,695). Taurus comes as a four-door sedan; the
Taurus X is the wagon variant.
Options include a convenience
package with a universal remote control, reverse sensing system, a
cargo net and memory adjustable pedals ($475); a wood package
($195); a DVD entertainment system ($995); AdvanceTrac electronic
stability control ($495); moonroof ($895); voice-activated DVD
navigation ($1995); 18-inch chrome wheels ($695); engine block
heater ($35); and Sirius Satellite Radio ($195).
Safety features include
front, side and curtain airbags, ABS, and traction control.
Electronic stability control is an option. With its Volvo-like crash
structure and features, the new Taurus has been awarded a Top Safety
Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The 2008 Ford Taurus is a
much, much better looking car than the Five Hundred, kind of
reminiscent of the Lincoln Town Car in a smaller size.
In the transition from Five
Hundred to Taurus, Ford completely redesigned the front end, with a
large three-bar horizontal grille that fits in better with the Ford
family look of the existing Fusion, the Edge, and the coming Flex.
It's altogether a better looking and more contemporary design for
the grille, with new, quieter mirrors, gigantic new headlamp units,
big driving lamps under the new bumpers, with necessary changes to
the hood and fenders. Decorative, nonfunctional gills have been
added to the front fenders to add visual interest and take up some
space on the huge fenders.
Likewise, the taillamps, rear
quarter panels and decklid have been redone, and the rear bumper has
been rejiggered to feature exposed dual exhaust tips.
We found the 2008 Taurus a
very pleasant car to be in. It offers a nice, high seating position,
with excellent outward vision in all directions, very comfortable
and supportive bucket seats, and instruments and controls that were
easy to look at and easy to use. The navigation system was a snap to
learn and use.
The most noticeable interior
feature of the new Ford Taurus is the sheer size of the space inside
the car,
108 cubic feet
inside, with a 21 cubic-foot trunk, according to EPA measurements,
making it by far the largest interior in the class at
129 cubic feet
total.
With folding rear seats and a
flat-folding right front seat, you can put a nine-foot-long object
inside the car. After you notice the space and the limo-like
rear-seat accommodations, you then begin to notice that every piece
in the interior, the instruments, controls, shifter, seats, console,
and dashboard, has been redesigned, with a more luxurious feel and
lots more chrome trim here and there. They've added a plug for an
MP3 player inside the center console as standard equipment.
The Motorola Sync system
offers integration with all Bluetooth-enabled phones and music
players, including iPods, via electronic and USB 2.0 connections.
Sync features include the ability to have text messages read aloud,
voice recognition for control of both phone and music functions, and
phonebook transfer. The system is upgradeable for future players and
for additional functionality down the road. Sync will be offered on
Taurus and 11 other 2008 Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles later
this year.
A Taurus Limited AWD we drove
was loaded with options, including AdvanceTrac electronic stability
control, a roof-mounted rear-seat DVD entertainment system, heated
front seats, convenience package, wood package, power adjustable
pedals, a moonroof, voice-activated touch-screen navigation, Sirius
satellite radio, and reverse sensing system, bringing the bottom
line to $33,600, and making it the best-equipped Taurus possible,
short of the 18-inch chromed aluminum wheel option.
The new engine and
transmission in the 2008 Ford Taurus are a wonderful team. The
engine is extremely quiet and smooth at idle, and uses a pendulum
mounting system that effectively separates its motions and
vibrations from the rest of the car. It sounds healthy, powerful and
smooth at full throttle, makes the car plenty quick in acceleration
and passing situations, and settles down to a nice background hum in
sixth gear, as it should. At freeway speeds, the Taurus is very,
very quiet inside.
We spent in inordinate amount
of time at full-throttle with the new Taurus because it's so much
fun to wind up in the lower gears; the old Five Hundred was just
slow. We did a 0-100-0 run with an ABS panic brake stop at 100 mph,
and we were suitably impressed with the way this car accelerates
from rest and brakes from high speeds.
With traction control and
optional AdvanceTrac electronic stability control, the computers
take over whenever you try to do anything foolish, to keep the car
flat and stable. The steering is accurate, with good feedback, and
not overly assisted in normal and highway driving. The ride is soft
and compliant, with some body roll in the fast corners and a
noticeable upward pitch of the front end on hard acceleration.
The new Ford Taurus has about as much useful room inside it,
counting the trunk, the folding seats, and the interior layout, as
your average crossover SUV. It just happens to look and behave like
a family sedan. It's big inside, big outside, and it's taller than
almost every other sedan on the market with that big bubble roof,
but if it's room you need and room you want, this might be the one.
It won't outrun a Chrysler 300 Hemi, but it's quicker than almost
everything else in the class, and at these prices, we think it's a
real bargain.