Typical American car. Fancy with bad design

I was able to drive this car around Rhode Island for a week as a rental this summer. The single most impressive aspect was its styling. After walking up to the car and thinking "Wow, this is nice," I was floored to see the 'Taurus' name on the back. It's quite large and pretty roomy inside.

I would say overall, there's not too much spectacular about this car, but there are a few simple reasons I would never buy one.

First, the gas mileage is pretty terrible. I drove it about 700 miles over the week, mostly on highways, and got about 20 mpg. Ford needs to get with the times with their fuel efficiency.

Second, the turning radius is appalling. Good luck trying to parallel park it.

Third, the button to turn on the dome light is below and to the left of the steering column... and it's right next to (you guessed it!) the button to the open the trunk. So, yes, when you're fumbling around in the dark to turn on the dome light, don't be surprised if you hear the trunk pop open. It even opens when you're driving, which happened to me. :)

I realize that these three issues are by themselves relatively small, but I was driving it for less than a week. The lack of attention to detail with these aspects leads one to believe other poor design areas will show up as one becomes more familiar with the car.