Ford Taurus X - A Guilty Pleasure?

For those of you who’ve read my first blog here on CarDomain, and noted the cars that I personally own, you’ll immediately see that I have a bad gene for station wagons. I currently own four wagons–three from 1969–an AMC Rambler American 440, a Jeep Super Wagoneer, and a 10-passenger Mercury Colony Park–along with a 1988 AMC Eagle, one of the last ones manufactured.

With my belief that wagons have an undeniable cool factor–all look great with my surfboard strapped to the roof–I want to bring to your attention a contemporary grocery getter that you might have overlooked, Ford’s Taurus X. When it was introduced in 2005 as the Freestyle, it was unfairly criticized as being ill-positioned in marketplace and for styling that was described as being derivative, just as buyers were shifting their preferences to tall, trendy crossovers. But beauty of the Taurus X is more than skin deep.

Continue reading Ford Taurus X - A Guilty Pleasure? after the jump!

Like Chrysler’s equally ill-positioned and marketed Pacifica, Ford hesitated to call this vehicle what it is, a modern interpretation of the classic American station wagon, and in the sixties and seventies Ford dominated the category and was known as the “Wagonmaster” so there’s that tradition to fall back on.

What is it about station wagons that have such a negative connotation in the eyes of marketers in Detroit and Dearborn? And like the Pacifica (and to an even greater degree, the Dodge Magnum), is it a coincidence that all didn’t find their maker’s hoped for traction in the marketplace? I believe so.

Let’s look at the positives. The Taurus X isn’t an SUV, and to my eye, the styling is contemporary and clean, with a tasteful blend of SUV and station wagon elements. And it looks like a Ford, especially with the minor refresh it received when it was renamed Taurus X from the Freestyle for the 2008 model year. The Taurus X is a right-sized package with almost all of the utility of an SUV, including all-wheel-drive, but with car-like handling and fuel efficiency.

Ford’s highly touted digital interface, Sync, is terrific, allowing for easy integration of a variety of digital players as well as Bluetooth-enabled wireless phones, including my own T-Mobile Wing (which I also use as a digital music player instead of carrying around a separate iPod). The Taurus X offers an exceptional driving position with firm but comfortable seats combined with a well-finished interior (with one nagging exception noted below) that seems at or near the top of its class.

The negatives? The 6-speed transmission, mated to a more powerful 3.5-liter V6, still needs a bit of work on the tuning front, to nail it 100%. But it is a substantial improvement over the CVT mated to the 3-liter V6 that was the drivetrain at the Freestyle’s introduction back in 2005. And marring the almost perfect execution of the interior is an unsightly mold mark on the trim on the passenger’s side A-pillar. Why Ford, was this necessary? Am I nit-picking? Of course, but it’s because the rest of the interior is so excellent.

On the road the vehicle drives small, much smaller than is its 200-inch overall length would lead you to believe and this is a big positive in my book. I attribute this to its lower, almost car-like profile, unlike most crossovers with their jacked-up stance, especially in many smaller models.

In the 2007 calendar year Ford sold about 42,000 Taurus Xs (this includes more than 11,000 Freestyle-badged units). What’s interesting is that Chrysler shifted an almost identical number of Pacificas. But looking back, to the seventies, Ford sold more than 120,000 wood-clad Country Squires annually.

Where am I going with this? I think that Ford would have been well-served had they marketed the Freestyle/Taurus X for what it is, a thoroughly modern version of a traditional American station wagon (the Taurus X is based on a Volvo platform shared with the XC90) and offered a Taurus Squire X version, complete with Di-Noc “wood” trim. Am I the only one who thinks this would have been a good idea? Over the years several SEMA Show car builders have shown Explorers and Expeditions and each one has looked classy and was well received. Might this have added 10,000 additional sales each year to Ford? For those of us who have fond memories of those Country Squires of our childhoods that now seem so long ago, I think so.