2010 Ford Taurus SEL

First drive

By Nina Russin

2010 Ford Taurus

For a certain generation of drivers, the full-sized sedan is the archetypical American car. Those of us who were kids prior to the introduction of the minivan grew up in family sedans. Back then, few families owned more than one car, so the sedan that carried dad to work also took the kids to school, mom to the grocery store, and the whole clan on summer road trips.

The first-generation Ford Taurus that debuted for the 1986 model year was a car in that tradition. It was one of Ford’s greatest success stories, becoming the top selling sedan in North America.

After several iterations, Ford discontinued the Taurus, focusing on trucks and sport-utility vehicles that were dominating the market. A couple years of tough economic times and rising gas prices have the car-buying public shifting its focus back to passenger sedans. Enter the 2010 Ford Taurus.

In addition to buyers moving out of trucks and sport-utility vehicles, Ford expects to draw Crown Victoria owners, now that the full-sized sedan is out of production.

The new Taurus is stylish, fuel-efficient, and comes standard with a host of segment-leading convenience  and safety features,  including Ford SYNC, adaptive cruise control, collision warning with cross-traffic alert,  and MyKey: a chip that allows parents to control the maximum speed their kids can drive the car at. Lucky for Ferris Bueller that Ford has yet to share the technology with Ferrari. Read the rest of this entry »