Comments on: Import it/ Deport it http://www.tehcarblogz.com/car-theory/import-it-deport-it/ The Smartass Take On The Automotive Industry Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:16:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Paul Magee http://www.tehcarblogz.com/car-theory/import-it-deport-it/comment-page-1/#comment-140 Paul Magee Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:43:51 +0000 http://www.tehcarblogz.com/?p=333#comment-140 The Taurus (in its previous, pre-Five Hundred incarnation) started out with a bang, but ended with a whimper. In 1986, the Taurus was IT. Yes, people eventually had reliability problems, etc., but a family sedan with so much style (compared to its competition and predecessor) was groundbreaking. Unfortunately, they didn't update it promptly. The car that dropped jaws in 1986 got yawns around 1994. When they finally updated it (for 1996), the result was an aesthetic disaster because they simply tried TOO hard. As much as I WANT to like Ford, I cannot fathom a four/five/six-gear automatic transmission linked to a shifter that ONLY reads D or L. And that's how they've been designing recent offerings. The Taurus (in its previous, pre-Five Hundred incarnation) started out with a bang, but ended with a whimper. In 1986, the Taurus was IT. Yes, people eventually had reliability problems, etc., but a family sedan with so much style (compared to its competition and predecessor) was groundbreaking. Unfortunately, they didn’t update it promptly. The car that dropped jaws in 1986 got yawns around 1994. When they finally updated it (for 1996), the result was an aesthetic disaster because they simply tried TOO hard.

As much as I WANT to like Ford, I cannot fathom a four/five/six-gear automatic transmission linked to a shifter that ONLY reads D or L. And that’s how they’ve been designing recent offerings.

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