Review: 2010 Ford Taurus SHO -- stylish, powerful, and comfortable, but massive and expensive

The 2010 Ford Taurus SHO is a pricey full-size performance sedan. It's good at what it does, but whether performance-oriented buyers will want such a large automobile remains to be seen. See more photos of the Taurus SHO in today's slideshow.

This sedan has 365 horsepower from a turbocharged V6. It has all-wheel-drive. It’s 203 inches long. It’s $43,000. This combination of characteristics can be considered highly irregular even before you reach the fact that it’s a Ford Taurus. 

The Taurus name has been used on a wide variety of cars. First it was a European-inspired midsize family sedan. Then it was a midsize family sedan inspired more by a bar of soap. Then it was a midsize family sedan that simply offered lots of space for a low price. Then it was a large family sedan that offered even more space for quite a bit more money. 

And now, newly redesigned for the 2010 model year, it’s even bigger but less spacious, with a mix of European and all-American design cue and with luxury car pricing on this top-of-the-line SHO version, and it’s ready to face off against…well, that’s not so clear. 

In price and intent, the Taurus SHO seems to line up against the Chrysler 300C, a car whose (optional) all-wheel-drive system is based on a car that’s rear-drive rather than front and whose Hemi V8 engines overpower Ford’s “Ecoboost” turbo technology. But their prices are comparable and both are large sedans that try to blend performance – favoring acceleration over handling – with luxury, in a brand not typically associated with either trait. 

But the Chrysler has distinguished itself since it came out in 2005 by offering truly distinctive looks. The latest Taurus is a handsome vehicle, looking somewhat like Ford’s European Mondeo from the front and drawing inspiration from the Interceptor concept car elsewhere, but even the SHO performance version – which is visually almost indistinguishable from other Taurus versions – lacks the 300C’s visual impact. 

At least, the Taurus doesn’t offer the same kind of visual impact. The car’s proportions are such that you won’t necessarily notice this in a photo, but in person, the immediate impression of the car is that it’s huge, as in look-twice large. It’s long, it’s wide, and it’s tall. Everything is a half a size larger than would appear natural. The 300C is already considered a full-size car; the Taurus is two inches wider and taller, more than six inches longer, and more than 100 pounds heavier. 

This size makes it difficult to compare the Taurus to the cars that make up most of the price range surrounding this SHO: the luxury-branded Japanese and European compact and midsize sports sedans. 

For what it is, the Taurus SHO is an excellent performance vehicle. Power is effortless from the turbocharged V6, and the suspension is set up for the best blend of a smooth, comfortable ride and agile handling of any car this size short of the priciest BMWs or Mercedeses. The steering is well-weighted, accurate, and appropriately responsive, and the car goes where it’s pointed without fuss. 

(The Lincoln MKS, which rides on the same platform but costs thousands more, is unequivocally worse to drive, with a stiff, unsettled ride that bobbles and floats over any imperfect pavement yet lacks any form of handling agility. The Taurus does both better, and also nearly matches the Lincoln’s interior quality. READ MKS REVIEW)

But while this car is sporty for what it is, what it is is a 4,400-pound full-size sedan. Good handling response for its size does not mean the level of sports sedan agility you might expect from anything marketed as a performance car. There is only so much corner carving you can do with anything this wide and heavy. Car reviewers who have played with the SHO on racetracks have not been wowed – even those who have driven cars equipped, like the one driven for this review, with the optional $995 “performance package” that includes summer tires that are biased toward smooth-surface grip (highly important in magazine track tests) over all-weather traction. 

Of course, while the massive Taurus SHO may not be as light on its feet as a much smaller Infiniti G37 or Cadillac CTS, those cars won’t carry rear seat passengers as well as this Ford. Based on a cursory look, the Taurus should be able to walk away with customers who seek both performance and space for the family. 

Inside, however, the Taurus isn’t as roomy as it looks, or as perhaps it ought to be. Some reviewers have gone so far as to use words like “confining,” which is an exaggeration. There is no shortage of space for four adults in the car’s well-finished cabin. But those reviewers may be subconsciously comparing this car to the outgoing 2009 Taurus, which had an abundant surplus of interior room, easily accommodating five adults. The new car has lost the stretch-out rear seat room in the name of sleeker styling, and the seat is shaped to most comfortably accommodate two passengers rather than three.

The front seats are narrow for the width of the car – a width that’s exaggerated by the perhaps overwrought dashboard – but that’s actually in keeping with the SHO’s sporty nature, if by accident more than design. The seats aren’t heavily bolstered, but grippy suede inserts keep the driver from sliding around on this model’s standard leather. 

The Taurus’s trunk is massive, at least; at 20 cubic feet, it’s among the biggest of any sedan on the market. (The Hyundai Genesis Coupe reviewed in this space last week had less than half that volume.) But overall, there is not a wide range of sports sedan shoppers who will need the space of the Taurus who would find many smaller, more agile cars acceptably roomy. 

So this Taurus SHO is faced with two undoings: its size, which some may find unmanageably cumbersome – visually or dynamically – and its price, which starts at just over $37,000 but can easily top $45,000. There’s no escaping the car’s girth or its relative lack of space, but if it were perhaps $6,000 or $7,000 less it would compete splendidly with the Nissan Maxima, a very successful combination of power, agile handling, and high levels of refinement. 

Fortunately, Ford does sell a Taurus in that price range. Just not an SHO. It would take another test drive to see if the base model with 263 horsepower and softer suspension tuning remains a competitive luxurious vehicle. At the time of this test drive, Ted Britt Ford was sold out of the conventional Taurus, with only this SHO remaining in stock. And because this SHO is a 203-inch long, $43,000 Ford Taurus with summer performance tires, it’s not too hard to see why it hadn’t yet found an owner. (And still hasn't, as of this writing, more than a week later.)

But if you do want a powerful sedan with high levels of comfort and refinement, plus space for five to sit in reasonable comfort and carry an almost ridiculous amount of cargo, and if you aren’t scared off by a $43,000 price tag, this car may be calling for you.  

Vehicle tested: 2010 Ford Taurus
Vehicle base price (MSRP): $25,170
Version tested: SHO
Version base price (MSRP): $37,170
Vehicle price as tested (MSRP): $42,985
Test vehicle provided by: Winnie Stovall at Ted Britt Ford of Fairfax, Va. (703)-218-4639

Key specifications: 
Length: 202.9 inches
Width: 76.2 inches
Height: 60.7 inches
Wheelbase: 112.9 inches
Weight: 4,346 pounds
Trunk volume: 20.1 cubic feet
Turning radius: 19.8 feet
Engine (as tested): 3.5-liter V6 with 365 horsepower
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
EPA city mileage: 17 miles per gallon
EPA highway mileage: 25 miles per gallon
EPA mixed driving: 20 miles per gallon