I fianlly got a chance to drive one today. I really liked it, but I didn't love it.
The exterior looks very good, but it does need a bit more to set it apart from the other Taurus models. If there was another specialer edition, I'd like the looks more.
Why is this car so tall? I don't think I could wash the whole roof, but not becuase I am short. Seriously, it's SO tall. Maybe I'm just used to smaller cars. The 20" wheels make it look a little shorter, but then I stood next to it. High COG? Fo shizzle.
The hidden keypad is pretty cool.
I love the interior. The heated/cooled/massaging seats are great, the materials are comfy. If we're bashing Pontiac, I will say that the dash and stuff looks WAY better than the G8, which just screams rental. I like the adjustable pedals, the steering wheel feel and the guages. The 7 mood light colors might be a bit much, but whatever. I like all the tech stuff, like the back-up camera, the thing that senses cars when you back out from between 2 Excursiditions, the blind spot warning. All good stuff. The adaptive cruise control is a bad idea. That's gonna cause problems. People aren't responsible enough for that. Well, SHO drivers will not set it and start the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzles, but someone will.
All the voice activated stuff is cool, but more steps to accomplish simple tasks. I didn't try ripping CDs or plugging in a thumb drive, but it sounds cool, as long as it keeps the music the way I have it organized. If not, it's just gonna be a mess. The nav seems better than most. Probably a lot better than the one in my VW.
I drove it in heavy rain. It goes fast, for a pig. Yes, it is a fast pig, and I guess all the tech stuff kind of takes its toll on the weight. I didn't get to mash it from a stop, but I did a few pulls from about 45 mph. It did pretty much what I expected. I have a 34 hp AWD Audi wagon 4000 lb pig for comparison. The Audi's TQ is lower, but it seems to accellerate a bit better. I'd have to drive it a bit more to sort that one out. This sounds pretty irresponsible, because it is, but the car did not feel anywhere near as stable as the Audi does at 80 mph in the rain. It just wasn't as confidence inspiring. I would really like to drive the SHO in the snow, to see how the AWD really does, but I don't think it's going to meet my AWD expectations. My wagon is phenomenal in the snow. That's a lot to live up to.
The visibility from inside is kind of...confining? I think it has really thick A, B and C pillars, which makes it feel pretty enclosed, and reduces visibility a bit. It has some tech to help it out, which is good.
The exhaust note is sweet, but the stock setup only gives you a hint of what it could sound like. I can't wait to hear one with a more open exhaust.
I will not be buying one, but not necessarily because of anything I listed here or even the price. ($40K is a bit much, but I've done worse) We just don't have a spot for it, in more than one sense. The Audis take the garage, the Jetta gets the driveway. I don't want to leave a new SHO in the driveway. The A6 is my wife's baby. Whe drieves it to work every day. The Jetta gets way better mileage, and diesel is occasionally pretty cheap. I have a long drive to work. The wagon is my ski/bike/camping car, and it's my baby.
I will own another SHO, but it could easily be a toss-up between a TC'd Gen I/II and the Gen IV, or whatever it's called. Of course, by the time I buy one, you guys will have figured out all kinds of fun stuff to do to the new ones.
