'96 Ford Taurus LX

Ford took some big risks with the all-new-for-'96 Taurus. Sales leader of its automobile lineup and the best-selling passenger car in the country since 1992, the Taurus was dramatically-some contend controversially-restyled inside and out. No one would dispute the fact that this metamorphosis brought with it numerous significant mechanical improvements. The real question was whether the average American family-sedan buyer would find the transformation just a bit too radical.

A year later, the debate continues, albeit at a considerably lower level of intensity. During that period, we put a Taurus through MT's long-term duty cycle and polled an owner group to see how closely their experiences paralleled ours. The results were enlightening-and a bit surprising.

Our car was a well-appointed LX sedan, currently the most popular Taurus model in the lineup. Included in its $20,980 base price are a 3.0-liter/200-horsepower DOHC Duratec V-6 engine, four-speed automatic transmission, air conditioning, power driver's seat, tilt steering column, and a 60/40 demi-split/folding rear seatback. We also added Preferred Equipment Package 210A (anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes, cruise control, keyless remote entry with anti-theft, automatic climate-control system, Ford/JBL AM/FM/cassette audio system, floormats, and 205/60SR16 tires on chrome-plated cast alloy wheels), leather upholstery, and a trunk-mounted six-disc CD changer. Those extras brought this vehicle's sticker to $25,130, including destination charges and a $100 California emission fee.

As a group, our survey owners were a tad more frugal. Prices on their cars averaged $22,112, and fewer than 10 percent of them invested in any aftermarket enhancements. Of those who did, tinted glass, a trunk-mounted CD changer, and a cellular telephone headed the list.

The buyers we heard from represented a slight departure from the typical Taurus LX owner. Ford data indicates an average age of 51 and a 60/40 male/female split; our respondents averaged 54 years of age (with 29.5 percent being 65 or over) and were skewed 40 percent male and 60 percent female. At first glance, that might appear to be a more conservative sample, but 70.3 percent cited styling as their number-one purchase consideration, an indication that automotive tastes of the "average" American may be a bit more contemporary than one would expect.

Second on the buying rationale list was brand loyalty, with 59.8 percent being previous Ford owners and just under half of those also having owned a Taurus. Third most frequently cited criterion, at 58.5 percent, was the car's made-in-the-USA heritage.

Opinions about the Taurus powertrain varied among our in-house drivers. Off-the-line performance of the Duratec V-6 is sprightly enough, propelling the car 0-30 mph in a respectable 3.3 seconds. But our vehicle's 9.4-second 0-60-mph time and a quarter-mile best of 16.9 ticks at 84.1 mph were far from impressive. (For the record, it was 0.7 second slower to 60 mph than the best-performing Duratec-powered Taurus we've ever tested.)

Most of our evaluators also felt that the AX4S automatic transmission could use some tweaking. While capable of delivering extremely smooth gear changes in "just-cruisin' " mode, attempting aggressive, throttle-induced downshifts often appeared to confuse the electronic control program, resulting in a variety of balks and lurches. Only a few owners reported similar experiences, but this was the same behavior exhibited by the identical transmission in a '97 Mercury Sable we tested in the July '97 issue.

Any misgivings on our part notwithstanding, the owners were generally quite pleased with the package: 63.2 percent awarded the Taurus excellent marks for performance and 62.5 percent bestowed similarly high praise in response to our fun-to-drive question. These folks got 23.1 mpg from their cars; our long-termer, pressed far harder far more frequently, returned 20.9 mph over the course of its 16,719 test miles.