What Car Did You Learn To Drive In?

1996-1999 Ford TaurusImage: Ford

Learning how to drive is a right of passage for most teenagers. We can all speak from experience that those first few times behind the wheel make you feel like you’re finally on the road (heh) to becoming an adult — and just one step closer to getting that driver’s license, your own car and a taste of freedom.

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In some cases, if you were at all into cars, what you learned to drive in may have shaped the auto enthusiast you are today. For me that car was my mom’s mid-2000s infamous third-gen Taurus. While many have said this generation of Taurus marked the decline of the nameplate and the beginning it’s end as a best seller, it wasn’t really a bad car.

Our model had the SE trim which was sort of a sport model (exactly like the one in the picture.) powered by a 3.0L Duratec V6 with 200 horses, a rear spoiler and dual exhaust. And when I was at the prime age of 15, this is the car I would learn how to drive in. We lived in an area near many industrial warehouses, so there were typically miles of streets that were for the most part devoid of any and all traffic.

1996-1999 Ford TaurusImage: Ford

While the car ended up not lasting as long as it should have — the four speed auto started sticking at around 80,000 miles and eventually got to the point where we had to manually shift it from one-two-drive for it to work. It also developed a fuel line leak that could have killed us all had we not caught it in time. Regardless, I’ll never forget that car.