The 1996-1999 Ford Taurus SHO Was An Epic Failure

This video will discuss the 1996-1999 Ford Taurus, a performance sedan from Ford. This particular generation of the Taurus SHO did not sell quite as well as the previous generations. Overall, 1996-1999 Taurus sales in general were down because the styling was a bit too radical for consumer tastes. This video will delve into the 1996-1999 Ford Taurus SHO, its engine choices and why it was cancelled.

[brose]

I had 2 Tauruses a 92 and an 03 . Both were 8 years old when I got them. By far fantastic vehicles. They could drive through snow storms, haul newspapers and couches . I got 10 years out of the 03.

[lordmaul]

Another thing! What made Nasser think a 4th Gen Taurus SHO would eat into the sales of something like a Lincoln LS? The LS wasn't really a Ford at all. It was nothing more than a Jaguar disguised as a Ford.

[donaldwilson]

Fun Fact: the Taurus SHO V8 was also the basis for the optional V8 used in the 1st generation Volvo XC90 SUV. They both share the same deck height and some dimensions, But the Volvo is a larger displacement(4.4L), and the block is slightly modified for the Volvo.

[Hobotraveler]

Owned an 88 Taurus, a 98 Taurus SE w/Duratec V6 and a 99 Mercury Sable. All good cars, all V6s. I still want to own a SHO someday. 😊

[TOTA_]

I had a ‘93 SHO back then and was active in the SHO community. Great car! We tried our best to tell them what we wanted. We told them that we did NOT want a different engine. We just wanted them to uncork it. The Yamaha V6 had been commission by SVO in late ‘85 to go into their mid-engine Ferrari killer, GN34. Ford had pulled the plug on that car, but Yamaha had already started producing the engines. They were spec’d at 300 hp, but when they went in the SHO, they were de-cammed and had the exhaust blocked off. We just wanted a good five speed and a better car. They went in a different direction.

[mechanicMase]

I am actually quite fond of the third gen SHO. It's design is not for everyone but I love the way it looks and when the third gen Taurus came out I thought it looked very futuristic at the time.

[lordmaul]

Believe it or not aftermarket body kits were sold for the 3rd and 4th Gen Ford Taurus. About 12 years ago I watched a video of a dude that modified the engine in his 2002 Taurus to produce more power as well doing a 5 spd manual swapped. It even had dual exhaust outlets. He also used an aftermarket body kit to change the appearance from a standard Taurus. The appearance was subtle but not over the top either. Maybe if Ford offered a 3rd Gen SHO, and Possible 4th Gen with a manual transmission, and a different appearance package they would've sold more units.

[aldahmi]

i have ford tuarus 2021 ecobost she is the best 😍✈️🇺🇸

[Ballterra]

I noticed a few of the export pics of the Taurus had Aussie number plates it bombed big time here which is a shame people just couldn’t get past the looks and the Taurus V6 couldn’t match the local big Ford Falcons 4 litre straight six. I was privileged to have a few rides in the prototype models before they were realised for sale here I found them really comfortable and nice to drive people just didn’t give them a chance.

[TruckingShooter]

Funny how many of these cars were around before 2008... of all 3 generations. I'm guessing cash for clunkers got a lot of em. Seems rare to see a first and second gen taurus these days.

[JethroBodineWhooWee]

Id take the jelly bean design over the bland 4th gen any day.

[minipandora]

I think the term “epic failure” is a bit extreme. The Taurus SHO with the Yamaha 3.4liter V8 and super nice chrome wheel, bolstered leather seats, moon roof and c.d changer was a fun experience in the 90’s. ❤

[jeffreyfreeman]

I had a Gen 2 and a Gen 3.

I had to weld the Gen 3 cams.

The SHO was fun. I have an ES350 now.

Night and day for reliability. .

[thecharger]

A video about the Oldsmobile LSS would be cool

[OldMotorWords]

I remember seeing those export versions in New Zealand growing up; they were considered ugly here too. I haven't seen one in a very long time.

[colinschmitz]

I think the list of problems that sunk the third generation Taurus is actually a pretty long list. The styling is undeniably a major problem and I agree with you the SHO model was not distinctive enough. One of the other problems with the third generation SHO was if you look at some of the car magazine comparisons from that time, a naturally aspirated 3800 powered Grand Prix (I'm not even talking about the supercharged) was not that much slower than the SHO. The cost considerably less, got better gas mileage, looked way better, better embodied the feeling of performance in the interior and exterior, and was a more reliable powertrain.

In the third generation, the Taurus was made too large. It now was more on the verge of being a full-size sedan versus a midsize sedan. Yet it was small on the inside especially in the back seat area.

What you described with the process of the development of the engine of shipping the engine between different third party vendors and Ford is extremely inefficient For an engine that was not all that impressive on its output. The original SHO engine was a marvel for its day by comparison. It's power for displacement is only slightly better than a standard 3.0 l Duratec. The SVT version of the contour had a better horsepower per displacement then the SHO had. Just a couple years later, Chrysler went from having one of the poorest power to displacement ratios out of its 3.5 used in the LH platform to being industry-leading in the second generation. And that engine was all in house.

To some extent, I wonder if it wouldn't have been a better idea on the SHO to allow the SHO to have the larger engine bay from the Lincoln Continental so it could have the intec 4.6 l V8 with the idea of having the Taurus lean more in the direction of being a performance division and removing any delusions of luxury that the third generation Taurus implemented. This would have given them somewhere around 260 to 275 horsepower V8 that would be shared by other models (granted that engine wasn't 100% in house either being that the block apparently was provided by a subcontractor owned by fiat).

Another way Ford could have done this would have been to simply make a next generation version of the Yamaha SHO V6 But enlarging it to about 3.5 liters, Make it an aluminum block, and invest in some next generation technology such as variable valve timing not featured on the Duratec V6. The only other thing they could have done in my mind is offer a forced air induction version of the Duratec V6. A big difference was it was hard to offer a upgraded engine over the Duratec V6 when compared to the Essex 3.8 V6. While the SHO V6 had a higher power per displacement compared to the Duratec engine, the Duratec engine was not too far off from the SHO engine and didn't require some of the extra maintenance like the timing belts and the valve adjustments. Another problem that the Taurus had in general was the base Vulcan engine while very reliable It wasn't very competitive in either fuel efficiency or power. They needed to either stroke the engine or rework it in some way to make the engine more competitive.

[Joshua_N-A]

Using Sable headlights would've change the public's perception and distinguish it from the standard models. Too bad the engine doesn't seem to have any successor, improvements would've come with it too. But, imagine had they keep the DN5 platform or taking some cues from the EL Falcon.

[arieljones]

The first SHO was a game changer. Jason Camissa has a great video on here about that. The 2nd gen, in my opinion had even better styling with all of the performance. The 3rd gen Taurus, was uh, well, weird looking. Then for the 3rd SHO, their decision to make the styling really understated was fine, I guess. For it to have a little V8 was kind of cool (take that Passat W8), but for it to have like the same hp as the previous V6 was a major let down. Before you start talking about torque, yeah, I know, but the stats bear out. It was slower than the previous one. No manual? Strike 2. Just overall, a let down. The 4th gen SHO is pretty powerful though. I wouldn't mind driving one of those.

[Ford_Guys_Videos]

Do the Ford Flex which meant it’s demise while popularity grew

[alexmason]

I used to have one of these, best 1500 bucks I ever spent. It sounded amazing