Car Shopping

[Billy the Great Khan]

So I'm looking at a new car. The Jeep is on it's last legs somehow, and needs to be replaced. I'm pretty settled that it has to be a 6 cylinder, but can't decide between an Impala or a Taurus. Also the car is going to be used. Any one got any advice?

 

[DamnYankee]

I rented an Impala for the weekend (Avis, so I assume it was an 09) three weeks ago and wasn't as nice as my wife's 06 Ford 500, which has since been renamed the Taurus. It's built on the high end Volvo chassis.

 

[Thorn]

So I'm looking at a new car. The Jeep is on it's last legs somehow, and needs to be replaced. I'm pretty settled that it has to be a 6 cylinder, but can't decide between an Impala or a Taurus. Also the car is going to be used. Any one got any advice?

Impala. As a fellow Jeep driver, I can't see a Jeep enthusiast enjoying a Taurus at all. The Impala is sportier and has a good rep. I wouldn't go back to a conventional car at all, frankly, but it depends on where you drive. I can't stand seats like hammocks, have modified mine to fit me better and so that I can sit straighter. And I like being higher up so I don't get headlights in my eyes, and I can see what's ahead of me better.

 

[Billy the Great Khan]

Impala: 1
Taurus: 1

I'm leaning towards the Impala myself as the year that I'd be buying they have better fuel economy and a bigger engine (dunno how that works but the results don't lie).

 

[DamnYankee]

GM does have better mileage since they went with that direct injection thing that Ford is testing on some of its Lincolns. But I did a lot of mountain driving in NY with the Impala and the brakes couldn't take it and warped. We drive the mountains here in NC all the time with the 500 and the brakes have been excellent I recall them as being featured as "oversize" along with the wheel size when we bought it).

 

[Damocles]

So I'm looking at a new car. The Jeep is on it's last legs somehow, and needs to be replaced. I'm pretty settled that it has to be a 6 cylinder, but can't decide between an Impala or a Taurus. Also the car is going to be used. Any one got any advice?

The Taurus engine will last you nearly forever, you'll go through a tranny or two, but the engine will last longer than you will, or at least you will be too old to drive before that engine will quit.

 

[Billy the Great Khan]

The Taurus engine will last you nearly forever, you'll go through a tranny or two, but the engine will last longer than you will, or at least you will be too old to drive before that engine will quit.

That's the thing that always gets me about Fords. Their trannys ALWAYS are the problem. With Chrystler it's the electric, with Fords the Tranny, and with GM... I don't know they have their own share. I've heard good things on both sides about engine reliability, but just so you guys have a reference, my Jeep has a 4.0 I6 from Chrystler, supposed to be one of the most reliable engines ever. Yet somehow I manage to kill it.