(side note – I took a few months off from writing as my busy life intervened. Previous posts can be found by going to my profile here)
When I was younger, my good friend had a 1989 Taurus SHO that he was rather fond of. So much so, that it was not only clear all other Taurii were inferior, but also enough to leave a positive impression of the car on me. While watching “The Long Kiss Goodnight” he dubbed all of the Taurii that populated the film “Base Model Terrorist Tauruses”, a term that stuck and caused great laughter. Many years later, wouldn’t you know it – what did I get?
Through odd circumstance my mother-in-law procured a new vehicle, and it meant putting her 1993 Taurus GL to pasture. A combination of no desire to try to sell it and the low value of used Taurii converged into a free car for yours truly. At the time, I had my F-150 for the weekends and the Escort Basswagon for the in-town stuff – but I figured it would be nice to give my back a break from the small confines of the Escort. A bigger, front-wheel drive base model chariot awaited me!
One sunny day after a 65 mile gravel bike ride I came home, and there was a Taurus. My wife and kids had gone with her parents to help pick up her Mom’s car, so I boarded the mighty white car to determine what it had. Shockingly, I’d never noticed that despite the GL model, it had a sunroof to add light to the bench seat and column shift. It also had what I always have thought looked cool – the larger alloy wheels. Nice and comfy inside!
Found under the hood was the mighty Vulcan 3-liter V6. While the same displacement as the SHO V6, it did not have the powerrrrr and roar of the SHO. Certainly a little more pleasing than the automotive destruction that sounded when you gave the Escort the beans, but inspiring it was not. It moved down the road, without drama or authority but quite…well, sensibly. The way an old farm hand moves would be the best way to describe it. It never made me feel like it was lacking, but it wasn’t inspirational – it was just kind of there.
That said, this car was equipped in the oddest of fashions. As a GL, it was essentially the base Taurus with a bench seat and column shift. Yet it also had a sunroof, alloy wheels, and all the other boxes I think you could check on the GL. Four-wheel ABS, cruise control, and a cassette deck rounded out the package, and made it a comfortable enough place to spend time.
Mostly this car lived at work. I parked it at my office a week after getting it, and rode my bike to and from work most of the time. When I needed to go offsite for work or help with family duties, the Taurus was there. It always started without any drama and did not leak anything in the parking lot. I filled it up about once a month, and it always seemed to get pretty decent gas mileage. I only did one repair to it, but that was more of a maintenance item, making it one of my most reliable vehicles over almost two years of ownership.
When I got it, it had some Goodyear Eagle TR tires on it. I didn’t think much of them until the first huge snowfall and.. wow! It was one of the best–if not THE best—handling front-wheel drive cars in the snow with those things on. Of course, the following summer one tire developed the (pictured above) inside wear issue, so I took it to Sams and bought the cheapest Goodyears I could find (Integrity?), thus proving it was the old tires that made it decent – the replacements definitely were not. Oh well, they were cheap!
As strangely as it fell into my life, it left. Now with three kids, we also had three cars and I’d been sort of looking for one that would do the jobs of both the pickup and the Taurus–and stumbled into something absolutely perfect. Just as conveniently as this one had came into my possession after my youngest was born, its replacement came, and I had to sell it quickly to make room in the driveway.
You’ll have to wait an extra week, though. When I had spaced out my COALs, I never expected what would happen with my wife’s current (as of a couple weeks ago) vehicle, the most disappointing and expensive vehicle I’ve ever owned. So, this one’s perfect replacement in two weeks; but next week, a tale of automotive sorrow.
Although as a kid I viewed these cars as the epitome of blandness, in retrospect, I find it to be a very attractive design. I’ve known quite a few people who’ve owned a second-generation Taurus over the years, but for whatever reason, I haven’t ridden in one many times. When I was in high school, it wasn’t uncommon to see a few of these in the student parking sections on any given day.
That is interesting how yours was a base model that was so generously equipped. I guess Ford did make some base white Tauruses that weren’t designated for fleet service. Tauruses could actually be equipped rather luxuriously. Haven’t seen one with leather in quite some time.
When pushed, these handled surprisingly well.
In 1996, part of my new employee training was a defensive driving and automotive dynamics course. This was during my first round in the state capital. A group of us piled into a Chevrolet Astro minivan and went to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s test track east of town.
Awaiting our arrival was a green Taurus of this generation.
The instructor took us one at a time and his instruction was to drive as fast as we could and stay in our lane. The track mimicked terrain within the state, all within about a 1.5 mile loop, so it was hilly, curvy, and flat in various locations.
As the instruction sat there chewing his toothpick, I hurdled that Taurus around the track maintaining a tire squalling 55 mph in the sharpest of curves. It did so with amazing aplomb.
I cannot look at one of these Taurii without thinking of that.
Not surprisingly I drove a bunch of these things at the time. All were base GL (or lower trim, if possible) identical on the inside to this one except with crank windows and having steel wheels on the outside.
Their fleet use certainly tainted them, but these were deceptively agile cars, something the subsequent generation could not duplicate.
I had a 95 white base model with a whorehouse red interior as a company car that I became quite fond of. There was a rightness about it that just worked. I preferred it to my Nissan Altima that I owned at the time.
I looked at buying a new catfish Taurus, but got spooked by the unusually steep depreciation and bought a Jetta TDI instead – which was a lovely car to drive and kept its value better than any car I’ve ever owned. Alas it was too small when baby made three a couple of years later.
How is it that you are so familiar with whorehouse decor?
I can’t say I am other than having a road project with one on it several years ago. It’s preferable to a druggie’s house. One’s a bit apprehensive about knocking on their door to talk about tying the driveway in.
“Whorehouse red” is a phrase I learned growing up for cars with red interiors.
Genuine question – what were you carrying around that made a Jetta too small for 2 big people and one tiny one?
The Jetta lasted until the first beach trip when the baby was 6/7 months old. New parents, all the baby crap (crib, playpen, high chair, toys, diapers, etc), all the beach crap, mom not happy stuffed in the back of a compact car trying to care for a baby on a long road trip. We went car shopping thinking Honda CRV, but came home with a new 2003 Explorer, which was a perfect family truckster for us at that life stage.
In general, I prefer small/midsize fuel efficient vehicles (a notable short coming with the Explorer) and did go back to a smaller car with a 2006 Forester that was very troublesome by modern standards, but I liked it anyway.
By 1993 the stripper “L” model had been dropped, along with the 4 cylinder, and most GL’s had the “204” package, which gave you most of the equipment yours has. A very nice package indeed. The higher level LX gave you bucket seats and a few more goodies, but the GL was nicely finished. This was back in the days when each succeeding year of a model was a bit better than than the last. It was no accident that these were the best selling car in America at the time. Unfortunately, automakers would soon discover decontenting and the reverse occurred. The final years of the last gen Taurus were far cruder than this model.
I’ve driven about a billion low-bid Taurus wagon fleet vehicles belonging to my employer, a state government agency. They always went about their business sensibly, without drama, as government should. The few we have left are obviously at the end of their life-cycle though, with lots of groans, squeaks, and smells.
What I really want to comment on is your Surley LHT. I love these things, as I tend toward the utilitarian in all my vehicles. I was in my local bike shop yesterday (having a dinged front rim on my recumbent replaced) looking at a new one and thinking for what possible reason I need another bike.
A white Taurus makes me think of my father. He had one that he really liked. Then, about 1991 or so, my brothers somehow talked him into an Accord. After about a year and a half, the Accord got totaled and he replaced it with another white Taurus. He confessed that while the Accord was a nice car, he was just never as comfortable in it.
My 1993 Sable GS (champagne color of course) with the 3.8 was one of the most reliable cars I owned. I sold it to the custodian at my work for his daughter. Within months my immaculate Sable was beat up and trashed, and shortly thereafter I found she had blown the engine after hitting something underneath, causing an oil leak, and never bothering to check! Bland, yes, but I loved it!
I wish our ’93 Sable GS (champagne, too!) had been so reliable. We went through three A/C compressors, I think; the power windows became unreliable; and the coup de grâce was when the 3.8 blew a head gasket at some 115,000 miles. Too bad; it was a comfortable cruiser with lots of room. I liked that 3.8; while it didn’t have much more horsepower than the 3.0, it had gobs more torque. I will say that we never had transmission troubles on that car, even with that engine.
I’d heard there were issues with the headgasket. Perhaps I was lucky enough to have it when it was new enough !!
Basically, the Taurus of that era was a good, solid, reliable auto. The 3.8 was known for head gasket woes around the 100,000 mark, and the ’94s had transmission problems, primarily that year only. They were popular because they were what about 99 percent of the population needed…..
Last week, while I was at home visiting my Dad, I took his 03 Taurus out to “stretch it’s legs” as my father no longer drives. For a nearly 15 year old car, these don’t SEEM bad, but not having driven anything newer it’s hard to say how much better newer cars are. I’ve driven or ridden in a few Tauruses over the years and they all seem very similar….like Ford really was emulating the Japanese idea of incremental improvements.
For what it’s worth, my father’s Taurus has 205,000 miles on it and the engine has never been touched…accept for starter problems that may be attributed to my father’s arthritis. The transmission on the other hand. The 1st one blew at 60,000 while the 2nd is still going strong with 140,000+ miles.
Coincidentally, there is an 89 SHO on a Craigslist in my area, which of course has a manual transmission. I haven’t called the seller, but I am curious to see it in person and perhaps even drive it.
Regarding the tire wear…contrary to what many seem to think, it IS possible and not difficult to adjust camber and caster on a Taurus, though many such cases of inside tire wear can be fixed by readjusting toe. I like to set mine at the outer limit of toe-out, which also increases front tire grip in cornering. If camber and caster are off and the suspension is otherwise tight, drill out the spot welds on the strut towers. I’d mark the position of the upper strut mounting plates first, to provide a starting point for adjustments. Then loosen the three strut mounting nuts and adjust. Torque the nuts to hold the adjustment.
I learned this on the very first Taurus I owned, a red 1986 Taurus L wagon. We called it “The Tomato.” Even though it was a low-line Taurus L, it was optioned up to what most GL Taurus had. I bought it used so I don’t know how that came about. We have had five Taurus/Sable since, and still daily-drive two Tauri. Like others here I like the Gen 2 the best and still have a 1994 GL, white with a blue cloth bench seat interior like this COAL, but with no sunroof. And as one of the commenters says, it is surprisingly agile and “tossable” though running higher tire pressures especially in front makes it even more fun (strange to say that about a Taurus, though). The Gen 4 is heavier, and feels it. It has the DOHC engine which is stronger than the Vulcan pushrod motor but that only matters in a straight line.
These cars were everywhere around here until about 2-3 years ago, when they started to disappear.
With this generation of Taurus, the engine made all of the difference in the world. The 3.0 V-6 was quite reliable, if a bit unrefined compared to the GM competition and the fours used by Honda and Toyota.
If you bought one with the 3.8 V-6, however, you ran the risk of head-gasket failure, and the larger engine also increased the likelihood of serious transmission trouble. Plus, the larger engines were harder on the motor mounts. So you faced the possibility of being hit with a triple-whammy if you bought the more expensive version.
Nice article and believe it or not Trimet still has at least one of these Tauruses in service albit in wagon form.
So what became of your friend’s SHO? The Toyota dealer decal is a bit amusing since this is obviously is not a Toyota.
I got to drive a few of the last of the old Taurus (2000-2007) models in my central office job – part of the fleet. The district had gotten many of them as fleet specials as the production was winding down. All white with grey interior, CD player, 3.0 Vulcan.
Serviceable and the torque of the Vulcan was nice. Decent highway cars and no problem maintaining 85 mph on the interstate. Actually reminded me of my old G-body Cutlass sedan with the Olds 307 (though the Olds could never maintain 85 mph).
Ive only ever seen one of these there is a Sable in use locally it was the subject of a tranny recall before it left the US and according to the driver goes ok though nothing special to look at.
That’s a lot of spacer on that Surly, seems like you could have gone one size up on the frame?
Nice article, brought back some memories. We had a similar ’92 Taurus L. Blue, with the “mighty Vulcan”. It was a very good family car. Drove it 130,000 miles with just routine maintenance before trading it for a minivan. Should’ve kept the Taurus. As far as reliability is concerned, it was one of the best cars we’ve ever owned.
I was always a fan of this gen of Taurus. Although, myself had a ’86 wagon and later on a ’99 wagon. A few years back the Seattle Art Museum had a ‘interesting’ exhibit using all white 2nd gens hanging from the ceiling (image attached) with lights shooting of them. Of course they had taken the engines out, but I was amazed at the feat it must have been hanging these things. Lots more images online.
Awww, I had the 92 GL, in white but with gray bumpers. It had anti-lock brakes and dual airbags and was a BEAST in the snow. Very nimble. It had the daintiest suspension parts. Steering rack, tie rods, control arms were all replaced multiple times the six years I owned it but I drove the hell out of it.
At 248k the oil pump was acting up and the transmission (the original!) was screaming. Had to go. My 95 Regal had the opposite problems: sturdy car, engine was holy hell.
I, like Brendan, thought these were the blandest looking cars ever made growing up in the 90s, they were just everywhere then. I swear, here in the Chicago area/midwest anyway these were more common than Camrys now. My Grandpa had one in Emerald Green, that color that graced seemingly half the Ford products made in the 90s and is completely absent from all current color pallets.
Now that they’re so thin on the ground though, and being able to look at them in hindsight they were pretty attractive and well packaged cars. I think I always forced myself to prefer the Gen 1s because of their groundbreaking impact, but the Gen II really was a cleaned and trimmed refinement of that style and, to my 2015 eyes, look much better. Also helps that the ovoid taurus was hideous, the 99 desperate fix of that was TRULY bland and the D3 Taurus is only a Taurus in name. That kind of makes the Gen II the epitome of them all.
Oh and the SHOs are awesome. I must say I really am not the biggest fan of Transverse V6 FWD layouts(understatement) but the SHO was that done right. My friend, who is also a Tbird SC enthusiast, is big into Gen II SHOs as well and while it doesn’t have the torque of the SC 3.8, it has the revs, and I’ve never been flung through a corner as fast in any car I’ve been in than in his modded SHO.
Never liked any of the jellybean Taurus models. The new model is much better. It has lost a lot of that jelly bean look.
I heard that. The jellybean era will always be the best to me.
Best use of a Taurus was Peter Weller’s flat black ride in “robocop”.
Worst use was a GL wagon in my driveway, Barney-purple “tortoise”.
We sold many of these over the years. The trans axles were junk for the most part, front end components failed often, the 3.8 ate head gaskets and suffered many other issues including motor mounts, springs often broke or sagged and front end parts were delicate when the miles piled on. The Vulcan as stated was reliable if a bit unrefined and ragged sounding and boy did these cars go through the snow well on there 15″ tires when they had good tread on them. They also rode and handled well but interior squeaks and rattles were constant companions.
The bank I worked at during the 90’s and early 2000’s were loaded with these types of cars by fellow co-workers. 3 out of 5 had major issues with them when the warranty ran out and being that I was the building tech and could come and go whenever I needed it was often my privilege to follow these folks to the dealer to drop there cars off for repairs so I got the inside scoop on everybody’s cars that I knew or worked with.
A friend in college had one of this generation, a ’95, metallic red over gray cloth. Spent a lot of time in that car, including a few long trips. She never particularly liked it, though, and once she graduated it was unceremoniously traded for a new Xterra at the first opportunity. Kind of the reverse of another I knew well–my girlfriend at the time acquired one in 2002. It was nothing special, a light blue ’93 that was rather well-worn by the time it made it to her care, but considering the car it replaced (a truly wretched and ragged ’86 Grand Am) it was like upgrading to a limousine.
Really they were all over the place though–those were the two I spent significant time in, but they were seemingly everywhere for a while. Wasn’t it part of this generation where the Taurus grabbed the title of best-selling car in the US?
Most do seem to have departed this earth by now, which is a contrast to the amount of early to mid 90’s Accords and Camrys that can still be seen regularly. Though there is a fellow a block away from me who has a very nicely kept silver SHO of this generation, so some are keeping the flame alive at least for the nicer ones!