1999 Ford Taurus SE from North America - Comments

It ran really good initially.

My running lights went out. I replaced the fuse and this didn't help. I replaced the bulb and that didn't help.

They think it is an electrical problem.

Replaced the brakes @ 110,000 miles $400.00.

Replaced the battery @ 114,000 miles.

Had to have transmission worked on at 114,000 miles it was leaking and causing the car to jerk especially if you were going around a curve.

Heater Core stopped up at 114,000 miles, I was told they needed to replace the thermostat and heater core 600.00.

116,000 miles I traveled out of state to my parents house and while there my Dad replaced the spark plugs. The next day while traveling home from my parents house my water pump cracked and caused the car to over heat with in about 2 miles. When the water pump went out and the car over heated it caused me to crack a head gasket. A mechanic wanted to charge me around 900.00 to fix this.

It got horrible gas mileage. Maybe 14 miles per gallon if I was lucky.

Needless to say at 116,000 miles I decided enough was enough and I was not going to pay to fix a car that wasn't worth as much as what it was going to cost me to fix it.

All these major problems happened from August till October 24, 2004.

On October 30, 2004 I traded my Taurus in on a 2003 Chevy Trialblazer.

This car is ok if you have a lot of money and don't mind spending every penny you own on repairs.

My whole family is a Ford family so when I drove up in a Chevy I got some comments, but hey I went to a more reliable vehicle. At least I hope I did.

Hey, what do you expect? You bought the car with over 80,000

miles on it.

I don't think I'd even buy a new Ford. You're really pushing your luck buying one with all of those miles on it.

My '99 Ford Taurus has 115,000 miles on it and has been virtually trouble-free.

My college car, a 1994 Ford Escort, is still running, I gave it to a younger family member with well over 200,000 miles on it with the original engine and transmission. They drive it every day. This car had actually been totalled in an accident years back at 119,000 miles but we fixed it and it bounced back and still ran great.

My dad owned a Ford F-150 and put over 200,000 mostly trouble-free miles on it before trading it.

Could the problems be the owners and not the cars themselves?

I wish I could get 114,00 miles out of just one battery...

This didn't sound like such a bad car, but it wasn't taken care of too well. All of the problems and expenses you mention really emanate from the lack of maintenance of the cooling system. Either the previous owner should have flushed out the system and changed the fluid, or you should have done it as soon as you bought the car as part of preventive maintenance to avoid these problems. So you put 25,000 miles on an old car that you didn't really take care of. Why complain?

I brought a 1999 ford taurus wagon with 197000 and runs great

i have not complains I loved.

I'm going into my third year of ownership from a reputable dealer. Car had ~77K miles with a squeaky clean VIN and been running fine. I've put in around $200 total maintenance during the first two years (tire sealing--alum rims are a problem on this model, I'm told--and an overdue engine tune-up (not counting preventable wiring insulation repairs after a squirrel nest the first winter. No bull.) My guy told me last month after some braking problems that the linings needed to be replaced and (possibly) the rotors if he cannot remove the rust buildup. These expenses could have been anticipated if I'd known to ask. Lesson learned: avoid nasty surprises by anticipating what can go wrong before it does. (My guy pretty good, but if you don't ask him to check, he won't look.) Started my prevention list with cooling system tip. Thanks!

I have a 1999 ford taurus. I bought it from my grandpa who is a mechanic, so he maintained it regularly. It's now almost to 300,000 miles!! It just won't die. So I think it's the owners and not the cars! keep the maintence up and it will do great.

Absolutely - you need to maintain the car... like anything else!

The Ford Taurus and the Mercury Sable are the same car. They are both Ford products. I would not recommend either of these vehicles because they are trash. FORD stands for Fix Or Repair Daily, and it also stands for Found On Road Dead.

If you can remember the make of all the cars that you have seen on the side of the road with mechanical problems, I bet you that the majority of them were FORD/MERCURY products, and especially the FORD Taurus/Sable; it's notoriously famous for bad heater cores and bad transmissions, so avoid them at all cost.

The only good thing I have to say about a Taurus or a Sable is that they are big, roomy and comfortable.

I never understood how FORD got such a big vehicle to run on 4 cylinders. I had the 4 cylinder version; that's probably why the transmission burned out trying to lug all that weight on it's chassis or shall I say unibody... :-)

In contrast to the last comment, my parents bought a 1997 Mercury Sable station wagon with 50,000 miles in 2001. It now has 190,000 miles and has had no repairs, only routine fluid changes and a tune-up. It has been such a reliable vehicle that it induced me to buy my first Ford, which now has over 100,000 miles with zero problems.

I once also believed that Fords (particularly Tauruses) were junk, but was forced to change my opinion in light of personal experience. Whatever problems they may have had, they seem to have fixed them. Why not give one a try rather than living in the past?

My '99 Taurus at 100k gets about 20 miles per gallon. I will stress the fact that correct tire pressure, clean air filter, and your routine tune up will increase your mileage. 14MPG doesn't seem right.

Re: 15th Jan 2009, 20:11

This commenter makes no sense:

"If you can remember the make of all the cars that you have seen on the side of the road with mechanical problems, I bet you that the majority of them were FORD/MERCURY products, and especially the FORD Taurus/Sable; "

I have never seen a DeLorean, ISO Rivolta, or Dodge Viper on the side of the road. If I apply your logic than these are the most reliable cars ever. However, I have seen AMC, Buick, Chevy, Dodge, Ford, GMC, Honda, Isuzu, no Jaguar, Lexus, Mazda, Mercury, Nissan, Oldsmobile, Opel, Renault, Toyota and VW with trouble on the road. Maybe it matters how many of them are out there?

"I never understood how FORD got such a big vehicle to run on 4 cylinders. I had the 4 cylinder version;"

There was never a 4 cylinder version of the Taurus/Sable.

"There was never a 4 cylinder version of the Taurus/Sable"

Wrong again. The first generation Taurus/Sable, made from 1986-1991, came with a four cylinder engine as standard; the V6 was an option.

I bought my '99 Ford Taurus used for $3600 in March of '08. It had almost 100,000 miles on it, and the only thing I've ever had to replace were the front tires after the winter. The only problem I've had is sometimes it pulls to the right. But for a ten year old car I'm not complaining. I put 30,000 miles on it in the first year of owning it driving to and from my college, and still haven't had any problems. Maybe I got lucky.