Safety & braking: Abs and big 4 wheel discs mean excellent stopping power in ant conditions.

Driving position & visibility: 8 way power seats, fully adjustable steering and adjustable pedals means anyone can find their ideal driving position.

Past personal experience: Owned a 91 SHO for 9 years and 180,00+ miles. Excellent reliability and a terrific ride.

Powertrain performance: Car has excellent torque from low rpm which makes it very responsive under normal driving conditions. It's "quick" as opposed to "fast".

Handling: We get winter snow and ice. AWD & stability control mean good control in terrible driving conditions.

Safety & braking: The Taurus has outstanding crash test scores in the IIHS and NHTSA tests, perhaps the best of any moderately priced car. The Volvo-based chassis is a plus, and ours has ESC. We have a beginning driver, and this car shouldn't inspire wild driving.

Driving position & visibility: Excellent visibility all around, with an especially high seating position for a sedan (one of the drivers is quite short). The big greenhouse, while not very stylish, makes the car feel less cramped, unlike many cars that have a higher beltline.

Rear seat room & comfort: One of the few cars we encountered with a rear seat that all family members found comfortable. Huge amounts of legroom, and again, the large greenhouse means that rear seat passengers don't feel as if they are in a tunnel.

Cargo capacity & towing: Huge, well shaped trunk, about as big as you can get in a sedan. The ability to fold down the rear seats and the front passenger seat is nice as well.

Handling: Safe, predictable handling, and ESC is available. Does not have a sporty feel, but that is desirable for us because one driver is a teenage boy.

Rear seat room & comfort: The taller family members found the seat uncomfortable -- I'm not sure if it was the length of the seat cushion or the rake of the back. Room is adequate, however.

Driving position & visibility: I just couldn't get comfortable! Rear visibility only fair due to fairly large rear pillars and higher beltline.

Cargo capacity & towing: Trunk only average sized, not much bigger than some compacts.

Safety & braking: Felt less safe due to somewhat vague or numb steering, and handling felt light and a bit mushy. Many Camrys not equipped with ESC. Poor rear crash tests with IIHS.

Front seat comfort: Just could not get comfortable.

Past personal experience: I owned one before that I had put over 280k miles on it, and never had any major engine problems. It was one of the most reliable cars I ever owned, and never left me stranded. My current Taurus has the same engine as the '93 I had.

Front seat room: I'm about 6 feet tall, and this is one of the few cars I don't have to put the seat all the way back. The seats are comfortable and have ample support. I can have other 6 footers in the back seat comfortably, without moving the front seats forward.

Insurance & depreciation: Insurance is dirt cheap on these cars, as the parts are cheap, and they're safe cars. Depreciation is steep, though.

Reliability & durability: I've had only 2 minor problems in 3 years and 88k miles.

Safety & braking: These cars have always done very well in crash tests, and the brakes are good (although ABS is not standard). I have 88k miles and never had to put brakes on (still +40% front pad left).

Safety & braking: These little match box cars did very poor in crash tests, and I thought stopping distance was long.

Insurance & depreciation: I would pay the same amount on insurance on this little toy as I would on a Corvette, per my insurance agent.

Ride smoothness: The ride is choppy, as one would expect from a subcompact car.

Quietness: Going down the interstate at 70, the engine/road noise makes driving this car any long distance a chore.

Rear seat room & comfort: It's too small for taller passengers to sit back there, and just so somone can fit back there means giving up front seat leg room, of which is also tight.

Powertrain performance: Good power .

Price or payments: Low price for its class.

Reliability & durability: Few problems. Inexpensive to fix.

Handling: Predictable handling.

Past personal experience: Old Taurus reliable and easy to get parts and service.

Reliability & durability: Transmission broke even when service far more than owners manual asked for. ATF change every 10,000 miles. Broken transmission. Rattles, stuck doors. Battery died one year. Both rear vent window motors broken, don't work.

Past personal experience: Fussy to service. Terrible dealer service. Uses Honda brand only fluids for brake, AT, steering, antifreeze. Dealer too busy or just lazy. Bad service. Poor and inadequate troubleshooting. I diagnose my own vehicle to tell how to fix it properly.

Fuel economy: 16-mpg. mixed driving. Bad. Much worse than EPA estimate. Dealer is big on excuses. Nothing on real help.

Dealership practices: High pressure sales. Try to switch numbers agreed on behind your back. Dishonest.

Materials & workmanship: Broken transmission. Owner can not compensate for bad design and manufacturing. Noisy. Rattles, squeaks. Doors stick. Window motors break. Cheaply made junk. Fabric wears out quickly,looks old. Paint thin and chips. Steel too thin. Dents easily.

Quietness: With good tires, the car is wonderfully comfy and handles reasonably well for an American offering, certainly better than comparable GM or Dodge alternatives and more reliable.

Past personal experience: The Duratec engine is amazing. Reliable & low maintenance cost.

Insurance & depreciation: Safe & inexpensive car = low insurance cost. Quick initial depreciation means the used car values remain relatively steady for a few years.

Price or payments: Available used for very low prices, and well equipped too.

Safety & braking: 5 star crash ratings.

Color choices: Not enough choice - particularly the interior.

Dealership practices: The local Lincoln Mercury dealer charged me for brake service that was never performed. They are now out of business so I have no recorse.

Powertrain performance: The Maxima gives and gives and gives! 255 HP in a 3200 lb vehicle provides awe-inspiring performance, ESPECIALLY when mated to the six-speed manual. The silky smooth engine and drivetrain has no faults, performance-wise.

Reliability & durability: It has far fewer problems than the Taurus and is predicted to age with more grace than the 4th generation Tauruses could ever hope to achieve.

Available features: Fully-loaded, the Maxima is a solid, mid/low-level luxury car. Nice leather, a helical limited-slip differential, BOSE audio, and plenty of (then) cutting edge technological features are all well-engineered and a pleasure to use.

Materials & workmanship: One can immediately see the difference in parts that Nissan chose, versus Ford. Metal for the import, plastic for the import. Everything feels like it was manufactured just for ME, not just to fulfill another day's work quota.

Exterior styling: It's certainly an acquired taste, but is different enough to stand out from the four-door sedan crowd. At the same time, the profile is generic enough that no one realizes its power and potential at a glance--police aren't looking for a car such as thi

Reliability & durability: The Taurus completely fell apart on me, starting at a whopping 90K miles. The insides hold together well, but everything important, the powertrain, suspension, etc., failed at very ripe ages.

Powertrain performance: The Taurus weighs 3400 pounds on a good day and is powered by a 155 HP iron block from the 1980s? Get real, that's just enough juice to move around, but is not enough to perform emergency maneuvers with multiple passengers. Highway onramps, especially.

Fuel economy: It's terrible. My all-time best was 34 MPG, pure highway, no A/C, windows up, at a steady 60 MPH. Typical fuel economy, mostly highway, was 24 MPG. The head gasket failure dropped that to 21, combined. The E85 rating is even worse! The engine is ancien

Exterior styling: I like the curves, quite a lot, but the fact that there are roughly 2.5 million other fourth generation Tauruses on the roads means you don't have the slightest shred of exclusivity. The outside just leaves a big shrug and no real emotions.

Exterior styling: Sharp and agressive looks.

Powertrain performance: Performance + for a 4-door sedan

Handling: Crisp and taunt.

Audio & nav systems: Outstanding Sony system. Along with the nav system and Sync, you can't beat information that's available.

Safety & braking: Safe and sure. No adverse brake fade or wheel stoppage during hard braking.

Exterior styling: It is a gorgeous looking sporty luxury sedan.

Powertrain performance: It has pickup to keep me interested in it, its not just all show no go.

Quietness: It is amazingly road quiet...after the noise in my prius, this is quite the change.

Front seat room: I'm a big guy (6'3, 325lbs) and I fit comfortably in the front seat while someone can still sit behind me.

Available features: I was more then surprised by the amount of high-end options Ford put into this and didn't "save" for the Lincoln, it is really what pushed me over the buy line for it vs the MKS, as it is much sportier looking.

Powertrain performance: The powertrain responds instantly to input and applies the power quickly and evenly all the way up to redline. When the twin Turbo's kick in you'll forget you're driving a 5400-pound car.

Interior styling: We chose the black leather with tan suede accents and graphite dash and console panels. It's a unique, sporty look you don't expect to find in a car this luxurious.

Handling: The car hugs the road like you are driving on a slot car track. Some body roll is inevitable with a car of this size and weight, but the suspension does an excellent job at countering it.

Front seat comfort: Independently adjustable lumbar and cushion supports, individual front seat heaters, coolers and massagers for both the seat cushion and the back. Need I say more?

Exterior styling: Radical change from the old Taurus/500. Very 'un Ford' like.

Interior styling: Good mix of materials, very nice center stack, nice instrument cluster.

Ride smoothness: Very, very smooth ride... but not 'soft'.

Front seat comfort: Leather appointed seats are like sitting in an easy chair.

Fuel economy: Very respectable mileage for a heavy, stylish car.

Driving position & visibility: As with the Fusion, the window is very high in relation to the seat.

Ride smoothness: Do 35,000 kM driving a year and wanted a comfortable, smooth riding vehicle with good handling and power.

Quietness: Low road noise, compared to Fusion was superior.

Front seat comfort: Good driving position, steering wheel design and arm rests.

Safety & braking: Full air bags with curtain & all wheel ABS disc brakes.

Past personal experience: Has been a good reliable model for Ford.