Don't put SHO seats (Ford USA) in the same class as Merkur (German Ford
XR4) seats.  My '90 SHO lasted only 9 months in our garage.  The Yamaha
engine was marvelous.  The basic Taurus was OK.  The interface between the
two was terrible. The "SHO specific" parts intended to make the Taurus a
sports car were terrible.  The seats in mine were damaged by wear before I
sold it.  For comparison, my '92 Jetta GLi has 159,000 mi.  The Recaro seats
look new.  If you start out with junk, you'll end up with junk.

Gary
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed @ Automotive Consulting" <EdVF1000R@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 9:33 PM
Subject: Re: Survey--Merkur seats

> My brother's 1991 SHO has *badly* disintigrating leather seat covers at
only
> 81,000 original miles. Cost to replace with OEM seat covers (front only,
> parts only,no labor).....  $2642.00 !!!!!!!  And that's wholesale, with a
30%
> discount because i'm a volume customer. And, no, they're not comfortable.
>    My vote for most comfortable seats ever: the Acura NSX. I drove one for
2
> years, sometimes for 7 hours a day.  Unquestionably the best seats i have
sat
> in  - and i was a mechanic for 3 dealers for 6 years.
>