Sometimes brand loyalty really sucks....

RaniDart70 said

I agree that is not always a bad idea to get the performance model. My dad used to buy the Taurus with the OHV 3.0 and that makes a ford tortoise. Then he drove one with a DOHC and now he wont buy it unless it has a DOHC. He likes the extra power and the power makes it more comfortable to drive.

The OHV would feel a huge OOOOOOFFF in the power with the a/c on and it was not comfortable to keep downshifting on the highway just to keep up with traffic. The DOHC can have the a/c full blast and it handles it and still keeps up with traffic and everything, its great

surprisingly the DOHC is actually easier to work on ...I had to change the a/c compressor and I got it through the front by loosening the mounts and rotating the engine with a ratchet strap.

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Working on the DOHC is a place that I will disagree with you on. The DOHC on the Taurus engine uses very small valve stems, the timing chains are a huge pia to replace, the heads are a lot wider than the Vulcan (OHV) engine and you don't even have to loosen a motor mount to swap the AC compressor on a Vulcan engine. I have bout and sold over 50 tortoise Taurus tortoises and at one time every one of my kids, my wife and I was driving them. Ending with the 2005 Taurus, Ford dropped the DOHC and still maintained the Vulcan engine. Most people don't know that you can put the flex fuel Vulcan in place of a plain Vulcan either. You just have to know what you are doing.

Little do most people know, the Vulcan Taurus long block is the same long block that is used in the Ranger pick ups and Aerostar vans. At the salvage, we used to pull engines out of wrecked Tauruses, swap the required parts off the Ranger engine and install them.

If you really want to drive a Taurus with some power, try a 1998 or 1999 SHO. They definitely have the most power and absolutely the most miserable to work on too.