When the Taurus was introduced in the 80s I remember reading reports stating..."wow middle America have we got a car for you"...and it was true and the cars were a significant breakaway in design. They were all FWD then of course but had a very good independent rear wheel suspension design. They also had a beautiful wagon version in both Ford and Mercury. We bought the Mercury Sable wagon and remember that the price was indeed 'middle Americanish' at that time. It prooved to be a very good car and carried my family and I for ten years with only minor problems.
Well times have changed and for middle America...not for the better. For some in industry sallaries have not improved in actual dollar numbers since the late eighties even and middle classism is dying out. Watch the election bafflegab in the States. So what I think, anyway, is that the price point here is in no-mans land. Too much for the current version of the middle class and not enough for others.
The car is very nice though within the reservations of the tester and I like the dash and large speedo centered on the stearing wheel...I like that. Not as much of a breakaway as the original 80s model which, was a wow, back then. Perhaps this car should have been called a Galaxy or something and the Fusion would then have been the Taurus but seem to remember from a recent test, that even the price of that car was up there also. It seems to me that coverage of the middle class, such as it is, is more and more in the smaller more sporty and less costly vehicle but these are not family cars. Oh, I am just thinking about how times have changed and realising that my final sallary would not have supported the purchase of one of these and provided sustenance for family and house, at that time and we know how flat it has been.
What's in a name? Yeah, but it is also a memory of times. A nice car and report. You know me...conservative by nature. The original six in the eighties had 130 HP and that was plenty...even towed the tent trailer regularly. So what we see here is plenty good and probably would choose the six...like to keep it simple and have never even bought high test for anything. Would that this car will sell as many as the one in olden times. We can only hope.
Oops, forgot. The original had a superbe bench seat arrangement with wide divider that became a dual armrest and being a front driver decent flat floor with a very nice column shift lever. Non of the space robbing middle divider to mount the shift lever upon..nonsence.
