Owner drive: 2013 Ford Taurus Limited in the UAE

Owner drive: 2013 Ford Taurus Limited in the UAE

Jude's Ford Taurus 7
The Ford Taurus is a bit of an oddity in the market. It’s not an obvious choice for most, and given that its direct competition includes the well-regarded Dodge Charger, you’d be forgiven for dismissing the Taurus altogether. However, the Taurus is aimed at a far more niche market than the Charger.

Ford would have you believe the car is aimed at people who simply enjoy driving large cars, as opposed to looking for a practical large family car. A quick peek at the interior, particularly the rear seats, would reveal why they’d say such a thing. Despite its long length, its wheelbase is much smaller than the Charger’s, so the interior of the Taurus is what you could call “snug”. Rear leg space is nowhere close to the best in its category; that being said, it is still tolerable for even tall passengers to sit in for a couple of hours.

So the Taurus isn’t the sportiest, nor is it the most spacious in its class –- what purpose could a car like this possible serve?

After 22,000 kilometres with our car, the answer becomes clearer. The Taurus doesn’t aim to snatch away customers from the Charger. This is, for all intents and purposes, a bonafide cruiser to replace the prehistoric Crown Victoria. You’re cocooned in comfort and you don’t have to work the Taurus very hard to get going, although more spirited driving will ensure you’ll be at your wit’s ends trying to contain its excessive weight.

Jude's Ford Taurus 8

Starting off with the interior, assuming you aren’t claustrophobic, it’s an incredibly inviting place to be in. I particularly love the sporty cockpit feel, the way the dashboard waterfalls into the central tunnel and surrounds you with soft-touch plastic. It’s a massive upgrade from the hard plastics of the previous model, although it’s still a messy patchwork of panels, with very few clean lines. Customisable ambient lighting adds some sophistication, and external noise is kept out very well, although the 20-inch wheels add a bit of tyre roar not present on smaller wheel options.

Ford’s MyFord Touch SYNC system comes standard on SEL models and above, with an 8-inch screen, while the base SE comes with a more basic version of the system with a 4 inch screen. Our Limited features the premium 390W Sony sound system with 10 speakers and 2 subwoofers, which is decent for the most part, and goes pretty loud, but mid-ranges can be annoyingly muddy. Connectivity options are generous, with an SD card slot, two USB ports, Bluetooth and RCA inputs available. The notorious touchscreen system has received a few updates recently that improve the stability, but it’s still too finicky to be in a vehicle. The customisable instrument cluster screens perform flawlessly though.

When it comes to driving the Taurus, there are plenty of driver-aids on the Limited trim to make your life easier. In particular, the rear-view camera is an absolute necessity, as the tall boot combined with the miniscule rear window make for utterly horrendous rear visibility. On the positive side, you never notice when you’re being flashed by the Land Cruiser behind you. Blind-spot indicators on the mirrors, adaptive cruise control and collision warning systems all combine to make your daily commute down Sheikh Zayed Road a breeze.

Jude's Ford Taurus 3

Being based on the rather ancient Volvo-derived D3 platform, more spirited driving tends to strain the limits of the Taurus. You’re constantly reminded of the sheer weight of this thing, and even though the electric steering is well weighted, it’s not very communicative, as is typical of most electric steering. None of this helps with driver confidence. However, the engine delivers superb mid-range power and the 6-speed automatic transmission is responsive and well suited to the engine. Unfortunately, the rocker-switch for shifting gears manually is dismal, and paddle shifters are sorely missed. Fuel economy is surprisingly good, averaging 13.5 litres/100 km in city driving; highway driving can lower that figure further.

So far, while an unusual choice of car, the Taurus has proved to be pretty solid and affordable to run, thanks mainly to free services every 10,000 km, up to 60,000 km over 3 years. However, the dealer is very eager to push unnecessary extra services like an engine flush at a mere 20,000 km. Aside from inconvenient service-centre timings and some customer-service gripes, owning this car has been a pleasant experience.

Photos by Jude Niroshan Abeyeratne.

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Comments

  1. interior pics??

  2. What about some interior pics?

  3. Mash.. is engine flush necessary? if yes after how many kms?

    • If you change your engine oil regularly, you may never need it.

    • As an advise to all, they sell cheap engine flush fluid for 20AED. just put it with car oil and leave the car running and un-driven for about 20mins. then change the oil. you will surprise from the things that comes with oil 🙂

  4. I have owned my Taurus for 2 years and feel this review is spot on. It feels like a large car, and I kind of like the fact that the doors and trunk door are so heavy.
    Interior space has been designed badly and so there is very little usable space considering the size of the car. It is at its best in the highway cruising (is very quiet even at 140 kh), and is at its worst when trying to park it as it is longer than many SUVs

  5. Agreed, parking can be an absolute nightmare, especially in more congested spaces. All the hassle of owning an SUV, without any of the fun!

    Thanks for the kind words!

  6. Do not use the lift lane in highway to avoid land cruiser flashes the speed of this lane above 140 km/h if your speed 80km/hr u will this flashes all day

  7. so i take it as you still haven’t read my review.

  8. A main problem with this car is one that it shares with a lot of other cars – the bad rear visibility caused by the positive rake . The back end is way too high . Yes , it may increase boot space but restricts visibility out of the rear.

  9. I actually find rear visibility better than shoulder visibility as the B Pillar is massive and I always get the feeling there is a small car lurking over my shoulder

  10. people do NOT make traffic jam by driving less than speed limit in lift lane use the right lane . please understand that the fastest lane is the lift one

  11. Well written review. You can improve it however.
    Few points frome me: fuek economy is not good at 13.5l/100 km as stated. Thats the figure you get in a V6 SUV.
    I dont know what engines this cars has, review should mention that somewhere.
    And photos of the interior. You focus on the interior in the review you got to back that up with some pictures.

    • Thanks for the comments, Mitch.

      I’m not particularly aware what the economy of other V6 sedans is usually around, but the Taurus figure is close to the figure of the straight six that was in my Ford Falcon, which too is a large car. The larger size and weight led me to believe that this is an acceptable figure, and to be honest, isn’t much worse than the economy I got from my 2007 Accord 4 cylinder. But I’m open to suggestions, perhaps there are cars in this same segment that deliver better fuel economy?

      Specifications should be found in the vehicle’s page on DriveArabia, but I’ll make sure to address your points in the follow up review. The Taurus uses the standard 3.5L V6 Duratec, which has been upgraded to deliver 288 hp. The SHO features a twin turbo, direct injection 3.5L V6 which delivers 365 hp.

      We’ll try to get a proper photoshoot done of the car.

  12. Hi guys.. I’m buying 2015 sel taurus.. is it a good choice?

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