Toyota Camry vs Ford Taurus: Which One Was Actually the Better Family Car?

📚 Get Your Used Car Buying Guide: https://goodoldthings.gumroad.com/l/preownedcar ⬆️ Learn how to buy a used car with confidence — and avoid getting scammed. For five years in the early 1990s, the Ford Taurus was the best-selling car in America. Then, in 1997, a quiet Japanese sedan from Georgetown, Kentucky took the crown — and never gave it back. The Camry has held that title for 15 of the last 19 years. The Taurus is now a memory. In this deep-dive comparison, we examine the Toyota Camry XV20 (1997-2001) against the Ford Taurus (third generation, 1996-1999) — two family sedans built for the same suburban American family, sold from showrooms two miles apart, financed by parents picking up kids from soccer practice. One was the car Ford built to save itself after $3 billion in losses. The other was the car Toyota built to last 280,000 miles without making a sound. Did the Camry actually deserve to win — or did the Taurus get killed by one bad styling decision and one bad transmission? #automotive #automotivehistory #ford #toyota

Added 24 Jul 2026