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Those aren't innovations enough people care about. Most people have no idea what a CVT is, or even care.
CVTs, back then were hyped quite a bit by the press and manufacturers, though I was leery of them from the very start, and they turned out, as I had suspected, to be unreliable, particularly on higher-torque engines. Why Ford put them on the big, heavy AWD versions of the Taurus/Montego, I have no idea, except maybe to give them a little better CAFE ratings.....these were large, heavy sedans for the time, especially with the added weight and drag of the AWD.
The original Taurus was innovation you could see--a freshly styled design that, short of Audi, had never been seen before. Certainly not in that class. Once the Accord and Toyota caught up to the size of the Taurus, there was little compelling reason to choose a Taurus over those cars.
No question that the average Accord or Camry had a general reliability advantage over the Taurus, though, as I mentioned above, some Taurus samples could run a long time without problems. Th Nissan Altima, for a time, was also a respectable competitor though it lost a lot of that when Renault took over Nissan.
The Fusion absolutely replaced the Taurus in the midsized segment. The Taurus for instance used to compete with the Camry, and then the Fusion competed with the Camry while the Five Hundred (which would be rebadged Taurus) was moved upmarket and became an Avalon competitor
The Fusion absolutely replaced the Taurus in the midsized segment.
Technically, yes, it did, but as I remember, it came from a slightly smaller (though still mid-size) European Mondeo platform.
The 1Gen Fusions were excellent cars, BTW. Some of my condo-neighbors are still driving theirs, and, I think, BrettJacks, here, on Car Chat, had one for a while and was pleased with it. It was one of the few American-badged products of the period that CR consistently gave good reliability marks to, at least in FWD form....the AWD versions less so. Even a Lincoln version was done.....the Zephyr, which became the MKZ.
Maybe I just didn't see it, or overlooked it, but one thing, in this thread, that I haven't seen mentioned much (if at all) is what actually started the actual demise of the Taurus and Sable....the controversial 3rd-Generation model, which debuted in the fall of 1995 as a 1996 version. Ford's management, at the time, was not satisfied wth the 2Gen model's styling, which, they said, looked like "a pair of slippers". The result was something truly unusual and controversial.....the totally-oval-shaped theme inside and out, which, IMO, had a front end that looked like a cross between an insect and a fish. Sales, except for fleet-purchases and rentals, took a nose-dive, and, after that, never reached their former successful levels. At the end, the last (current) Taurus ended up being little more than a police car and (occasionally) a car for seniors.
I mentioned the 96 Taurus, it was my example of innovating in the wrong ways lol
OK..sorry if I overlooked that.
I remember driving a sample of that generation....not an official test-drive at a dealership, but to ferry one that belonged to a colleague of mine when he couldn't drive for a little while. While the styling and interior was enough to make one hold one's nose, I actually was quite pleased with the general seating, ride comfort and handling...quite comfortable for the period, though not pillow-soft and boat-wallowy like the big Fords in the early-mid 1970s. And it also, of course, lacked the precision/Swiss-Watch assembly and material quality of its two main rivals...the Accord and Camry.
Yeah they were nice cars at the time, but they went downhill quickly. Ford rushed a refresh to make them look more "normal" but when they did that they dramatically reduced interior material quality and what was left over was blown away by competitors.
CVTs, back then were hyped quite a bit by the press and manufacturers, though I was leery of them from the very start, and they turned out, as I had suspected, to be unreliable, particularly on higher-torque engines. Why Ford put them on the big, heavy AWD versions of the Taurus/Montego, I have no idea, except maybe to give them a little better CAFE ratings.....these were large, heavy sedans for the time, especially with the added weight and drag of the AWD.
It doesn't matter how hyped a car feature is, or how much press coverage it gets. The vast majority of car buyers don't read up on cars, or new transmission technology. Or care about these things in the least. You need to separate your knowledge and interest of cars from .... most other people.
It's like if a new baking technique was unveiled--my wife would read all about it in her cooking magazines. And I'd have no idea about it at all...except that dinner might taste better one particular night.
If a tree falls in the forrest, does it make a sound?
Maybe I just didn't see it, or overlooked it, but one thing, in this thread, that I haven't seen mentioned much (if at all) is what actually started the actual demise of the Taurus and Sable....the controversial 3rd-Generation model, which debuted in the fall of 1995 as a 1996 version. Ford's management, at the time, was not satisfied wth the 2Gen model's styling, which, they said, looked like "a pair of slippers". The result was something truly unusual and controversial.....the totally-oval-shaped theme inside and out, which, IMO, had a front end that looked like a cross between an insect and a fish. Sales, except for fleet-purchases and rentals, took a nose-dive, and, after that, never reached their former successful levels. At the end, the last (current) Taurus ended up being little more than a police car and (occasionally) a car for seniors.
Wow. Some horrible interior design. Exterior is just as bad.
Not crazy at all. The last Taurus was neglected, ancient, and flawed, and Ford never bothered to do anything about it. I don't hear many people complaining that its gone now.
the taurus had a good run for ford and was definitely innovative for its time. i rented loads of them (mostly the one with the hideous oval center control ‘thing’). a friend had an SHO which was definitely a fun car.
I never warmed up to the Taurus when it first came out. However, when the SHO came out I loved it. It added a couple little details on the exterior that made it cool.
My dad bought a 1990 Ford Taurus in red color - it was a base trim car with manual windows and hubcaps.
He bought it used in 1993 I believe.
Let me tell you this was our 2nd vehicle since coming to America and it was the biggest piece of junk. Always something broke. My dad then got a new Toyota Avalon and never considered another Ford.
Before the Taurus - we had a 1981 Buick Riviera. That car was incredible even though it was almost 10yrs old when we got it around 1990/1991. My dad got into bad accident with it and then the car started to have issues hence the purchase of the POS Taurus.
Riviera was power everything, much more luxurious and better built by far than Taurus.
I really liked the original Taurus, thought it was a cool looking car. I was a kid when I first started seeing them, sort of getting into reading about cars in magazines and liking sedans much more, especially liked cars with features I thought were so cool like power windows, power door locks, power seats, power sunroof's, digital displays. I had some odd obsession about operating the power windows/mirrors in different cars and how the buttons felt and wanted to try the Taurus's so bad, I would always look into the interiors of parked ones to see if they had power windows and other features. I thought the Mercury Sable was even cooler when it came out and those matte black Taurus's in "Robocop" looked really cool but soon after I didn't pay attention to the Taurus's anymore nor most American cars, I got more into Mercedes, BMW, Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, Porsche at the time as well as exotics, only American cars that I found interesting were Lincoln's and Cadillac's and some stand alone models like the Buick Riviera, Regatta, Olds Trofeo, Aurora. The oval Taurus in the mid 90's was terrible, almost universally hated, the interior looked cheap, the interior update that got rid of the oval theme was better but the damage was done which was a shame, the Taurus and Sable were big hits for Ford, I remember how popular and groundbreaking they were.
Also just to reconfirm how bad the Taurus was - I never see them on the road even though the shape was mostly unchanged into mid 90s.
Accords and Camrys of those years still can be spotted on regular basis.
My dream car when i was a kid was a 1965 Ford Mustang fastback and then 69 Boss302.
I still love the looks of the current gen actually and was so close to getting GT350 to replace my BRZ. The build quality continues to be subpar and every time they take step in right direction they seem to follow up with 2 steps back.
12-01-19, 03:16 PM
