to German engineering

[Larry C. Leung]

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Come to think of it, I believe that the first Taurus design studies were
around '82. Again, not
saying that there weren't influences (heck, everyone was looking to
improve fuel milage at that
time, it was the eighties, after gas crisis #2. Ask me how I know....)
but again, science seems to
also yield similar designs, due to the nature of, well, nature. If you
look at the underpinnings of
the cars (and their respective price points!), they had rather different
goals in mind. Rear suspensions
were markedly different, front suspension of the Taurus actually had MUCH
better roll camber
change control, the Taurus from the beginning was designed for a 6 cyl
TRANSVERSE engine
mounting, etc. And, the Taurus was designed for about 1/2 the price of
the type 44. Of course,
that shows, particularly in the interior, running gear, longevity, etc. I
don't agree with Ford claiming
that it was the first unibody aero sedan, but it certainly was the first
in the US, and it was not a
bad feat of engineering for it's day, considering the state of US auto
engineering in the early eighties
(which brought us such greats as the K-car, Omni/Horizon, Chebby Cavalier
and Caddy Cimerron
to name a few).

It's not that I don't love Audis (can't think of another I'd own right
off hand), but I can also recognize
good things done by other manufacturers.

LL - NY (rose colored glasses, off)

On Thu, 28 Aug 2003 12:45:32 -0400 cobram at juno.com writes:
Audi was giving Journalists and others type 44's to test in Europe as
early as 1982.

Could be a coincidence, but there are too many similarities in the Ford
product for my cynical self to believe that.

BCNU,
http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/


"Larry C. Leung" <l.leung at juno.com> writes:
Minor Correction. The first Ford Taurus went on sale in 1986. The type 44
was introduced in 1984. The development time on the Taurus was a "short"
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