2010 Ford Taurus SHO Wins Esquire Car Of The Year And Is A 5-Series Challenger- Deserving Or Fixed?

I'm not surprised at all.

I may even recover one of my comments made some time ago saying the new Taurus will eat Audis.

This car has:
- one of the best and smartest looks in the business. Why? Cause it's modern and elegant but not weird and controversial in any way. Agressive and self-confident front end made mostly of acute angles and straight lines. No elevating side line, it just stays at the same level. Classic and classy four door saloon - a body with built-in elegance and stance. It simply has premium looks and even seems intimidating with its power-speaking lines and sheer size
- it's huge and relatively affordable, makes most of the premium class cars seem completely overpriced; you get 5154 mm of a car which is in flagship territory (Mercedes S-class is shorter); in fact the only thing that makes it not belong there in terms of size is Taurus 100-150 mm shorter wheelbase
- look at the interior! it speaks quality and solidity, holds premium design and seems carved in a rock, the reclining center stack also boosts the impression of size, seats look excellent and buckety
- it has a very up-to-date twin turbocharged V6 with direct injection; when you check the performance that BMW's twin turbo R6 and Lexus twin-injection 3.5 V6 offer, these engines make V8s obsolete; so will the new Ford powerplant;
- preliminary drives confirmed it rides and drives brilliantly which is actually typical for European Fords by the way
- the car will be available with a lot of high-tech gadgets assisting the driver
- the six-speed autobox is promising too; if the made it ambitious with fast gearchanges, aggressive torque converter lockup strategies for efficiency and well done programming, it can be just as good as any dual clutch gearbox

The only straw Ford haters may grasp at is Taurus drivetrain; the most powerful version all wheel drive setup is a front wheel drive with a clutch powering the rear axle when necessary; however, such systems improved a lot recently with clutches engaging much faster (preload pressure) and sometimes even staying in partial lock/slip all the time when cornering which provides grip-based torque vectoring between the front and the rear (just like in TorSen based AWDs like true Audi's quattro or Lexus LS AWD setup), not a skid detection based system activity.

Anyway, don't forget that over half of Audi's A6 sold are front wheel drive wheelbarrows with some 140-170HP diesels (in a car weighting some 1700 kilograms = 3 747 pounds). And this is the most popular large premium car in the world. So Ford can do it the same way and nobody should complain.

After attempting at a post of this article a number of times over the past week, I'm glad that it finally has seen the light of day here. Ford is doing an excellent job in re-inventing its self. This began before the craze of the other "Big Three Crumble". The Taurus should be a great sedan with stellar abilities. To compare it with a vehicle that can easily cost twice it's price, seems to be reaching for a response that only looks for a response that no one asks. I believe it will do well in the domestic arena and to say others looking at a 5 Series even IF the Taurus best BMW, it wouldn't matter to them in the least. It is good to see Ford making good CARS again. Trucks won't go away and they have that arena locked down (sorry Chevy fans).

I saw the SHO at the NY Auto Show and it looked pretty nice. However, has anybody in the automotive press actually driven and tested this car? I saw on Edmunds they got a ride in it, but that was it.

read the article, they're not allowed to write their impressions yet.

— Invisible:

| I'm waiting on the definitive source, then I will KNOW
| that the Taurus is all that

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=147406

"The big Taurus surges forward effortlessly, delivering what you'd expect given the V6's power curves and the 4,368 pounds that have to be motivated. Under boost, the V6 emits a nice growl, but most of the noise comes from under the hood, not the dual exhaust. There's a commendable lack of wind noise."

"Even at a modest pace, the SHO's ease in these transitions speaks volumes about the competency of its chassis tuning."

"The faster she drives, the smaller the SHO seems to get."

"One section of the course includes a rise that fully compresses the suspension. Cresting the hill at speed, the suspension uncorks to full rebound. Later as we watch from the grassy infield, the SHO looks just as impressive as it feels from the passenger seat. Even as the Taurus flies over the big crest and returns to Earth, it settles easily with no drama."

May not be a car mag, but, they do have legit writers covering the auto industry.

So, they have the proper street cred.

this is a terrific beginning for FORD's new lineup...I just bought 5,000 shares of FORD because I believe in an AMERICAN product which hasn't grabbed government money...GM and Chrysler can head to the landfill...

Seeing the Taurus SHO at the past autoshow made me feel really good about what is to come from Ford and other American makes now that they seem to be truly attempting to rival other world class offerings. I think this car will hit the sweet spot with those who love fast, stealthy offerings...and its American!

5 series challenger? Says who?

Esquire...yea they know so much about engineering! It's silly but the Ford should have called the taurus, the car every mom used to have parked next to the family minivan, should have a better name! Why not call it the Ford Weinerschnitzel destroyer? Or the Ford can actually kinda make a car someone might want, but won't shell out 45,000 for! Or the Ford Silly Car people might test drive but would not be caught dead in..ever! This car is good, the name is Horrifying!

You know that Taurus represents the bull. Another very high end company also touts the Bull as its heritage, Lamborghini.

Oh yea it has no spare tire either...you might need one of those in A BIG FAMILY SEDAN!!

I'm sorry...I really tried to have an open mind, but I don't like the way this car looks at all. IMO, if you're going to be 5 series Killer, you must perform better, look better, have the same options, and offer a cheaper price. If not...it's just another car.

FIXED! C'm,on guys! The byline is Ezra Dyer from Automobile magazine who has been on a campaign to gain fame, fortune, and attention in any way possible. What better way than to throw out a review like this?

Clearly, Automobile wasn't having any of this silly "Taurus is better than a 5'er" so he went shopping for someone who would publish it and found.... Esquire. Talk about a credibility gap!

He's been publishing to Esquire for quite some time now.

I agree. I don't quite understand why all the agents think this car is good looking at all. It's not. And definitely not better looking than the 535xi or the Audi A4.

Does the Ford SHO really weighs 4400 lbs? That's really heavy. That's 500 lbs heavier than the 3990 lbs BMW 535xi.

...closer to 400lbs, or one Ford customer. HAHA

RWD is obsolete tech? Then why does most European manufactures have this set up and most want it? Of course we will go into the argument of RWD v.s FWD and that isn't neccessary. It is just plan ignorant HyundaiSmoke to make such a statement being your first love the Genesis models carry RWD as a badge of honor. Without it, the Genesis wouldn't be the stellar vehicle it is. As for as being out dated, then the Genesis is ancient history.

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I hate it more!

I hate your car.

Until I drive the Taurus, SHO or not, I cannot say whether this will be a Audi/BMW/Mercedes-Benz killer.

Given recent products, I will expect the SHO to be a competitive offering; however, lacking what makes the European marques unique.

Essentially, I am predicting this car is a huge step for Ford but not there...yet