Piston Slap: SHO Me My Next Car?

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

Bob writes:

Sajeev,

Thanks for all the wasted ti…,er reading enjoyment you and TTAC provide. My Q has to do with “plan on keeping, or start looking for a replacement?”

Bought my ’93 SHO in 1996, a 5-sp w/28k miles. It just rolled over 140,000 (I’m an over-the-road truck driver). Has been a great, fun car. Only major problem was a radiator leak & attendant CPS failure.

Downers: Headliner and driver’s seat uph need replacing. Clearcoat peeling. Worried about parts avail, transmission (no problems so far, but “maintenance-free ATF?”). Still has original clutch. Car is 22 yrs old. Etc…

Upside: Just had front susp renewed, doesn’t burn oil, still drives great. Etc…

So: used Crown Vic, or used Miata, when the time comes?

Sorry this is so wordy/rambling, but hate to think of you & that cymbal.

Sajeev answers:

Oh yes! The Edelbrock cymbal is still on my drum rack, but I’ve had no time to “work” on it. And that’s thanks to folks like you!

You have a two-part question, and the first answer is you need a newer car. While an SHO has a tricky motor (timing belt and valve lash work every 60,000 miles IIRC), any old Taurus won’t be relaxing and reliable: it will always need work, even if it may never leave you stranded without days/weeks/months of advance notice. You’ll shell out big bucks on the paint and clutch alone.

About your next ride: some will consider the Miata vs. Crown Vic suggestion as insane, but I get it. The SHO is almost halfway between in size, number of cylinders, etc. And when you’ve already done the middle ground, it’s now time to go to the extreme!

Question is, which extreme?

I’d go for the Miata if you can keep the SHO around to carry people/cargo. Depending on where you live, a FWD sedan with a solid roof helps in bad rain/snow. If you go Crown Vic, the SHO is pointless. Which is a problem.

Think about it: the SHO is essentially worthless and the next owner is likely to kill it. I reckon it will be Chinese scrap metal less than a year after the sale. Not cool: cars with intrinsically fantastic yet obscure design like the Taurus SHO deserve to live. Having owned this car for almost 20 years now, are you dumb enough to see it my way? To restore this future classic?

If so, you will also be dumb enough to buy a Crown Vic to make a collection of cool yet understated American sedans! And for those that find this notion silly, I suggest watching this video about 10 times.

What was that about not wanting a collection of Ford sedans?

[Image: Shutterstock user Gengwit Wattakawigran]

Send your queries to sajeev@thetruthaboutcars.com. Spare no details and ask for a speedy resolution if you’re in a hurry…but be realistic, and use your make/model specific forums instead of TTAC for more timely advice.

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • 95_SC 95_SC on Jul 22, 2014

    Well i'll add to the crazy talk by saying find a mint Tempo V6 and drop the SHO engine in. Now, back to the real world. I love driving the SHO, but I despise any time I've spent under the hood of one. It's hard to pin down a modern spiritual successor to this car (certainly nothing that has worn the SHO badge since). I can attest that the Miata is downright simple to work on. It also hits the sweet spot of being usable as a day to day car, provided you don't need a back seat of course. The trunk is usable, even the early cars. But there are compromises. Were I going to daily drive an NA or NB again I'd shell out the grand for a hardtop. The Crown Vic is another animal. My buddy has the Panther Love. I don't get it. If I were looking at something like that I think I'd go with a Fox Body T-Bird. Old, yes, but simple to work on. My flavor would be the 87-88 Turbo with a 5 Speed. The 2.3 Turbo has some power potential. They are comfy as well. An E30 BMW would work too but good luck finding a decent one. If you were to go newish, perhaps a Mazdaspeed 3 or a Focus or Fiesta ST?

  • TrenchFoot TrenchFoot on Jul 22, 2014

    Nathan Wind would have never driven a Miata, just not enough room for his sideburns and 'stache. Before he passed away, I'm sure he was driving a Crown Vic or a Marauder. #pantherlove

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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