4th Jul 2006, 12:10

I bought my 2000 Ford Taurus SE new and had minor problems from the beginning, most of which I blamed on the model year change. The dealer fixed everything, and of course it was under warranty.

I've had the pinging in the engine since day one, I was told it could be taken care of by re-speccing the engine, but I would lose gas mileage, no thanks.

I have 109,000 miles on my car, and just had my first brake change, never had a problem with that.

I do have the vibration and alignment problems, gave up having it aligned every 6 to 8 months at 75$ a pop!

Most recently I had to have the right side inner tie rod end changed, but with as many miles as I have, figured that was normal.

The car has just started the roaring noise in the engine that was mentioned in a previous comment. I took it to my mechanic and he could find nothing wrong.

Also having a problem with power locks. Only the driver's side front will lock and unlock with the remote or the button inside, maybe a relay gone bad, haven't had it checked.

Overall I have to say I've had a pretty good experience with this car, but not sure I would buy another one.

3rd Jun 2007, 17:32

2000 Ford Taurus.

Bad rotors at 38000 miles; cheap plastic parts, typical Ford products. Rotors should not go bad at this mileage.

My 93 Toyota Corolla has 165000 miles with the original rotors, and no problems. The Taurus is my mom's, she got the car free due to a death in the family. I bought her a car, a 1995 Toyota Corolla, so she will have car to drive. Believe me, she will need it. I had her buy Toyota's in the past, because I do not like working on cars any more.

6th Oct 2007, 22:17

2000 Flex Fuel Taurus. I have had it since Sept. 2001, it currently has 64,000 miles. Problems so far: driver's window became inoperable, took 4 different trips to the dealer to finally have it fixed properly. Replaced rear and front brakes. Fuel pump went out at 61,000 miles (happened when my college age daughter and friends were on a road trip). EVG (?) (emissions) sensor was recently replaced, the emissions warning light just came on. The "check engine light" has been coming on and off throughout the years. Forget about using the E85 gas, as soon as you do the "check engine light" comes on and stays on until you put in regular gas. Had a cracked O-Ring, was leaking gas into the engine giving off terrible gas smells. Brake lights went out and had to be replaced. Most of the plastic in the interior has fallen apart or fallen off. Had to replace a front tire twice. Have recently had to replace all 4 tires because of broken cords. Also, did you know that the spark plugs on the Flex Fuel Taurus are not "regular" spark plugs, but they are made of titanium or something like that and cost about $8 a plug?

I don't think we will be keeping this car much longer.

18th Nov 2007, 13:52

I bought a 2000 Ford Taurus SE for my first car last week (I am 53, got my first driver's license 7 weeks ago, and I don't know spit about cars). Anyway, a friend recommended a mechanic who checked it out before I bought it, and he said it was in great shape and well worth the money - BUY IT! So I did (paid $3,900).

I drove it about 80 miles in the first four days (my first car!) with no problem, but the Emissions light came on all of a sudden on day five.

Also, I'm not sure if the dealer pulled a fast one or not -the odometer said 150,000 when I first saw it (when I called my friend's mechanic, he said it couldn't possible have that many miles - it's in such good shape). When you open the hood, the engine looks clean as a whistle; interior and exterior / trunk are spotless. Anyway, the dealer claimed the 150,000 was Kilometers, and the car was manufactured to be sold in Canada (is that a good one?) Before I purchased it, he put in a new "cluster" and now it says 84,000 miles (he claimed he converted it from Kilometers to Miles. Another friend (who owns three antique cars) said the mileage is irrelevant - if a reputable mechanic says, "buy it - it's a good deal" then it probably is (for the price I paid, I can trade it in and get a new one in a year (assuming it makes it).

When I think about it, I'm more concerned about the mileage thing than the emissions light, since the light seems to be a common issue. If anyone knows anything about the KM/MI exchange, e-mail me at jmorris236@yahoo.com Thanks!

27th Feb 2008, 14:24

My father bought this model at a Florida dealer five years ago because he liked the way they drove when he rented them. Long story short, didn't need it down there anymore, so we drove it back up to NY three years ago and gave it to me as a gift.

I was actually a bit concerned about how the car would operate in a harsher environment while being driven on a regular basis. I immediately looked up every recall, and took it to the nearest dealer to have them taken care of. The one that stood out were these spring covers that needed to be installed under the car so that the salt used on roadways during the winter would not corrode them. Obviously this had not been taken care of in Florida since it doesn't snow. And while I've heard some horror stories of these springs going bad and puncturing tires, (knock on wood) mine have held up.

As a matter of fact, the car as a whole has held up quite well. The only recurring issue with this particular model that I (and many others) seem to encounter is that the sway bar links need to be replaced every 1.5 years. I say 1.5 because in three years of owning this car, I've had to replace them twice.

But I sure as heck aint gonna list this car a lemon because of that alone. Quite frankly, I think I got lucky with this car. Regular maintenance, regular replacement of certain parts because I do a lot of driving (brake pads, rotors, one set of tires, drums, and a few other things), and nothing to really get bent out of shape over.

I just hope I can get a few more years out of it. The longer I can go without spending money to purchase a new car (especially when I didn't have to pay for this one), the better!