Date: Tuesday, 1 March 1988 16:57:03 EST
From: Hank.Walker@taurus.ece.cmu.edu
To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Ford Taurus Review
Message-Id: <1988.3.1.21.42.22.Hank.Walker@taurus>

The Ford Taurus was voted Motor Trend's Car of the Year when it came out,
and Consumer Reports gave it a good review.  However this has not been my
experience with it.  Here is a detailed report on my car:

I bought a dark red Ford Taurus GL six-cylinder automatic sedan on 2/26/87
from Ramsey-Sturman Ford off Lebanon Church Road near the Century III Mall.
Unfortunately this is far away.  Always buy a car from a dealer near you.  I
paid $13,600 for a car listing at about $15,000, which when Rusty Jones,
tax, license, etc., is included, comes to $15,000.  The car includes most
common power options such as power seat, power windows, and power door locks.
I wanted an InstaClear windshield and power antenna, but these were not
easily obtainable without many other unwanted options.  The dealer got a
car similar to the one I wanted by trading with another dealer.  The car had
a full-sized spare and fancy wheel covers, which were given to me at cost.
I had Ace Lock and Key install a Clifford Super III car alarm for $550.

The car came with the following defects:  the gas gauge did not work, the
cruise control did not work, the seat belt had a half-twist in it,
chattering windshield wipers, and bent door lock button.  I found the
following operational problems:  excessive coolant usage (over a gallon in
the first 4000 miles!), slow warmup (ten minutes), and poor gas mileage
(10-13 MPG).  The car began periodically draining the battery.  This was
repaired on the second try.  When cold, the engine severely hesitates, and
will often die.  This problem was made worse by the third repair attempt.
Some large pieces of plastic interior panels have fallen off
and had to be replaced.  In addition, some little screws and pieces of
plastic have fallen from some unknown place under the dash board.

Based on my experience, I would not buy a Taurus.  The overall design is
fairly good, but the manufacturing quality and Ford dealer repair competence
are too low to be acceptable.  I suggest you buy a Honda Accord LX, my
second choice.  It has a much better than average reliability, and the
highest customer satisfaction rating.