1993 Ford Taurus GL review from North America

Let see.

I bought the car in 1998 from the first owner. The reason I decide to buy it is because:

1) the owner is a friend of our family and well known for taking care of her vehicle (mechanically).

2) The local Ford Dealer (KS) tell her that this car is worthless. They prefer not to have it at all for any value, but since she is their good customer they will give her $2400 for a trade in value (the car was 4 years old back then). She was very upset and decided that the car has more value than that and someone could get a good use out of it.

Although the car is a FORD, I cannot pass such a good deal. My father owns a ford back in 1979, its called LASER, most of you will never see it, because its for sale in Asia area. He own it for 3 years, but the car has been "push" 36 times. That's about once a month. Not to mention that most of those are in the middle of a heavy traffic intersection. That car let my young-mother stranded so many times.

My father and his brothers never buy ford again. I guess I should have listen.

What is wrong with the car?

I was naive. This is my first car. The car is rusted. I hardly use the car,but I wash and wax it once a month.

At 120k or before: The car always make squealing noise since the first day I had it.

The noise will get worst during cold day.

At 121k there exist overheat problem, the Ford Mechanic cannot find what the reason is.

At 145k the headlight switch fail.

The headlight will not stay on at night.

The worst case would be the head light will not come on at all.

The problem is listed in the recall, but the dealer will not accepted my car. They told me it built before the period.

I am confused. They are the same model,same year, same head light switch, but the recall is not the same?

At 150k the head gasket blew. I cannot give you the exact condition because I let my ex-girlfriend use it. All I know is it lost power and the tempresure guage reach the redzone.

My ex-girlfriend is not very bright, she kept running it until the engine lock (shut down by itself). May be its because this is not her car.

The total cost is $900, and that is having a GOOD friend work on it.

The same dealer (the only Ford Dealer in Great Bend, KS) ask $1,800 for the same work.

Later I found out that the 3.8L V6 is well known for head gasget blow. Ford issue some "SECRET Warranty" for this issue. My dealer seems to know nothing about it, and when I ask them to check in to it, they got angry and start using cuss words. It was a bad experience for me.

At 154k the overheat problem came back.

Again, the local Ford dealer have no clue how this happen.

The problem solved when I went up to Kansas city, MO and a friend's mechanic look at it. The mechanic is not "Ford Certified" but he can identify the problem immediatly and solve it. The problem was the "THERMOSTAT". Fast and Easy, he fixed it in 30 minutes, best of all he won't charge me anything, but a glass of water. He said he will just add this to his collection of "Ford Certified Mechanics" joke.

At that point, I lose all faith in the FORD brand. I have more to tell yet.

At 160k the brake rotor warp. Create

vibration every time I push the pedal.

The brake will slip when the car is almost at a standing still (0-5 mph).

Also, in 1999, when the car is about 6 years old, the trunk lid rusted.

I removed the rust and repaint the area. One month later, the rust is back.

At first I thought it was just because the car is old, but this family have

2 Taurus (s) one is 1993 (mine) another one is 1995. I waited to see if the 95 one will rust or not. Right now (2004) the 95 Taurus is 9 years old and there is still no rust, just paint peeling off (about 4 inches in diameter) on the driver side rocker.

I consider this a defect in manufacturing. I ask the dealer, but they told me that FORD will not repaint the car nor assisted in any fee. The reason is because my car is built "before the recall model". Now, they are the same model, roll out from the same factory, how can mine have so much problems and they will do nothing about it? This is a bad deal all together. When I ask the dealer if they will take it in for a trade, they "laugh" and told me that I better off donating it. That show me how much FAITH these dealer put in the car the sell. I know that honesty, and ethics are major problems among dealers, but I never thought that it would be this bad.

The car has so much problems, and worst of all I have been gentle with it. people been telling me that I drove like an old man when I use this car. If I abuse it that's another story, but this is not acceptable.

It seems that the new ford (focus...) still have problems.

I do not believe that anyone should invest their money in this brand's product nor in its stock.

I will not buy ford again.

Many website suggest that I should take FORD to the small claim court. I will look into that.

Please do not make the same mistake that I made.