2008 Ford Taurus X

By ALAN GELL
www.CarColumns.Net

 I had an unusual vehicle to test drive recently.  It was a Ford Taurus.  The Taurus was a great sedan and Ford sold thousands and thousands of them. 

But this wasn’t your regular Taurus.  It was a new X model.  I’m not sure what that X stood for, but this was more like an SUV, but it wasn’t an SUV.  It certainly wasn’t like a sedan.  It had three rows of seats and a hatchback at the rear with storage room.  It definitely wasn’t a mini-van.  I guess I would call it a Station Wagon.  But it’s nothing like my old 1968 Ford wagon Judy and I took back and forth between California and Texas several times.  The Ford PR folks call it a Crossover – in this case, a CUV.   I have noticed there are a lot of vehicles coming out on the market that are called Crossovers now.  The younger generation probably doesn’t want to be tagged with driving a Station Wagon or a Mini-Van.  That would obviously be old-fashioned. 

The Taurus X is a spin-off from the Ford Freestyle from a few years ago.  The Freestyle never really took off.  The Taurus X was introduced in the summer of 2007, but hasn’t received a lot of attention yet.

My test model Taurus X was called Limited All Wheel Drive, with a Black Clearcoat exterior and a Black leather interior.  It had a 3.5 liter V6 engine and a six speed automatic transmission.  The wheels were bright chrome, 7 spoke, and 18 inches diameter.  The 18 inch wheels sported Pirelli tires, which really helped accent the striking good looks.  Outside, the Taurus X  includes body colored painted cladding, fog lamps, heated outside mirrors, and puddle lamps.  The steep lines along the roof are accented by roof side rails, which adds to the station wagon look.

The inside has some of the nicest leather seats I have found in any vehicle, except, perhaps, the ultra-high-end luxury cars.  The driver’s seat is eight way power driven, while the passenger seat is four way power driven.  The front seats are heated and I can attest that they work very, very well.  In fact, the heat from the seats helped warm me before the heater system could barely get started.  There is a lot of woodgrain accents that are tastefully arranged to be just that – accents. 

“The three-row Taurus X joins our crossover lineup as a great complement to the popular Ford Edge,” says Cisco Codina, Ford’s group vice president of North America Marketing, Sales and Service. “Like Edge, the new Taurus X delivers confident design, spirited performance and handling, and plenty of standard safety equipment. With Taurus X, customers get a roomy interior that is flexible, functional and comfortable – in all three rows.”

Some optional equipment added on, although there were some up-charges, included a power lift gate, power moonroof, a great navigation system, Sirius satellite radio, and a DVD entertainment system.  The power adjustable foot pedals have memory retention, so that when the key is inserted, the pedals adjust to the last position.  Another feature I really liked was the third row bucket seats, which easily fold down with a couple of quick pulls on the convenient straps.  They fold down into the floor so that the cargo area in the rear is flat for easy loading and unloading.

The Taurus X had a base price of only $29, 950, but with the delivery charges and optional add-ons, the bottom sticker came to $37,270.  Ford Motor Company is proud of the fact that the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety awarded the Taurus X their “Top Safety Pick” rating.  Also, it is considered the safest seven-passenger crossover in America after earning five-star ratings in all four categories of government crash tests. 

Well, check out the Taurus X at your Ford dealership yourself.  I enjoyed driving it.  It was roomy, it handled well, it looked good, and it had a lot of convenient equipment.