Posted on 10/19/2006 10:56:56 AM PDT by floridareader1
I drive a Montego the Mercury version of the 500. The Montego has a lot of nice touches and is fun to drive.
"oh sort of like the Del Sol, Integra, NSX, Prelude, and Vigor?"
The NSX is still in production, AFAIK. The Del Sol was a "Civic Del Sol". The Prelude is on hiatus but may return, undoubtedly with the same name. The Integra and Vigor, well, Acura changed their model naming conventions, first to the "3.2 CL" style, and now just to the "RSX, TSX, TL, RL" style names.
No, the NSX is on hiatus.
Conan O'Brien & his Ford Taurus SHO
Regular Tauruses were pretty much crap, but I had a Taurus SHO (Super High Output) with the aluminum Yamaha engine and a five-speed manual transmission that was a lot of fun to drive. That car would really haul...
I knew that. I suppose Mazda changed the name of the GLC to the 323, then finally to the Protegé for the same reason?
I gotta say, the kid in me is very jealous of that!
I gutted previous Vic (pbui) and rebuilt it with cop and sport parts. On the outside it was a grannymobile, on the inside it was at least Interceptor spec (in places even better).
I had a lot of fun in with that car.
The Taurus has it's problems but in general it's solid and reliable and most of all DIRT CHEAP to drive if you run up the miles ...
The brake pulse is due to the dual-metal rotors (copper? cored) that dissipate heat better than all steel rotors , unfortunately they tend to pulse badly as the outer steel layer wears off and thins ,, new rotors are only $30 for the solid steel cheapies at the local auto parts store.
The 3.8L motor was too much for the AXOD tranny ,, the best engine is the weakest , the 3.0L pushrod "vulcan" series motor ,, especially if you do the maintenance , compared to the 24V motor alternators starters and water pumps are simple to change out..
Mine is a 3.0l vulcan powered 98SE with 140K , the handling is solid (SE is similar to the SHO in that regard) , the 4 wheel discs with ABS work fine but I too will need rotors next pad change,, no major problems, no rust , only current issue is 1 window motor (rear) that's inop and that's probably just a $3 relay.
As far as the reported paint problems that's been going on with all US made cars since the late 1980's when the new EPA standards for VOC's went into place ,, the foreign built cars still use the better (older) paint formulations as the standards don't apply to them...
The Taurus is a wonderful car in that you don't ever even think about it, the control layout is intuitive , everything works exactly right...
Every car has it's problems ,, some of the best known luxury brands totally s*ck ,,
As the exception that proves the rule, I had an 87 K-car in law school that was indestructible...God knows I tried.
It had the 2.5 Mitsu powertrain and, sans A/C, was almost powerful enough to tolerate. The braking system was for chit, though. Nobody made heavy-duty rotors or pads for it, not that I could find.
"Mr. Smith, your hysterectomy was a total . . . success . . . uh . . . wait here . . ."
Big mistake in my part to buy that dog.
It had like maybe like 90 horsepower.
Used to have a Sable with the 3.8 V6. As I've already read here, I know too that engine loved to blow head gaskets. I still stand amazed when I remember the day green antifreeze was dripping out the back tail-pipe!
Man that sucker was blown!
The SHO was a special car, at the time I was impressed and I don't even like Fords.
Ford killed the SHO the day they deleted the Getrag stick shift.
I'd love to have one of the originals.
Over the years, I've had an '87 Taurus with the 4 banger, '88 Sable Wagon with the 3.8 V6. I had a 94 Taurus with the 3.8 V6. I think the 92-95 Tauruses were the best ever. They went downhill in 96.
I bought a 1997 Taurus and sold it to my brother. He's still driving it. And he's only on his second transmission.
But overall, they are cheap to buy.
No, actually. Mazda had a quality problem with the GLC (it stood for "Great Little Car," which it wasn't), so it got renamed the 323 when they went to an all-numeric naming scheme. Then they decided that numbers sucked, so the perfectly acceptable 323 became the Protege (to the point where there are some cars with 323 *and* Protege badges).
Um, actually, no on the paint issues. There are foreign-badged cars that are made and painted in the US, and they have to abide by the same rules. It's the Ford/GM beancounters that are skimping on paint - they use cheap top clearcoats and the paint thickness is half or less that of a comparable US-built foreign-badged model.
They save $30 per car that way. :P Too bad they tick off customers by doing so.
The control layout of the Taurus, especially the ovoid ones, is NOT intuitive.
You can now bolt on later Chrysler calipers and pads for them....
Then the question is "Why are your calipers worth more than your car?"
I haven't seen that car in fifteen years.
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