CHICAGO: 2008 Ford Taurus

[Flybrian]

2008 Ford Taurus

See the 2008 Ford Taurus X
See the 2008 Mercury Sable

FORD STRENGTHENS CROSSOVER LEADERSHIP WITH INTRODUCTION OF NEW 2008 TAURUS X

• New Ford Taurus features more than 500 engineering changes, making it more distinctive, quieter, faster and safer.
• 3.5-liter Duratec V-6 delivers an estimated 260 horsepower – an increase of nearly 30 percent from the previous engine.
• Standard electronic stability control and available all-wheel drive provide confident ride and handling in all weather conditions.
• Ford Sync™ offers new levels of connection, control, simplicity and personalization for electronic devices such as cell phones and MP3 players
• Taurus will reach showrooms this summer.

CHICAGO, Feb. 7, 2007 - The 2008 Ford Taurus features more than 500 improvements that make it more distinctive, quieter, faster and safer. Highlights include new exterior styling, a new powertrain, a new all-wheel-drive system, more standard safety features – including standard electronic stability control – and structural upgrades to further enhance crash protection.

“Customers will find the 2008 Taurus delivers more of what they are looking for, including a strong design, high-quality interior, power and performance, must-have features like Ford Sync and a great safety reputation,” said Cisco Codina, Ford’s group vice president, Marketing, Sales and Service.

The 2008 Taurus features Ford’s 3.5-liter Duratec V-6 that delivers an estimated 260 horsepower – an increase of nearly 30 percent from the previous engine – and 245 pound-feet of torque. It is mated to the same smooth shifting, six-speed automatic transmission as the new Ford Edge.

Importantly to customers, even with more power and performance, the 2008 Taurus delivers real-world fuel economy similar to outgoing Five Hundred – thanks to advancements in powertrain technology.

New exterior design is more emotional, more Ford

The new look of the 2008 Taurus suggests the same proven emotional appeal of the popular Ford Fusion. The new Taurus features the Ford brand’s signature three-bar chrome grille, a sculpted hood with crisp accent lines and a new front fascia chamfered at the outer edges, adding more structure to the design.

New taillamps carry a strong, horizontal theme to the rear, while a new rear fascia houses dual chrome-tipped exhausts. Chrome side vents, door handles and mirror caps give the high-line model a more expensive appearance.

Ultra-quiet interior and plush ride

Interior quietness is often associated with a customer’s perception of overall quality. For 2008 the Taurus team has delivered interior quietness that rivals many luxury cars. The new sound package includes such technologies as expandable foam pellets in the A-pillars to reduce wind noise and the use of an advanced sound-deadening material called Sonosorb™ in the doors, headliner and pillars. Sonosorb increases sound-deadening efficiency by 20 percent while retaining the same thickness as the material it replaces.

Engineers also reduced road noise by stiffening the area where the rear package shelf meets the floor pan. Even the new climate control system is 50 percent quieter than before.

Taurus’s plush, confident ride is further improved for 2008.

Upgrades include revised shock towers that help increase front suspension travel by 10 percent, new dampers and springs in both front and rear, and a revised, retuned rear suspension.

One of the most significant changes is how the engine is mounted in the vehicle. The engine was previously mounted to the front subframe. On the 2008 Taurus, the engine and transmission are bolted to the body with hydraulic mounts to reduce vibration. By moving the roughly 600-pound powerpack off the subframe, engineers were able to better tune the suspension and, ultimately, create an even better ride.

Maximum convenience and space

A large majority of customers shopping in the large car segment place front seat roominess as a key want (86 percent) while many also prioritize cargo capacity (63 percent). Answering these desires, the 2008 Taurus features the most spacious interior of any large sedan, with best-in-class legroom front and rear and 60/40-split fold-flat second-row of seats. With the fold-flat front-passenger seat, items up to nine-feet long can fit inside.

Taurus also offers a number of must-have technologies. In addition to a standard auxiliary audio input jack, available convenience features include a voice-activated navigation system, a DVD entertainment system and factory-installed SIRIUS® satellite radio.

Ford Sync™ is also available on the new 2008 Ford Taurus. Sync is a voice-activated hands-free in-car communications and entertainment system which fully-integrates mobile phones and digital media players. The Sync in-car communications system was developed in collaboration with Microsoft and will be offered exclusively on 12 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury products in North America beginning this year.

Building on safety leadership

Research routinely demonstrates that safety features are at the top of customers shopping lists. For example, nearly 70 percent of shoppers are interested in side air bags and 65 percent are interested in electronic stability control. Both are standard on the new 2008 Taurus.

With these standard features, the 2008 Ford Taurus is expected to be segment leader in safety, capable of achieving five stars ratings in all four categories for the U.S. government’s crash tests.

Ford’s AdvanceTrac® electronic stability control system can predict the vehicle’s intentions using a sensor to detect and measure oversteer and yaw by monitoring the vehicle’s speed, throttle position and steering wheel angle. When the system senses wheel slip, engine torque is reduced and braking is applied where needed to help keep the car tracking safely on its intended path.

Additional standard safety equipment includes dual-stage driver and passenger front air bags, seat-deployed side air bags for driver and front passenger, and Ford’s Safety Canopy™ side curtain air bags for both rows. For an added measure of safety, a new steering wheel design recesses the air bag 15 millimeters farther away from the driver.

[C.H.U.D.]

Taurus?!?!? That's just strange...better than the Freestyle, though.

[!!!TED!!!]

EDIT: wrong picture up there?...I didnt see the X thread lol! Disregard the following, although it probably went down that way.

Whaaaaaaa!? .....

Ok, wtf is going on here?!

I can see the roundtable with Mark (mullet) Fields:

Fields: Alan wants the Taurus name back. Lets slap it on the new Five Hundred!

FoMoCo suit1: Um, we already introduced that at Detroit...

Fields: OK, what elese we got thats new?

FoMoCo suit2: The Freestyle!!!

Fields: ...you mean the Taurus...MuAhaAhAHhahahaaaaa

Then it was lunch

[C.H.U.D.]

Just realized, this should be the facelifted Five Hundred, not the "Taurus X".

[Sixty8panther]

World to Taurus:

How carn I miss you if you will not go away?!?!

[Backup7]

Are they serious?!?

How is a Freestyle a Taurus??? Worst decision ever.

[Imaj]

Smart move, I never thought it would return, and now I can't be happier. It took them balls to admit that killing the Taurus was a mistake.

[Robert Hall]

Are they serious?!?

How is a Freestyle a Taurus??? Worst decision ever.

Well, the Freestyle was a rather lame name..and the Freestyle more-or-less replaced the Taurus wagon, so it's appropriate for it to become a Taurus..

[Intrepidation]

So wait...is the 500 and the Freestyle now called Taurus?

[Robert Hall]

So wait...is the 500 and the Freestyle now called Taurus?

The Five Hundred becomes the Taurus for '08, the Freestyle becomes the Taurus X. The Montego becomes the Sable.

http://www.cheersandgears.com/forums/index...showtopic=15329

Edited February 7, 2007 by moltar

[Regalguy01]

*YAWN*

So, show of hands, who cares?

[Robert Hall]

*YAWN*

So, show of hands, who cares?

Hertz will be very happy to get the Taurus name back..

[G. David Felt]

BLAND< BLAND< BLAND or and so very conservative ugly just like the Camry.

[aaaantoine]

Didn't they just unveil the redesigned "Five Hundred" LAST MONTH?

Ford has gotten really stupid with names lately.

Ford Rep: This is the all-new MKZ.

Bystander: Hey that looks just like my Zephyr.

Ford Rep: Your WHAT? No, this is called the MKZ. I've never heard of this so-called "Zephyr".

[siegen]

YUCK! It looks horrible. I really don't like what they did with the front. The way the top of the grille and headlights line up, and the flat hood. It makes it look really bland, and it makes it look like the 1990 and earlier Taurus.

What's sad is, the most recent gen Taurus has more style than this.

[SoCalCTS]

I'm glad the Taurus is back. This version resembles the original 80's version and not that ugly late 90's frog car.

I mean if Chevy is going to get so much use of the crappy Malibu name, it only makes sense that Ford would reuse the Taurus name. After all, the Taurus was the number one car not that long ago.

[!!!TED!!!]

Check out Mark Fields making the announcment - video at autoblog!

Hahaha!

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/07/fords-m...aurus-and-sabl/

[frogger]

I would have a hard time not heckling if I was there.

[ponchoman49]

Arrrrggg, I wish one of the 500 improvements was at least offering the customer a bodyside molding. Ever stinking one of these in the used lot without the molding have 3-5 door jams right where the molding used to be on the 2005 models. Why can't we have the option to have it instead of being forced to go without because it is a new stupid fad. I do like the name change back to the old Taurus and Sable which makes sense and the engine upgrade in way overdue.

[Robert Hall]

Didn't they just unveil the redesigned "Five Hundred" LAST MONTH?

And issued press releases, photos, etc...NAIAS time frame... the pics are still on the C&G site somewhere..with the Five Hundred badge on the decklid.... now to be replaced with a Taurus badge.

Ford has gotten really stupid with names lately.

Ford Rep: This is the all-new MKZ.

Bystander: Hey that looks just like my Zephyr.

Ford Rep: Your WHAT? No, this is called the MKZ. I've never heard of this so-called "Zephyr".

To continue:

Bystander: How is that pronounced?

Ford Rep: 'Mark Z'.

(ten minutes later):

Ford Rep: Correction...that's 'M'-'K'-'Z'.

[Flybrian]

Well, I just ordered my 2008 Ford Five Hundred press kit from eBay. I'm sure it'll mean something one day, like when my children ask what a Ford is and why they don't make them anymore.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

So...

Why even introduce the re-styled 500 at Detroit and LA last month???

Why not just wait a month and introduce the re-design as simply "Taurus"?

If Ford is this confused and confusing with names then it doesn't give me much hope for their future.

[bowtie_dude]

Ford...

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Ford puts it on wheels. Have you driven a Ford lately. Taurus for us!

That is the quickest turn around for a car. At least Ford admitted the mistake and corrected it. I have no problem with the car. People will buy it. It is all new compared to the last Taurus which was the same size pretty much. You have to do something to turn the tide. There are still a lot of Taurus owners out there. They have something to trade up to now.

[Flybrian]

P.S. You realize the Taurus was never effectively dicontinued now. There was a 2007 fleet Taurus and now this 2008 one. We will never be able to get rid of it.

[Variance]

I wonder how the guy who bought the "last Taurus ever" feels.

[Screaming Trees]

I wonder how the guy who bought the "last Taurus ever" feels.

That would be Truett Cathy. The founder of Chik-Fil-A Restaraunts....seriously

[ehaase]

The Taurus name should help a little. Ford did not adequately market the Five Hundred name. Hopefully, Ford can sell about 100,000 Tauruses, 60,000 Taurus X's, and 40,000 Sables. But I hope Ford will completely redesign this car by 2010.

[hyperv6]

The name change will not fix this car. You can call a turd a diamond but it is still a turd.

While the 500 or Taurus or what ever you want to call it is a good car it is still behind many other cars in so many areas.

While the Face lift on the Focus and 500 help but Ford needs to replace these cars as there sales have not lived up to what they need and will not imporve to where they need to be.

I know Ford is hurting and I truly think we will see Ford either get bought into by Nissan or Toyota or file for Bankrupcy at or after 2009.

Lets face it the only asset Ford has right now is The F150, Mustang and Mazda. The Fustion and Edge will do ok but not to the level they need.

I think we will see what nearly happend at GM will really happen at Ford.

Ford has always lived on one power model in their line up as in cars like the T, A, F150, 49/50 Ford, 60's Mustang Taurus etc. At this point they have no vehicles that are paying the bills and the F150 will not help if gas goes back up.

The Taurus is a single when they are needing a home run car.

Edited February 8, 2007 by hyperv6

[ehaase]

That would be Truett Cathy. The founder of Chik-Fil-A Restaraunts....seriously

He still has the last Taurus built in Atlanta, near his restaurant.

[Guest YellowJacket894]

You know, I'm really having a hard time believing that they're actually making the Taurus again. I know it's real, but still. It just seems like a April Fools Joke about two months too early.

Ford just can't get their act together, can they? They keep changing names and building rather lukewarm products. I can't say if they are class leading or not, but they seem like they aren't really what Ford appears to be capable of building. GM is having a renaissance, and Ford and Chrysler are going right down the drain.

On a related note, the 2008 Five Hundred is officially the shortest lived car ever and, in a fit of situational irony, you can't buy one. Whodathunk it, huh? There's one car that might just prove to have a very high collectible value in the future, and you can't buy it . . . not to mention it's probably one of the most boring cars to roll on four tires just below the Camry.

If I were a top Ford executive, I would have switched the name to Interceptor to prepare the buying public for the production version of the concept of the same name that would follow. And there wouldn't be 2008 Five Hundred. It's called getting your &#036;h&#33; together, Ford. Try it, okay?

[frogger]

The family resemblence is pretty strong, but I think I'd spend the extra $ and spring for a 2008 Ford 500.

[AM6_Cutlass]

What's the point? I still believe one of the reasons the 500 does not sell as well as the Taurus is that it does not offer a bench seat, something alot of people still expect in a car this size.

[regfootball]

So...

Why even introduce the re-styled 500 at Detroit and LA last month???

Why not just wait a month and introduce the re-design as simply "Taurus"?

If Ford is this confused and confusing with names then it doesn't give me much hope for their future.

um, it basically means they are making fast decisions on the fly now. Alan said, "change it now". This all probably went down the last two weeks. Be happy, change never occurs this fast in Detroit. If anything, as lame as it is, its signs of someone waking up in DAYTWOI.

[regfootball]

I wonder how the guy who bought the "last Taurus ever" feels.

oh yeah, he's p'oed.

actually he's more crazy about that last 07 taurus because of the fact it was built in hot lanta.

What's the point? I still believe one of the reasons the 500 does not sell as well as the Taurus is that it does not offer a bench seat, something alot of people still expect in a car this size.

no one looks for bench seats anymore. that has nothing to do with it. the main reason the 500 did not sell was no name recognition, dull styling, and most of all, it is noisy inside and lacks power. the engineering refinements ought to fix that. the dull styling stays, albeit tweaked.

Edited February 8, 2007 by regfootball

[AM6_Cutlass]

no one looks for bench seats anymore. that has nothing to do with it. the main reason the 500 did not sell was no name recognition, dull styling, and most of all, it is noisy inside and lacks power. the engineering refinements ought to fix that. the dull styling stays, albeit tweaked.

...but the <old> Taurus was never noisy inside or lacked power . I find it hard to believe Ford was able to sell so many Tauruses so recently with bench seats, and then *poof* nobody wants them anymore overnight. One of my co-workers bought an '05 Taurus with bench seats over the 500 because she didn't like the interior of the 500. In fact, I know three other people that own Tauruses with bench seats. I'd bet the majority of Ma and Pa-America Taurus owners would appreciate the added flexability of such an option. Directly from Ford:

Maximum convenience and space

A large majority of customers shopping in the large car segment place front seat roominess as a key want (86 percent)

I would consider front seat roominess not bieng divided by a console, but maybe it' just me. Edited February 10, 2007 by AM6_Cutlass

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

A 1986 Ford Taurus commercial:

A Taurus SHO commercial:

I wonder since they are using the same platform as Volvo S80 which now offers a V8 engine, will they create an AWD Taurus SHO with a V8?

The new 2008 Taurus/Taurus X/Sable video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqV6CwrtzJU&NR

I agree with you AM6 Cutlass. Not everyone wants bucket seats. Just because some do not like them, they cannot speak for the whole. If they were hated so much the DTS and Lucerne and Impala, LaCrosse would not offer them. There would be no need for Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car. There is still a market for the bench seat. It may have shurnk, but there is a market for them. For some odd reason people think if they have a floor shifter abd bucket seats they are driving a "sporty" car. Sporty is Camaro.

I wonder if Taurus and Sable are offering bench seats.

Edited February 10, 2007 by NINETY EIGHT REGENCY

[Croc]

Actually, I go for the buckets and console because buckets offer more lateral support than a bench. I also find it easier/more convenient to shift from the floor than a steering column. My father has had benches all his life, until his 2006 DTS. Now he has a console and loves it. He's a pretty big guy too, but thinks this is his most comfortable Cadillac ever. I would tend to agree, as I think those seats are right up there with my mother's Volvo XC90 seats. And the side bolsters on the DTS buckets are great! He has the performance package, and the more aggressive suspension tuning really helps keep this vehicle from being a floater. It's not quite "fun to drive" but it's the closest a Deville/DTS has ever been.

[ehaase]

I wonder since they are using the same platform as Volvo S80 which now offers a V8 engine, will they create an AWD Taurus SHO with a V8?

I wonder if Taurus and Sable are offering bench seats.

The MKS will not use the Volvo V8 (it will use a 3.7L V6 and eventually a twin turbo 3.5L V6, according to rumors), so there certainly won't be a Taurus with that engine.

Also, the Taurus with the 260 hp 3.5 will still be the most powerful Taurus in history and may be about as fast as the SHO was. I believe that the 235 hp Taurus SHO V8 only did 0 to 60 in 7.5 seconds.

The D3's aren't engineered for bench seats, so the Taurus will not have them.

Edited February 11, 2007 by ehaase

[regfootball]

the original plan was to put the yamaha v8 in the 500.

since then a few things happened.

ford's finances became so bad they can't fund any new products, much less special products.

the yamaha engine was then deemed too pricey for the Lincoln products it was supposed to go into. I think even the Volvo may no longer use the yama engine soon.

lastly, the new duratec 35 was designed for DI and Twin turbo. Ford determined they can get the performance they need that way for the lincolns. I think its a 3.7 duratec with DI and TT that is being planned for the MkX.

If Ford gets a hot version of the Taurus, it will likely either be a 4.0 duratec, or a 3.5 with DI probably not twin turbo is my guess.

Having two SHO's and now driving a 500, I think I would like a hot new Taurus, but only if they gut and redo the interior and put as much effort into making it a true drivers car, like they did with the original SHO. IOW, only if they don't half ass it. And even then, they probably would not put a stick in it. With the G8 on the way, it probably doesn't make sense to try to compete with that. A new taurus SHO would be best conceived as something that would have the aura of a 7 series, but at half the price. Luxury on the cheap. In otherwords, make it a cushmobile but with great performance and handling. I doubt any Taurus SHO in this new body could be bearly as athletic as a G8. The G8 and CTS will be the new poster children for Americna performance sedans.

Another thing that may hold back any future SHO is the interceptor concept. This car could be the crown vic replacement. Ford may choose to invest in making that car the performance torch bearer.

Edited February 11, 2007 by regfootball

[The O.C.]

...but the <old> Taurus was never noisy inside or lacked power . I find it hard to believe Ford was able to sell so many Tauruses so recently with bench seats, and then *poof* nobody wants them anymore overnight. One of my co-workers bought an '05 Taurus with bench seats over the 500 because she didn't like the interior of the 500. In fact, I know three other people that own Tauruses with bench seats. I'd bet the majority of Ma and Pa-America Taurus owners would appreciate the added flexability of such an option. Directly from Ford:

I would consider front seat roominess not bieng divided by a console, but maybe it' just me.

Bench seats are an anachronism from the past.

Bench seats had nothing to do with the old Taurus' sales.......it's 75% fleet/rental penetration drove Taurus business.

I know YOU like them......but they are a dying breed (at least in passenger cars.)