2000 Ford Taurus

The Ford Taurus has long been one of the best American family sedans out there. With tons of room, common sense design, and a cheap price, it's easy to see why.

The Taurus is available as a four-door sedan or a station wagon. Trim levels are the LX, SE, SES, and SEL models. Two V6 engines are available: the sturdy old Vulcan V6 and the modern dual overhead-cam all-aluminum Duratec V6. Both have 3 liters of displacement, but the Duratec 3.0 has dual overhead cams and is more powerful.

LX and SE's have the Vulcan V6 and come with power windows and mirrors, and bench seats. The SE adds cruise, a cassette player, remote keyless entry with perimeter lighting, and aluminum wheels.

SES models are equipped with bucket seats with six-way power and a manual driver side lumbar adjustment and an in-dash single CD player. ABS and the old Vulcan V6 are standard, but the Duratec V6 was an option.

SEL trimmed Taurus' had the Duratec V6 as standard equipment, and seven-spoke aluminum wheels, a six-disk CD changer, leather-wrapped steering wheel, dark paledo wood-trimmed interior, climate control, and keyless keypad entry rounded out the standard equipment. Power adjustable pedals and side-impact airbags were optional. Wagons were equipped with four-wheel disc brakes with ABS and a rear anti-roll bar. A clever, adjustable luggage rack, and a unique rear bumper with step pads were also standard.

Side-impact airbags were optional on the Taurus SEL and it earned a double five-star crash-test rating for both front passengers.

The 4-speed transmission is known to fail around 120k miles, but the engines can go for 300k plus miles. So a $1,200 transmission isn't such a bad investment.

Specific Model Year to Year Changes: 2001: The fuel tank grew from 16- to 18-gallons and ABS was now standard on the SES and SEL. 2002: The SE got an optional wood trim package, complete with a wood trimmed steering-wheel. 2003: None 2004: Mildly revised front and rear styling were the only changes. 2005: The LX and SES were dropped. 2006: The wagon was dropped as was the 201-hp V6 engine.

Specific Model Year Things to Look for:

2000-2002 Differential Pressure Feedback EGR (DPFE) Sensor: This might fail and set you back around $110

2000-2001 Restricted Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) passages (3.0L VIN S only): $85

2000-2004 Fuel Pump $390

2000-2001 Secondary Air Injection Reactor (AIR) Pump. $250

2000-2001 Door Ajar Switches $65 per door

2000-2001 Flex Fuel Sensor Module (Flex-Fuel, VIN 2 only) $70

2000 Brake Deactivator Switch for the cruise control $80

2002 Blower Motor Resistor $40 This causes the A/C and heat not to blow through the vents.

The Taurus offers value for the money like no other car out there.