My feeling: Yes.

Have you heard about the design problem that Crown Victoria has? I had never heard about this car model until it made to the front page of Phoenix newspapers some years ago. Periodically they interviewed one policeman who was severely burned; it always made us sad reading the updates.

Do the search of "Phoenix police car Crown Victoria", and please read the related articles.

The reason CV's are no longer 'sellilng' is because they guzzle even more gas than the Taurus's do and everyone's now looking to move to smaller, more efficient cars. Plus you could just be looking at a whole new can of worms. I'm not suggesting you shell out now for everything on the Taurus, but just consider that every car hits some kind of wall over time and things will need repairing, let alone dinosaurs like CV's.

no offense but since it is a ford i would replace it. we used to keep our cars 7 to 10 years and when were looking to replace one my husband was looking at a ford. the salesman said if you keep your cars as long as you kept this one you need to stick with what you have been buying, Buicks or Oldsmobile. we did that and never had major repairs to make. i know this is not a popular opinion, but the last decade we have bought foreign except for my husbands pick ups. our last buick was assembled in this country with foreign parts, so was a Toyota we had for a short time.

We keep our cars a long time too, but drive little. We buy a 'last year's' model with a four to six year warranty and buy one or two extended warranties until we replace the car. I budget depreciation on a car based on replacing after six years.

when my husband was still with me we drove a lot, but now that i am alone i have only put 8,000 miles on my Nissan and it will be 2 years old next month.

"no offense but since it is a ford i would replace it. we used to keep our cars 7 to 10 years and when were looking to replace one my husband was looking at a ford. the salesman said if you keep your cars as long as you kept this one you need to stick with what you have been buying, Buicks or Oldsmobile. we did that and never had major repairs to make."

That was HIS opinion...
and MY comment is personal experience.

DD is still driving the 1995 Ford Taurus we bought ages ago for the kids to have.

It has never had any problems other than a stuck seat belt and a dead battery. It has been maintained very well, has lived through horrid winters here in PA without a garage, and now is in Redmond Washington with her.

That Ford is now 14 years old and going strong.

My ex and I bought a '95 Taurus new. It's now hers. That car has now covered well over 100,000 miles despite a lack of rigorous maintenance, being driven in a congested urban area, and a history of being able to locate and hit any pothole in the road. Sure, it's needed repairs. But the fact that it's even still around has greatly improved my perception of American cars.

There are two main reasons to trade in a car, IMHO. One reason is that it no longer meets your needs/priorities: you have kids and/or a boat or trailer (or don't anymore and don't need a big vehicle with poor fuel mileage); and so on. The other reason is because you no longer have confidence in the car. This can happen after being stranded just once or after having dropped several hundred dollars in repairs on the car again.

In this case, it sounds like mommabird has a little of both going on. So maybe it is time for a "new" vehicle. But one note -- any vehicle eventually will need brakes and tires, so the fact that the bills are coming due for those is unfortunate, but it's coincidental and should not count as a "repair", even though it is a cost.

"no offense but since it is a ford i would replace it. we used to keep our cars 7 to 10 years and when were looking to replace one my husband was looking at a ford. the salesman said if you keep your cars as long as you kept this one you need to stick with what you have been buying, Buicks or Oldsmobile."

That's a bunch of "BS" if I ever heard it and that salesman is a flat out jerk! I would never deal with a salesman that trashes the competition. Our first Taurus lasted 104,000. It was an 86 demo with 6,000+ miles on it. Out next Taurus was a brand new 93 with all the toys. It ran to 168,000+ before it finally died. Out 97 Taurus was also a dealer demo that made 137,000+ until our youngest totaled it. Right now I drive a 05 Ford Explorer and fully expect it to last well over 100,000 miles. My 98 Explorer made over 100,000 with no problem.

If you don't want to repair it,look for a good pre-owned vehicle. I would repair it. I would wait until the timing chain needs to be replaced and then fix the leak. Your timing chain is going to be due at around 90,000. Brakes at 85,000 - that's darn good.

Just so you know, we have purchased 14 cars from the same Ford dealership over the years, since 1975. Every one made it well over 100,000 miles. No major problems. I don't count brakes as a major problem. They need to be replaced at some point - even on the imports. And your KBB value is higher than you think. The repairs won't total more than the car's value.

Sounds like you want a new car. Your choice.

Enjoy the journey.
eal51 in western CT

Thanks everyone for your insights.

Over the last 29 years, between DH & I, we've had 10 Fords. Every one has lasted 10+ years and the lowest mileage one we had when traded was 135,000. I think this 2002 Taurus is just a "dud" but I've had 3 other Taurus' since 1986 & had excellent records. I had a 1989 Ford Explorer that ran over 200K miles & 13 years. I sold it for $2,000 when I bought the current Taurus and some college kid is probably still delivering pizzas in it! And the love of my life was my 1983 red Thunderbird - DH and I traded it back and forth for 13 years, until our 2nd son was born and the back seat was way too small for 2 car seats.

My mechanic gave me a good insight on the "gas guzzler" Crown Vic when I discussed with him what he would buy if he were looking for a used car and had less than $10K to spend. He said he'd go for a full size sedan becuase they still get around 20 mpg, and cost around &8 to $10K. If I kept the car for 6 years, and gas even went back to $4 a gallon, I'd still spend way less total than buying a small car for $14K or more. Plus with 3 unusually tall boys, a small car just won't fit us. He said his top pic for a used sedan would be a Nissan Maxima but it's just not big enough for us.

I am very hard on cars - I only live 3 miles from work and most days drive 10 miles or less of 'stop at every corner' type driving. That's really hard on a car, so if my Fords have lasted 135,000 or miles or more, it's like double that in highway miles.

I will most likely buy another Ford, mostly because of my good experience up to now, and also because Ford is in better financial condition and will be around to honor any warranty.

I know intellectually that I should get rid of this car before it blows, but emotionally I'm just not sure I am ready to spend the $$ on a "new" car. Every time I say I'm going to look at cars, I come up with an excuse not to. I just took 2 weeks off work and had several days with no plans, but never managed to make it to look at cars. I live right in the city & near a major business corridor with 5 or 6 dealerships in a 5 mile stretch, but still can't seem to make it over there!

Statistical study show that the cheapest way of owning a car, in the long run, is to buy a GOOD 3 year old car, keep it for 3 years and then replace it with another 3 year old car, and keep going on that schedule. That way you eliminate paying for the rapid depreciation during the first 3 years, but you get a car that still has a reasonable amount of life left. Of course, these conclusions are based on averages from large numbers, and every individual experience will differ. But it is still a good guide.

Go the Consumer Reports. They list the cars and models they consider good used car buys. I hope you can find one that your son can fit into.

Good luck.

haus: that sounds like a good plan! It's around 6 years that all the major maintence costs start piling up, even if nothing breaks down.

We had two used cars for a while - a 1995 Taurus and a 1996 Buick Regal. The Taurus was a better car, hands-down, in every way. It was at 121K when I finally gave it to a friend.

The Regal has 59K on it, and the innards are basically the cheapest, crappiest components possible to use. It already leaks oil, despite my very good mechanic's every effort; whereas none of my Escorts, Contour, or Taurus ever did (nor did our Acura, Honda, or current Hyundai).

In addition, the Regal drives and brakes like a typical American big car, despite its small size. The Taurus outweighed it, got equal gas mileage, braked and handled 10x better, and could carry a load heavier than most small pick-ups. In our experience, it was never a contest as to which car was better designed and built.

We prefer to buy our used cars at dealerships. You pay more, but they're generally better quality overall. The only time we bought privately we got burned quite badly, so after that we stuck to dealership used cars. Right now is an excellent time to buy a used car, with a lot of cars coming off leases and piling up on dealers' lots.