ASword

Well after a considerable number of hours in the vehicle in all sorts of wet, dry, light, and dark driving conditions I can say that the one stock is fine. Its just a matter of time to get used to it. Having to adapt doesn't make it better or worse. It is certainly not the worst setup I've used, and in a few years perhaps I'll even rate it as the best. Love the automatic lights though. And the on-wheel button controls are quite good -- better than previous vehicles I've driven.

Just thought I'd update: we love this car!

Well, after waiting 2 months we're now the proud owners of (apparently) the first Taurus X sold in our area. The alloy colour (ordered sight unseen) is very nice, and we are very pleased with the interior colour & fabric material. In fact the build quality and materials all seem quite good, and very appropriate in a car of this price range. Ours is an SEL AWD with the power package, 60/40 bench, power lift gate, and reverse sensing system. The car is extremely comfortable for both my wife (5'4") and I (6'4"), largely owing to the adjustable pedals and plenty of headroom (no moonroof, nor rear A/C vents). Not entirely sure why, but this vehicle feels more comfortable than the Taurus sedan we test drove back in July. Obviously haven't been on a long trip with it yet, but I'd venture to say that the driving position in this car is one of the best I've ever experienced. And all-round visibility is quite good -- better than any of the other vehicles we evaluated many months ago when we ended up settling on the Freestyle. Power and acceleration is excellent. The suspension is a massive improvement over the truck-based SUV (XTerra) we just traded in. Handling is terrific compared to that vehicle as well. The T-X is definitely a car... forget all this "crossover" nonsense. Its a large station wagon, but like no other that I've ever encountered. My other car is a '93 Probe GT (fairly heavily modified) so what I'm used to is rather aggressive, but the T-X measures up remarkably well for such a big vehicle. It is better than the now-sold SUV in pretty much every way I can think of, aside from the loss of the off-road capability (unused for the past 5 years) and towing capacity (never used). And it cost about the same as the SUV did originally (also purchased new). Definitely feeling that new car owner glow.

Well I am well over 6' and found the Taurus & Freestyle both much more comfortable than most of the competitors. And I've never sat on a bench seat that I would describe as comfortable -- buckets that I can fully adjust are far better, particularly when combined with adjustable steering wheels and pedals.

Different isn't automatically worse. I adapted quite readily to the new Taurus' configuration during the test drive. Having the headlight control on the dash instead of the stick was the bigger adjustment, but even that isn't a big deal. And quite frankly the sticks around the wheel are more prone to breakage and malfunction than dash controls, so the loss of one should be welcomed.

Welcome to the modern information age where any idiot with a computer can "publish" whatever he wants. Just because somebody has a webpage doesn't mean you ought to pay them any heed. Find somebody who's opinion you respect, and read that.

Surely this topic is a joke?! Do people actually like front bench seats?

If you didn't order an unusual combination of features and colours (here in Canada you can't because there aren't that many options) then it is possible that a car already built or building will match what you requested and it'll be earmarked for you. Then it might arrive much sooner than the 3 month queue-plus-build-plus-ship time.

Ewwww! Don't say that! I'm hoping my order arrives promptly.

Got a call from the dealer that their first T-X is sitting on their lot. That's almost exactly 6 weeks after the first Taurus sedan showed up.

Compared to what? I'm coming from the other direction -- looking at the T-X after SUVs and large CUVs. T-X is by far the most car-like and nimble.

The T-X numbers are somewhat mysterious. The Duratec 35 is an efficient motor and the vehicle is 800 lbs less than the Outlook/Acadia, and both have the same tranny. So why the lower rating? The rating is slightly lower than the Edge despite being 100 lbs lighter.

I found it wasn't nearly as necessary when backing up a Freestyle, as compared to an Outlook or CX-9. The belt-line on the Freestyle (and T-X) is a fair bit lower. Plus you can get the reverse sensing system that beeps at you... and you don't have to look at it while backing up. I'm a big believer in actually looking backwards instead of peering at a little screen. Little screens don't have peripheral vision.

In another thread I posted the fuel economy numbers for the T-X AWD according to CanadianDriver.com -- I don't know which measurement standard these are done with. I would speculate that these numbers are more comparable to the '07 numbers for the other vehicles. city 13.4 L/100km hwy 9.1 L/100km The website http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/fuel_economy.php gives these mpg equivalents: city 17.55 mpg hwy 25.85 mpg The FWD T-X was given as 12.8 / 8.4 ... but I'll leave that for you to convert since I ordered the AWD version.

Are you sure that is the case? My understanding was that they considerably modified the "routine" that vehicles are put through to measure their actual performance. In particular the use of the heat and A/C has had a dramatic effect on the performance of hybrids. They have also changed the speeds and frequency of acceleration, stopping and idling to try and model current driving conditions better (than the 1950 or so when the original standard was set up). It is possible that for pre-2008 cars the new numbers are computed from the old numbers since not all the vehicles have been re-tested.

The 2008 numbers are likely to be much more realistic. That said, it is suprising how much lower these numbers are than the sedan. It'll be interesting to see what we get in practice when our factory order arrives. The T-X weights about 10% more than the sedan, so 17/24 (sedan) to 15/22 (wagon) is slightly worse than you might expect if city mileage was directly proportional to mass (given the constant acceleration). It occurs to me that the remaining difference might be explained by differences in the software controlling the engine & transmission in order to deal with the T-X's greater load & towing capacity.

First mention of Taurus X mileage that I've seen here: http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/pw/08taurus.htm The Taurus X returns 12.8/8.4 L/100 km, city/highway (FWD), and 13.4/9.1 L/100 km, city/highway (AWD).

Looks like the marketing effort is starting in Canada. They now have the Taurus X, and Ford Family Pricing was announced. This pricing makes up for much of the exchange rate gap, which is probably why they are doing it -- more hype without really costing them anything.

I was quite impressed by the engine's power, much more so than the Freestyle. And the 6-speed is damn near as smooth as the CVT was, an impressive feat of engineering. That walk-around video claims 1.5 seconds knocked off the vehicle's 0-60 time, and I can believe it. Mid-to-low 7s, I'd say based on the finely calibrated seat of my pants. And very refined.

I drove a new Taurus sedan AWD a couple of days ago -- and I was very impressed. The car is silky smooth and definitely very quick. Its not fast, but it would outrun my '93 Probe GT in its former stock condition. The transmission is lovely, and the ride is quite nice. The steering felt good, although we didn't exactly take it to the track. Its definitely a big car, but I'm actually shopping for the Taurus X which is probably bigger (although I haven't checked that yet -- update: I checked and the wagon is actually about an inch shorter!). Fit and finish everywhere was good, ergonomics felt nice (especially those adjustable pedals). The only thing I don't like is all the chrome all over the place on the exterior. It looks gaudy to my eye, but lots of people seem to like it.

I meant cars/trucks in general, not Taurus in particular. The ridiculous markup applies uniformly across the model (and mostly across brands too). They are quick to raise prices when our exchange rate gets worse, but they don't drop the prices when the exchange rises 30%.

I'm looking at the top-of-the-line-everything-included prices and they differ by 30% when they should differ by 5%. That's just gouging, plain and simple.

Hardly a reasonable excuse when they can just drive them across the border and sell them here. Some are even built in Canada, for heaven's sake! This is just a blatant ripoff of consumers.

Now this I find very irritating. Have they not noticed that the Canadian dollar has appreciated by something like 30% relative to the US dollar in the last couple of years? At the rate things are going, by the time the car I want is available we'll be at parity.

Compared to all the Hummers, Navigators, Expeditions, etc. I see on the city streets the Freestyle/TaurusX is the perfect city family car. It also has enough space in it to actually carry stuff... either lots of little things in one trip (better mileage than a Prius if the Prius has to go twice!), or large items that simply won't fit in or on a smaller car.