Faults:

I have owned this car for almost two full years, and haven't had to make any major repairs after 35000 miles of driving.

When I purchased the car, the used car dealer replaced the brake pads and rotors. The tires were at about 50% tread wear, and are now nearing the end of their life.

I did replace a rear tail light bulb about 6 months ago.

Otherwise, I've done nothing but change fluids.

General Comments:

The 3.5 liter engine has plenty of power. Mated with a six speed automatic, the gas mileage is much better than I had expected; about 28 MPG highway at 80 mph.

The interior is very large front and back. I'm 6'-3" and have tons of head and leg room. The power driver's seat has plenty of travel, although I don't need to put it all the way back. This is the first car I have owned where I don't need to put the seat all the way back to find a comfortable position. The seating position is quite upright, much to my liking. My previous car, an Intrepid had me sitting on the floor. The Taurus seating position is more like that of a minivan. This improves visibility greatly.

The rear seat area is huge, accommodating six footers with ease. It's a very comfortable 5 passenger car.

The interior is nicely appointed. The inside door panels have a brushed or textured appearance rather than the flat plastic that is common in many newer cars. From the rear seat, there is a pass through to the trunk. As well, the rear seat backs fold forward in a 60/40 fashion to allow for more trunk space. A 50 inch TV goes right in. The front seat will fold flat forward. This allows a rear seat passenger to use it as a foot stool, a very comfortable position when making long trips with two or three on board.

The stereo with 6 CD changer is adequate. This car has 4 speakers, one in each door. It could use two more in the rear window shelf to round out the sound.

The online Taurus owners forum indicates that some owners have had trouble with transmission failures. Before purchasing a used Taurus, I would suggest having the transmission inspected. It's possible for the owner to easily change the transmission oil on this car. I strongly suggest that this be done once a year as preventative maintenance.

In summation, this is a large comfortable car with a good ride quality and decent reliability. Sure, it looks a bit funny, but that will allow you to get a better deal from the previous owner.

Faults:

Not a thing has gone wrong.

This car has 34,000 miles on it, and it still drives as good as a new car.

General Comments:

We are very pleased with this car.

We drive mostly highway, and according to the dash M.P.G computer, we are averaging 26.6 mpg. Not bad for a truly big/heavy/super super safe car.

The trunk is a monster, you can actually lose cans of corn in the trunk due to the size.

The back seat is wide and the roof is tall; this makes it easy to place our 2-year old twins into the car seats.

The doors do not curve in at the top, as the side of the car is basically flat from bottom to top, so when the back doors are opened, a person can stand straight up and easily relax your back and place the child into the car seat.

We bought this car for safety reasons and better M.P.G than our old 98 Suburban that averaged 14 mpg. In other words, this Taurus is the safest "CAR/sedan" type vehicle on the road. Not only is it heavy, about 1,000 pounds more than say a Honda Accord type car, but it has earned top safety scores in all areas by both NHTSA and the insurance institute for safety.

The only other safer car of the road that cost less than say $70,000 is the Lincoln Town Car/ Crown Vic, and Mercury Grand Marquis, but we didn't want a RWD only car.

We also didn't want another gas hogging SUV or a mini-van.

This car cuts through the high winds on the interstate in a very quiet way, unlike a SUV or mini-van would.

A handy thing that this car has that we have learned to never live without again, is the handy keypad entry system on the driver's door. Just type in your code and you're in the car when the 2-year olds will not unlock themselves out of the car on a hot day.

The car does look odd due to the "tallness", but it is well worth the trade off in terms of headroom, safety, and visibility, but due to the tallness of the trunk in virtually all newer cars, backing up can be a challenge. "Look for toys in the driveway before backing up".

We put over 250,000 miles on the Suburban, and this car feels as if it to could get the same 250,000 trouble free miles as well.

At 34,000 miles, the driveway of our new house is still as clean as new, as there are no fluid leaks from under the Taurus.

The only bad thing about this car is that the front wheel wells intrude into foot space. If you are driving this car, you cannot fully extend your left leg out, as I could in the Suburban. I have driven other cars to where you could extend yout left leg all the way out.

Basically for $22,900 - total price after all discounts and no trade in, we could not have bought a safer car for what we needed. No doubt.

The car has good power and the ride is very smooth and quiet. The car does perform well in emergency traffic situations.

I help fight fires in our little town, and this big car will get with it and stay with it on hills and loose dirt roads when I race to the fire dept. at 2 a.m.

The A/C and heat are very quick. The radio is very good.

The headlights don't seem nearly as bright as what the Suburban's were, but they are bright.

Night driving is made easy due to every button in the car lighting up after dark. The steering wheel controls for the heat and radio are nice, although any newer car that is any kind of decent car, now has radio and heat controls on the steering wheel as standard.

The fuel tank will accept rapid fill ups, as some tanks make the gas filler click off when under max flow. This tank and filler neck works excellent.

No squeaks, rattles, vibrations, and the original tires are about 1/2 worn out at 34,000 miles. Not bad being that we have to drive up 3/4th of a mile of dirt road to get to the highway.

The car can hold its own in about 8-inches of snow and sleet. This car is FWD only.

This is a great car for a family that want a sedan type vehicle.