Ford's Crown Victoria And Taurus: Like Big Brother, Little Brother

By Author: Peter Jones
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In the Ford family of sedans, the Crown Victoria and the Taurus are like big brother, little brother.

In use by police forces across the U.S., big brother Crown Victoria ranks among Ford's most popular full-size, six-passenger fleet vehicles. It last rolled out of the assembly line as a civilian car for the 2007 model year.

The base Ford Crown Victoria engine is a hefty 4.6-liter Modular V8 that commands a great deal of respect.

The little brother Taurus, on the other hand, is a mid-size family sedan with a supple, comfortable ride. It typically comes with a 3.5-liter V6 that churns out 263 hp.

Ford Taurus Engines include the base option as well as a twin-turbo EcoBoost version that spews out 365 horses on the same 3.5-liter V6 configuration.

The 263 hp 3.5-liter Duratec 35 V6 eminently fits the bill as one of the Ford Taurus Engines, replacing the earlier 203 hp Duratec 30 3.0 L V6. The Duratec 35 was on Ward's 10 Best Engines list as early as 2007.

Grouped within the Cyclone family, these Duratecs belong to Ford's latest ...
... DOHC V6 family of gasoline engines, and share the following fundamental features:

* DOHC
* Aluminum block and head
* 4-valve per cylinder head
* So-called DAMB camshaft tappets (Direct Acting Mechanical Buckets)
* Variable cam timing (VCT) on the intake camshafts.

Additional goodies, like direct injection, turbocharging and exhaust cam shafts with VCT, were added to the EcoBoost variant, which is ULEV-II compliant and meets PZEV requirement.

It is worth noting that the EcoBoost V6 manages to achieve fuel economy comparable to the base 3.5L V6. Its fuel charging and delivery components were co-developed with Robert Bosch GmbH.

As a powerful testament to its faith in the Cyclone engine line, Ford expects it to be in one out of five vehicles it produces by this decade's end.

The Ford Taurus Engines are assembled at the company's engine plant in Lima, Ohio, with future expansion planned for its facility in Cleveland.

The Crown Victoria, on the other hand, is equipped with a base 4.6-liter 16-valve SOHC V8 Modular engine that releases 224 horsepower and 272 lb-ft of torque.

The higher performance LX model is mated to a Ford Crown Victoria engine that packs 239 horses and 287 lb-ft of torque.

The Modular engine actually got its start as prime mover of the 1991 Lincoln Town Car. It has been built at both Romeo Engine Plant and Windsor Engine Plant.

It should be noted that Ford's engine revision practice doesn't assign high priority to compatibility with earlier versions, so parts from a modular engine belonging to one model year may not necessarily fit an engine made in another.

Also, there is no guarantee that all the parts for an engine manufactured in Romeo will be compatible to those made in Windsor. This is an important point to remember about a Ford Crown Victoria engine.

About: Together, this two big brother-little brother tandem hold Ford Motor Company's sedan cachet quite high, leveraging the power, reliability and elegant design of their respective engines. The Ford Crown Victoria engine and the Ford Taurus Engines are like one-two punches sure to deliver a knockout.