<< Yeh as much as I hated the late 80s-mid 90s Taurus, the lastest one is pretty sweet. >>
I liked the 90 - 95 Taurus, it had a lot of potential. I owned a 94 Taurus SHO 5-speed with 17" wheels, tinted windows, some performance goodies, fully loaded. I think the SHO during those years looked pretty sweet, and that Ford did a great job turning a ho-hum family sedan into a sleek performer; though mechanical idiosynchracies and reliability problems were a big issue for the SHO.
I wasn't too crazy about the Taurus from 1996 - 2000, but I think the new Taurus looks great. A performance engine and trim package ala SVT Contour would set it off nicely.