Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Would you trade a 2.5L Contour for a 3.0L Taurus?

My mom had a 96 taurus before she got her civic. It was alright and pretty comparable with the contour. The contour weighs less so I'm guessing it would actually perform better. My mom's taurus had some problems though she got the civic so she wouldn't have to worry about having any problems for a long long time. I personally would rather have a contour, but you really might want to do your mom a favor. As far as I know, there are no body kits for 2nd or 3rd gen tauruses, just 1st gen, and even then options would be limited.

At 22 years old, image is a little factor. My dad even admits the Taurus is an old man's car. But helping out the fam is stronger than image. The engine looks easy enough to modify...The plugs are easy to get to, and there is a ton of space around the manifolds for upgrades there too! K&N's pop right in, and with tinted windows it won't look so family-esk. Looks like I might want to start hanging around the 3.0 liter section.
Are the Vulcan and Duratech designs that different that I may run into some trouble finding some mods?

thanks
JG

We got a 02 Taurus wagon, loaded, w/3.0 Duratec (wife's ride). Nice engine, smooth ride, average handling. The 3.0 Duratec is nice, a little with the foot goes a long way with acceleration.
We are a two Duratec family and we are going to stay that way. If we want to take a long comfy road trip, it will be in the Wagon. Going for a twistie trip in the country, we will go in the Contour SE Sport with the Firestone SZ 50 EP's

as a former owner of a taurus with vulcan (and mom has 2k taurus with vulcan) i can say this....taurus is larger contour is more everything else

im debating the same switch for myself more or less ...i love my contour and dont want to get rid of it but i miss the roominess of the taurus...the tour is just a little too cramped sometimes

i know that i wont make the change unless i can get a duratec taurus or a sho

taurus car club

check this site out...i think there's even a group buy for aftermarket intake manifold for the vulcan engine

and i think with good tires and suspension and intake and exhaust work u can have a pretty peppy vulcan taurus....not sure if u want to go the the sho clone look though...a stealth taurus could be a fun weapon

Since one of the things driving this decision is $$$ I think you should get an idea of the respective trade-in values. You maybe trading off larger loan payoff now vs lower loan outstanding on new.
BTW neither car ideal trade-in material IMO and private sale may net more.
Also, from the sounds of it Contour more appealling car for mod investment, but stock Taurus OK for basic transportation (just tint windows so no one recognizes you driving ).

For those talking about wanting a bigger car, why not go with a 96-97 T-Bird? Plenty of power (V8) and very roomy... Handling and acceleration are are prtty good, and aftermarket is pretty much the same as a Mustang's...

Just a thought...

My Mom will check out the particulars of trading in both cars.. We'll see what happens. I really love my contour as all of do. I enjoy everything about it, the ride is great, the engine is a great runner, and the euro-sedan styling is something not found in many american models. But I think with a little work, a 22 year old college student would look just fine behind the wheel of what my dad even calls, "an old man's car."

JG

Good idea.

Unable to comment on student makeover, usually depends on starting material.

The Vulcan and Duratech designs are about as different as two V6 fuel injected engines could be. The Vulcan is Ford's oldest and the industry's cheapest V6 in production today (at least in the U.S.). The Duratech has only been in production for about 7-8 years now (with a number of refinements), never did meet the internal engineering targets, but is still a pretty nice engine.
Don't expect any Duratech mods to work for a Vulcan (aside from plugs and wires perhaps).

i kinda did start giving the tbird some thought for the engine but i need 4 doors in my old age (34 ) and while im not sure about all tbirds i've always heard that the s/c coupe was terrible handling ....and i drove a 96 (v6) that felt like a really big car overall but kinda small inside