Great report Jeremy I'm a big fan of the new Taurus design and I'm really hoping one day I can get my hands on one of these. I do have a soft spot for them I guess -- the first car I ever really got to drive was a Taurus GL, "built with pride" in Atlanta, Georgia in 1992!

Considering you had a SEL, I was going to ask if there really weren't fog lights, but then I saw them... my gosh And the interior looks great too. I love what they did with the center console and all those other compartments.

I'm glad to know you liked the transmission (although I'm not surprised you had issues with the manual mode; that seems to be an issue, at least in my experience, in other recent models). The 4-speed mine had is what ultimately led to its demise. Had it not blown last year, I'd without a doubt still be driving it today. It could have lasted forever; if you asked me to describe it in one word, it was a tank. Is it still one?

BTW, congrats for writing the first (I think) RR for a 2013 MY Hertz vehicle! Glad to know new stuff is out there

-J.