CD Article: 2010 Ford Taurus

[Mitlov]

As for the cars I've owned, you're being a moron. 

Young, educated, car knowledgeable.  Owns no domestics. 

You say those two things like they have something to do with each other.  Like I said, I've actually picked out two cars for myself, and they were from two different countries.  It is physically impossible for someone who has only ever picked out two cars to have purchased cars from Japan AND Korea AND Germany AND the United States...so are they not allowed to acknowledge good cars from all four countries?

What you're trying to imply is that I say good things about domestics but that I wouldn't buy one myself.  That's not true.  I've been very open about the fact that the CTS is a top contender for my next car (which has been put off indefinitely due to financial issues).

[articsteve]

Wow...you sound like a Buick exec 20 years ago.  Don't place such blind faith in brand loyalty.  Toyota's rise is because people didn't stay loyal to one brand forever...for them to now rely on that sort of thought would be the ultimate irony.

Wow...you sound like a Buick exec 20 years ago

That would be 40 years ago.  20 years ago (1989) Buick was an already dead brand.

Toyota's rise is because people didn't stay loyal to one brand forever

Why are we talking about Toyota  

In the great USA, middle America, pro domestic buyers who might be interested in this car are either, homeless, jobless or not spending.  This is not a "domestic" v. "asian" battle.

I see on my sat TV that in the States the "new" Chrysler and Gov. Motors are hitting every thing they got with 0%/60 mths.  How in the heck are you gonna sell a V6 2010 Taurus without matching that.  This Taurus is 3 years too late I'm afraid.  If Ford produces good numbers on these it's gonna be a result of fleet sales.  I'd like to rent one this September when I go down there because between the domestics I think it's probably superior.

[rrocket]

Mitlov.....of course.  But knowing you and how likely you were to study your purchase to death before-hand, you chose not to buy domestic for whatever reason.  Performance?  Reliability? Who knows.  The imports offered you something you could not get from the domestics.  Something ultimately turned you off.  I know you've said positive things about the Ford Fusion...yet a Jetta got your $$$$.  Again...I THINK those are the people Steve was referring to.

And sure you might buy a domestic the next time around....I mean the current Gen CTS wasn't available to you (either in product or price range) when you bought your VW or Subie. And it has come quite a long way since the initial CTS....leaps and bounds.  And that is what it took to get you interested in the CTS.  Is the Taurus going to offer the "leaps and bounds" to prospective consumers that the CTS did for you to get you to consider a domestic again?  I guess only time will tell...

[Mitlov]

Mitlov.....of course.  But knowing you and how likely you were to study your purchase to death before-hand, you chose not to buy domestic for whatever reason.  Performance?  Reliability? Who knows.  The imports offered you something you could not get from the domestics.  Something ultimately turned you off.  I know you've said positive things about the Ford Fusion...yet a Jetta got your $$$$.  Again...I THINK those are the people Steve was referring to.

And sure you might buy a domestic the next time around....I mean the current Gen CTS wasn't available to you (either in product or price range) when you bought your VW or Subie. And it has come quite a long way since the initial CTS

When I bought the Subie, I wanted a wagon with top-notch IIHS safety ratings.  "Buying Japanese" was not a priority.  Choice #2 was a Volvo V50 (100% Ford subsidiary, for the record, and that didn't bother me).  But the Volvo was just too expensive compared to the Subie.

When I bought the VW, the reasoning was simple--I wanted a fun-to-drive manual-transmission car, and a coworker was selling it at a really good price.  Purchase of opportunity.

Don't tell me that I made those decisions with a "no domestics allowed" rule in my head.  I didn't.  You weren't there for each purchase, and I was.  I know what was I was thinking and you don't.

If I had a sample size of 30 purchases, you could draw some real inferences from that.  But a sample size of two is basically just coincidence.  Like I said, I haven't bought Korean either...does that mean that I've decided that Korean cars aren't safe enough or reliable enough?  No.  It's just coincidence that I haven't owned one yet.

[rrocket]

Don't tell me that I made those decisions with a "no domestics allowed" rule in my head.  I didn't.  You weren't there for each purchase, and I was.  I know what was I was thinking and you don't.

I didn't say that ANYWHERE in my post.  You made that up all by your neurotic self.  I said you decided against purchasing a domestic for "whatever reason".  That sure sounds alot different than what you wrote....

[Mitlov]

Don't tell me that I made those decisions with a "no domestics allowed" rule in my head.  I didn't.  You weren't there for each purchase, and I was.  I know what was I was thinking and you don't.

I didn't say that ANYWHERE in my post.  You made that up all by your neurotic self.  I said you decided against purchasing a domestic for "whatever reason".  That sure sounds alot different than what you wrote....

The fact was, I never "decided against purchasing a domestic" at all, for any reason.  Just like I didn't "decide against buying German" when I bought the Legacy Wagon.  I just had a list of criteria and only a couple of non-luxury brands had cars that fit those criteria at that time (remember there was no MkV Jetta wagon in 2006).  The vast majority of brands, regardless of nationality, didn't offer that package.  It's not that I "decided against" any brand or any nationality.

The VW purchase was even simpler.  There was no "deciding against" any brand whatsoever.  A coworker offered to sell me the car and I agreed.  It's not like I went to a used car dealership and chose one brand while consciously dismissing a dozen other brands.

[rrocket]

^^Well I guess that it's awesome for you to buy cars without making any decisions whatsoever.  Kinda makes it simple I guess....

[Mitlov]

^^Well I guess that it's awesome for you to buy cars without making any decisions whatsoever.  Kinda makes it simple I guess....

My wife is Irish-American.  But that's not why I married her.  I didn't weigh the benefits of marrying "an Irish-American" versus "an African-American."  I most certainly didn't "decide against marrying an African-American."  But that doesn't mean I didn't make any decisions in deciding who to marry.  It doesn't mean I just flipped a coin and said "heads means yes, tails means no."  It doesn't mean I didn't think long and hard about it.  It just means that her national origin wasn't one of the things I thought long and hard about.

If you honestly can't see the difference between "not making a decision based upon national origin" and "not making any decisions whatsoever," I really don't see a point to continuing this discussion.

Back to the Taurus...

[rrocket]

Ummmm....Ok....

[Juke1]

Nice car.  Most importantly, do the hinges intrude on the trunk space and is the trunk release cable properly routed and protected?  Have you belittled a Ford lately?  :grin:

I'm personally waiting for the "it's so overpriced!  Look what I can get for the price!" comments to roll in, comparing the price of a Taurus (fully loaded, including dashboard-mounted coffee maker and two-year houseboy rental) to that of a Mercedes E-Class (equipped with plywood seats and not including the "optional" doors or rear wheels).

In all seriousness, the Taurus seems like a real threat to the Avalon in base trim form, and in SHO form it may give the TL some real trouble.  I think it'll do well for Ford, at least in the States where the large sedan segment is still popular.  As the article mentions, the entire segment is collapsing in Canada, so I doubt this will be a big seller either.

The Avalon!!  Here in Canada they sold 25 in May and sit at 113 for the year, ya if Ford with this Taurus does not do better, holy shite there in trouble!!.  They should better that in a week, Avalon what is Toyota waiting to can this obsolete and undesirable car, a face only a mother could love.

Ford will survive, no doubt about it.  This new Taurus and Fusion are cars that would make me walk away from the Japanese...oh and the next Sonata could as well.  Don't get me wrong I love my good looking, reliable, economical Altima, but this Taurus is a good looking package.

My brother just picked up his new F150 company truck, if the interior of this truck is any indication of what Ford is up to, we're on the right track, nothing comes close.

[Rupert]

I don't think the Taurus is in the same size bracket as the Altima and Sonata is it and the kick-off price is a lot higher. I think middle America, if it still exists, is at the Sonata level now pricewise. Good job that the Sonata happens to be a half decent car.

[altima_1]

I don't think the Taurus is in the same size bracket as the Altima and Sonata is it and the kick-off price is a lot higher. I think middle America, if it still exists, is at the Sonata level now pricewise. Good job that the Sonata happens to be a half decent car.

I agree, Taurus is more money and bigger but I was not talking money, just attractive and well designed.  I'm confident it will be good, Ford will not repeat the mistakes of the 500.  Now the next Sonata I think will be a bit bigger, it will be interesting to watch.

[MKII]

If anyone has been reading Fords sustainability reports, Ford is about profit per unit going forward, not on volume as they used to be about.

The last report I read regarding Fords planned production volume for the new Taurus back in Q4 2007, was around 80,000 units per year. Which I am sure has changed as Ford is closely trying to match production to demand. In other words the Taurus will not and is not planned as a high volume seller.

Its seems quite obvious that Ford will market the Taurus in a more of a premium flagship flavour, and you will see this trend with the next Fusion, Focus and of course if you have noticed the Fiesta that is being test marketed in the USA, even the the B segment Fiesta will be marketed as a premium small car, with production volume between 60,000 - 80,000 units per year planned.

Ford is done playing the volume chasing game at the moment, and is concentrating on volume to demand, and profit per unit.

[Rupert]

Then Taurus is a doubtfull name for this unit perhaps. It having conotation from a more down market prior offering. Or maybe they are trying to catch clientele from both upper and lower brackets. If high volume is set aside it does not seem to bode well for parts supplying industries. I wonder if you can wow people with goodies any more. I suppose if all of the lower price level offerings from Asia, that most of us are interested in, were crap, maybe. The trouble is that this is not the case. They are well put together...reliable...and interesting vehicles on the whole that happen to drive well also. Some are made here.
The new Taurus is a great looking vehicle and I hope it does well but the island is getting smaller. They do have the 'buy America' drive though which may end up being meaningful judgeing by the number of flags that you see down there.

[Spheric]

Ford better start offering leases again if they want to shift Taurus in volumes. I think they should have offered a smaller engine configuration too...who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Just went on the Ford Canada site, where they still have the old Taurus/500 up for sale. They offer no lease, and the only finance option is for 60 or 84 months only at 7.99%.

[Mitlov]

I don't think the Taurus is in the same size bracket as the Altima and Sonata is it and the kick-off price is a lot higher. I think middle America, if it still exists, is at the Sonata level now pricewise. Good job that the Sonata happens to be a half decent car.

Of course it's not at that price bracket.  It's a full-size sedan competing against the Azera and Avalon, not a midsizer competing against the Sonata and Camry.

I'm curious why people keep saying that middle America doesn't exist.  I'm still here and so is everyone around me.  The idea that middle America is all jobless and homeless is colorful hyperbole, nothing more.  It's a recession, not the apocalypse.

[Juke1]

Ford better start offering leases again if they want to shift Taurus in volumes. I think they should have offered a smaller engine configuration too...who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Just went on the Ford Canada site, where they still have the old Taurus/500 up for sale. They offer no lease, and the only finance option is for 60 or 84 months only at 7.99%.

who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Huh?....Tell that to Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Honda, GM, Chrysler, etc. they all have one.

[Spheric]

Ford better start offering leases again if they want to shift Taurus in volumes. I think they should have offered a smaller engine configuration too...who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Just went on the Ford Canada site, where they still have the old Taurus/500 up for sale. They offer no lease, and the only finance option is for 60 or 84 months only at 7.99%.

who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Huh?....Tell that to Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Honda, GM, Chrysler, etc. they all have one.

^ ^ ^

A large number of the models offered by those brands were developed, designed and released onto the the market before last summer's oil shock and before the world recession kicked in. Much of their current advertising now contrastingly, preach the virtues of economy and efficiency, and some like GM and Chrysler have been unwillingly dragged kicking and screaming into the new world order of fuel economy and 'greeness' - which makes the latest non-premium, non-sports offering from Ford all the more eyebrow raising. 

[Rupert]

I wrote 'size' bracket Mitlov. Middle America may be there still but has it moved up to this price bracket. I doubt it. Not everyone is covered by a large union.

[Juke1]

Ford better start offering leases again if they want to shift Taurus in volumes. I think they should have offered a smaller engine configuration too...who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Just went on the Ford Canada site, where they still have the old Taurus/500 up for sale. They offer no lease, and the only finance option is for 60 or 84 months only at 7.99%.

who still needs a 3.5 litre engine ?

Huh?....Tell that to Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Honda, GM, Chrysler, etc. they all have one.

^ ^ ^

A large number of the models offered by those brands were developed, designed and released onto the the market before last summer's oil shock and before the world recession kicked in. Much of their current advertising now contrastingly, preach the virtues of economy and efficiency, and some like GM and Chrysler have been unwillingly dragged kicking and screaming into the new world order of fuel economy and 'greeness' - which makes the latest non-premium, non-sports offering from Ford all the more eyebrow raising. 

Well as for oil shock it's not the first one we got and not the last one either, so we panic basically every 3 years.  Want a smaller engine, they have the Fusion.  As for GM, their cars are quite frugal, we can't say they've been dragging their feet and it's not it that killed them.  Agree to disagree, I think this Ford is a winner.