1999 Ford Taurus SE Sport review from North America

I have owned this car for a short period of time, and so far have noticed a few things.

The relay for the horn and the cruise control went bad twice in less than a month, so therefore I decided to not replace it anymore and deal with it. My previous car didn't have cruise control, so I don't see it as much of a problem.

The radio antenna has come loose more than once, so instead of finger tightening it, I twisted it with a pair of pliers.

The fabric on the seats seems to be a little loose, it has a few wrinkles.

Both cigarette lighters become loose and rattle.

The headlights are so dim (cloudy lenses), that sometimes it seems I would see better at night with them off.

A/C doesn't work, the lines are bad. I have never owned a car with A/C, so it really doesn't bother me.

I read a lot on this car before I bought it, and took everything into consideration. It seems that the cars with the Duratec 24 valve v6 are the ones with the major problems (overheating, head gasket etc). Mine has the less powerful Vulcan 12valve V6.

I can say so far the transmission is scary enough on its own. The way it seems it just never wants to stop moving, and it shifts hard from 1-2 and from 2-1, which is a common thing in these transmissions.

I bought the car for $1600. It was a salvage vehicle which worried me until they showed me pictures of the accident (wasn't that bad) and statements and receipts from the place that fixed it. The previous owner was an elderly woman who said she really had no major problems with the car except for the brakes having to be replaced a little faster than most cars, which isn't too uncommon as well. However everything works fine (dome lights, locks, etc)

When I buy a car, I usually drive them till they quit or until I find something I shouldn't pass up. I sold my 1991 Cherokee with 285,000 miles and it ran fine, however I thought this would be better for a commute to school, which is about 40miles one way.

But for now I think I did good. It doesn't hurt to do in depth research and get on web sites like these to see what people say.

When researching this car, I went and asked a dealer about common problems with the Duratec engine just to see if he would be honest with me. He said that the Taurus only had motor problems with a 3.6L motor, which is funny because they were NEVER offered with a 3.6L. They only had 2 versions of a 3.0, which were the Duratec and the Vulcan, and a 3.4L V-8.

Basically it comes down to this, you can never do enough research, so to make the best decision go further in depth, take a few days to read everything, don't just impulse buy. And try to avoid a dealer for information.