Ford Taurus not snazzy but quiet and competent
Refreshed 2013 model adds 25 more horses
No greater proof is there of my contention that Ford is the North American Toyota than the 2013 Taurus SEL. AWD. Indeed, despite an additional 25 horsepower added this year (for a total of 288 hp) and some fresh design touches, the Taurus is spiritually a Toyota Avalon that drinks Budweiser rather than sake.
It would be patently unfair to describe this refreshed Taurus as mediocre since, in fact, it performs every task asked of it with stellar resolve. A better descriptor might be unfailingly competent, the Taurus being incredibly capable of the task at hand. It’s just that the task at this hand is unflinchingly boring.
So, for the record, despite a few more aggressive slashes and arches, the 2013 Taurus is a car that will never stand out. It will never growl (it is, in fact, an admirably quiet automobile). It will never peel rubber (1,900 kilograms do blunt even 288 horses). And it will, if Ford’s active safety technologies and passive airbags are any indication (not to mention a platform originally designed by safety-obsessed Volvo), it should certainly be a safe automobile. Nonetheless, if one wants unremitting competence, you often have to sacrifice any form of vehicular excitement.
That’s not to say that the Taurus doesn’t have some attributes that might entice even a thrill-seeking auto journalist. For one thing, its interior is a model of simplicity. The modern computerized infotainment system has been foisted on the motoring public on the basis that, without digitizing some functions, dashboards would be so festooned with switchgear that we couldn’t tell our air conditioning controls from the button that pops the trunk. And yet, most of the cars I drive with those infernal digital assistants still seem to be laden with enough buttonry to confuse John Glenn.
Not the Taurus. MyFord may be causing some interfacing issues, but at least the Taurus’s interior is simpler for it. Indeed, this is as “clean” as the cockpit of a modern automobile gets. And, as if that’s not compliment enough, this latest version of MyFord is not as diabolical as the original.
One hesitates to call it user-friendly but no longer does it send even molecular science PhD candidates heading for the hills. Combined with the Taurus’ streamlined interior, one might even venture to say it’s worthwhile.
The other compliment is that the Taurus has a huge trunk. The 569-litre capacity is, in the words of Graeme Fletcher, a four-Hoffa trunk.