Drider_it

ok recently our car was totaled.. we have the option of a possible lemon or getting a loan to get a used ford from the local ford place.. we want a car its us and three children in this family.. my wife drives a bit to college.. whats a good ford car with the gas milage being better or average.

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DEI37

With three kids, that pretty much takes the Focus out of the equation. I'd look at a Taurus, with the pushrod Vulcan 3.0 V6.

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irseg

I'd second the recommendation for a Taurus, you can get a ~2000 model dirt cheap and they are pretty reliable.

However, I had a 2005 Taurus rental car. The gas mileage was pathetic for a 150hp V6-- according to its trip computer I got 20.5 mpg from Ohio to Wisconsin. My V8 Lincoln Mark VIII with almost double the horsepower gets 26 mpg on the same trip. Go figure. It could be that the Taurus was working a lot harder to maintain 80+ mph, however. Maybe the Duratec (same size V6 but DOHC and 200hp) is better.

1slOwCD8

How small are your kids? If you dont care what the car is, id go with a focus station wagon, the focus zx5, or a windstar.
How would the taurus be any better than a focus? Like roomy wise, there both 4door sedans.

yakimushi

I'll put in another vote for the wagon focus.

If you don't give a rats ass about the kids get a Focus SVT or a Mustang

Ilow

No comparison. There is much more room in a full sized sedan than in a midsize, all the way around, headroom, legroom, etc. A Ferrari and an Eclipse are technically both two door sports cars...
Actually as the above posters said, I think the Taurus might fit the bill pretty well for you, if you have to get a Ford.

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Gaud

You could also find a nice post 98 Contour LX(SE). Depending on your childrens age, this would be a nice buy.

29-34 Highway
19-24 City

If you take care of them they'll take care of you...

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DEI37

The problem with the Contour is size. If you buy a Contour, buy an Escort instead. It's larger on the interior...the later Escort, that is...newer body style. I'm still all about a Vulcan powered Taurus.

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Gaud

Escort is the smaller in this family line, the class would be

Escort (small)
Contour (mid)
Taurus (mid-lrg)

You could look into getting a Contour with a 3.0L from either a Taurus or an Escape. Although that would kill your MPG.

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TM875

The only problem is with a Contour, if you get hit you're dead. Very poor safety records.

Do the Taurus thing. Even better, look for an used Crown Vic or Police Interceptor. Gas mileage isn't that much worse than a Taurus (about 18-24 mixed) and lots roomier. Plus you'll be able to haul around all of the kids' stuff.

I picked up my '97 Mercury Grand Marquis for around $6K. A Crown Vic from that year would be much, much cheaper.

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DEI37

Sure, the EPA class rating is bigger for the Contour, but even Ford stated that the interior volume was 10% more for that last generation Escort than the Contour/Mistake twins.

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merkerguitars

I would almost say a Crown Vic or a grand marquis, but if it snows where you live thats kinda out of the question. Plus they aren't really gas friendly (when compared to a car of the same size and close to the same engine)

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