Quick Look: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO

I was still in high school when the original Taurus SHO came out and I liked it a lot. When in 1992, Ford gave the Taurus a facelift and enlarged the engine to 3.2 liters I was in love. I remember there was a girl in my high school whose parents let her drive their red SHO, I don’t remember if I liked her because of her or because of the car she was driving. But I digress; the original Taurus was a badass no matter what anyone says, it took everything that the Maxima was suppose to be  (4DSC) and turned it up at a notch, at least in my sixteen year-old-eyes. Seriously, even if you don’t like Fords, and you think that everything front-wheel-drive should die, you have got to admit that the intake manifold on that thing was as sexy as on any Ferrari. Well, almost.

In 1996 the bubbly all-new Taurus was launched. It was an awful vehicle; I know because I rented one. Ford was saying the car had a ton of safety features and was the safest vehicle in its class, and that’s a good thing as it handled so poorly that sooner or later you were going to crash into something. How bad did the second generation Taurus handle? In my opinion it was down-right dangerous in street driving. It was also damn ugly and the interior was just awful. It was bad, really bad. Anyway, you know the rest of the story of the restyling, the launch of the Ford Fivehundred which was the Taurus replacement that no one bought for some reason (I actually liked its looks, but never drove one).

Welcome to the new 2010 Ford Taurus. I want to say that it is all-new, and to most people it would be, but deep down under the new body are remnants of the Fivehundred. And so what? Most of it is transparent to the driver anyway, so take it for what it is.

Exterior:

Being that looks, styling and design are very objective, please draw your own conclusions on it. I happen to like it, but I find it a little bit big. Unfortunately, Taurus’ competition has grown too and if Ford was to release a Taurus that was not comparable with the Camrys, Accords and Maximas of the world the automotive press would eat it alive as everything seems to be a numbers game for them; leg room, head room, trunk size, etc. Dumb, as a design and functionality do not translate into numbers at all.

What gave me a chuckle on the SHO, was the EcoBoost badge with a little green leaf under it (much like the one seen on Toyota and Honda hybrids) making you believe that efficiency of this motor was designed to reduce fuel economy as opposed to creating more power. That’s fine by me, if someone believes that a 365 horsepower sedan is actually a lean green machine then be it, more power to Ford.

Interior:

Having seen the interior in pictures I was a little apprehensive about the angle of the dashboard and the amount of buttons and knobs, but once inside it did not seem that bad. The center console, and even the seats in the SHO actually reminded me a little of the Jaguar XFR, which would make sense as Ford used to own Jaguar; copy and paste? Maybe, I doubt it, but in the end they were nice but understandably not up to the level of BMW Sport seats which I believe are the best in the business (obviously at a much higher price).

Otherwise, the interior offers plenty of room and it passed my favorite test of me being able to sit behind myself (driver’s seat adjusted to fit a 6’2” driver, and a 6’2” sitting behind). The quality of the interior is nice, but someone will find something to pick on there, perhaps the tiny buttons or knobs, some texture issues, but overall quality and ergonomics appear to be on par with competition. The seat and panel fabrics and leather were really nice, similar to the Cadillac CTS, which is a good thing. Yes, nicer better things can be had, but in a much more expensive cars.

Trunk:

Good size, but I have noticed only one small dome light in it. The lid was designed in way that allowed bigger items to actually fit into the trunk (good job!). To my delight there was a spare tire too. Rear seatbacks were split 40/60 and folded to allow bigger items to be carried; an adult size mountain bike with front wheel removed would have fit as the opening was a decent size (some cars have a very small opening despite having a large rear seat).

Toys:

Some are standard, some are optional, some are only available on the SHO, but the list is very impressive:

• Adaptive Cruise Control – with cruise control on, it slows the car down once you come upon a slower vehicle in front on you. It’s programmable in a variety of ways. For those who find it difficult to press a button or a pedal.
• Collision Warning with Brake Support – it flashes a light and sounds an alarm when you’re to busy yapping on the phone and are about to smack something. It will slam on the brakes if it thinks you can’t avoid it. Similar to the system seen in the new Volvo XC60 (Ford owns Volvo, still).
• BLIS, Blind Spot Information System – in my opinion this should be required on all cars. An indicator built into the mirror that tells you if there is another vehicle in your blind spot. Most people don’t have their side mirrors adjusted properly, and often cant bother to turn their heads to look back.
• Cross Traffic Alert – uses mirror and backup sensors to warn of vehicles approaching from the side/rear. Perfect for crowded malls, I wonder if it works with pedestrian traffic too, or is it car only?
• My Key – Cool stuff, especially for people with teenage kids. Say your high school son wants to borrow the SHO for the night… you know he doesn’t just want to get to the football game. MyKey allows you program it in such way that traction control cannot be disabled, top speed is limited to 80mph, and if that little bugger does not wear his seatbelt, the audio system will shut down and only annoy him with a seatbelt reminder chime. Brilliant!!!
• Nav system with clean and colorful display, Sirius, hard drive for pics and music (is that really necessary? I think a good ipod integration would be more welcome).
• SYNC – I have not played with it at all, but it is suppose to be this great all-syncing feature for Bluetooth, traffic, directions and news (how about we just drive?). It is also suppose to sync ipods, etc. Again, have not used it.
• Massage Seats – air pads in seats subtly inflate and deflate reducing drive strain on longer drives; don’t mistake it for a Shiatsu. Sounds nice, but again, I have not used it. I like heated and cooled seats, so this option is probably right up my alley.
• Sony Sound System – high end 390 watt, 12-speaker system that plays any kind of CD/DVD and has 10GB hard drive. Have not heard, but I would really like to; these are either awesome (Acura TL/RL) or complete crap (Audi).
• Other not seen on a Taurus before: heated seats (front AND rear!), back up camera, and a design that Ford can be proud of.

Engine, Transmission, Handling, Price etc.:

SHO engine without the cover. The cover is held by the oil cap and two clips. Not as pretty as the original one, but at least it is not completely covered by plastic.

The engine is transversely mounted (possibly making the SHO feel FWD-ish, I don’t know), with a turbo on each side of the V (hey, this isn’t an M X6 with its fancy set up), and a rather invisible front-mounted intercooler. It is a direct-injected engine (nice!) with the compression ratio of 10.0:1. The engine is paired up to a six-speed automatic transmission only. “Enthusiasts” maybe crying for a manual transmission, but I really don’t see a reason for one, perhaps I’m getting old, perhaps because I’m stuck in traffic 60% of the time, or perhaps because this is not really the type of car where a manual transmission would work right? It’s a sedan designed to transport people and their stuff with some fun thrown in. In terms of powertrain design, I believe that in cases such as this, we have grown beyond a point of where a manual transmission really adds a performance benefit, but of course old habits die slowly. I’ll take a manual transmission in my weekend fun car, but for daily driving make mine an automatic. Dual-clutch transmissions are of course best of both worlds, but at a price.

Go to Ford’s website for all the specifics. I have not driven car so I can’t comment on handling, power, etc. The asking price for the SHO is $38,000 which seems high, until you realize that there is no other 365horsepower all-wheel-drive sedan for that price. Camry, Accord, Maximas have nothing on the SHO (on paper at least), Chrysler’s 300 and Charger are a bit old now and Pontiac just killed the G8. Acura TL and Infiniti G37 sedan come close in terms of size, power and price. And I’m not sure of that’s a good thing, as Ford will have a hard time convincing people to get a Taurus and not one of those. Base Taurus starts in the mid-twenty thousand range.

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