I hear you there. What a mess that was. Sorry you had to go through that, FRiend.
What knocks me out is that, just when I was thinking that maybe Ford had turned a new leaf, my in-laws bought a new Taurus and that car behaved precisely in the manner you described. I guess that's the kind of quality you get when you let unions run the place.
I always laugh when I hear "built Ford Tough, where Quality is Number One". For all the Tauruses that have been sold, it is very hard to find any on the road that are over 5 years old! They must keep the junkyards busy. By contrast, look at all the older Japanese and German cars you see on the road. Granted, German cars require quite a bit more maintenance than Japanese cars - but they won't simply fall apart on you.
Prior to the Taurus, I had a Daihatsu hatchback. Drove it for six years. Since I was young and dumb at the time, the car wasn't exactly treated very well, but even still, it never required anyting more than oil changes. It sipped gas. Both very good things for someone on a budget.