One of Newton's laws of motion states (paraphrased) that a body in motion tends to remain in motion. The principle under discussion is commonly known as inertia. Inertia, we all know, is not merely a physical phenomenon, it's also a phenomenon that exerts influence over such varied arenas as the stock market and personal relationships -- how many couples do you know, for instance, that stay together far too long because the act of breaking up takes too much energy?  
 
Inertia occurs in the marketplace, of that we can be certain. One of the most telling forms of inertia is a consumer's attachment to a brand or to a model. Such devotion asserts itself in an "It done me right the last time, so I'll stick by it the next time" attitude; a sort of Tammy Wynette* model for consumption. We often sense inertia here at Epinions, especially in the Automotive category, where hardly a day goes by that I don't read a review stating that "I have always bought {insert car maker} cars..." In fact, automobiles may be the only consumer product in which inertia is an inherited force: hardly a day goes by in which I don't read a review that says, "my family has always bought insert car maker cars..."  
 
Perhaps I grew up in an unusual family: my parents drove Pontiacs, Fords, Chevvies, Dodges, Chryslers, Oldsmobiles, Studebakers, Ramblers... you name it, they drove it some time in the fifties, sixties, or seventies. And so I never developed that somewhat slavish brand loyalty -- and, I venture, the condition best described by the observation that "love is blind." But I know that there are a lot of blind consumers out there.  
 
 
America's Most Popular Car?!?  
 
Advertisements tell us that the Ford Taurus is America's most popular car. Note, however, that you can always tell when an advertising man is lying because his lips are moving... What is true is that the Taurus is one of the most popular cars ever sold in this country; and (if you lump Mercury Sable in with the Taurus) there are as many of them on the road as there are of any other vehicle. More importantly, the Taurus -- an ugly, melted-looking critter at its birth -- marked Ford's re-emergence as a power in the mid-sized car market after more than a decade of shoddy quality, ill-advised experimentation, and simple ignorance of consumer trends. Finally, America was making a car that was competitive against Japanese imports, so much so that it actually began making inroads into that import market. Hooray for American ingenuity and engineering!  
 
As such, the Taurus developed a near-cult following; giving a new generation a vehicle on which to lavish the family's Ford addiction. Suddenly if you ached to drive a stylish, dependable car, you didn't have to hide the Toyota from Dad or watch Uncle Stan sneer at the Honda. And so the Taurus (and its "name-plate twin" the Mercury Sable) became Ford's "comeback kid." Three cheers for Henry, Edsel, and the rest of the Fords!  
 
 
Fast Forward to 2002  
 
Over the years, I've driven lots of Tauruses (Tauri?); always as a rental. I've driven them through snow, in the baking desert sun, at the beach, and on winding mountain roads. While I've never been tempted to buy a Taurus (frankly, it's larger than I need), I've never been unimpressed by the car, either. This is a vehicle that's always seemed to be a solid, dependable -- if somewhat boring -- performer; but then I'd never reviewed one for Epinions, either. So here's my chance, after having looked at a 2002 Taurus with a critical eye:  
 
 
The Car  
 
My ever-faithful suppliers at Enterprise rented me a 2002 Taurus SE model, a four-door, with the stock V6 Vulcan engine and a four-speed automatic transmission. This particular model has a "convertible" front seat, which is a bench seat with a center panel that unfolds into a console and/or armrest to create the illusion of bucket seats. The vehicle came equipped with dual airbags, power doors/windows/mirrors, cloth seats, AM/FM/Cassette, tilt wheel, cruise control, intermittent wipers, styled aluminum wheels, and AC. I picked it up with about 5500 miles on the clock; I turned it back in with just over 6000 - five days and 500+ miles. About 400 miles were highway driving, the rest on city streets and freeways in the Austin and Houston areas. Weather was mostly dry, though my return to Austin encountered some moderate showers.  
 
 
Styling Notes  
 
For those interested in such things, the vehicle was a metallic charcoal gray with a multi-shade gray interior. That particular combination is apparently quite popular; one night in my hotel parking garage I had to choose among the Taurus, a Mustang, and a Contour all in that color combination. I stayed with the Taurus 'cause I didn't have keys for the Mustang.  
 
This model was restyled by Ford with the 2000 model year. Speaking from memory, earlier models were far more dependent upon the oval motif, and still retained some of the original version's melted external contours. The restyling possesses slightly more angularity than the old version, with sharper slope breaks at the base of the rear window and on the trunk line.  
 
The interior has much of the "chunky" look adopted by many automakers in the latest '90s and early 2000s. Blocks of foam-filled "naugahyde" tend to fight for supremacy with contoured plastic panels in the dash and on the doors. The seating arrangements do not appear to have changed from earlier models; and the instrument panel and dashboard layouts are little changed, if at all.  
 
 
Driver-Car Interface  
 
The Taurus handles moderately well for a mid-sized family sedan; cornering is responsive with neither crispness nor poor control. The driver has a good connection to the road when compared to larger vehicles such as the Lincoln Continental, but is more isolated than when driving most Japanese sedans (Mitsubishi Galant, Toyota Camry). Braking tends to feel a bit mushy at highway speeds.  
 
The stock 155-hp Vulcan V6 possesses adequate reserve power at highway speeds, but is noticeably weak on acceleration from a standing start (this is the least powerful of three available V6 engines). I averaged about 21.5 MPG with this engine (note: mostly highway driving). The four-speed overdrive transmission shifts smoothly and responsively for the most part. In this model, the shifter is mounted to the steering column.  
 
The cockpit is laid out comfortably, with most controls easily accessible and few (if any) surprises. The intermittent wipers and headlight dimmer switch are located on the turn signal stalk. The cruise control buttons are on the face of the steering wheel; on-off on the left and accelerate/coast/resume on the right.  
 
 
Driving Environment  
 
The driver's seat in this configuration has a seat-back tilt adjustment and forward/backward adjustment, both manual. There is no lumbar adjustment. Driver seating is relatively comfortable, though the lack of lumbar support is somewhat bothersome. Rear-seat entry in the four-door models is a piece of cake, and rear-seat room is average or above for vehicles of this class. There are sturdy anchor-points for two child car seats on the car's rear deck.  
 
There is a single small, rather strangely-shaped glove compartment and the ubiquitous door-side map pockets. Ford provides a single cubby in the dashboard for front-seat passengers. Rear-seat passengers have pockets on the seatbacks suitable for stowing a magazine and little else. There are two power ports, both in front (one doubles as a cigarette lighter). The rearseat passengers have two flip-out cupholders; front seat passengers have two cupholders molded into the underside of the fold-up seatbottom. This latter surface also has minimal storage for cassettes and a few coins; it dumps its contents when inverted (no surprise there) to form a seat cushion. The only locking space in the cabin is the glove compartment. Note, that when the seat is in "bench" configuration, there are no cup holders and little storage (probably moot, anyway, since the room would be rather limited).  
 
The trunk is a capacious 17 cubic feet, although the sill is quite high, making loading cumbersome for shorter drivers and passengers. The circumference is notched for a cargo net, though there was none in the rental vehicle (it may be standard and have "disappeared"). The lid opens with a key or a dash-mounted remote; and there is also an emergency latch for opening from the inside. The rear seats do not fold down, nor is there any sort of "pass-through" for carrying long cargo; a disappointing lack of a feature available in other trim lines and on competing models.  
 
Engine noise is somewhat intrusive, partially because this particular engine seems to be rather "grumbly." Road noise is minimal unless the road surface is coarse, but wind noise is also rather pronounced.  
 
 
Highs and Lows  
 
These are my personal observations about this Taurus model, with additional explanation where necessary:  
 
Positives: the Accelerator Pedal  
 
+/SYM good rear-seat room  
+/SYM large trunk capacity  
+/SYM good climate control  
+/SYM clear dash and instrument-panel layout  
+/SYM fuel economy  
 
Mmmmm, Maybe: The Neutral Zone  
 
= engine acceleration  
= road handling and braking  
= an average climate-control system  
= road noise and wind noise  
 
Negatives: the Brake Pedal  
 
- no fold-down rear seat  
- amateurish-looking design to interior components, especially the "console"  
- engine noise: a disturbing metallic rumble at idle  
- cheesy stock sound system  
- poor quality control (see below)  
- that stupid front-seat console and lack of interior storage.  
 
 
On Quality  
 
One of the reasons many US buyers deserted American carmakers in the seventies and early eighties was the perception of poor quality in US cars. If all American cars are as poorly made as this particular Taurus, the exodus should begin anew. In only four day's exposure, I noted the following defects:  
 
- The ignition key was hard to turn and more than once failed to release from the "START" position -- this left the starter motor engaged until I manually released the key.  
- At least one body seam had variable width along its length, a definite no-no (one panel is therefore misaligned)  
- There was a quarter of an inch of mismatch between interior panels on the back of the front seat.  
- Flashing (excess plastic from the molding process) had not been trimmed off the interior of the trunk, especially in the clips for the cargo net.  
- The fuel gage would not rise above 7/8 even when filled.  
 
 
Overall  
 
Ford appears to have decided to rest on its laurels with this vehicle, and has not done what is necessary to keep it competitive with the Camry, Accord, Galant, Impala, and the like. I suspect they're counting on brand loyalty -- inertia -- to keep the Taurus selling while they expend all their energy on their SUVs.  
 
Not a good idea, Ford! Not recommended, for unimaginative exterior styling, some truly stupid interior styling, poor quality, and average drivability. There are better cars on the road; let's buy them instead.  
 
 
Tammy Wynette: country-Western artist, perhaps most widely known for her counter-feminist anthem "Stand By Your Man"  
