Short Take Road Test
The elasticity of "all-new" gets a test here, as Ford stretches the words to surround this large front-drive sedan, known previously as the Five Hundred. Tepid sales and a new CEO led to the revival of a once-bright nameplate, even though that name had been dumped after years of sedans whose appeal seemed limited mostly to rental fleets.
All-new in this context accurately describes the powertrain, the styling from the A-pillar forward, and the rear fascia. The rest of the reborn Taurus, like its Mercury Sable counterpart, is reworked Five Hundred (or Montego), with more front-suspension travel, some localized chassis stiffening, and lots of sound-deadening material. Enhancements such as the last two add mass, but not a whole bunch. At 3862 pounds, our Taurus Limited test car weighed in 108 pounds heavier than the Five Hundred Limited we tested a couple years back ["$30,000 Family Sedans," July 2005].
That's more than offset by the car's new 3.5-liter aluminum V-6, whipping up 263 horsepower and 249 pound-feet of torque versus 203 horsepower and 207 pound-feet for the underpowered 3.0-liter V-6 in the Five Hundred. With a six-speed automatic (the unloved CVT is no longer available) powering the front wheels (all-wheel drive is also offered), the Taurus hustles to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds, 1.1 seconds quicker than that uninspiring test car of '05.
This still isn't quickest in a high mid-price group that includes brisk operators such as the Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima, but it's in the hunt, and the power boost reduces the drama inherent in trying to pass on a two-lane. Better still, more muscle doesn't seem to have hurt fuel economy: 18 EPA mpg city and 28 highway, albeit a lackluster 16 in our test.
The styling update, using Ford's three-bar grille treatment, speaks for itself. It gives the Taurus a much snazzier look than the minimalist black-wire mesh adorning the Five Hundred, and although there might be too much bright stuff on this car, there's no denying its improved appearance.
As before, safety will be a major part of the marketing. With its five-star NHTSA crash ratings, Ford is already calling it "the world's safest family sedan." Congratulations, but there are a couple curiosities. For one, if safety is so paramount, why is Ford's AdvanceTrac stability control standard on the Taurus X SUV and optional ($495) on the sedan? For another, braking performance from 70 mph to standstill has worsened by eight feet since our '05 test—a longish 187 feet, aggravated by fade.
Still, the Taurus is a better car than the Five Hundred. Aside from braking and the numbish power rack-and-pinion steering, its road manners are hard to fault, its comfort index is high, its interior noise levels low, and so is its pricing—$23,995 for the base SEL, $27,595 for the Limited.
In October 1985, we praised the then-new Taurus as "the gutsiest car of our time" for its bold departure from tradition. The state of the art has obviously changed over the past couple decades, and it would be hard to connect those words with this latter-day "all-new" Taurus. But favorably comparable with the best ain't bad.
