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Sedans Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable 2008 Ford Taurus New Owner Reports
103 messages, Last post on Nov 01, 2008 at 9:06 PM
You are in the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: desertrat5 (Jun 09, 2008 6:59 pm) Actually, the Taurus FWD is listed at 3643lbs. The Taurus AWD is listed at 3817. So, the Taurus has two "mileage hits" going against it. It weighs over 170bs more than the FWD Taurus {nearly 70lbs heavier than the Park Avenue} and it loses some of its potential power thru the AWD. Likely close to 20lbs of torque. The AWD may be real good for nasty weather conditions, but its a minus for mileage.......... |
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Hi all. My folks purchased their new Ford Taurus SEL today. It is equipped with leather, the convenience package (Auto Headlamps, Power Driver's Seat, Dual Climate Control, 6CD/MP3), SYNC, and Sirius Radio. MSRP - $26,615. First, the pricing. Was given an initial offer of $22,000 Out the Door, and after passing it on to my folks, they were happy with that. No negotiating necessary. The breakdown on pricing looks like this: 2008 Ford Taurus SEL, Silver Birch over Stone, 21 miles on the vehicle. MSRP : $26,615 Dealer Price : $24,844 Customer Cash : - $2,000 Manufacturer to Dealer Cash : -$2,000 Doc Fee - $199 TTL - $957 APR - 4.54% (Fantastic Credit) Final Price - $22,000 OTD As far as how the car drives, today was my first chance to drive it. A few short thoughts (as it was a short drive, after all)... Powertrain: More than enough power. I felt like I just "wafted" to 50 mph. Shifts are incredibly smooth; smoother than the 2008 LE-V6 Camry I drove recently; probably the smoothest transmission I've ever experienced, actually. I "got on it" from a light, and while it didn't make a fuss, it just "went." Quietly. Engine noise is very muted; most of what you do hear is the exhaust note, which is quiet, but has a nice sound to it. Very smooth-sounding; as smooth as our 3.5L Honda we had. Throttle tip-in is gentle; appropriate for a car this size. Interestingly, when accelerating on an on-ramp onto I-59 (70mph limit) I didn't "nail" the throttle, but instead accelerated like I normally would. The car stayed below 3,000 RPM, but had my dad (who at the time was sitting behind me) saying "easy there, cowboy - we want to buy it, you don't have to force us too by driving fast and wrecking. My mother actually told him "he's not gunning it; it is just a quick car!" Handling/Ride: Steering is much too light for my tastes, but for a large highway car it should be just fine. I'm used to sportier Honda tuning. It felt accurate, linear, and quite easy to drive. It handled bumpy I-59 with only muted "thumps" from the suspension. No real floatiness, although the nose does pitch-up more than I'm used to upon hard acceleration (probably because it accelerates harder than my 4-cyl Accord!). Something that stood out to me was its tight turning radius. Surprising, really, in a car this size. I didn't do any "cornering" but in my test drive I felt more secure than in the Camry I drove not long ago, and rode as well. Braking: A pleasant surprise. I was expecting the mushy pedal I experienced in the Toyota; wrong. While not as grabby as my 2006 Honda Accord, the brakes were firm enough, with feel that was well-modulated. I felt instantly comfortable driving this car in traffic, unlike the Toyota, or even my Honda (my Accord has very touchy brakes, and take some getting used to). Features/Interior: Sync is a pleasure. The dealer even set up my folks' cell-phones, and showed them how to use it, having each of them execute commands from the driver's seat until they fully understood how it worked. Interior room is obviously unmatched by many others. The rear seat of the SEL model does not have adjustable rear headrests, so neck support is lacking for me in the back (I'm 6'5"). My mom was just fine (5'5") however. The rear bench sits well-off the ground at chair height, as do the front buckets. Those front buckets have little lateral support, but make for easy ingress and egress, and should suit this car just fine. The lack of a telescoping wheel was no big deal (sure, it should have it at this price, but it's placement was great). Materials such as the wood-grain aren't going to make anyone think this is a Lexus, but there was enough soft-touch plastic and well-damped buttons to make this car feel more expensive than it's $22,000 price; especially given the features. The leather is soft and perforated; interior color: stone. Stereo sound quality from the more basic 6CD system (not the Audiophile one) is better than adequate; at least as good as that in my Honda if not better. I'll have more chances to drive this car as time goes on, but wanted to share my experience with it today. I already thought this car had a lot going for it on paper, but as a Honda guy I thought it might feel like an 80% effort. I was wrong. It is an 80% price for 100% good car. Give it a look. Thanks, TheGraduate |
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Replying to: thegraduate (Jun 28, 2008 7:27 pm)
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Replying to: thegraduate (Jun 28, 2008 7:27 pm) On another Edmunds board, you asked about oil changes. There is no oil life monitor but the recommended intervals are 7,500 miles for normal or 5,000 for "special" service. (lots of idling, slow speeds, stop & go, etc.) The car comes with synthetic blend 5W20 oil. It has a timing chain - not a belt. Thanks for the well-written review. After you drive it more, please share your comments.
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Replying to: ronsmith38 (Jun 29, 2008 6:44 am)
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Replying to: brucelinc (Jun 29, 2008 7:06 am) |
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Replying to: thegraduate (Jun 28, 2008 7:27 pm) I think the 3.5 Vtec Honda engine is much quieter than the 3.5 Ford engine when it's at idle. It whispers whereas the Ford has a growl(which I kinda like). However Ford has done an awesome job of putting sound deadening materials around the car and it's much quieter then the Honda on the open road. I've got 17,000 miles on my Taurus and really like this car. It's a great highway cruiser with a lot of room. |
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2004 Crown Vic in for some warranty work on the window (new motor) and my loaner car was a 2008 Taurus Limited...Crown Vic had 99,400 miles on its 100K mile warranty, had to get some stuff fixed while I could... I was quite surprised at the size of this car, much larger than my 2000 Sable, and certainly much more powerful... Drove well at 80 mph, comfortable car, nice sound system...took awhile for the A/C to cool the car, seemed like the fan was blowing at high speed, you could hear the fan, but the air coming from the dash vents was not of high volume, almsot as tho some of the volume was going elsewhere... When stepping on it from a stop, there was a definite pull to the right, which I attributed to torque steer, but on the road, the car ran straight...brakes were very touchy, but I like that, as you can NEVER have too much brake power... Back seat was roomy, car was well laid out...my main complaint, if it is one, is that the adjustable lumbar support was manual instead of electric, like my Crown Vic... Only drove it during daylight, so I have no idea how well it does at night...among the hundreds, no, thousands of vehicles I have considered to replace the Crown, this could be one of them...still have to check Lucerne, LaCross, Malibu, Impala, and maybe a 2 year old DTS where the first owner took the depreciation hit... Knowing the Sable is the Taurus' stablemate, what are the minor differences between them, even if only cosmetic???...are there any REAL differences, such as sport suspension that may be available on one but not the other (My Crown Vic has the LX Sport package, for example, whch was NOT available on the Grand Marquis, a true difference between them, plus the Grand Marquis had a Driver Info Center whereas my Crown Vic only had an overhead compass in the same place)...??? No question this Taurus is nothing like my Sable of 8 years ago...
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| One of the 2008 Sable reviews on this site by a new owner indicated the digital gas mileage read-out was about 4 mpg higher than what he calculated. Has anyone else experienced this on the Sable or Taurus? | |
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Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 01, 2008 6:42 pm) Here are the differences I could find between the base 2008 Taurus (SEL with no options) and the base 2008 Sable: 1) Exterior styling differences that are obvious (grilles, fake side vents on Taurus, none on Sable). I think the Sable has the edge here. 2) The fake wood on the Sable is a "colder" color than on the Taurus. I prefer the warmer feel of the Taurus interior. 3) Sable comes with the analog clock. Base Taurus does not. Edge to Sable. 4) Sable steering wheel spokes are silvery metal-like stuff. Taurus spokes are leather covered. A draw as far as I'm concerned; our son liked the Sable steering wheel better. 5) The interior convenience group on the Sable is $100 less than on the Taurus, and it includes power pedals. However, the price of the base Sable is a few hundred dollars more than the Taurus. Depending on how you equip the cars, the Taurus and the Sable can cost almost exactly the same. The differences are pretty minor. We ended up getting a Taurus mainly because we found one equipped exactly how we wanted it (base model with ESC only), and I didn't like the colder feel of the Sable interior. NOTE: The above applies to the 2008 models, I don't know how Mercury will be equipping their 2009 models, and Ford is changing the trim lines for 2009. All 2009 Tauruses will come with ESC standard. The Taurus model lineup is a little different with the re-introduction of the base SE model along with the SEL and Limited trims. The 2009 base SE is like the 2008 SEL, but with ESC standard. The 2009 Taurus SEL is like the 2008 SEL, but with the addition of the Convenience Package (8 way seat, 6 CD changer, better sound system, etc) and Sirius radio. Limited has more goodies too than the 2008. |
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