For the tenth year in a row, Design News readers have said that the Ford Taurus is the car that they would buy today.

The vote marked a clean sweep by the Taurus and the Ford Motor Co. in general, as the car and its maker also captured top honors in three other categories of questions in the 16th annual Design News automotive survey: What is the best engineered U.S. car (Taurus), Which manufacturer has the best combination of technical know-how and business acumen (Ford), and What popular new car do you like best (Mustang).

"To receive this award for ten years in succession is a tremendous honor," says Jack Telneck, Ford vice president for Corporate Design. "The original Taurus began the trend which matched auto design with the principles of flowing aerodynamic shapes--form following function with the emphasis on soft lines. It proved to be a breakthrough design. I hope the new Taurus will continue the success of its predecessor in finding great favor among Design News readers."

Despite Ford's domination of the "car-I-would-buy-today" question, Chrysler got the readers' nod as the manufacturer whose products have shown the most improvement over the past five years. That vote was no doubt influenced by the success of the Viper and Neon. Readers, in fact, named the Neon as the new car that gives the best value for the money.