Ford Taurus – 2008 Review: Regardless of life experiences, we’ve all encountered multiple types of average – appearance, intelligence, ability, size, and more. Anyone who has been on a date with an average person or has been an average job applicant understands how utterly forgettable average can be.
Along that same vein comes the 2008 Ford Taurus, the vehicular counterpart to a nondescript gent named Joe who selects vanilla ice cream and the color tan as two of this earth’s greatest gifts. With a competent powertrain, unassuming looks and a reasonable price, the Taurus succeeds at everything, yet excels at nothing…just as one would expect of a perfectly average car.
What We Drove
Ford offers the renamed 2008 Taurus, previously known as the Five Hundred, in two trim designations, each available with front- or all-wheel-drive capability. For this evaluation, Ford provided our editors with a pre-production 2008 Taurus Limited AWD model dipped in Dark Ink Blue paint and sporting a Medium Stone leather interior. Added to the $28,695 base price was a Limited Convenience Package ($475), a power sunroof ($895), Advance Trac traction control ($495), a touch-screen navigation system ($1,995), Sirius satellite radio ($195), and destination charges ($750). Put it all together and you arrive at a grand total equaling $33,500.
Performance
Under the hood is a respectable 3.5-liter V-6 engine brandishing 263 horses and 249 lb.-ft. of torque. Those figures translate to acceptable performance during routine drives, with a well-modulated throttle offering smooth starts when the light turns green and sufficient giddy-up-and-go for quick merges. This creates the type of car that allows you to turn off, or neglect, all senses and simply operate it without issue – perfect for those who don’t appreciate the art of driving. The six-speed automatic transmission, sans a manual-shift function or sport mode, also serves to keep the excitement level down. We recorded a disappointing 15.6 mpg over several hundred miles.
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