+Dan Bouchard you are wrong you ignorant Ford Taurus hater. That car was revolutionary and A DECADE AHEAD OF ITS TIME. Compared American and Japanese cars from the mid 80s to the Taurus. Compared to the Taurus those cars looked like outdated pieces of shit with their late 1970s looking interiors, cluny box shape giving the aerodynamics of a brick. The Taurus looked like a 90s car and it came out in 85.
5 лет назад
Design-wise yes, but mechanically it was absolute junk with head gaskets prone to failure.
@@justenough730 Funny. The redesigned Taurus being a hot seller prompted everyone else to stop building cars that still looked like they were from 1982, and build a more modern, sleeker car.
If you want an idea of how radical this car was when it came out, imagine an '86 Taurus or Sable parked right next to an '86 Crown Vic. Then you'll get an idea of how radical the design was at the time.
Funny thing is that the Taurus went on to become one of the most popular vehicles of its time (that being in the 1990-2000 or so, with I think sales peaking around the 94-95 era, right before the style change in 1996). In fact, I still see some old 94-95 Taurus's on the road still (a bit rusty of course, but still driving).
I remember how hot the Taurus was back then. Everybody was calling it the Car of the Future. And all the police cars in Robocop were modified Tauruses! And then about a year down the road all the transmission failures started coming through and people weren't so hot about it anymore. Really, it was a great car saddled with a lousy transmission.
The 1986 Taurus/Sable is the Bob Dylan of the automotive industry. Everyone will always know the Taurus/Sable, it was the inspiration of so many cars that followed, was a complete gamechanger, but the car itself wasn't quite as great as everyone was told it would be.
I had 2 1988 escort gt"s one white and the other red they were badass little machine they were tuff as a Sherman tank never got stuck in snow and I could be almost anybody off the line form stop light to stop light put spitfire sparkplug in different air cleaner it was as beast seats were comfortable you sat up right not slung down like them Tice rocket hondas
Best part of the car...I think the only one too, in it's time...or ANY time....the entire front end light bar actually lit up, when the headlights were on....but I don't know if it gave off more light for the driver.
I would have been 5 years old when this came out. I remember how cool the new Taurus seemed at the time. Nowadays every car is designed around aerodynamics, but in 1986 the Taurus seemed so different at a time when most other cars were square and boxy.
Love Motorweek and Fords:) The Taurus/Sable was really the start of the modern family car..nothing else from Detroit came close for years. We owned both an '86 Sable and a 2000 Taurus and both were great cars.
@ The Vulcan V6 was not prone to head gasket failures. It was relatively uncommon in the later years of the engine. I own a 2006 Taurus with the Vulcan, it has 121,000 Miles and still has the same head gaskets, original transmission as well.
Oh boy, I love these annual reviews. The Taurus was a big hit. Too bad Ford screwed up the design in 1996....looks like a catfish. Would be neat to find a pristine 1995 Taurus Wagon and upgrade to a new V6.
Carey Bird, Crown Vic 85-88, Mercury Grand Marquis 85-88, Mercury Colony Park wagon 85-88, Ford Country Square 85-88 is beautifulls cars. Mercury Sable is great car, revollutionary car from 1986, wagon is my favorite
A really poignant time for Ford, Lincoln & Mercury, remember the commercial, Have you driven a Ford lately ? Mercury, the shape you want to be in ! My first car was a 79' Ford T-bird, purchased used when it was 3 yrs. old, 1988 Mercury Cougar XR-7 ordered brand new, 1995 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC, ordered new, lastlly ordered, 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC. All great cars for me, with no nightmares.
Vermon Small this commercials Haven You Driven a Ford Lately? Mercury The Shape You Want To Be In is remember every todays. Mercury Sable wagon 86-88, Ford Taurus wagon 86-88, Ford Mustang SVO 85-86, Mustang GT 85-88. Mustang LX Coupe 85-88, Mustang Convertible 85-88, Ford Thunderbird 85-88, Bronco II 85-88, Aerostar 85-88 and, Crown Victoria LTD 85-88, Ford Ranger is my favorite
people are nuts now with their obession with power many 80's cars get better mileage than they do now. These cars also had good visibility now you can't see shit out the back windows and the cheap plastic bumpers now? Give me a break. These new boxy ugly Camaro's and Challengers are butt ugly and will not be on the road 30 years from now
I had a 1986 Ranger Supercab when I was in high school in the 90's. 4 cylinder/5-speed/2wd; very reliable little truck! I learned to drive a stick shift on it. Made a lot of memories in that truck; some I can't repeat here...
***** Ya they're unicorns now. The 85 escort GT Turbo falls into that category as well as any turbo EXP. I'm still wondering what those little cars are capable of now that we have e85 and wideband tuners. lol. Detonation and tuning were the limiting factor back in those days. Now people are pushing 300whp with a lot of stock 4 bangers.
@@Ithinkiwill66 he can't like more than one car? im a ford guy but i like a lot of diff cars except dodge. the always seemed the bottom of the barrel. the newer ones look good ill admit though
Joseph Rogers My uncle used to own the very first Ford Taurus sedan like the one shown here. He also used to own a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina LS until he experienced a whole lot of mechanical & air conditioning problems when he had the Lumina. Few years ago, he was pulling out of the driveway until of the tires & axles caught on fire as he was driving it.
Thumbs up for pronouncing Merkur correctly ("mare-coor")! And thumbs down to Ford for coming up with that stupid name, instead of just selling them here as Fords or Mercurys.
Hiya. Have you anything on the Ford Festiva? I know I'm gonna get laughed at but the more Ford videos you get up the more informative and complete the collection will be. Cheers
@@CamoShirt over here in mexico is still a pretty common size in small trucks and cars. Common sizes are 185/65 , 195/65 , 205/70, and 195r15 for ligh duty pick ups
He is comparing the "Big 15-inch wheels" with the former staple 13-inch wheels which is, almost exclusively, what compact 'econo-boxes' were equipped with back in the day. Nothing to giggle about, unless you're a little girl.
@@MrMenefrego1 I know, I was there "back in the day". Just laughing at the wheel sizes then when today we live in the era of 21" and 22" wagon wheels on land yachts.
The problem with such innovations is within a few years everybody else is doing it to. You get 1 maybe 2 years of being the sole proprietor of your modern car inventions.
My first “car” was an ‘88 Escort Pony (Bare bones stripped down model) I *HATED* that thing.... Most unreliable piece of shit I ever owned, I maintained it properly and it still failed repeatedly, I dubbed it the “Murphy’s Lawmobile” you name it, it broke... ....I still refuse to trust ford to this day... “Quality is Job 1?” NOT!
Aww 1986 was a momentous year! Both the automobile and Sears Roebuck Turn 100 and the Owens Mills mall Opened its doors. I was 7 and bullied my dad into taking me to see Poltergeist 2 While Ronald Reagan was holding back the Communist Soviet Union.
+Paul Cyr Had an '87, but mine got hit by a bus in college back in 1995. It was a blue GT with grey trim. Great car, for an 80s car, it only left me on the side of the road once. That's pretty good.
I think they will be back as EVs Just think the EV sedan market like Tesla is a pretty viable market. Hyundai is developing EV sedans along with GM and Dodge. I think Ford will have to do something to compete in the EV sedan market
My car should be horseless. Again! Areo is the way to go. Un-Ford like. I ALWAYS take the slippery approach. I was once attacked by a Lynx. I physically threaten the car salesmen for the sport package at No Cost! Power Moon. Lincoln mock. I swagger through public spaces knowing I have the JBL. I demand a van that I can fit into my station wagon! Sophistication. I must have it from Ford. Otherwise, for some...., the consequences may be severe.
I had an '88 Escort GT. It would run for exactly 45 minutes before shutting completely down. After letting 3 different Ford dealers work on it for a grand total of 16 weeks, I gladly let Ford have that piece of junk back and haven't driven a Ford since.
Bought a new 86 Escort GT. It was a cool little car...on paper. Everything broke or fell apart on it. The paint literally fell off in big chunks. I have never seen another car with such a terrible paint job. I gave up on it at 22,000 miles and never bought another Ford.
The Escort GT deserved a better power train and it needed a damn turbo! It was suppose to be a cousin to the awesome RS Euro car. But we never got anything like the cool Escort
mark marshall the SVO was a nice car. Ford could've built the Barchetta and the Vignale Mustang in the 80s but chose not to. Instead they went with the Probe and the Mercury Capri. A step down from the aforementioned cars.
James Bond Ford was reaching out globally at that time. Europeans wanted nothing to do with our heavy rwd cars. So, Ford came up with a solution. GM took the smarter direction, letting Opel & Vauxhall do the European market while keeping Chevys & Pontiacs in tune with American buyers.
I had a white '86 SVO a year ago. Very fun car when the boost kicked in at 3k. I traded it for a much better condition '88 supercharged MR2, but I very much miss the SVO. I'll probably never get another chance to buy one locally.
I'll take the ranger, the mustang, the bronco II and maybe that big ass lincoln. my grandparents bought a used '86 taurus when it was about 4 years old. it was probably the worst car in every way possible I've ever experienced in my life.
Yeah I've met a lot of people who have owned a first gen Taurus with the Vulcan 3.0 engine and they said they never had any problems with it. These same people also took good care of their car.
Ugh. In my 20s I was stupid enough to buy a 1986 Escort and then a 1989 Taurus (both new). Horrible cars. Absolutely horrible. I doubt I will ever buy another Ford.
Mercury Grand Marquis and Mercury Cougars,,,always been my Mercury favorites,Since they makeover most of Ford's line up,how come,they never did pick up trucks?
I owned an '86 Tempo that was the worst car I ever had bar none. It broke down with uncanny regularity and it's fuel economy was abysmal. Awful car....
Had an '87 Sable with the "insta-clear" windshield, on a cold morning you get in the car, hit switch for the windshield and about 15 seconds later, all the ice on the windshield would turn to slush WITHOUT any help from the heater! Ford dropped that option within a couple of years, it would KILL the battery because of the heavy load! My battery only lasted for 3years. Also, that windshield was HIDEOUSLY EXPENSIVE to replace! It was a $1000 option, in '87 dollars.
My 1997 Grand Marquis was around that decade (1990s), and the one after that, and the one after that, and probably for another two more decades. Only has 84,xxx actual miles and still drives like it did on day one. The 1992-2011 Grand Marquis and 1998-2011 Crown Victoria are still the best highway sedans ever made.
Merkur XR4Ti and Merkur Scorpio. Translated to the Ford Sierra and Ford Granada in the UK. Such popular cars over here, and such a flop in the states. I wonder why?
Americans can't drive manual box cars. A automatic-box Merkur XR4Ti is just a car for 80 year-old peoples, and they already buy some Mercurys. However, Ford probably counted that they are too blind to never seen the logo difference.
Americans can't drive manual cars? Whaaaat? The first vehicle I learned to drive was a stick shift truck. We called it a Deuce and a half in the Army. Let's see you drive one of those.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M35_2%C2%BD-ton_cargo_truck
Matt Crooke That's my point, a 2.3 litre turbocharged is just a lymphatic slug with a auto's, when the Sierra 2.0 Cosworth was a rally myth in the late 80's- first 90's for people who know how use the gear stick and the foot clutch.
This boxy headlights and squared off front ends just made those cars feel so dated; especially those trucks and that mustang. It felt like Ford had only updated half of its lineup. If I'm not mistaken, I think it took 4 more model years before the trucks had a redesign.
