Driver’s door panel is cracking and weak.
ABS stopped working years ago. I just had them unplug the pump, because the brake pedal would pulsated for no reason and all the sudden at anytime until the ABS light came on, usually after about 20-seconds or so, and then it would stop. The repair would have been $2000.
We bought the car new and it now has well over 200,000 miles on it.
The engine and transmission are both original and have never had any issues. The engine does use, not leak, about 2-quarts of oil every 3,000 miles. This started right at 100,000-miles.
The digital display on the radio has stopped working, but the radio works fine, you just can’t see what station your on.
We bought a new Taurus in 2001 and drove the 2001 for about 6-months and sold it and went back to the 1995. Luckily Ford was only going to give us pennies for our trade in, so we just kept the car as a spare. The 1995 gets a lot better gas mileage. In town the 95 gets about 20mpg and on the highway the 95 gets about 32mpg. The 2001 got 16/28mpg on its best day.
The 1995 has a much nicer interior and a lot more front seat head room. The 1995 also has the numbered key pad up high on the door and it is easy to use. We don’t even carry keys anymore. The 2001’s keypad was under the door handle and impossible to use and see. Also the 2001’s center brake light blocked the rearview from the rearview mirror and the gear selector (P RND21) could not be seen because the driver’s air bag is too big on the 2001. The 1995 has none of these problems.
The 95 also has a ton more front leg room than the 2001 did.
I read about all the problems that others are having with their Taurus’s, but I suspect that either they are being abused, or Ford has spotty quality and we just happened to get a “Good car”.
We never allow the dealerships to service our Taurus as we don’t trust any of them. We have my brother, who owns a small full service gas station, change our oil every 3,000-miles and the transmission gets serviced every 30,000-miles and has since new.
The car gets new, (whether needed or not), plugs, plug wires, front rotors, pads, radiator flushing, battery, and new tires every 50,000 miles.
The car has never needed an alignment or any front end work. This may be due the that fact that most of the miles on this car are highway miles.
The power steering system is drained and filled with new fluid every 100,000-miles.
The air filter is changed every year along with the fuel filter and a premium thermostat.
New windshield wipers every 6-months. The paint gets waxed 4-times and year and still looks brand new and the car has been out in the sun since new, but the headlights are dulled over.
We also have my brother treat the CV joint’s plastic/rubber boots with a moistening compound that he invented at his shop. So far the car is over 10-years old and the c/v boots still look brand new. He cleans and treats the boots every 3,000-miles. We are trying to get him to market this “Product” that he invented, but he says, from what he has seen, no one appears to care about their C/V boots any way and that shops are hopeful that your boots will crack and let water and mud up in the joints and cause them to fail.
He drives a 1986 Oldsmobile 88 FWD, that he got from mother when she died in 86, just 2-days after she bought the car new. The Oldsmobile has over 350,000 miles on it and his C/V boots are still original along with the whole car minus all four power windows and alternator.
Any way, now that I have kind of bragged on old faithful “the Taurus”, I bet that she may break down, but if she does, we plan to have her fixed, at least until Ford, or someone builds a nice roomy car that is FWD, not RWD, and has the numbered key pad on the driver’s door.
We looked at the 2006 Ford Fivehundred, but it doesn’t have the front leg room, or the nice interior styling of our 1995 Taurus.
We really need a newer/ nicer looking car to drive around in, but like I said we, will not settle for anything less.
We are seriously looking at a new Grand Marquis, but I remember getting stuck in the snow in our old RWD ”Rear wheel Drive”1984 Oldsmobile 98 Regency Brougham. O now that was the best car that we have ever owned. We traded it off in 1989 for the Buick, which was a good car also, but I would have to say that we have never driven a car as long as what we have with our 1995 Taurus.
Great review.
We have a 1995 Mercury Sable with over 170,000 miles. I think that the key is regular service and to drive the cars like adults should.
They are not race cars, but my sable will move.
The only problem with our sable was when it was new the alternator failed.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site