Impressive though the next Ford Taurus appears, a little bit of context is necessary. Only by the badness of others did the current Taurus escape the doldrums of The Bad 8 for 2009. So boring is the current Taurus, nee Five Hundred, that were Ford not to respond with a better effort, they'd have been laughed out of the Detroit auto show.That being said, the upcoming Taurus is a classy redesign; both on the surface and underneath. (Click here for a full gallery of photos of the 2010 Ford Taurus.) In SHO trim, it's expected that the Taurus will be a fire breathing American menace. Without going so trendy that the Taurus will be out of style before it even appears in showrooms, Ford simply designed a nice car. Good 12 v3.0 material? Unlikely. But respected and admired? For sure.
Moving on, it's important to establish with what vehicles the Ford Taurus will be competing. Here's the problem with that though. See, starting at $25,995, the reinvigorated Taurus is smack dab on the average purchase price of a new car in the United States. Put it this way, the Taurus competes with everything. Analyzing what you want in a vehicle is your job - establishing the field is The Good Car Guy's job. Below is the complete GoodCarBadCar.net 3 To Beat.
TAURUS MUST BEAT MAINSTREAM MIDSIZE WITH ACCOMMODATION: Honda's Accord, along with the Toyota Camry; Nissan Altima; Chevrolet Malibu; and Ford's own revived Fusion, will be battling in Taurus price ranges with their upper-tier V6 models for the foreseeable future. Ignoring discounts, this pits the large Taurus against somewhat sportier and more commonly known models that people assume they're mandated to buy. However, it doesn't sound as though a basic Taurus should be too heavy (at 3,600 pounds) and its interior space should outduel all midsize comers. Space advantages must be significant if Ford expects to pull customers up from its own Fusion as well as redirect buyers away from popular Toyota and Honda showrooms.
TAURUS MUST BEAT MAINSTREAM LARGE CARS WITH QUALITY: Imagine sitting inside a brand new Ford in an old Ford dealership and finding yourself awed by the switchgear, the stereo controls, the finely stiched leather, and the soft touch plastic. That could be enough to make you ignore the Chrysler 300 altogether. Only problem? The 2010 Buick LaCrosse/Allure looks special, too, and is expected to be special. Meanwhile, at the bastion of quality eternal, Toyota's dull and homely Avalon is a perceived quality tour de force. If the Ford looks and drives better than its competitors, impressive quality would bode well for reliability and durability, thus sealing the deal.
TAURUS MUST BEAT PREMIUM SMALL SEDANS WITH AMERICAN UMPH: We all know full well that an entry-level German sedan from BMW (3-Series) or Mercedes-Benz (C-Class) or Audi (A4) will be significantly smaller inside than the new Taurus. Those small luxo-sport sedans will also be significantly more fun around corners. Over at Infiniti, Lexus, and Acura, the G37/IS250/TSX crowd puts more of a premium on rear seat space.... but really. Wouldn't it be nice, nonetheless, if the customer who was not tempted by the Taurus's accommodations and was tempted by a luxury badge could be won over by a 355-horsepower turbocharged EcoBoost V6? There was a day when import luxury was attempting to make headway in North America and good old fashioned American straight-line horsepower managed to impress. Could that happen again?
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