1998 Ford Taurus LX review from North America

Transmission lurch (very severe) on upshift at about 60K miles.

Blown head gasket around 90K miles.

Cassette deck worked intermittently after first few years.

Cracked and leaking coolant overflow tank at about 110K miles.

This was our family car for many years... it took us on dozens of cross-country trips and was a mostly dependable daily driver for most of the 11 years that we've owned it. It is now our oldest daughter's first car.

First major problem was the well-known "lurching/bucking" transmission issue, which Ford fixed at no cost by flushing and replacing the transmission fluid with a new fluid from Ford designed specifically to eliminate that problem.

Next major problem was a real mess... engine bucking, stumbling, sometimes running hot. Two Ford service garages took a shot at fixing it, but all they did was flush the coolant and supposedly reset the onboard computer. Didn't help at all. Took it to a local shop who initially thought it was a blown head gasket, but when they CORRECTLY reset the computer, all those problems went away for good!!!

Recently the car has been randomly losing several quarts of coolant while driving (no puddles in the driveway) and we found the coolant overflow tank had several cracks on the not-visible underside, which leak only under pressure while driving.

The Taurus has served us well enough, albeit with above-average shop visits and maintenance costs. With an auto transmission and 3.0L base engine, it has plenty of power, rides smooth and incredibly quiet, and handles well in all conditions. This was originally my wife's car and I drove it for a couple of years, but the smooth, quiet ride combined with the 100% gray interior BORED me out of my mind. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing!

These cars can be bought cheaply these days... and they should be. Even a low-mileage used Taurus is going to cost you a lot in maintenance, so if you're in the market for one, buy it cheap or don't buy it at all.