Need Some Advice Please (Ed?)

[Stumps90SC]

Hey all. Not SC related but I could use some car guy advice. A friend of my fiancee offered to sell us his 99 Taurus SE at the trade-in price that the dealer was offering him. The car has everything except leather and sunroof. It has the 24v DOHC V6, new tires, new shocks and struts, good brakes, and the oil was changed regularly. It has 177,000km. We looked it over and drove it last night and it seems fine, but I wonder if any of you have any experiences or information on these cars and their reliability. He offered to sell if for $5,500 which didn't seem to bad. Anything you can tell me would be great.


Thanks: Dale

[SeanMatteson]

Dale,

Back in '99, my wife and I purchased an almost new '98 Taurus SE. We don't have the leather or sunroof either, but we've got almost every other option possible, including the Ford factory phone. The car is equipped with the Duratec 3.0L DOHC V6. The only differences between my car and the one you're talking about are that mine has four-wheel disc brakes, and mine has the factory dual exhaust set-up. These two features were dropped by Ford in '99 in an effort to keep the Taurus pricing exactly the same for the '99's as it was for the '98's.

The car has been excellent since day one! It's never left us stranded. The only problem that I've had, is that every once in a while the stupid thing thinks that a door is left open, so the interior lights stay on, and you can't lock the doors using the keyless entry system. I think these things register an open door by a loss of contact between the door latch and striker. There aren't any pin switches anywhere. A couple of times I've had to simply pop out the interior light bulb (on the ceiling) to ensure I don't drain the battery. My car has 85,000 km's on it, and is still covered by the premium Ford ESP until January of 2004, or until I reach 100,000 km's.

The $5500 price sounds like a great deal if the car is mint!

I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Sean

[fast Ed]

Dale, I agree with Sean, it sounds like a good buy at that price. Don't let the high kms scare you, the Duratec has proven to be a good reliable motor since they were introduced. My father had a 96 Sable and then a 98 Taurus with that drivetrain, both very nice cars.

cheers
Ed N.

[Stumps90SC]

Is there anything you guys don't know? Thanks for the input, you've eased my mind and made the decision much easier. I really appreciate it.

Dale