This poll is made up of all DSTOTY vehicles that got with 75% of the top vote without winning in their category. This thread will close in one week.

For more on the DieselStation Car of the Year '08 competition, please see this thread.

Ford Taurus X
Base MSRP: $26,615
Available Engines: 3.5 liter DOHC 24-valve V6 with 263 HP and 249 ft.-lbs. of torque.
Available Transmissions: 6-speed automatic transmission
Available Drivetrains: Front wheel drive or All-wheel drive
EPA Fuel Economy: 16 City/24 Highway (FWD), 15/22 (AWD)
Curb Weight: 3959-4112 lbs.







Toyota Highlander
Base MSRP: $27,300
Available Engines: 3.5 liter DOHC 24-valve V6 with 270 HP and 248 ft.-lbs. of torque; 3.3 liter DOHC 24-valve V6 with hybrid system and 209 HP and 212 ft.-lbs. of torque.
Available Transmissions: 5-speed automatic with manual shifting mode (3.5 only) or CVT (Hybrid only)
Available Drivetrains: Front wheel drive (3.5 only) or All-wheel drive
EPA Fuel Economy: 27 City/25 Highway (Hybrid), 18/24 (FWD), 17/23 (3.5 AWD)
Curb Weight: 3979-4641 lbs.

I originally voted for the Taurus X, so I'm not going to change that here. Though I admit the Highlander looks great, and that interior is probably pretty high quality stuff.

I went for the Highlander because it looks so nice and is probably technically superior, but I readily acknowledge that the Ford is a very nice package.

Even if the Taurus X's pictures look better, I voted for the Highlander. My father owns one of them and it's really good looking, and it does a good job in the snow.

Exactly! The colors and interior options in the pictures Clark listed are pretty bad too...

I heard a rumour that the Taurus X was getting the axe. Which kinda makes sense, considering you have the Escape and Edge in addition to the Taurus X.

2009 will be its final year of production. The Taurus X has always been more of a raised wagon than a proper SUV. Kind of like Ford's version of the Allroad or Outback. Hence the rename from Freestyle to Taurus X. Like most wagons in the US, sales figures have been pretty dismal, and with the Edge doing so well, it only makes sense to pull the plug. Also, I believe there's a new Taurus on the way around the time this gets the axe, and a wagon isn't part of the plan.

Wait what pictures did I pick that look bad? The Taurus X is nigh impossible to find good pictures of and I like the ones I picked for the Highlander...

Yeah those are actually the best shots I've seen for the Taurus X.

Those were just from the Ford website.

All the pictures in DSCOTY are 640 pixels wide. I tried to find high-quality pictures to crop and resize them from (1280x1024 was the most typical size I found, but some were as big as 3600x2400). However, the Taurus X...the biggest pictures I could find were the 750 pixel ones on the Ford website. So that's what those are.

What I said is the pictures of the Taurus X are good, and the ones of the Highlander aren't as good, and in my opinion the vehicle with the worst pictures is the best vehicle between the two.

I don't think I understand that grey area which separates the tall wagon from SUVs...but there seems to me to be a massive difference between something like the Allroad and the TaurusX.

As far as I was concerned the re-branding of the Freestyle to TaurusX was a half-assed marketing effort related to poor sales and the re-branding of the five hundred.

That too. But yeah, my point was the Taurus X is more of a wagon than an SUV really.

Taurus by miiiiles.

Haha, it's not that they're terrible they're just boring in comparison to the Taurus's, giving the Taurus the competitive edge. You should've gone to the Toyota website too.







I still really appreciate you putting this together every year.

Well personal pref...I prefer my pictures to yours. Whatever.