My New Wagon Queen Family Truckster!

I took it to the car wash this morning to see if the door seals works and it came through nice and dry on the inside and clean and shiny on the outside. I am falling in love with the Spruce Green metallic as well.

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I have been retired for several years now (early, I got hurt at work) and since my wife worked right around the corner we have just had one car for her to drive and I had my old 73 Mustang to use when I really had to go somewhere. Well having the Mustang since 86 I sold it last week to a cousin of mine who really was dying for it. I loved it but it was time to let it go. BUT, my wife also changed jobs last month and works a lot farther away so I just wanted an old beater to run around in. After looking for a while I stumbled on a 2003 Taurus SE Wagon with 112K at a local dealer. It was sitting filthy in the back of the lot but when they washed it for me, I was stunned. It was the little old lady from Pasadena's car for sure. One owner on the Carfax with perfect paint and interior.....power seats, power pedals, CD player and puddle lights on the mirrors....so in other words, a pretty fancy 15 year old car. To make my usual long stories short, I got them down to $3300 and out I went. It is the perfect dog park transportation car and even has the jump seats in back.

We have had our Scion XB for a while now and we love it and how high it sits and how easy it is to get in and out of......the Taurus is a big change! Low slung where the Scion is like driving a toaster. It has the 3.0 Vulcan V6 so it is not fast but I put my usual K&N air filter in it and that helped a bit. Now to change the wretched stock stereo speakers in it!

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Looks like genuine 'Metallic Pea'.
 
Congratulations on your car - I like it! I got my "new" (2015) Golf Stationwagon today. Runs nicely...! :banana:

The former owner of your Taurus was probably an elderly person who looked after it carefully.
 
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Congratulations on your car - I like it! I got my 2015 Golf Stationwagon today. Runs nicely...! :banana:

The former owner of your Taurus was probably an elderly person who looked after it carefully.

I HAD to have been in the garage for most of it's life.......the big tell is that the headlight lenses are not oxidized one bit. My Scion is 10 years newer and it already has started to fog a bit. It still has the original plugs and wires on it so I ordered Motorcraft Platinum replacement plugs and Motorcraft Wires. I could probably do it myself but the back bank of plugs are always shitty on a transverse V6. I went with direct factory replacements since the ones on it lasted 15 years and 112K miles and it still runs fine. I got the K&N filter put in yesterday and it has a bit more pep, and a bit more induction noise.......so at least it sounds like it is going faster.
 
So less than 7500 miles is not that much - this Taurus has not been used as a cab! ;)

A lot of the 2000-2005 Taurus sedans were fleet units, but the wagons were not usually sold to fleets. I found out the 2003 and newer models had the improved 4sp automatic and a lot more sound insulation......my buddy who has a Caddy CTS rode in it yesterday and goes "shit this rides as good as my Caddy"! LOL. it rides very smooth and is dead quiet.
 
I have owned three Taurus', was never disappointed with any of them in performance or reliability. I would love to have owned one of the sleeper SHO's.
 
I have owned three Taurus', was never disappointed with any of them in performance or reliability. I would love to have owned one of the sleeper SHO's.


The first SHOs were pretty decent but the later Yamaha designed 3.4 V8s were reliability nightmares. I have always pretty much been a Ford guy but a friend had a cam failure on his 22K 97 SHO.....Ford fixed it under warranty then it failed AGAIN at 34K. This was a maturely driven machine and the guy was just livid. (Theyn guy then bought a BMW 3 series and spent the rest of a two year lease with electrical problems.) The first Yamaha designed SHO engine was based on the Vulcan and was pretty tough, but the V8 was a POS. I liked the 2G the best.....a lean and clean look.

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Since I have had the car for almost a week I will offer up a completely meaningless road test for those looking to purchase a 15 year old station wagon. This is the 24th car I have owned since getting my license in 1980.

Style: The damn thing is a really nice looking station wagon, probably in the top 5 good looking wagons. Since this is totally subjective, all of you are wrong and I am right. Grade A

Interior: The split bench seat with hidden storage and flip down armrest is a famous Taurus feature and I simply love it. The drivers seat is power, the wheel tilts AND the pedals move back and forth so if you cant get comfortable behind the wheel, I dont know what to tell you. The seat back seem a bit firm to me but we will see how they feel after this weekend when we take it on a short road trip. There is plenty of leg room in both front in back and what is surprising is the amount of headroom for a car with such a sleek roof-line. The seats seat two in front and back if perfect comfort with 3 in the middle in a pinch. For those of you young wipersnappers, I will relate the wonders of having a bench seat and a girlfriend belted in next to you with your arm around her. The cargo area has a jump seat with two belts but that is only for very small adults or children. The gauges are clear and easy to read and all controls easy to use. I wish the wipers had a "pulse" feature that allows the wipers to operate for one or two cycles without the washers working. Other than that the interior is attractive and well put together with nice fabrics and plastics. All of the surfaces one will touch are soft so it is comfortable. For 2003 Ford increased the effort put into quietness and it really paid off, the interior is almost silent. Grade B+

Drivetrain. The engine is a 155hp 182 cubic inch (3.0L) V6 with 182 lbsft or torque. The Taurus weighs in at a hefty 3500 lbs dry, so performance is not thrilling by any means. But the engine has decent torque and once moving has plenty of power for merging etc. It only seem slow off of the line. For 2003 Ford introduced the much improved 4sp auto that is one of the smoothest shifting auto I have ever used (I used to like autos with shift kits) and is unobtrusive and does it's job perfectly. I have not tested the MPGS yet since it has not been filled up again so that will have to wait. Around town with AC on I am expecting around 16 or so and around 26 on the freeway. Grade B-

I am having a blast with the car so far and IF one can find a similar Taurus that has not been a fleet car I would recommend one as a fine used buy.
 
One should not have to put our a ton of bread for four tires on a family car.

Indeed. Recently there was a discussion of even larger brakes that I could fit on my Towncar that are sourced from a Corvette, but they would require at least an 18" wheel. I have no desire to pay for wheels or tires in that size so I'll stick with the current upgrade that only needs a 16". Besides, to maintain stock tire diameter with a 2" larger wheel I'd have very little sidewall. Its a Lincoln, not a Corvette. It stops very well with what I have on there now, which is all Ford production parts from a 1998-2002 model.
 
Indeed. Recently there was a discussion of even larger brakes that I could fit on my Towncar that are sourced from a Corvette, but they would require at least an 18" wheel. I have no desire to pay for wheels or tires in that size so I'll stick with the current upgrade that only needs a 16". Besides, to maintain stock tire diameter with a 2" larger wheel I'd have very little sidewall. Its a Lincoln, not a Corvette. It stops very well with what I have on there now, which is all Ford production parts from a 1998-2002 model.

Since we are taking a short trip this weekend I wanted the tires fully checked out. They were older tires (2013) and they were at about 5/32 so I just had them replaced. I got 4 50K tires, A/A Trac/Temp, installed for $315 at America's tire......in 25 minutes. They always amaze me. Me being me, I had to up one size to the 225/60/16

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Just to piss off those that hate LEDs, I give you LEDs for the interior. Now it really looks like a moon buggy.

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