By Frank S. Washington
CHICAGO — I had just finished a radio interview and continued to throw stuff in a bag to head here and attend the auto show. I looked out the window, saw a few flurries of snow and thought I’d better get out of Detroit then, it was supposed to snow all day.
My point is that I was driving a 2010 Ford Taurus SHO. Powered by a 3.5 liter dual turbocharged six cylinder engine, the car made 365 horsepower, 350 pounds-feet of torque and it was mated to a six speed automatic transmission with shifter paddles attached to the steering wheel.
A lot of power is not necessarily what you want in snow. The slippery stuff can wreak havoc on a car with a lot of horsepower and torque. But my Taurus SHO proved to be an effective all-weather full-size sedan.
Only once or twice, toward the end of the trip which took five hours, it’s normally a four hour drive, did I manage to do the speed limit – 70 mph. The best I could muster was 60 mph. Too much traffic, too much snow on the road and too many vehicles that had skidded off proved to be cautionary.
However, what the SHO proved to me is even though it has credible performance credentials, the car is an everyday driver that does well in less than pristine conditions. My Taurus SHO, as do all 2010 SHOs, had all-wheel-drive which provided a level of road security. Although I drove like I had some sense, there was no slipping and sliding.
One downside to my test car’s adaptive cruise control and crash alert systems was that with the grille was covered by snow and a thin sheet of ice. Thus, so was the radar emitter that allows both to function. In other words, I had no cruise control or crash alert systems for most of my stay here.
And unfortunately, for the first time a collision alert system kept me from having, well, a collision. Although I never really thought about it, the $1,195 option was worth the bucks in terms of the damage I may have caused to the Taurus SHO as well as the vehicle that had unexpectedly slowed to almost a stop (I was looking down at the lane) in front of me as we were getting on the freeway after I returned to Detroit.
Anyway, another pleasant surprise was the suede-like seating surfaces. Designed to keep aggressive drivers in place, they also functioned as seat warmers. The front set was cooled, too. And the rear set was also heated. The front seats also massaged me and a passenger.
All that is to say that the leather-trimmed seats with Miko Suede inserts made from recycled post-consumer yarns from plastic soft drink bottles were pretty comfortable. I was never stressed out by the snowy conditions and I think it had a lot to do with those seats.
The console, instrument and door panels featured SHO-specific authentic aluminum appliqués. And I could chose from six shades of ambient lighting.
The car had an ambience. Looking out the window, it snowed all the way here and some more once I arrived. I could see the weather but the cabin of the Taurus SHO was like a cocoon. It was serene, quiet and the big Michelin 20-inch tires and wheels gobbled up pavement. Dry, wet or snow covered it didn’t matter.
Push button start, a sport-tuned suspension, a navigation system, Bluetooth, a rearview camera was the standard stuff. I could limit the top speed to 80 mph, the Microsoft Sync system combined 911 Assist, Vehicle Health Report and GPS-based features including business search and call completion. The SYNC system connected to MP3 player, iPods, memory sticks and PDAs.
And I thought the Sony sound system was a very nice touch.
At $44,480, I didn’t think my test vehicle was overpriced. In fact, it seemed to me to be quiet reasonable for what the 2010 Taurus SHO delivered.
Frank S. Washington is managing partner/editor of AboutThatCar.com and
AboutThatCarBlog.com.
This story was printed in the March 28, 2010 – April 10, 2010 edition.
