1999 Ford Taurus SE review from North America

One year in to owning the vehicle, the oxygen sensor went out. The check engine light came on and when I was traveling 65 to 70 mph, the sound coming from the engine would increase. I was told that this was because the oxygen sensor was reading a value that was out of its range and so was sending the exhaust through the emissions system multiple times to decrease the toxins. Cost, $150 at dealer.

After three years of ownership, I started to hear a knocking sound from underneath the car. Midas said part of the catalyst had broken off and the catalytic converter would have to be replaced. I waited, and six months later, the problem has gone away.

Front left wheel bearing and tie rod needed to be replaced at ~75000 miles. The wheel creaked when I would turn to the left and there was noticeable bearing noise. The mechanic said ford used subpar parts in this model, so instead of regreasing the tie rod, it had to be completely replaced. $450.

At 80000 miles the battery died. Thank you SamsClub, new battery installed for under $50.

At 85000 miles the starter went out. Not knowing what was wrong, I had the car towed to a shop and they fixed it, with a $200 starter. Add in labor and tow, and voila, $420. At least State Farm reimbursed me for the tow. That extra $.10 per month really paid off there! I would suggest if you know the starter may be going bad, take it off yourself and have O'reilly, Advance, or Autozone check it for you.

And finally, perhaps the most annoying fix you could imagine. Bear in mind this problem did not occur until Winter 2006, so the vehicle went quite some time before this happened. In this model year Taurus, rust from the coolant lines finds its way in to the heater core and prevents the heat from actually being hot. Had the coolant flushed Nov 2006 and it worked for awhile. This fall (2007) the heat again stopped working. Took it back to the shop and they flushed it for free. Heat worked for... you guessed it, 1 day. If you are having this problem, read online to see what might be going on. I read online and found out that rust was probably clogging the heater core. What you do if this happens is pull off the hoses in the engine compartment that supply coolant to, and remove coolant from, the heater core. Hook a garden hose up to the hose that carries the coolant from the heater core to the reservoir, then hook another garden hose to the line that carries coolant from the engine to the core. Turn on the hose and guess what? When I did this, I was amazed at the amount of rust that had built up and came running out. Now the heat works just fine.

IMPORTANT

I have had no transmission problems yet, other than hard shifting from 1-2 and 2-1. This is apparently normal for this car and changing the speed sensor may help.

The 99 Taurus is definitely not one of the more attractive cars available, but I have had an overall good experience with it. Number one, it was cheap. Bought it in 2003 used, with just under 43000 miles, for $6995. It was pretty low on features, but it did have power windows and locks, ABS, power driver seat, power windows.

I had best buy put in remote keyless entry and remote trunk release for $130. I also had them install a CD player. This cost $250 because you have to pull out the entire stereo in the dash and use a special harness. It was also cheaper than putting in a changer.

The car has been very solid so far. It starts, it goes, and it gets close to 30mpg highway and 20mpg city. Pretty impressive for a domestic full size sedan with a V6.

I haven't had any major problems with the car, and replacing the starter was the most expensive. In hindsight, I would change it myself, since it's a pretty easy task. The transmission shifts the same with 91500 miles on it as it did with 43000. It does shift hard from 1-2 and 2-1, but this is apparently fairly common in this vehicle. This model is fairly notorious for blowing through transmissions, but I've been expecting it and so won't be surprised if the transmission does go. At this point, the book value of the car is fairly low, (~2500 trade in) which is slightly higher than what a tranny would cost. Anyway, I think I'll drive this thing until it rusts out, which it hasn't started yet.