I've always been a fan of Ford's Freestyle, largely because the interior is roomy in all three rows, all of the seats save the driver's quickly and easily fold if you have a need to transport a ton of stuff, and it feels more compact and agile than most rivals. But others were not as attracted by the crossover's charms, and the Freestyle sold poorly.

For 2008, Ford has given the Freestyle a larger, more powerful engine, standard stability control, glitzier styling, and an old new name: Taurus X. Will these changes bring the Taurus X the sales it deserves? Or, with new competitors from General Motors, Toyota, Mazda, and Hyundai, will the Freestyle / Taurus X only fade even further off car buyers' radar?

I test drove an SEL (base trim) front-wheel-drive Freestyle to find out. I would have rather driven the other end of the line, an all-wheel-drive Limited, but this was all the dealer had. So I might test drive another soon.

Styling

Many people found the Freestyle's proportions overly wagonish and its general appearance excessively bland. I personally found it subtly handsome--in monotone Limited trim. With the other trim levels, a two-tone treatment made the wheelbase, already too brief for the vehicle's overall length, appear even shorter. I find it likely that many people's overall impressions were shaped by the unfortunate aesthetic result.

My advice to Ford would be to make all Freestyles (Taurus X, whatever) monotone. But they have not done this. As with the Freestyle, only the top trim level of the Ford Taurus X is monotone. The others, including the new Eddie Bauer, are the ill-advised two-tone rendered even worse by the restyled front end. The new front end is rounder than the old one, resulting in the automotive equivalent of a weak chin. Consumers wanted a bolder front end. The new three-bar chrome grille notwithstanding, Ford has instead provided a weaker one, at least from the bumper down.

I once owned a 1996 Ford Contour SE, and really liked it. (Well, at least until the engine lost compression in three cylinders at 66,000 miles owing to an engineering defect.) The Contour was styled in Europe, and partly as a result was a very clean, conservative design. Nothing glitzy about it. When the Contour didn't sell, Ford reacted by troweling the glitz onto this conservative base. I hated the result.

Well, Ford has down the same with the Freestyle. As the brochure takes pains to point out, the Taurus X has scads of chrome details strewn about on both its exterior and its interior.

Sorry, but when you try to add fancy details as an afterthought, starting with an understated design, the result appears forced and incoherent. This was the case with the freshened Contour, and it's again the case with the freshened Freestyle. Old wine, old bottle with fancy new Taurus X label.

Beginning in the early 2000s, Ford's interiors were understated and almost severely functional. The materials were of just moderate quality, but this was consistent with the interior styling. Well, with the Taurus X we have the same grade of materials paired with details that aspire to convey luxuriousness. And the effect is much like that of a glitzy silver-plated (real silver? probably not) wristwatch you can buy for $19.95 at Wal-Mart. No one is fooled by the watch, and no one will be fooled by all of the chrome details that the brochure dwells upon.

I especially dislike the new instrument cluster. It's highly styled in a manner that makes no rational sense, with a silverish band connecting the top halfs of the silverish main instruments. And it looks shockingly cheap. When driving a car, you look at the instrument cluster all the time. It should look good.

Accommodations

Ford's tweaking has failed to wreck the Freestyle's previous high point, its roomy and versatile interiors. Aside from the new glitz, it's the same interior as before.

The Ford Taurus X' driving position is excellent in terms of functionality. You sit higher above the instrument panel than in most competitors and the pillars are relatively upright and relatively thin--so visibility is very good all around. The only negative of this driving position is that a lower driving position, as in the GM and Mazda crossovers, tends to make a vehicle feel more upscale and substantial.

The Taurus X, like the Freestyle, has a much narrower exterior, and thus a narrower interior, than most competitors. While this takes away a bit from shoulder room, it pays of in terms of much less perceived bulk. The Taurus X is nearly as long as a GMC Acadia or Saturn Outlook, but from the driver's seat feels about half the size of the GM crossovers. It's the width and the high driving position.

The driver's seat itself remains the same shape. So (like every seat in the vehicle) it's broad, flat, and moderately firm. Probably good for long distance comfort, but it doesn't feel or look luxurious or sporty.

The second row (captains or a three-person split bench) remains very high off the floor (Ford calls this "command seating"), so unlike in most competitors adults will discover excellent thigh support.

They'll find no such support in the third row, which sits much lower to the floor. But there is adequate legroom and ample headroom for a pair of adults back there. It's an impressively well-packaged interior.

If you want to carry cargo instead of passengers, all of the seats except the driver's folds to form a low, flat load floor. The low floor is enabled by a third row seat that stows beneath the level of the floorpan, minivan style. In competing vehicles, where the seats fold flat on top of the floorpan, the resulting load floor is considerably higher. And some competitors, such as the GM crossovers, do not offer a folding front passenger seat.

On the Road

Many people criticized the Freestyle's 3.0-liter V6 for providing just 203 horsepower. In the age of the 269-horsepower Camry, this just won't do. Personally, I found acceleration adequate. The CVT likely helped here, though its gearless operation often felt a bit odd. My main beef with the old engine: it was loud and sounded coarse.

The Ford Taurus X has an entirely new powertrain, a 263-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 paired with the same new six-speed automatic you'll find in the Ford Edge two-row crossover and in GM's large new triplets (though Ford and GM use their own transmission software). The new engine feels much stronger. In fact, I was more impressed by its power here than in the lighter Lincoln MKZ sedan or in the heavier Edge. (My expectations were likely higher in the Lincoln, or the sedan's greater quietness dulled my perception of power.) From a low speeds on up, the Taurus X feels quick. The new powertrain in the revised Chrysler Pacifica feels gutsier still, but we're talking large crossovers here. As I've said elsewhere, the Mercedes R63 AMG makes no sense.

More than the engine's additional power, I appreciated its much higher level of refinement. It's not nearly as loud as the old engine, the noises it does make are much more refined, and it never sounds strained.

As in other vehicles with this transmission, shifts could be quicker and crisper, but I minded it less than in the other vehicles it occupies. Perhaps Ford has largely sorted out the programming.

Despite the new engine's much greater torque output, torque steer is mild even with front-wheel-drive. I recall more from a test drive in a 2006 Mercury Montego sedan.

Even better with today's high gas prices, the EPA fuel economy ratings remain the same (once you adjust for the new testing procedure). The Freestyle was very fuel efficient for a large crossover. It's good to see that the Taurus X retains this strength with the new, larger engine.

The Taurus X has a new steering system. The press material says its a fuel-saving electric assist system. The brochure says it's hydraulic. Maybe it's electro-hydraulic. Whatever it is, it feels awful. More specifically, it feels numb, indecisive, and vague. In contrast to the steering in competitors from Mazda and GM, in the revised Ford the steering didn't lend me an intuitive sense of the arc being carved through turns. In base form, the handling of the Freestyle could feel somewhat imprecise and sloppy. The Taurus X takes this feeling to the next level.

Ford has offered some vehicles with excellent handling in the past, including the Contour I once owned and the Focus compact. What went wrong? Well, for one thing, those Fords were developed in Europe, and this one was not.

Beyond this imprecise feel, you'll find a moderate amount of understeer and lean in turns. The base trim's tires start squealing early and easily. The Freestyle Limited, with lower profile tires, handled more crisply than the base Freestyle. Hopefully the same will be true with the Taurus X. All-wheel-drive might also improve the handling. Though, since the new steering system is used across all trims, I'm not very hopeful.

The Freestyle was criticized for not offering stability control. On the Taurus X this safety feature is standard. I'm usually a big fan of stability control. But on the Taurus X I'm now wondering if there's much of a point. The vehicle begs to be driven very conservatively, so it's hard to imagine someone pushing it so hard that the stability control is called for.

I suppose there's always the tricks played by snow and ice. There, this feature could still come in handy.

Since the Taurus X doesn't handle like a sport anything, perhaps the ride quality is stellar? Well, no. Despite the non-aggressive suspension tuning, ride quality, though smoother than with the Freestyle, is at best average, with a moderate amount of dancing and tossing over patchy surfaces. Both the Mazda and the GM crossovers have more composed, stable rides despite their superior body control in turns.

Ford claims that the Taurus X is very quiet. My ears detected sound levels that were lower than in the Freestyle but far from the lowest. Competitors tend to seem quieter, and to have a more premium feel as a result.

Ford Taurus X Price Comparisons and Pricing

The base price of the 2008 Ford Taurus X SEL is $700 higher than that of last year's Freestyle SEL. But the Taurus X includes an additional $1,000 in standard features, most notably stability control and an audio input jack, and the new V6, which isn't included in this calculation. So the price increase seems very reasonable--except that Ford has been offering up to $5,000 in rebates and dealer bonus cash on the Freestyle.

The new Taurus X starts about $2,500 below the 2008 GMC Acadia. The Acadia has about $700 in additional standard equipment, chiefly OnStar. Even adjusting for this, the Ford is considerably less expensive, and will likely have larger rebates towards the end of this year.

Prices change frequently, and differences will vary based on feature level. To quickly generate these and other comparisons with the specific features you want, visit my Web site, www.truedelta.com. (It's the only site that provides true "apples-to-apples" price comparisons.)

TrueDelta's page for the Ford Taurus and Ford Taurus X:

http://www.truedelta.com/models/Taurus.php

Last Words

I've been looking forward to the Freestyle with the new 3.5-liter V6 for a couple of years. Sadly, the resulting vehicle is a disappointment. Interior roominess and versatility remain big strong points, as does a relatively compact feel from behind the wheel. And the new engine is much stronger, much more refined, and just as efficient. But the added glitz is an unconvincing turn-off, and the new steering system is a mess. Sadly, Ford did not have its act together on this project. Perhaps with an eye on the Freestyle's low sales and the upcoming Edge and Flex they weren't really trying?

A Note on Ford Taurus X Reliability

I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've started collecting my own data. Results, once they are available, will be posted to my site, www.truedelta.com, with updates every three months.

Unlike other sources, TrueDelta will clearly identify what difference it will make if you buy a Taurus X rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats (among others). You will be able to specify the number of years, annual miles, and types of repairs to include in Ford Taurus X reliability comparisons.

Before I can report results, I need reliability data on all cars--not just the Taurus X--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants will have to pay an access fee.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Some of my reviews of related vehicles:
Buick Enclave review
Ford Freestyle review
GMC Acadia review
Hyundai Veracruz review
Mazda CX-9 review


Amount Paid (US$): 28000
Model Year: 2008
Model and Options: SEL FWD