2010 Ford Taurus spy photos.. Nice.

interesting, saw this on the front page of the net today...



AOL money & finance / companies that should lay off 10,000 this year



FORD

August car sales at Ford fell by 26% to just over 155,000 units. The company said the second half might be worse than the first. Ford promised to cut production for the balance of 2008. Ford is running low on cash and its credit ratings have been dropped due to rising default risks. Once it has switched its product mix to fuel-efficient models, it still have to deal with Toyota and Honda who own that end of the market.
 
for me its still about fit and finish, as detailers we notice these things, the quality of the interior panels, the fitment, the feel of them. Ive never sat in a ford/lincoln/mercury that I was blown away by the quality. Plastics felt to plasticky, textures werent right, as well as monotonous colors (new ford focus especially, solid grey interior?) Ive yet to feel surrounded by quality when im sitting in a ford. everything felt fragile, as if it was going to break.



I sat in multiple mercurys at the SD auto show and still wasnt impressed. panel fitment was off, and still the textures werent right to where i would feel comfortable paying for that much.



I recently detailed a 07 civic si, and was blown away by the fit and finish of the interior. Honda made it feel more luxurious and higher end than it actually is. From the design of the dash and panels to the visual texture. There colors flowed together nicely, It was very modern looking, while still being extremely functional. You have to remind yourself that your in a 20k dollar civic, and not something in the else.
 
simracer said:
Being a former owner of 3 Taurus SHOs, I'm hoping for the best. I'd love to see if they're actually able to make a serious sport sedan out of the car. Just not sure with the current economic conditions if they'll actually do it. Might be too much additional money for too little additional return (sort of like the original SHO).



As others have said, the Fusion is a surprisingly good car. I recently rented a car for business. Was actually hoping to get another 2.5 Altima. They said they just had the Fusion and I was sort of bummed. I always used to avoid the 3rd gen Taurus and Impalas when possible. But the Fusion was fantastic.
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Well, since you were a former SHO owner (3 no less), I thought I'd revive this thread with links to the revival of the Taurus SHO, coming this summer as a 2010:



2010 Ford Taurus SHO: The Sleeper Awakens!



and the regular 2010 Ford Taurus:



2010 Ford Taurus: More Hot, Less Bull



Enjoy!
 
Lumadar said:
The Taurus was the best of the best when first introduced...it turned the industry upside down.
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I know this is an old thread and the latest post is talking about the SHO...but COME ON, best of the best?? The Taurus was just a milque-toast family sedan, until the SVO guys got a hold of it...yes, it turned the industry upside down, but not because it was "the best of the best", it was because it was the first time a car company was able to sell the consumer on the "jelly bean" styling. GM had squared everything off starting with the "New Chevrolet" in '77 and Ford had followed with the '79 LTD. In '85 Ford broke tradition and instead of following GM's styling lead leapfrogged them with jelly beans, which was accepted by the public and led to Ford making bigger profits in the 90's than GM, even though their volume was still much lower.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I know this is an old thread and the latest post is talking about the SHO...but COME ON, best of the best?? The Taurus was just a milque-toast family sedan, until the SVO guys got a hold of it...yes, it turned the industry upside down, but not because it was "the best of the best", it was because it was the first time a car company was able to sell the consumer on the "jelly bean" styling. GM had squared everything off starting with the "New Chevrolet" in '77 and Ford had followed with the '79 LTD. In '85 Ford broke tradition and instead of following GM's styling lead leapfrogged them with jelly beans, which was accepted by the public and led to Ford making bigger profits in the 90's than GM, even though their volume was still much lower.
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I don't know that I'd call the original Taurus, at the time of it's introduction in December, 1985, a "milk-toast" family sedan. That's not to say it didn't become that over time, but at the time of it's introduction it was head and shoulders above it's competition, having more content than any of it's domestic competitors, and in 1985/86 having no real Asian competition in it's size category (Accord and Camry were compact cars at that time). Ford gave Taurus a fully independent suspension in the rear, which was unheard of for a mid-size family sedan in the 1980's, a four-speed automatic, also rare, and a ton of interior and trunk room plus the styling. The styling brought people into the showroom - the car's content, ride, and handling was what sealed the deal. At the time of the original 1986 Taurus's into, the automotive press compared it to the Audi 5000. Toyota and Honda didn't really start to become real mid-size competitors for another five or six years.



Ford's big sin with the original Taurus was milking the platform with only modest updates for two decades, but to allow that to paint the whole Taurus line in broad strokes as "milk-toast" is bit off target.
 
Len_A said:
...at the time of it's introduction it was head and shoulders above it's competition...Ford gave Taurus a fully independent suspension in the rear, which was unheard of for a mid-size family sedan in the 1980's, a four-speed automatic, also rare, and a ton of interior and trunk room plus the styling.
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Um...I'd pit an '85 Pontiac 6000 STE against a Taurus any day, which certainly matched all those features save for the IRS. And that basic goodness could be had in a vanilla 6000, minus the HO engine. Yeah, the early 2.8's were nightmares, but heck, it was the first mass-market 60° V6; I still see those 80's A-bodies driving around here.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Um...I'd pit an '85 Pontiac 6000 STE against a Taurus any day, which certainly matched all those features save for the IRS. And that basic goodness could be had in a vanilla 6000, minus the HO engine. Yeah, the early 2.8's were nightmares, but heck, it was the first mass-market 60° V6; I still see those 80's A-bodies driving around here.
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Yea, that was about the only competition GM had for Taurus, but I love the Taurus I had, and would take it over the 6000 STE again. When I took customers out to lunch in my '86 Sable (sister car to the Taurus), everyone commented how much roomier the Ford midsize sedans were compared to the GM's. GM made the mistake of taking the A-Body platform off the X-Body, and Taurus blew them away on interior room and trunk space. Where Ford wasn't competitive was in a sportier version, until the '89 SHO. GM's 1988 W Platform was much more competitive with the original Taurus, and is still competing with Taurus today, in the form of the 2006 to 2009 Chevrolet Impala. Now GM is still milking platforms for decades.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
LOL, you're a Ford guy, I'm a GM guy...:closed:
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LOL, nothing wrong with being a GM guy - my brother-in-law is a GM engineer, my sister is an engineer for one of the major European based suppliers, and she does work on GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and Honda (and I love hearing the horror stories on the transplants screw-ups, too - nice to see that the Big Three are in good company on goof-ups), and a third of my family worked for or retired from Chrysler.



All-in-all, after Ford, I'll take a GM product any day. My current GM favorite is the Cadillac CTS, especially the '09. Chrysler? Ewwww. No comment!!
 
Len_A said:
I had a chance to sit in the cutaway model they had at the auto show in January. Impressive redesign. Very impressive.
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But will they buy it?



Its must be getting really annoying for Ford hearing people say "I wouldn't pay that for a Ford". I don't know how you can fight dumb comments like that but that's just a small piece of what they are up against. Personally I like what I have seen of the car. They should have released it last year :)
 
Yal said:
But will they buy it?



Its must be getting really annoying for Ford hearing people say "I wouldn't pay that for a Ford". I don't know how you can fight dumb comments like that but that's just a small piece of what they are up against. Personally I like what I have seen of the car. They should have released it last year :)
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I think people just need to sit and drive a new Ford. I was a Honda guy and then a Subaru guy and then I bought a new F-150 and Fusion. I still have a Subaru that I can not wait to get rid of. I hate driving it and it's been a pile of junk. I honestly like our Fusion better than any of the Civics I owned and way better than my Subarus.



The Tauras SHO is the one that will be really impressive I think. A twin turbo V6 will be very nice to see in a Ford I think.
 
I still like my "grandma" 2005 Taurus... On a more serious note, this Taurus is my daily driver and it's not a bad car at all. Granted it's based on 80's technology, quite embarrassing for such a large auto manufacturer, but at least parts are cheap :-) Other than the soft suspension (which I plan on replacing) for a tall guy as myself I find this car much more comfortable than most vehicles out there now.



The new Taurus looks pretty decent, but I don't see anyone shelling out $40k for a glorified Taurus, SHO or not. Right now you can pick up an '06 E55 with low miles and in good shape for just under $40k.....
 
dublifecrisis said:
SHO-eco-boost, AWD, 365HP, 20" wheels sounds awesome!!



until you learn that it will be $39k+ then you start cross-shopping and well...
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What do you cross shop it with though? What will give you AWD and 365 with 25 mpg highway for less?
 
Yal said:
But will they buy it?



Its must be getting really annoying for Ford hearing people say "I wouldn't pay that for a Ford". I don't know how you can fight dumb comments like that but that's just a small piece of what they are up against. Personally I like what I have seen of the car. They should have released it last year :)
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Hell, I wish they had released it three years ago!!



It always gets annoying hearing those comments, but I think the buzz on this car will be positive, and in time, the market will turn around. It won't be easy, but it's not an insurmountable problem either.
 
Danase said:
What do you cross shop it with though? What will give you AWD and 365 with 25 mpg highway for less?
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I'll answer that - not much. This is a lot like the reaction to the original SHO, which at nearly $20,000 in 1989 was pretty high, too. The SHO sold. Remember, the SHO is low volume car, although I'm sure if the marekt goes nuts for it, Ford can turn that around too. But the game plan for the SHO is that it's a low volume car.
 
It's priced at $37,000, not $39,000 (from what I have read), and the performance is supposed to be BETTER than a BMW 550!!! That's just silly. My buddy has a 550 and I almost bought one myself- they are rocket ships- so this SHO is going to be a beast if it is what they claim.



You're also not going to find anything close to it in performance that still gets the 25/26 MPG freeway that is projected...no way- especially nothing AWD!



Kinda like how you won't be able to find a mid-size sedan that will be able to touch the fuel efficiency of the new 2010 Fusion- with unsurpassed fuel economy for each engine (4 cyl vs cyl, v6 vs v6, and hybrid vs hybrid) in the entire class.



The new Fusion Hybrid delivers 41 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on highway, topping the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. The new four-cylinder Ford Fusion S achieves 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city, beating both the gasoline-powered Camry and Honda Accord.
 
Lumadar said:
It's priced at $37,000, not $39,000 (from what I have read), and the performance is supposed to be BETTER than a BMW 550!!! That's just silly. My buddy has a 550 and I almost bought one myself- they are rocket ships- so this SHO is going to be a beast if it is what they claim.



You're also not going to find anything close to it in performance that still gets the 25/26 MPG freeway that is projected...no way- especially nothing AWD!



Kinda like how you won't be able to find a mid-size sedan that will be able to touch the fuel efficiency of the new 2010 Fusion- with unsurpassed fuel economy for each engine (4 cyl vs cyl, v6 vs v6, and hybrid vs hybrid) in the entire class.



The new Fusion Hybrid delivers 41 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on highway, topping the Toyota Camry Hybrid by 8 mpg in the city and 2 mpg on the highway. The new four-cylinder Ford Fusion S achieves 34 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city, beating both the gasoline-powered Camry and Honda Accord.
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Yea, the direction Ford has gone in is wild. As big a Ford man as I admittedly am, even I found a lot of the cars a bit too conservative. Now it's like the early to mid 1980's and the engineers were told "design what you would like to drive" all over again (the word then CEO Don Peterson told the the team that eventually designed the first Taurus.



Here's a link to an article and a video on a prototype Ecoboost V-6 taking on a BMW 3 series with a twin turbo 6 cylinder and a Cadillac STS with a 4.6L Northstar V-8.



New Cars: EcoBoost is the New Turbo Boost? Prototype Taurus Drag Races BMW And Cadillac, Wins
 
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