Best Used Car

[Andre1969]

Looks like the Taurus, once it hits about 4-5 years old, is roughly average in reliability. Nothing stellar, but nothing horrible. FWIW I think they got most of the serious kinks worked out of the Taurus back in later part of the 1986-95 generation. The 3.8 V-6 has always been famouns for blowing head gaskets. And it still does to this day...often happens around 80-90,000 miles. The 4-speed automatic transmission was troublesome too, but EVERY auto maker had trouble when they first came out with a 4-speed overdrive automatic, whether it was RWD or FWD. Some just had a quicker learning curve and got the bugs worked out more quickly. And as I recall, the Taurus was Ford's first use of a FWD 4-speed automatic tranny.

The models with the 3.0 V-6, which is a totally different design from the old 3.8, aren't too bad. That 3.0 gave way to a 2.5 DOHC version used in cars like the Contour/Mystique and a 3.0 DOHC version for the Taurus. The pushrod version is a bit crude and underpowered, but gets the job done, but the OHC version is better. Smoother, stronger, and a bit more economical.

If you just want a cheap workhorse and don't care about status, I don't think a Taurus would be too bad of a choice. Just don't get one that's been ragged out by its previous owner.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I think some of you don't quite have the concept down.

Nobody is suggesting that a Taurus (or other domestic iron) is a great car or is the best car. Nobody is suggesting that a Taurus is the most reliable car.

What I am suggesting is that if you buy a Taurus that is only one or two years old and sell it when it gets 5 or 6 years old, then the reliability is good enough. You shoudn't have any major problems and you'll save a whole wad of cash. It is only because these cars are not popular and they depreciate very fast that the opportunity to drive a relatively nice/new car for not much presents itself.

Are there better cars - You bet. But if you want to squeeze that transportation budget this is one suggestion that just maybe had not occurred to many of you.

There are other cars that fit the bill also. The cars that work well for this approach tend to be domestic sedans that are getting late in their models production run. There are lots of other choices but the Taurus is just one great example. One advantage of buying a model that has been in production for many years is that many of the production/reliability bugs have been solved after the first few years. It's those new models that are often troublesome.

 

[bow-tie]

...The 4-speed automatic transmission was troublesome too, but EVERY auto maker had trouble when they first came out with a 4-speed overdrive automatic, whether it was RWD or FWD.  Some just had a quicker learning curve and got the bugs worked out more quickly.  And as I recall, the Taurus was Ford's first use of a FWD 4-speed automatic tranny...

I met a dude last weekend who is an engineer for GM at a transmission plant.  He works on the 6 spd automatic they are building.  So I asked him "yeah.. what is that all about?  I just read the other day about a Mercedes that has a 7 sped automatic...".  He just smiled and shrugged "that is what the market wants".   I guess they can't build a 6 spd that is superior to the 4 spd 4L60 and 4L60E from previous years.

Go figure.  The market sees a 5,6,7 spd auto... "Oooooooohhhh.  That's cool.  That's what we want."  Not necesarily any better than the lesser version, but guess what wins out?  :

edit  - -  sorry for the hijack

Our used '98 Bonnie just turned over 145k.  I haven't spent anymore on it than I did on the '90 Maxima I bought used.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

IWhat I am suggesting is that if you buy a Taurus that is only one or two years old and sell it when it gets 5 or 6 years old, then the reliability is good enough. You shoudn't have any major problems and you'll save a whole wad of cash. It is only because these cars are not popular and they depreciate very fast that the opportunity to drive a relatively nice/new car for not much presents itself.

Sure, you pay more for a more reliable brand, but you get it back on the back end on resale. Especially if you take decent care of the car.

If you like the depreciation route, there are plenty of pretty reliable cars that depreciate like they've got cement overshoes. Check out Infiniti's...

 

[Nords]

No. I do want you to drive it out to Bellingham for me. You can keep the hubcaps.

OK, but I'm going to have to ask you to pay a part of the Hawaii-Long Beach Tunnel tolls...

I met a dude last weekend who is an engineer for GM at a transmission plant.  He works on the 6 spd automatic they are building.  So I asked him "yeah.. what is that all about?  I just read the other day about a Mercedes that has a 7 sped automatic...".  He just smiled and shrugged "that is what the market wants".   I guess they can't build a 6 spd that is superior to the 4 spd 4L60 and 4L60E from previous years.
Go figure.  The market sees a 5,6,7 spd auto... "Oooooooohhhh.  That's cool.  That's what we want."  Not necesarily any better than the lesser version, but guess what wins out?  :

Cool-- can GM make us double-clutch too so that we can pretend to be real truck drivers?

Maybe it's not too late to short that stock after all...

 

[Texas Proud]

I met a dude last weekend who is an engineer for GM at a transmission plant.  He works on the 6 spd automatic they are building.  So I asked him "yeah.. what is that all about?  I just read the other day about a Mercedes that has a 7 sped automatic...".  He just smiled and shrugged "that is what the market wants".   I guess they can't build a 6 spd that is superior to the 4 spd 4L60 and 4L60E from previous years.

Go figure.  The market sees a 5,6,7 spd auto... "Oooooooohhhh.  That's cool.  That's what we want."  Not necesarily any better than the lesser version, but guess what wins out?  :

edit  - -  sorry for the hijack

Our used '98 Bonnie just turned over 145k.  I haven't spent anymore on it than I did on the '90 Maxima I bought used.

It does not only have the OoooHHH factor... if you have a 6 speed auto, you can gear the car to accelerate quicker and still get good gas mileage..  a four speed just doesn't cut it...

BUT, here is one of my beefs...  a 6 speed would do so much better with a smaller engine, say a 4 banger...  you could get more out of the engine for acceleration.. but ususally the cheap cars come with the fewer gears... why is that

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

4 blades, six speeds, 6GHz....more is ALWAYS better. Just dont confuse anyone with the facts, m'am...