2001 Taurus for $2500?

[alphatarget1]

Mileage = 97k. It's an auction for a university owned vehicle. I drove it around the lot and it seemed ok, hesitated a little bit. CEL is on and pulled P0301 (misfire in 1st cylinder). I don't think it'll be a hard fix.

How much would you pay for a car like that? The price is $2250 right now and it ends tomorrow.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Did you check the transmission? They are notorious for failures in the 80-100k mile range.
Any obvious reasons for the cyl 1 misfire?

 

[mb]

FWIW $2500 is roughly inline with edmunds.com private party pricing for an 01 Taurus with 97k miles. So it's not a spectacular bargain but depending on how complicated/pricey it is to fix the misfire it may not be a terrible deal if it's all you can afford.

 

[StageLeft]

Sounds ok but already having that misfire I'm not thrilled about it.

Does university owned mean kids drove it?

 

[CraigRT]

I figure slightly less on price and might not be a bad buy.

Generally, P03xx codes are just as simple as new plugs/wires/coil (depending on engine design)

 

[ElFenix]

if it's the vulcan it should be fairly easy to fix and reliable.

i'm not sure when ford finally sorted out the transmission issues with the taurus.

edit: that one has the AX4S transmission, which, like the earlier AXOD transmission, is not particularly reliable past 100,000 miles. 2004 was the first year with a new transmission.

 

[desy]

Trans problems were fine by 01

 

[alphatarget1]

Did you check the transmission? They are notorious for failures in the 80-100k mile range.
Any obvious reasons for the cyl 1 misfire?

Transmissino shifted smoothly when I drove it around the lot. I think the friend is gonna skip that one.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Just as a note on those transmissions, they were also luck of the draw. I had a 93 taurus and the trans was fine at 150k when I got rid of the car.

 

[gw186]

I bought a 2001 with 121k last august. I paid $2750 was a good price. Looking around at the time prices seemed more around 3200-3600. But it didn't last long got rear ended 2 weeks later. Got $4554 from there insurance company.

I did spend 4-5 weeks looking for that Taurus. So I was pissed off and didn't bother looking around and bought a 2000 for $3500. This one had few more options like electronic heat, adjustable peddles, and a floor shifter. But only 87k miles.

I think these are great bargains. Relatively comfortable, pretty well built considering any random squeaks or other noise. Not the greatest gas mileage, I get an average of 21, maybe 70% city. My transmission works well, seems a lot of people think the tranny cooler is inefficient.

If I didn't have an chance to see the car(auction) I would consider $2500 a ok price. not great but not bad. If I could see it and depending on condition I think anything below $3500 is a good price.

 

[iGas]

I would have it check over by a mechanic to make sure that it is mechanically reliable before I buy it.

My 1990 Taurus transmission failed just before it reach 45k and the original had the transmission replaced and sold it to me at 58k (paid $3500 CAD), I drove the snot out of it for many years with 1 water pump replacement, 1 power steering hose replacement, 1 computer replacement, 1 signal lights cluster replacement, and 1 lights dimmer replacement before I retired it just after 190K miles (everything was failing, except for the transmission & engine).

 

[PCMarine]

I've owned two high mileage Tauruses (00 w/ OHV and 02 w/ DOHC) that I bought for cheap (<$5k), and they both have been great to me. They are reliable and about as cheap as they get to own. For the same price, you'd be looking at a 15-20+ year old honda or toyota with 200k miles.

Really the only thing I don't like about them is that they have drum brakes in the rear (really ford?), and the suspension components seem to wear out around 100k+ (squeaks developed on both my cars).

I'd make sure it wasn't a student driven pool-car, and I'd also check to make sure the transmission fluid has at been changed once or twice (fluid is still somewhat pink).

 

[SparkyJJO]

You can get them with disc rear brakes. My brother had a 93 (don't ask how we both ended up with the same year, we really didn't plan on it) and it had 4 wheel disc with ABS.

 

[BassBomb]

I wouldn't buy for that much... my buddy got a 1999 Bonneville 3.8L supercharged for 2000 cdn

 

[alphatarget1]

The price has gone up to $3700. Wow. I would not pay that much for a taurus.

 

[arcenite]

What engine? If it's the 3.8 STAY AWAY

 

[rancherlee]

What engine? If it's the 3.8 STAY AWAY

95' was the last year for the 3.8L in the Taurus, also, whats wrong with the 3.8L besides headgaskets. (Caused by crappy gaskets from a supplier).
I have one making 274rwhp/299rwtq in my 96' Thunderbird......

 

[LTC8K6]

My 1995 3.8L Taurus is doing fine after it's head gasket replacement. Very good engine, imo.

Car is still in great shape and still gets 28-29mpg hwy.

Of course, it doesn't apply after 1995 as rancherlee said.