Take a Ford Freestyle, change the name to a former best-selling car, add an “X”, and well, throw in every feature that Ford offers and what do you have? The 2008 Ford Taurus X. An under-whelming, expensive, and generally uninspiring SUV. OK, that’s a little harsh, but it’s moves like this that demonstrates why American automobiles continue to fall at the hands of Japanese and even Korean automakers.
The Taurus was a great-selling car. Obviously people found it’s value-for-the-money to be about right, but for years, I saw people driving them thinking, “What kind of person walks into a Ford dealership and drives away in a Taurus? And are they content after their purchase?” I think this almost every time I see a Taurus. Who buys these? And now, with the Taurus X, filled to the brim with options, and a sticker at just over $38,000, I’m even more unsure.
Like the Ford 500, the Freestyle got a new name in 2008. The 500 getting rebranded as the Taurus, and the Freestyle getting the Taurus X. Not sure why, but they did. Throw in the new Ford grill, which I really like, and you have two new options in the Ford line-up.
How is the Taurus X? Now, like I said, I don’t mean to be harsh. This isn’t the worse car on the road by a long shot, and may not even be the worse car for over $35,o00, but it’s a contender (the other option is the Ford Explorer IronMan). And I need to establish a rule of preference, I would rather have a stripped-down, bottom-end luxury car over a tricked-out, top-of-the-line Ford any day. ANY DAY. With that said, let’s examine the Freestyle, I mean, the Taurus X.
It’s not a bad looking SUV. It’s got a decent size, easy to get in and out of, good visibility, relatively comfortable. It’s got a fantastic turning radius, and decent power when it’s needed. The interior is standard Ford, which isn’t too bad, and the Navigation/Satellite radio is one of the easiest to use that I’ve tried. But it’s also loud. The engine seems to make a lot of noise, but not in that “rumbling-power” sort of way. More like a small engine with an exhaust leak. When sitting at a stop light, you are almost deafened by the click-click-click of the turn signal. Uncomfortably loud (I’ve noticed this on almost every Ford I’ve driven). And I’m not a fan of only using one steering column arm for windshield wipers and turn-signal. More than any other car in recent memory, this had me accidentally flipping the wipers when I didn’t mean to.
The nice touches that I appreciate were the lights worked automatically every time. They stayed on while I got of the car, and immediately turned off when I locked the doors with the key fob. The doors locked on one click, and sounded the horn on the second push of the button. This is my perfect set up, as sometimes I want to be stealth (late at night after getting home from a Poker Game), and sometimes I want reassurance (when I’m 40 feet away from the car and in the parking lot). Being able to control whether or not the horn sounds during key locking is actually something I really appreciate, since I experience it every single time I drive. The frustration of it done wrong adds up quickly. And speaking of the key fob, the rear trunk lifts automatically at the double-push of a button, and closes on it’s own as well. Very nice when you have a lot of things in your hand, or are just feeling lazy.
When you’re actually driving the car, it’s fairly transparent. You don’t really notice it, for good or for bad. The Taurus X pretty much stays out of your way, allows you into and out of parking spots and spaces on the freeway without much of a bother. It has enough power to overtake someone on the freeway, but not so much that it’s dumping gas at every flick of the throttle. People seem to not notice it either. The only comments I got were when people heard that it was named the Taurus. Other than that, nobody asked about it.
In the end, I don’t dislike this car, but unfortunately, getting it with all the options prices it into a set of vehicles it just can’t compare to. Keep it on the low-end, and this will be a satisfying car for $25,000. 3 Stars.
