1988 Ford Taurus L review from North America

Things that went bad:

Radiator.

Heater core.

Power-steering hoses.

Rack & pinion.

Head liner.

Engine.

Transmission (twice).

Alternator, air-conditioning.

Windshield (twice).

And these were the major things, not mentioning the small ones.

Geez, if someone ever tries to sell you a 4 cylinder Taurus, run and run fast. he probably won't be able to catch you in his car.

Talk about a dog, it's slow, unreliable, and thirsty. I'm guessing the 1/4 mile in it would be about 25 seconds. One time 110 miles from home the power-steering hoses broke. Ford thought it was a good idea to route them right behind the exhaust manifold, even though they don't need to be there. The exhaust manifold burnt them to a crisp.

The gas mileage on the car was about 17 miles to the gallon because you had to stomp on it to get it to go anywhere.

Tauruses are known for their leaks. Every seal in the Taurus leaked. Radiator fluid, transmission fluid, oil, powersteering. The only things that didn't leak were the brakes and the fuel.

Transmission went out on me twice. 1st time it was super slow and needed a new torque converter and the second time was to replace the torque converter seal. The only good thing about it was that it handled good, the rack and pinion steering handled well.