The engine in the SHO is, well, weird and different. Ford originally came out with the car in 1989 because they had a burr up their rear end. Ford wanted a car to beat BMW. I don't know if Ford succeed their wish but the made a very unprofitable car that is a pure race car in disguise of a family sedan. The SHO -- which stands for Super High Output -- differed from the everyday Taurus because it had a pricier interior, stiffer suspension, tighter handling and a 3.0-liter double overhead cam hemi-engine V6 Yamaha engine that could power the car up to 142 m.p.h. O to 60 times were 5.9 seconds.
Ford wanted an engine that did not have a turbo and had power, more power than their other engines had. I don’t know how Yamaha got involved in making the super 3.0 liter engine but Yamaha came though…too well. It had too much power and Ford had the engine de-tuned simply because the family car Taurus was outrunning the Ford GTs. So the Yamaha engine power was detuned but the engine was still overbuilt. The engine had less horsepower than the Mustang but the Taurus still outran the ‘Tangs because the Taurus is lighter and the engine revved much higher. Ford lost money on the car because they had to overbuild the Taurus chassis. The Yamaha engine was flexing the body of the car too much and the car was steering out of control. The torque over steer is still very noticeable under full power. I had a friend almost fly over the top of an over crossing because he full-powered and the car and the car did the tricky left pull torque maneuver. I even warned him about the left pull torque.
Ford lost more money on the car because they had to overbuild the only Taurus with a manual transmission, oversized 4-wheel disc brakes and super-duty tires, install a station wagon oversized gas tank in a sedan, figure out how to get an oversized radiator into an engine compartment that is overstuffed with the exotic engine.
The engine is different. It is very quiet and well-balanced. You don’t know the engine is running unless you look at the tach.
Under full power it is also different. It is a small engine, just 3.0 liter, and acts like it when you take off, whimpy. But the whimp goes away very fast.
At full throttle it is all together a different breed. I read in Motor Trend magazine that the car would, “smoke the tires from 0 to 60 m.p.h.”. It is an extremely high revving engine and acts like it has three turbos in it. The engine acts like a turbo kicks in and gives an eerie whine, then the torque puts you in the seat. Boost #2 kicks in and you get pushed back even more. Then a third turbo boost hits and when you would expect an engine power to flatten out the SHO kicks you in the pants again. And all the time you are tightly holding the steering wheel to prevent the car from pulling to the left.
Oh Jeez, the car is FUN!
You want fun? How about a SHO motor in a Ford Festiva. It was known as the SHOgun. A couple were made. Jay Leno owns one.
http://www.shotimes.com/SHO4_SHOgun005.html
