1997 Ford Taurus SHO review from North America

Tires wear excessively early (every ~20,000 miles H Rated Tires). Possibly the Camber/Toe keeps coming out of adjustment.

Driver seat leather wearing.

Football (audio console) replaced at 15K.

Driver window motor replaced at 16K.

CD Changer replaced over the course of 7 visits.

Battery replaced at 22K.

Sunroof needed alignment at 24K.

ABS Computer Module failed at 66K.

In early 1998 I purchased a 1997 Ford Taurus SHO program car from my local dealer. The car had been purchased and used by Ford as a "Junior Executive" automobile, whatever that means. The vehicle itself was in great shape with only 15K miles on it, so my wife and I figured "Hey, it's practically new." The car was back into the shop within the first two weeks to have the "Football" replaced. The tape deck unit was not functioning properly, so the entire radio/climate control unit had to be replaced. Within a month (the car had 16K miles on it at this point) I had to take it back to the dealer to have the drivers side rear window motor replaced. It seemed a bit early to have this motor replaced, but it was under warranty so I didn't complain too much. Things seemed to go fine for about three weeks, when the CD changer wouldn't register that there were any CDs and wouldn't release the CD cartridge. This problem took about 7 visits, 3 different CD units and the course of six months to finally get straighten. In the mean time, while visiting family in Iowa at Christmas time, I accidentally pressed the sunroof "Tilt" button while looking for the map light (in the dark of course). The sunroof then refused to close. It took about 25 minutes of me standing in 4 inches of snow, and my wife trying from the inside to get the sunroof closed. (to this day, the sunroof still doesn't close everytime you press the close button). Upon our return, we once again took the car to the dealer for warranty repairs. A few months passed with no further problems from the car, everything seemed to work properly. One afternoon while leaving on another trip to Charlotte (about 3 hours) I took the car through one of these gas station car washes, when the sunroof leaked water on my wife. Upon further inspection, we found that (while being closed flush on the drivers side) the passenger side of the sunroof failed to close the entire way, leaving about an 1/8" gap. I stopped by the dealer, set up an appointment and we proceeded on our way. When we arrived in Charlotte, We checked into our hotel and decided to grab a bite to eat before the concert. We drove maybe fifteen minutes from the hotel to a cafe. We spent about another 15-20 minutes eating. When I got back out to the car after eating, it was dead. Nothing. Nada. When I turned the ignition key, abosolutely nothing happened. The car didn't sound like it had a low battery, it didn't make any sound. I had to wait for about and hour and a quater for a tow truck to come, then had to wait another hour while the local dealer supplied me with a rental car (it was a Ford operated rental agency too!!). I was further informed that FORD expected me to cover the costs of the rental, and that my car might not be ready the next day (since it was 5pm) and that I would be charged to take the rental out of state, and then they expected me to return to Charlotte to retreive my car. I was floored at the apathy of Ford, especially when my service records showed the unacceptable number of time that the vehicle had been in the shop for warranty repairs (over 12 times in 12 months). I bit my tongue and rented a car (Crown Vic $60 a day). Luckily my car was ready the next morning, prognosis, the battery had gone dead. I don't see how, when it happened out of the blue, I had had NO problems starting the car at the hotel, and then 45 minutes later (15 of the driving and recharging the battery, and nothing pulling power fromt he battery when the car was turned off) the battery is all of the sudden dead, with no charge?? It was at this point that I starting telephoning Ford Customer Service, who most of the time were rude and told me they had no further interest in me or my vehicle problems. After 9 phone calls and 6 months of complaining, a call to a lawyer, and hassling with the local dealer (who all they wanted to do was trade-in this car and sell me another one) Ford finally gave me a 75K mile warranty on my car. It took long enough for Ford to show any signs of customer service. I was very diasappointed in the way that Ford handled the situation. I expect that cars have some problems, but it seemd to me that 12 times for warranty repair in 12 months on a car with less that 30K miles was a bit unacceptable. So far, knock on wood, the car hasn't been in for anything other than routine maitenance (oil, brakes, etc.) in about 10 months or so. Maybe the problems have worked themselves out. I cannot recommend the SHO version of this car to anyone who doesn't have the time or patience to deal with a car that is constantly in the shop.

Update, at 66K the ABS module has failed. The Ford Dealer claims to have NEVER seen this before. So now, it is another $650 repair. The car has had no problems in the past 2 years, electrical or mechanical.