2006 Ford Taurus SE

The fourth-generation Ford Taurus was introduced for the 2000 model year and received a facelift for 2004. This was the final generation to be derived from the original Ford Taurus of 1986. The Taurus would be discontinued after the 2007 model year. 

This 2006 SE model was a rental car and is painted in Silver Frost Metallic with a Medium Dark Flint Cloth Interior.

Standard equipment included the 155-horsepower 3.0-liter overhead valve 12-valve V6 Vulcan engine with 185 foot-pounds of torque, a 4-speed electronic automatic transmission with overdrive lockout, power rack-and-pinion steering with variable assist, 4-wheel power front disc-rear drum brakes, 16-inch steel wheels with full locking wheel covers, 6-passenger cloth seating with flip-down center seating console and column-mounted shifter, power windows with one-touch down driver’s-side feature, power door locks, power sideview mirrors, tilt steering column, speed control with steering-wheel-mounted illuminated controls and air conditioning. This example included the optional AM/FM stereo with a single-CD player and digital clock.

This car was equipped with the standard 16-inch steel wheels with wheel covers.

With the standard front split bench beat for 6-passenger seating, this car was equipped with a column-mounted shifter.

This car had the Standard Taurus SE instrument cluster.

This car had a standard automatic transmission and parking brake pedal.

This car has the standard manually adjustable driver seat.

This car was equipped with two 12-volt power sockets and an ash tray but had no cigarette lighter.

With the standard front split bench seat for 6-passenger seating, this car was equipped with the standard flip-down center seating console.

When opened, the standard flip-down center seating console revealed front cupholders and storage for coins and music.

This car featured the standard rear seat, without the optional 60/40 fold-down seat backs.

This car featured the standard rear cupholders in the flip-down center seating console, shown here in the closed position. 

The standard rear cupholders in the flip-down center seating console in the open position. 

This car had a spacious trunk with a flat floor concealing the spare tire.

The car had a spare tire and jack under the floor of the trunk.

2005 Ford Taurus SE

 

The fourth-generation Ford Taurus was introduced for the 2000 model year and received a facelift for 2004. 

This was the final generation to be derived from the original Ford Taurus of 1986.

The Taurus would be discontinued after the 2007 model year.

This 2005 SE model is painted in Arizona Beige Metallic with a Medium Dark Pebble Cloth Interior.

It was originally purchased by a major rental car company with a 1-year lease.

I purchased this car from Vancouver Ford in November 2005.

Standard equipment included a 155-horsepower 3.0-liter overhead valve 12-valve V6 Vulcan engine with 185 foot-pounds of torque, a 4-speed electronic automatic transmission with overdrive lockout, power rack-and-pinion steering with variable assist, 4-wheel power front disc-rear drum brakes, power windows with one-touch down driver’s-side feature, power door locks, power sideview mirrors, tilt steering column, speed control with steering-wheel-mounted illuminated controls and air conditioning.

This example included the optional 16” 5-spoke painted-aluminum wheels, 60/40 split-folding rear seat, and the 6-way power driver’s seat with lumbar support.

It also featured an optional AM/FM stereo with a single-CD player and digital clock.

Another included option was the 5-passenger cloth seating with front bucket seats and floor-mounted shifter and console.

2006 Maserati Quattroporte

The only sedan in the Exotic Gallery at the 2006 Portland International Auto Show was the 2006 Maserati Quattroporte. "Quattroporte" literally means "four-door" in Italian.

It was powered by a 395-horsepower 4.2-liter V8 engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission. It was available in Portland from Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo with prices starting at over $100,000.00.

2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS

For 2006, Chevrolet expanded the Cobalt's line with the naturally-aspirated Cobalt SS. All Cobalts were powered by double overhead cam inline 4-cylinder engines, but the SS sedan (shown) and coupe were powered by a 171-horsepower 2.4-liter, an upgrade over the standard 140-horsepower 2.2-liter. The SS coupe was also available with a supercharged 205-horsepower 2.0-liter.

2006 Buick Lucerne CXL

The brand-new 2006 Buick Lucerne CXL: the car named after a brand of milk! How exciting! Yeah, I wasn't crazy about the name. The CXL was the mid-level trim. The standard engine was a 197-horsepower 3.8-liter V6. A 275-horsepower 4.6-liter Northstar double overhead cam V8 was optional in the CXL and standard in the CXS. This Lucerne had four portholes on its flanks, indicating it was equipped with the V8.

2006 Toyota Avalon Limited

Toyota's flagship sedan in 2006, the Avalon, was an impressive sight, especially on the inside, where the dashboard and center console featured doors to cover most of the car's controls to give a clean-looking interior.

The Avalon was powered by a 268-horsepower 3.5-liter V6. Standard features included automatic headlights, steering wheel-mounted audio & climate controls & dual zone automatic climate control. Available features included rain-sensing windshield wipers, dynamic laser cruise control and a voice-activated DVD navigation system.

2007 Toyota Yaris Liftback & Sedan

New for Toyota for 2006 was a pair of subcompacts that shared a name to replace the Echo. The 2007 Yaris liftback became available in March 2006. The Yaris delivered fuel economy of up to 40 miles per gallon with its 106-horsepower 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine and 5-speed manual transmission. A 4-speed automatic was also available.

The Yaris featured an interesting interior with the instrument cluster mounted in the center of the dashboard.

Sharing the name of its slightly smaller sibling was the 2007 Yaris sedan. The sedan featured different exterior styling and a different dashboard, though the instrument cluster was still in in the center. The sedan had basically the same available features as the liftback; the main difference was that the sedan offered integrated audio with an LCD display as an option.

2006 Audi A6

 

Though smaller than Audi's flagship A8, the A6 had won several awards, including World Car of the Year and Motorweek's Driver's Choice Award for Best Luxury Sedan. The 2006 A6 was offered with either a 335-horsepower 4.2-liter V8 engine with a 6-speed Tiptronic® automatic transmission and quattro® all-wheel drive or a 255-horsepower 3.2-liter V6 engine with FSI® Direct Injection and either the 6-speed Tiptronic® with all-wheel drive or a Multitronic™ Continuously Variable Transmission and FrontTrack® front-wheel drive. The A6 could go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6 seconds with the V8 or 7.1 seconds with the V6. Top speed was limited to 130 miles per hour. A station wagon version called the A6 Avant was also available with only the V6 and 6-speed automatic, giving the Avant a 0-60 time of 7.3 seconds.

2006 BMW 550i

The 5-series is the mid-range entry of the BMW line. The 2006 525i and 530i offered the same 215-horsepower and 255-horsepower 3.0-liter double overhead cam in-line six-cylinder engine choices as the smaller 3-series, but the 550i features a 360-horsepower 4.8-liter double overhead cam 32-valve V8. In addition to the standard 6-speed manual and optional 6-speed StepTronic automatic transmissions of the 3-series, the 530i and 550i also offered a 6-speed manual sequential gearbox.

2006 BMW 325i

The "base" model of BMW is the 3-series. Shown here is the then-new 3-series sedan, Automobile Magazine's 2006 Automobile of the Year. The 3-series was powered by a 3.0-liter double overhead cam in-line six-cylinder engine rated at either 215 horsepower in the 325i or 255 horsepower in the 330i; both were capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than 7 seconds. The 3-series featured a standard 6-speed manual transmission or an optional 6-speed StepTronic automatic transmission, standard run-flat tires, and available all-wheel drive.

2006 BMW M5

The 2006 M5 was a high-performance version of the 5-series, and was BMW's fastest and most powerful offering. Powered by a 500-horsepower 5.0 liter double overhead cam 40-valve V10 engine with a 7-speed sequential manual gearbox, the M5 could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 155 miles per hour.

2006 BMW 750i

At the top of the BMW ladder is the 7-series, available in 2006 as either the 750i, with the same 360-horsepower 4.8-liter double overhead cam 32-valve V8 engine used in the 550i and 650i, or the flagship 760i, with a 438-horsepower 6.0-liter double overhead cam 48-valve V12, both with a 6-speed StepTronic automatic transmission.

2007 Audi RS4 Safety Car

The Safety Car was a preview of the 2007 RS4. The RS4 would be Audi's high-performance sport-sedan. With a 420-horsepower 4.2-liter V8 engine with FSI® Direct Injection, a 6-speed manual transmission and the new asymmetric/dynamic quattro® all-wheel drive, the RS4 would have a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 155 miles per hour.

2006 Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI

The big news for 2006 at Mercedes-Benz was the new E320 CDI, powered by a 201-horsepower 3.2-liter turbodiesel inline 6-cylinder engine, with a 0-60 miles per hour time of 6.6 seconds, fuel economy of 27 miles per gallon city or 37 miles per gallon highway and a range of up to 780 miles.

Of course, the diesel engine was nothing new to Mercedes-Benz; they introduced the first diesel-powered passenger car in 1936. But, it had been absent from the US market for a number of years.

Perhaps following the Volkswagen Jetta's lead, Mercedes-Benz now had the only diesel-powered luxury car available in America.

2007 Mercedes-Benz S550

 

I wonder if the dealers were happy about Mercedes-Benz showing off the all-new 2007 S550 sedan, while they still had the 2006 models to get rid of, which looked very old-fashioned by comparison. And the improvements weren't just skin deep; the 2007 S550 was powered by a 382-horsepower 5.5-liter double overhead cam aluminum V8 engine, which beat the 2006 S500's 5.0-liter V8 by 80 horsepower.

Not surprisingly, the new model required 91-octane premium gasoline, but if you could afford a car that started at over $80,000 in 2006, you probably didn't have to worry about gas money.

Bentley Continental Flying Spur

The 2006 Continental Flying Spur was Bentley's flagship sedan. It was powered by a 552-horsepower 6.0-liter turbocharged W12 engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.

Despite a curb weight of over 5,000 pounds, this powertrain could accelerate the Continental Flying Spur to 60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds, and reach a top speed of 195 miles per hour.