Welp, daughter is turning 16 in February, and started the hunt for a first car for her. Mainly looking at imports, 4-5k range, cash in hand. If any of you guys have something that might fit the bill, or know a friend who might be selling something, shoot me a message. I’m in the DFW area. Thanks!

 

Sorry it will be a long one....
im a huge fan of the 00 to 07 taurus/sable. Both the turd pushrod vulcan motor and the duratec dohc which moves ok, are very reliable. Only bad things about these cars is a few have had front spring rot basically causing accidentz but in texas u should be good. Also trans/tq converters can be an issue. I needed as budget car and bought it because it has a timing chain, tough to find depending in budget. My first 02 taurus i bought around 2011 for 2400 bucks, had 112,000 miles. I traded it in for 800 bucks in april 2019. Really hated doing it but it was time, never left me stranded. Had 251000 miles on it. My heel on right foot wore through the floormat, carpet, and created a dime size hole in the sheet metal ans the pass side floor was paper thin. Had a few other issues but again never left me stranded. All i ever did besides a few tie rods/ball joints was rear struts twice, all sway bar links, ac delete pulley cause ac compressor fell apart, intake gaskets, plugs wires once, and the stupid water outlet hose, rear brakes once, front brakes twice. Still think about that car.

in 2016 bought a house a made wife sell vw convertible. Bought her an 02 sable with 95000 and a blown trans for 900 after fees from a dealer. Same engine trans as taurus. Paid 1900 for rebuilt transaxle installed and 2 year guarantee. Maybe 300 in odds and ends. So 3000 i got a reliable car with a 2 year guarantee on the least reliable part of car. That car i still have and has 163,000 on it. I have done rear struts once, then later strut mounts failed so did them, brakes once, ac delete again, water outlet again, intake gaskets as again. Both cars consistent, exact same things failed besides sable having electronic climate control and that failed. So i just duct taped the heater blend door closed since we dont have ac. Climate control still turnes on but doesnt control heat/ac anymore. So between both cars i have 210,000 miles and no failures/breakdowns.

ppl say they are throw aways, but im 2 for 2 on them. They may be too old for what ur looking for but they are still pretty cheap and u can save some money in the event it needs repairs. Also they arent a small compact so she can actually learn to drive a vehicle rather than those ppl that drive a miata and still park crooked as ****. Car insurance is cheap on them too. Tires are cheap in that size.

 

Another really good 1st vehicle, look at a 04-07 trailblazer/envoy. That i6 4.2 is solid and reliable . Just sold one for 500$ 325,000 mi still ran great. Have a couple friends with over 200,000 and other than a tranny, consumable items (water pump, alternator,fuel pump) they have been very reliable hand me down high school kid SUVs... This might not help but good hunting sir...

 

Wife might be willing to sell her Kia soul. Incredible mpg and the thing can barely keep highway speed. Good for a teenagers first car. Think its a 2013 somewhere in the 50-100k mile range, I'm honestly not sure.
She barely drives it after confiscating my Duramax. Mechanically solid and clean interior but it does have some non-structural body damage.

PM me if interested. I can use the driveway space to get HOA off my back lol

 

The 2000 Taurus is pure garbage. The springs break for no reason, the throttle hangs terribly until the car comes to a complete stop (way worse than any Mustang of that era, if you’re familiar with that issue) not to mention it’s just a cheap car all around. There’s a reason you never see them on the road anymore even though more of them were sold than any other mid-size car on the planet - they all were scrapped because people found out just how bad they were. Ford literally dropped it after 07 because people stopped buying them.

If you love your daughter, get her a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic. Get her a Taurus if you wish you didn’t have kids.

 

Im goona assume u worked on a few of these in ur lifetime to make claims like this. Springs break due to rust. Its what was in the service bulletin as the cause requiring the install of the spring catches. Weather thats true or not, idk but i read the bulletin....i think. Didnt know broken springs and a throttle issue made something garbage. They sold a ton of them. Nobody ever said they are quality cars, hell not much of anything with a vin starting with a 1 in the 2000s was good quality. They were cheap all around. Only reason why they get scrapped so easily, simply because they arent worth anything in comparison to honda or toyota. Doesnt mean one is better than the other, its just easier to put money into a car worth 3000 than a car thats worth half that. The 90s integras are **** but they still are worth 3000....why? Because city kids keep buying them. It is what it is. Tint and low pro tires dont look great on the Taurus

as far as them dropping that line of vehicle, pretty sure 07 or 08 was when the auto industry was tanking and ford got that bailout where they were supposed to start investing in small cars and lighter small duty trucks. Could be what heavily caused the Tauruses demise

My personal experience is i got 250,000 miles out of 2 15 plus year old cars, and still climbing. No major failures, just the normal stuff. Rust was a large contributor in letting the taurus go, unfortunately i live in pa and i drove many miles in snow.

 

The springs didn’t break because of rust. If that was the case, every car on the road would be on bump stops right now. They broke because they were poor quality. What exactly is your obsession with such a terrible car? And Ford originally replaced the Taurus with full size cars, not sure where you got the idea it was to make small cars.

 

your opinion is its terrible, and i simply said i got 250,000 miles that gives me a different opinion......not sure why you think im obsessed.......4th gen quality is ***, chevy is just lucky that they made up for it by making it over a second faster than the stang.....

might wanna check out the 2008 ford bailout details before you mention anything else about the direction they needed to head in when it came to vehicle R&D.sales went down, in 2005 people wanted something that got better than 24 highway mpg. the vulcan came out in mid 80s i think so it was a 20 year old motor that needed replaced. car got a revamp.

interestingly enough the crown vic, obviously a super popular car also got canned in 2008, same year taurus got canned/turned into the larger ford 500. fleet sales did continue for a few years tho, again probably had something to do with the bailout. if you want we can continue this and dirty up or private message inbox rather than this guys thread.

 

Being as I was a Ford tech and parts guy from 2004-2019...Id have to agree with his general assessment of the Taurus/Sable platform. One of the biggest issue is literally NOONE took care of them so they are all driven into the ground by now. If you found a well taken care of example for cheap it might be worth considering. Ive never owned one but ive driven a metric **** ton of them and I wouldnt suggest anyone I care about to get one. My uncle had 3 from 1998 to 2004 and all 3 had at least one transmission replaced in the first 40k. Aside from that, they were terrible cars new. Horrible seating, sub par fuel economy, no power, horrible handling. Id take a Caprice of the same vintage over a Taurus ALLLLLLL day long.


My personal favorite among the Fords are the 1st generation 3.0 Escapes. I hardly ever had to work on them and saw many examples over 250k miles they were still kicking.