No mustang but a ford...whatcha think?
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BlackGT89
Member
We had a 95 SHO ATX. These were great cars in their day and were wonderful cars for gobbling up mass quantities of asphalt on the highway ! I assume the one you are looking at is a manual transaxle. One of the most popular mods for that year was to convert the shifter cable over to a rod shifter system. Just about all of the transaxles (manual and auto) are known to be weak, so expect some problems there unless it has been beefed up. They like to eat starters and alternators and both are rare and very expensive. Also check for what was called crank cancer. The crank bolt can work it's way loose and would wobble out the keyway, then it slowly dies an agonizing death. The worse thing about this car was just working on front wheel drive with a huge engine and very little space. The manual cars need to have the valves adjusted every 60K miles. The ATX cars were supposed to be good for 100K miles between adjustments. Doing this is a bit tedious and you have to rent an expensive kit that comes with an assortment of shims. You also need a special tool that compresses the bucket and allows the shims to be removed/examined/replaced. The timing belts were supposed to be good for 100K as well, but when you replaced the belt you were also oblidged to replace the water pump, the exhaust cam seals, the intake cam seals, the crank seal, the crank position sensor, the cam sensor, plugs and wires, etc. since they were all on the front of the engine. And you have to worry about the cam chains wearing and the chain tensioners needing replacement. After I did this the last time I realized the parts were unobtainium and decided it was time to let it go. If you really love to work on cars and chase down parts then I would say go for it ! Having said all of this, I would still have to say it was one of the most enjoyable cars I ever had.
Check out these SHO websites:
SHOtimes FAQ :: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Ford Taurus SHO from the SHOTIMES mailing list.
SHOForum.com
Check out these SHO websites:
SHOtimes FAQ :: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Ford Taurus SHO from the SHOTIMES mailing list.
SHOForum.com
They are very delicate and cost a mint to work on. I have a friend that has had several. He buys it, drives it until the inevitable major engine or transmission work is needed, dumps it and buys another. I think he's on his 4th one now.
foxforce33
New Member
The early 3.0L Yamaha motors are great-way ahead of their time--as said above, the transaxle and cable linkages are the weak point of the drivetrain: basically too much power for the front-drive set up. Longevity wise, I'm not sure how well these cars do. There are definitely not many left on the road, and the ones I see at shows are beat to $hit many a time. See BlackGT89's post--he has some good info-sounds like maintenance is an issue.
The later V8/auto cars were not nearly as quick as the six cyl 5-spd cars, they were more of a touring car.
As a side note, my Dad had a brand new '90 back in the day and it was the perfect sleeper.
The later V8/auto cars were not nearly as quick as the six cyl 5-spd cars, they were more of a touring car.
As a side note, my Dad had a brand new '90 back in the day and it was the perfect sleeper.
i feel driving a taurus would have me trying to explain to everyone that i had a mustang at home
BlackGT89
Member
It will be my new DD but from the sounds of it it's something i dont want.The cost maintinace and so forth.Screw that!peace
john
Well, I hope I didn't scare you off too quickly.
But I've been there and done that. If you drove it you might actually get the bug for one ! They have become a cult car of sorts, and if you look on YouTube, there are some monster SHO's out there ! But I don't know how they get the power to the ground without constantly breaking something.
YouTube - Turbo SHO takes on several worthy challengers
Don't even consider one.
We had 2 over the years.
Yes they are fun daily drivers, ride decent seat 4 and have some quickness.
BUT, when things go wrong, they go real wrong and are expensive as hell to fix.
Most have been beat on, which as said above, so are mustangs, but it's totally different to beat the crap out of a FWD car than a RWD car. A mustang is easy and cheap to fix, the SHO is not.
We had 2 over the years.
Yes they are fun daily drivers, ride decent seat 4 and have some quickness.
BUT, when things go wrong, they go real wrong and are expensive as hell to fix.
Most have been beat on, which as said above, so are mustangs, but it's totally different to beat the crap out of a FWD car than a RWD car. A mustang is easy and cheap to fix, the SHO is not.
If you want a nice FWD daily driver with decent power, get a 98-04 Regal GS. I have a 99 and i absolutely love that car. I put about 400-500 miles on it a week and have never had a problem (has 105k now, bought it with 40k). That Supercharged 3.8 is bulletproof, and it gets 28 mpg highway, cant beat that.
And mustangs aren't?
Some are beat, but its still not a taurus, and a mustang could take a whoopin alot better than that SHO
MAC'n89Blckstng
Active Member
I had a 91 SHO Plus and I loved it. Super comfortable. It was pretty reliable until I started beating on it and broke three clutches. The differentials are very weak. If you just drive it normally and dont bang gears (which is tough) it will last forever. The intake noise on them is addicting! The engines are rock solid as long as you keep up on the maintenence. If you do get it, invest the money into a magnaflow high flow y pipe. Felt a HUGE improvement from that. Mine had 180000 on it an went 15.0 in the quarter. I also averaged 18 mpg with my lead foot.
Tell me this aint a bad ass looking car. I love the first gens and the 89's are apparently the fastest/lightest. But they do have a hideous dash.
Tell me this aint a bad ass looking car. I love the first gens and the 89's are apparently the fastest/lightest. But they do have a hideous dash.
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