I was early in my second game, and I was in need of a more powerful car to race in the FF challenge. I had my starter car, a Honda Del-Sol, but it just wasnt cutting the cheese. I walked into the showroom of the late 90s used car lot, and asked the manager if I could go look around the lot. He allowed, so I walked around the lot, looking at the window stickers. I had budgeted $15,000 to buy a powerful front wheel drive car. That had the usual stuff, such as Civics, Corollas, Skylines, a few 3000GTs, and of course, NSXs. I looked over a nice 98 Civic Type R, and if I didnt see anything I liked, then I was going to take a nice looking Mitsubishi Eclipse that I kindly asked the manager at the early 90s used car lot to hold for me.
After looking over the cars, I was about ready to head off to the other used car lot and buy that Eclipse, but just as I was about to leave, something caught me eye. I saw a red 1998 Taurus SHO. I could tell that it was a 1998, because it had the chrome wheels and no orange turn indicators. It had a tan interior that looked to be in showroom condition. The leather wasnt even wrinkled! I looked on the window sticker to see more about it. It said that it put out 230 HP, had only 30,000 miles, and was right within my budget, with a price of only $13,000. I walked back into the office, and asked the manager about the SHO. He told me that it had just come in, and that it was the best taken care of model that he had ever seen. He said that it as bought new in 1998 as a company car for an executive. It was sold in 2000 in a company auction, when they were selling some of their un needed assets, as the executive had just bought a new Town Car. It was bought by an elderly man, who continued to drive it gently. He died, and it was given to his grandson. Well, he was shipped off to Iraq, and he asked his mother to sell the car, instead of just letting it waste away, so she sold it to the late 90s dealer where I stand.
I asked the manager if I could take it for a test drive, and he tossed me the keys, and asked that I be back in thirty minutes. I headed back into the lot, and got in, adjusted the seat, and started her up. The engine purred, and the interior still had the new car smell. I turned on the radio, and set it to my favorite adult contemporary station. I swear, Celine Dion sounds just amazing through an 8 speaker THX sound system! Anyways, after taking it for a quick trip to 7-elevin for a Mountain Dew, I drive back to the dealer, and decided to buy it. I walked back into the managers office, and he asked me if I liked it. I told him that I was set to buy it. I had the cash on hand, so I wrote him a pretty little $13,000 check. He handed me the keys and warranty brochure, and I was on my way.
I logged onto the Taurus Car Club of America, where I have an account, and showed it off to everyone. That was when I realized that the cams werent welded. For those who dont know, there is a major defect with G3 SHOS where the cams will fail, destroying the entire engine in the process. So, the next day, I took my new SHO straight to the Ford dealer in order to get the cams welded. While that was being done, I jumped into my Eagle Talon which had just come from the Jiffy Lube, and I redid the Sunday Cup in order to cover the work. While the SHO was at the Ford dealer, I had them change the oil, since it was due. I had them put in that new Q synthetic, to bring out the engines maximum power, which I put in all my cars.
The next day, I picked up my SHO from the Ford dealer, and while I was there, I picked up the latest Ford products brochure just in case I wanted to mod it up. From there, it was straight to the track. To get used to the SHO, I took it to the Nurmburgring. It didnt do too shabby, but I was constantly annoyed by how sluggish the SHO was coming out of the turns, mostly due to its crappy transmission. You see, the SHOs transmission was originally designed for the normal Taurus, as it came on the 96-97 LX and later, the 98-99 SE when ordered with the optional Duratec engine. So, the transmission was designed for smooth delivery instead of performance, so the gear spacing was super wide, and worse, it was an automatic. No manual transmission came with the G3 SHO. It also torque steered badly, and understeered like a tank. I constantly found myself slamming on the brakes in the apex of turns because it was constantly sliding towards the grass.
Despite that, I just folded up the Ford parts catalog and stuck it on my coffee table. I didnt think that I had to mod my SHO, since I was expecting my opponents to be a bunch of low powered imports, and although I would be cumbersome in the turns, I would be able to get far enough away from them with the SHOs massive straight line power, to the point where I could bumble my way through the turns without having some farty sounding Civic blowing past me.
I entered the first race that was at Midfield speedway. My lineup was fairly easy. It was just want I expected a bunch of low powered Civics and other assorted imports. I wasted them easily. I didnt have much trouble though Midfields turns, as they were wide and pretty high speed. I managed to net a six second win. I then took it to the next race in Japan at Suzuka Circuit East Course. Again, I easily won because the turns were soft and high speed, and I had a somewhat easy lineup. I however was up against another SHO, so I found myself battling him throughout the race. I managed to shake him though, and I had the final lap to myself.
The next race was at China, and that was where everything fell apart. It was at Hong Kong, which was nothing but sharp 90 degree turns and very little straights. Worse, I was up against a Dodge SRT-4, a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse (Just like the one I considered buying when I decided to get the SHO), another SHO, and the rest were just some low powered imports like Civics and stuff. Needless to say, the SRT-4 and Eclipse had a field day with my SHO. The SHO was simply slaughtered by those turns. I finished in a dismal fifth place. I attempted to rectify the situation with a chip out of the parts catalog.That didnt work, and I got wasted as well in the last two races. After multiple tries, I still got wasted.
I finally decided to get another car, because the SHO just wasnt cutting it. So, I sold the SHO for a nice seven thousand on the Taurus Car Club of America to a SHO enthusiast. I then went to the early 90s used car lot, and bought the red Mitsubishi Eclipse there. Pretty much, the SHO was an ok car at best. It was quick in the straights, but too cumbersome in the turns, it understeered badly, and was sluggish coming out of them. Although it is Okay for the FF challenge, it is useless everywhere else unless it is tuned up. So, pretty much, unless you are going to mod it up, or are a Taurus or SHO enthusiast, then the Taurus SHO is not worth your time.
After looking over the cars, I was about ready to head off to the other used car lot and buy that Eclipse, but just as I was about to leave, something caught me eye. I saw a red 1998 Taurus SHO. I could tell that it was a 1998, because it had the chrome wheels and no orange turn indicators. It had a tan interior that looked to be in showroom condition. The leather wasnt even wrinkled! I looked on the window sticker to see more about it. It said that it put out 230 HP, had only 30,000 miles, and was right within my budget, with a price of only $13,000. I walked back into the office, and asked the manager about the SHO. He told me that it had just come in, and that it was the best taken care of model that he had ever seen. He said that it as bought new in 1998 as a company car for an executive. It was sold in 2000 in a company auction, when they were selling some of their un needed assets, as the executive had just bought a new Town Car. It was bought by an elderly man, who continued to drive it gently. He died, and it was given to his grandson. Well, he was shipped off to Iraq, and he asked his mother to sell the car, instead of just letting it waste away, so she sold it to the late 90s dealer where I stand.
I asked the manager if I could take it for a test drive, and he tossed me the keys, and asked that I be back in thirty minutes. I headed back into the lot, and got in, adjusted the seat, and started her up. The engine purred, and the interior still had the new car smell. I turned on the radio, and set it to my favorite adult contemporary station. I swear, Celine Dion sounds just amazing through an 8 speaker THX sound system! Anyways, after taking it for a quick trip to 7-elevin for a Mountain Dew, I drive back to the dealer, and decided to buy it. I walked back into the managers office, and he asked me if I liked it. I told him that I was set to buy it. I had the cash on hand, so I wrote him a pretty little $13,000 check. He handed me the keys and warranty brochure, and I was on my way.
I logged onto the Taurus Car Club of America, where I have an account, and showed it off to everyone. That was when I realized that the cams werent welded. For those who dont know, there is a major defect with G3 SHOS where the cams will fail, destroying the entire engine in the process. So, the next day, I took my new SHO straight to the Ford dealer in order to get the cams welded. While that was being done, I jumped into my Eagle Talon which had just come from the Jiffy Lube, and I redid the Sunday Cup in order to cover the work. While the SHO was at the Ford dealer, I had them change the oil, since it was due. I had them put in that new Q synthetic, to bring out the engines maximum power, which I put in all my cars.
The next day, I picked up my SHO from the Ford dealer, and while I was there, I picked up the latest Ford products brochure just in case I wanted to mod it up. From there, it was straight to the track. To get used to the SHO, I took it to the Nurmburgring. It didnt do too shabby, but I was constantly annoyed by how sluggish the SHO was coming out of the turns, mostly due to its crappy transmission. You see, the SHOs transmission was originally designed for the normal Taurus, as it came on the 96-97 LX and later, the 98-99 SE when ordered with the optional Duratec engine. So, the transmission was designed for smooth delivery instead of performance, so the gear spacing was super wide, and worse, it was an automatic. No manual transmission came with the G3 SHO. It also torque steered badly, and understeered like a tank. I constantly found myself slamming on the brakes in the apex of turns because it was constantly sliding towards the grass.
Despite that, I just folded up the Ford parts catalog and stuck it on my coffee table. I didnt think that I had to mod my SHO, since I was expecting my opponents to be a bunch of low powered imports, and although I would be cumbersome in the turns, I would be able to get far enough away from them with the SHOs massive straight line power, to the point where I could bumble my way through the turns without having some farty sounding Civic blowing past me.
I entered the first race that was at Midfield speedway. My lineup was fairly easy. It was just want I expected a bunch of low powered Civics and other assorted imports. I wasted them easily. I didnt have much trouble though Midfields turns, as they were wide and pretty high speed. I managed to net a six second win. I then took it to the next race in Japan at Suzuka Circuit East Course. Again, I easily won because the turns were soft and high speed, and I had a somewhat easy lineup. I however was up against another SHO, so I found myself battling him throughout the race. I managed to shake him though, and I had the final lap to myself.
The next race was at China, and that was where everything fell apart. It was at Hong Kong, which was nothing but sharp 90 degree turns and very little straights. Worse, I was up against a Dodge SRT-4, a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse (Just like the one I considered buying when I decided to get the SHO), another SHO, and the rest were just some low powered imports like Civics and stuff. Needless to say, the SRT-4 and Eclipse had a field day with my SHO. The SHO was simply slaughtered by those turns. I finished in a dismal fifth place. I attempted to rectify the situation with a chip out of the parts catalog.That didnt work, and I got wasted as well in the last two races. After multiple tries, I still got wasted.
I finally decided to get another car, because the SHO just wasnt cutting it. So, I sold the SHO for a nice seven thousand on the Taurus Car Club of America to a SHO enthusiast. I then went to the early 90s used car lot, and bought the red Mitsubishi Eclipse there. Pretty much, the SHO was an ok car at best. It was quick in the straights, but too cumbersome in the turns, it understeered badly, and was sluggish coming out of them. Although it is Okay for the FF challenge, it is useless everywhere else unless it is tuned up. So, pretty much, unless you are going to mod it up, or are a Taurus or SHO enthusiast, then the Taurus SHO is not worth your time.
How about taking on Callaways & Vipers in a stock SHO? 
But if i get the full-custom transmission, it can be modified to be a manual sometimes.
