Automotive Industry

What does Ray Lewis have to do with the 2010 Taurus??

Pros

• Ray Lewis: I’ve decided that the Taurus is the automotive equivalent of Ray Lewis (or a linebacker in general).  By that, I mean there’s no getting around that this thing is a big car.  It weights 4,015 pounds* and that makes for a big car. But dang does it move, just like Ray Lewis.  It handles & moves that weight well, both in a straight line and through the curves. I can only imagine how well the SHO model does.

* For comparison, my 2003 Mazda 6 weighs about 3,300 pounds and a 2WD 2009 Ford F-150 weighs in around 4,700 pounds.

• Power: The 3.5 liter V6 in the Taurus make 265 horsepower and it moves the two-tons along surprisingly well – it blows away the 3.0 liter 220 hp V6 (a Ford/Mazda engine) in my Mazda, both in outright speed and in smoothness.  It pulls well throughout the rev range and really takes off after 3,000 RPM and never feels strained.  And it’s quiet…even when the go pedal is on the floor.
• Control of that Power: the 6-speed automatic transmission managing all that power is a gem.  It shifts smoothly and handles hard driving using the manual shifting mode (with paddle shifters) great.  It’s also geared wonderfully, with the engine only turning around 2,100 RPMs at 80 MPH.
• Looks: I think the 2010 Taurus is one damn good-looking car.  I love the front/side profiles the most.  The back looks a little too high-up and I wish it had dual exhaust pipes, rather than the single muffler with twin tailpipes.  But I’m nit-picking – I love the looks of this thing.
• Gas mileage: though I do it with my own car, I didn’t keep exact mileage with the Taurus during my time with it.  However, I’m pretty sure I got about 25-26 MPG with the thing, which is phenomenal considering it’s weight, the speed I was driving (80 for the most part) and the fact that I was definitely not hypermiling.
• Quiet: even at those speeds, it is still incredibly quiet inside.  I think my pre-production test car had a slight driver’s side window air seal leak, so I imagine the production ones are even better.  I will state with almost certainty that it’s quieter than my parents’ 2006 Lexus ES330, the quietest (until now) highway I car I have experience with.
• Comfort: anybody should be able to find a comfortable seating position in the Taurus.  It’s got the usual power seats, plus the pedals are adjustable and the steering wheel tilts & telescopes.  If all that wasn’t enough, it also has Multicontour Seats with Active Motion™, which basically means massaging seats.  Going into this trip, I thought they would be a gimmick, another gadget to make the car seem high-tech.  I tried them out during the 4 hour trip across Missouri and they definitely helped keep my butt/thighs comfortable.  Ford’s website says it also massages your back, but I couldn’t feel it and my back felt no different than it does after trips in other cars.  Oh yeah, those seats were also heated and can be also be cooled, though my loaner didn’t have that feature.
• The Cockpit Feel: I’ve been excited about this car since the first spy shots over a year ago.  I strongly encouraged my parents to go check one out, which they did.  One of the things they ended up not liking about it is the center console, which is massive.  When you get in the car, it’s one of the first things you notice because it’s wide and high up, probably 3-4″ higher-up than most cars you’re used to. I ended up liking it though, because my elbow rests perfect on it and all the controls are right there for you to use, without any need to look away from the road – they’re all right in your field of vision, which may be why it’s designed the way it is.

Yes, it's big. But I ended up liking it.

• Sync Technology: it’s advertised a lot on every Ford, Lincoln or Mercury model now…and for good reason, it rocks.  Basically, it lets you quickly & easily control almost any MP3 player or phone using voice commands.  It also provides you with 911 Assist, emailed Vehicle Health Reports, real-time traffic conditions, turn-by-turn directions and other information.  I didn’t try any of those features, but within five minutes, I had my Palm Pre hooked up via Bluetooth and my iPod via USB, with both of them connected via Sync.  Driving down the road, I was quickly able to pick out a song by artist or song name and have the car play it, then pause it automatically and pick out anyone from my phone’s contact list to call.  Incredibly seamless and easy…and a great way to impress your friends.  However, Sync is not good at recognizing a lot of song names/artists and has a lot of trouble picking up sound if you have the windows down.  Hopefully those are the kinds of things that can be improved via software updates over time.  The other nice thing about Sync is that it’s available on models like the Focus all the way to up to the Lincoln Navigator, though specific features vary by model.
• Music, Music and more Music!: with my iPod and phone hooked up through Sync, plus the Sirius satellite radio built in, I didn’t even notice that the Taurus also had a 6-disc CD changer and AM/FM radio.  Amazing amount of options for in-car entertainment, all of which was welcome on the road trip.
• Quality: through & through, the car feels high-quality.  The doors are heavy and close with that heavy, satisfying “thunk” noise that the best luxury cars have.  Most of the interior materials are soft and of the proper quality for a car in this price range too.
• Creating Believers: when people see, drive or ride in this car, their perception of Ford is going to be altered.  It happened when I took one of my bosses to lunch in it – he’s someone that probably wouldn’t consider Ford for his next car.  He told me that, and he also told me that he’ll probably take a hard look at Ford now, even if he doesn’t want the Taurus or a car in that range.
• Other Features/Technology: my car was an SEL, which is the second of four levels of price.  Besides the things I’ve talked about, the Taurus featured these things:
  • Reverse sensing system: being a male and a car fanatic, I dismissed this option as stupid, for “people who don’t know how to drive.”  Well, after driving that car, I’m glad it has it.  The back end of the Taurus is so big that it’s really, really tough to tell how close you are to anything.  I’d welcome the rear-view camera available on the SHO model.
  • Intelligent Access/SecuriCode: it’s the newest fad in the car world – eliminating the key and giving the driver a key fob to carry and a button for starting/stopping the car.  And SecuriCode isn’t new – Ford’s had it on lots of different vehicles since the 90’s – it’s convenient but always was kind of an eyesore below the driver’s door handle – they fixed that on the Taurus (see below).  I enjoyed being able to access the car by pushing the bottom of the SecuriCode pad and not needing to take the fob out of my pocket.
  

  Appears with touch, invisible otherwise

  • Ambient Lighting: this feature adds subtle lighting all over the cabin.  The lighting can be changed to six different colors, with three levels of brightness for each color.  It adds a huge touch of class/luxury to the car, and it’s useful for seeing things at night too.  Best of all, it’s not distracting in the least to the driver.

Ambient Lighting - Classy and Luxurious

Cons

• Cost-Cutting: even with a feeling of quality in many places, there are still obvious areas where Ford cut costs. The most obvious of these, to me, is the power windows.  The driver’s side window has full automatic up/down capability – the other three windows are regular power ones…like my ‘88 Taurus had.  Lots of cars in this price range have this,  like my parents’ Lexus and their new Toyota Highlander – c’mon Ford, how much would adding that cost? This was also apparent in the overhead lighting area, where you normally find lights, a sunglasses holder, garage door opener, moonroof, thermostat/compass readout, etc.  In the Taurus, there was nothing but a couple lights that felt like they were right out of a $15,000 Focus.
• Gimmicky-Technology: as much as I liked a lot of the technology in the car, I started thinking about what this car might be like in 5 or 10 years…when some of that stuff needs to be repaired.  With the climate control, stereo, Sync, etc. all part of one large electronic unit, I shudder to think what repair/replacement for something like that might cost.  I’m also a little wary of the Intelligent Access – I think I’d just rather have a key still.  Maybe it’s silly, but I don’t know that the slightly-added convenience is worth the trouble you have the first time the batteries in the key fob go dead and you can’t start the car.  Or you accidentally get it wet or something… I haven’t even talked about some of the features this car has on higher-end models, like Adaptive Cruise Control and BLIS (Blind Spot Information System).  Features like these are becoming more common and I hate it – it makes things easier for bad drivers, and that’s scary.  With so many potential distractions in the car, the probability of people not paying attention goes up and, I know, these features are supposed to help cover against that…but I think they also contribute to people being terrible drivers.  And we don’t need any more of them in this country.
• Paddle-Shifters: I was fairly shocked to see that paddle shifters were in this car.  These allow you to manually shift the transmission without using a clutch – they’ve become common on luxury/sport sedans, sports cars, exotics, etc.  The ones in the Taurus functionally work well.  You can up or down shift on either one by pulling or pushing the paddle, respectively.  However, having driven a Ferrari 360 Modena with paddle shifters, I never got used to the Taurus’ setup and still would prefer the right-side paddle to upshift, and the left to downshift.  Call me a snob (the Ferrari thing), but the paddles themselves felt cheesy and breakable.  I also question how many people will really use this feature on the SE, SEL and Limited models – I think it’d be better off as an SHO-only option.

Final Thoughts

I’m not the ideal target audience for this car  – I’m probably about 5-10 years of age and $25,000 of income from it. However, I walked away from this test thoroughly impressed with the 2010 Ford Taurus.  For about $32,000, you get a stylish, comfortable, technology-packed large sedan that won’t embarrass itself when driven hard.  For a daily driver and a road trip car, it’s fabulous.  At that price, I think it’s a tremendous value – I can’t think of a car in the segment with a better value proposition, though the Chrysler 300, Toyota Avalon and the new Buick LaCrosse are all worthy competitors. Once you start moving up the model range, the value lessens for me though – I’m not sure a lot of people will be willing to pay the $40,000+ cost for a loaded Limited or SHO model, even with the incredible amount of technology you get at that price (it makes my SEL look like a stripped-down model).  That’s BMW/Audi/Lexus territory and, as nice as it is, the Ford Taurus name doesn’t resonate in that stratosphere.  I have to wonder, also, what this does to Lincoln.  Why bother paying the premium price for a Lincoln MKZ or MKS model when you can get a car this good for a lower price.

I commend Ford for having the guts to take the Taurus upmarket like this though.  They’ve built a fantastic car – one that will change perceptions for the people that take a look at it.  And maybe that’s the point, even more than selling a car – maybe the Taurus can become a halo-type car for Ford, making people like my boss look at Ford when they otherwise wouldn’t.  When he buys his next car (currently driving a 2005 Dodge Durango), maybe he’ll look at a Flex or an Expedition.

The 2010 Taurus is a worthy successor to the game-changing one they built in 1986, the first Taurus since that first-generation one that truly is worthy.  If I were in the market for a family car, it’d be on my list for sure.  But for me, there’s still only one car I’m interested in (though I’m waiting until I can get the new 5.0 400 hp one):

2010 Mustang GT Convertible

Thanks again to Ford and Social Media Group (their social media agency) for this opportunity.  I had a blast with the 2010 Taurus and am proud that Ford, a company I’ve known & loved for a long time (and one I own stock in), built it.  I continue to be impressed with the change that’s taken place at that company, from the CEO’s office to product development and marketing – it’s truly been a revolution in Dearborn and I’m thrilled to see it.  This country needs Ford (and GM) to be successful, profitable companies going forward.