Fixing Cars

I had an opportunity to test drive the new Ford Taurus SHO on Friday, which I’ve been wanting to do since I starting writing about the 2010 Ford Taurus, and was shocked by how many cool features it had.  I was driving home from a meeting and one caught my eye as I was nearing my exit so I decided to try and get a closer look.  It turns out that the owner, Travis Calhoun, a Ford employee was on his way to Evergreen Ford, a Seattle Ford dealer, and I was able to convince him to let me drive his new SHO.  When I pulled into the lot he was already out of the car and inside the building by the time I parked.  As I stepped out of my car I was immediately greeted by one of the sales people who by surprise was eager to help, and led me over to where Travis was.  I told him I was anxious to see inside one, so he obliged.  I was surprised at the enthusiasm these guys had, they were as excited to show me the car as I was to see it.

I mentioned that I had been blogging about the new Taurus because I was extremely happy about the resurrection of this awesome vehicle.  Travis accompanied Ford CEO Alan Mulally when he returned to Seattle to promote the new 2010 Taurus.  He rode along with the news crew and explained everything about the new Taurus, just as he did this time while I was driving.  With him holding my Flip Mino HD camera, which was barely charged, we drove off.  I was not prepared to drive it, nor was I prepared for Travis to shoot the video, so sadly there wasn’t enough good video to show off what the car can really do.

The short drive we went on wasn’t really suitable for any real testing, so I told Travis I’d be in touch so we can get another shot at recording some footage and he was more than happy to oblige.  The initial impressions I had while driving was that this car was extremely easy to drive, had tons of power, and the features were incredible.  The seats had massaging that didn’t distract you, but was just enough to keep you comfortable if you were taking a long trip.  A 100 disc CD changer that burns all of the music to the cars stereo system, just amazing stuff.

You may just get lucky and find a Taurus on eBay. Travis mentioned that Ford is really staying on top of new orders and they are being delivered in less than a couple weeks.

I am anxious to get back behind the wheel, to see what the car can do.  Especially, since I saw that this SHO just ran a 12.75 @ 108 MPH !

2010 Taurus SHO with 365 Horsepower

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Check out additional exterior shots of the new Ford Taurus SHO right here.

Its great to see that Ford is making some great decisions in bringing back the 2010 Taurus SHO - Pro-Touring for the family. Mulally, Ford’s CEO recently visited Seattle to talk about why they decided to bring back this hugely successful model. It was quite an interesting interview on labor day covering the success of Ford amidst all the flack the industry is getting.

I first learned how to drive a manual transmission in a Taurus SHO, back in the early ’90’s. The car had leather interior, a fully loaded luxury car built with a substantial amount of power. Now with the 2010 coming out with 365 horsepower, its going to be another big win for Ford.

They’ve already got the enthusiasts heading over to the track to see what the SHO will do in stock form.  Autoblog recently posted a video of the new SHO pulling off a 13 second pass in the 1/4 mile.

The Taurus was a great all-around car, and it makes sense that Ford will try and recapture that success with what looks like a really slick design for 2010. I have to admit that I’ve not looked twice at any of the recent vehicles to come from the Big 3 but when I saw this I was really impressed.

The car even has a decent interior design, another typical disappointment I’ve seen from the domestic car companies. Lately they’ve been doing too much of the oval, round and goofy looking center console area.

I’m much more fond of the squared off look, and vertical lines from the dash down to the floor, as opposed the the 30 degree slopes that come off the dash with ugly big dials for the controls.

I’m a big fan of the lines that Volvo has on their interior:

The Taurus Interior

Overall I’m pleased to see that the Taurus is back, that the company listened to the enthusiast market, and is delivering a quality design.  The 365 horsepower is going to be a thrill to drive, and I’m sure once some of the aftermarket companies come out with a few bolt ons the car will run 12’s with mid 400 horsepower.

Check out some more great pics of the new 2010 Ford Taurus SHO photos