I did not think this was possiblie even though i dont have any performance mods...me and the sable were going about 50 on a straight road and then he looks at me and i figure out he wants to race so he floors it and i floor it a second afterwards and my car wouldnt gain on him at all!! He was laughing at the next red light...i think he had no mods either..but i did beat a souped up cavalier

 

Aren't those available as a v8?

it's essentially the same car as a Taurus isn't it?.. hmm

 

Hmm, that's interesting, a Sable is not available in a V8, it has a 3.0l V6 rated at around 200 hp. Somewhere I saw a 0-60 figure of just over 8 seconds....

 

The other person got the jump. It's hard to recover from jumps with cars in the same general HP/weight groups.

 

i had a ford taurus (my first car) and even the manual says "ford taurus/mercury sable".

 

It would have a Ford-powered equivalent under the hood. It comes in 12 or 24 valve flavors both are 3.0l. The 24 valve puts out 200/200. The weight is 3,514. This info comes from the Mercury website. However, there is no telling what the after-market may bring for a Ford powered engine (eg there is probably performance stuff you can add).

 

Hey its ok....if it makes u feel better i lost to an ECHO!


















yeah right maybe in park

 

Say it ain't so, Say it ain't so!

 

I assume you have the automagic?

 

hahahha!

 

My wife's car is a 2000 Sable and I've driven it many times. It certainly is slower and less responsive than my Maxima. Having said that, I still think street racing is inherently dangerous and nothing to brag about.

 

I currently have the 24v (aka duratec) engine in my car. To tell you the truth, the maxima has a better aftermarket than a regular taurus. He could have a cai, 80mm maf, ds chip, etc under the hood, so I don't know. Remeber, the 24v engines were only available after 96, so if it wasn't the bubbly one or the current one that u lost to, you probably lost to a 12v 3.0 (140hp)(aka vulcan) or a 12v 3.8l (140hp).

 

12 valve 3.8 litre?!?!? Ford was smoking more crack than I ever imagined......

 

Yikes. Well I say go get back on the horse, power that is. Have you practiced driving technigues before? Its not all about pushing the pedal, even in a straight line with an auto. Go to Turnfast.com Good stuff.

Magellan, in all your years didn't you ever do just a little road racing? Come on... You were in your teens during the 50's. I bet you had at least one muscle car.

 

roflmao

 

I must say, never under estimate the power of Bull (Taurus)


I am the proud owner of a 1999 Ford Taurus SE with the Duratec engine.

I would not have chosen any other car. The MAIN reason is because of the following:

Ford Taurus - Rated "Best Pick" by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)


Nissan Maxiam - Rated Acceptable by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)



Ford has built it's name on safety. And the recent purchase of Volvo, and recalling ALL Firestone tires has boosted Ford's commitment to safety.

 

Hey guys, not flaming just putting a little bit of info out there about the competition.

Taurus/Sable, as of 1996 came with an optional 200hp dohc 3.0L engine. It is the same engine they put in the contour svt. With a little bit of work its a 14 sec car with the auto slush box.

As of 86 the taurus came with a 3.0 12 valve motor. In stock form it should be no problem for the maxima to take on. It makes 140 hp and 140 lb foot of torque. Which was raised to 155 hp in 200

Later on the 3.8 12 valve motor which is a v6 version of the 5.0L came out as the optional engine. This engine in stock form made 140 hp and 210 lb ft of torque. It is a prime candidate for supercharging since Ford produced a Supercharged 3.8 that was tough as nails for the thunder bird supercoupe. That engine made the same hp as the 5.0 and 15 more lb ft of torque stock.

Beware of the 3.0, 3.2, and 3.4 sho engines. They were the top performers from the factory. The 3.0 was a 24 valve 5 speed manual, from 89-95, the 3.2 was a 24 valve 4 speed auto from 92-95 and the 3.4 was a 32 valve v8 from 96-99.

So far I have my 12 valve 3.0 running a 14.2 in the 1/4 mile with out a supercharger and without nitrous. Not bad for a car that started out with 140 hp. Also i would look into the factory superchargers that nissan will be making (not sure if they already are) for the maxima.

By the way, how do your auto trany's hold up? Around 125 to 150 k our trany's usually give up due to a long life of extreem heat. A 24k gvw trans cooler is sufficient to bring our trany's into the 150-200* range.

 

Also there is the 4 Cylinder that was used for 4 years:
2.5 liter, In-line HSC
Production Years: 1986-1990
Trim Levels: L, GL, and MT5
Type: I-4 In-line OHV
Induction System: Electronic central fuel injection
Engine Controls: Electronic Engine Control (EEC-IV) computer
Displacement: 2.5
Valves: 8
Horsepower, SAE net: 90 @ 4400 rpm
Torque, SAE net: 130lb.-ft. @ 2600 rpm


And in the 1999 SHO they used a V8 (this was the only V8 availible in a Taurus)
Production Years: 1999
Trim Level: SHO
Type: V-8 60 degree DOHC
Induction System: Sequential multi-port fuel injection
Engine Controls: Electronic Engine Control (EEC-V) computer
Displacement: 3.4
Valves: 32
Horsepower, SAE net: 235 @ 6100 rpm
Torque, SAE net: 230lb.-ft. @ 4800 rpm



(I know Jason King from the Taurus Car Club of America)

 

And I would have chosen any *other* manufacturer.

Not only was the build quality *CRAP* on my contour SE, but they orphaned the effin' car after only *5* years. (Who the heck spends 4-5 billion on a platform, then orphans the main car built off that platform in the US after 5 years? Did they really think they'd retain their 6cyl contour buyers with the FOCUS?) Service was crap, and the car had a dozen niggling little problems that I could never get Ford to fix.

Yeah, it was a fun car to drive, but I don't know of any other manufacture who's decided that transmissions aren't a serviceable system, and where a broken motor mount can cause the transmission to fail.

Not to mention Ford's absolute *blunder* of uglifying these cars to the point only a mother could love.

Go ahead and try to do some type of justifcation based on safety, but I didn't buy my Max to ram it into stationary brick walls @35 mph. IIHS's tests would be way more credible if it wasn't run by the insurance companies. Real life accidents have little to do with how the IIHS and the NHTSA does their testing.

 

Hey!

Don't go dissin' dem 2-valve/cyl motors. They have great low end torque. That's what most people want, torque. They don't care about high-end power.

Them 1 gallon engines have been around for 25-30 years now, and aren't bad motors at all... Can you say Grand Prix GTP? (Yeah, I know that's a GM. Ford's mainstay engine today is that 24v 3.0l duretec derived mill, but GM sticks their 3.8l into just about everything...)

 

Sounds like it surely had something under the hood. Hear anything in particular as you were going? I know those Contours have a tricked-out engin that can come with them - so maybe the same with the Sable - but wouldn't think so!

 

Well, to be honest, I dont have a Maxima (they are sweet though) but I do drive a Taurus (gasp!). The Merc never had the V8, only 1996+ SHO Taurii did. He couldve had the 3.0 12v Vulcan (140 hp), the 3.8L 12v (140 hp but close to 200 lbft torque--that's what I have), or the newer 3.0 24v Duratec. My guess is he had the Duratec, just because its got a lot more hp than the other engines. You probably woud've whooped the other engines at that speed.