This topic is near and dear to me as I have a 3.5L n/a Taurus.
We need to get several things straight first, so that we can have an INTELLIGENT conversation and not a bunch of guesses.
First of all, the 3.5L engine (Cyclone in this case, and also came in 3.7L) has been used in both transverse and longitudinal applications. The longitudinal ones are still in place; they are the basis for the 3.5L engines in many Ford applications such as the 3.5L EB. Even the 3.5L transverse EB (Taurus SHO for example, and Explorers) is pretty much the same engine. In the longitudinal form, they moved the water pump to outside the engine; no big issues here. On the transverse engines, they are inside the timing chain cover. This wasn't a "bad design", nor is it unique to this engine. The choice was made due to packaging constraints; takes up less room. And Ford's not the only engine manufacturer to do this; so don't act like they are standing alone in this issue. Mitsubishi and others have also done this on V6 and I4 engines. Google it and you'll see it's not a unique abberation. ALL engineering designs are typically a merging of all manner of choices; Marketing wants this; Finance wants that; Engineering wants this; Field Service wants that. Some of you need a dose of mass manufacturing reality if you don't think EVERY PRODUCT is a compromise of many things.
The 3.5L transverse application water pump is no more prone to failure than any other water pump. The issue is that when it's inside the timing chain system of a transverse engine application, it's a BIG DEAL to pull the pump out for replacement. It's not a 30 minute job; it's about 12 hours. The labor cost is what's offensive to so many folks; understandably so.
Further, the 3.5L transverse water pump is NOT lubricated by the engine oil; the bearing is a sealed bearing like just about every other water pump; if ya doubt me then go look at some images at RockAuto and others and you'll see what I mean. It is true that the engine oil lubes the chain drive and by default that includes the timing teeth that turn the water pump, but that pump impeller is across a bore that uses a sealed bearing and shaft seals to keep the coolant on it's side of the fence. So the reality is that NO OIL SELECTION has the ability to increase or decrease the lifespan of the water pump, because like most water pumps, the failure mode is typically a sealed ruined bearing. Only very rarely is the impeller the root cause of failure, and even then, the engine oil once again has ZILCH to do with that.
The additional issue is that there are two typical pump failure modes for this OPs application. One is a water leak that manifests outside the engine via the designed leak tell-tale path; that's the hopeful way you'll find out. These water pumps have two seals; inner and outer, to create a channel for the coolant to take a path where one can see the initial leak onset of failure. The other far-less-desirable way to find out is when water leaks INTO the engine; past the bearing/seals of the pump shaft, rather than out the intended tell-tale leak path. Once coolant gets into the oil via the unintended leak path, it does not take long for the oil to become a "milkshake" ... and disaster is the soon experienced result often meaning a ruined engine. IF and only if you can detect the "internal" coolant leak soon enough, can you avoid total disaster. You still have a big job on your hands, but that's far cheaper than a new engine.
The key to detecting the internal engine coolant leak is to watch the visual clues (coolant level), and also track for trace amounts in the UOAs. NO CHOICE of oil selection will ever make the problem go away, or even less of a matter. This is a total misunderstanding of the concerns and engineering choices.
Obviously, what catches folks off guard is the cost and the high risks. When they buy a car, the salesperson doesn't say "This is a very efficient and powerful engine, but it will cost $1500 for a water pump change, and that water pump might fail and ruin the engine if you don't change it soon eough"; that would scare most customers away. I bought my new 2018 Taurus fully knowing of the issue, but the price I paid for the car was soooooo incredibly cheap that I more than saved the cost of a pump change, so I still came out ahead. These pumps have been known to fail as early at 75k miles in some rare cases, and they have also be heard of lasting to 250k miles in some cases, but the majority fall somewhere in between. The pump failures never fall inside the warranty period, and so the cost is totally borne by the consumer, and that's what makes folks mad. Simply put, it's not a "bad design"; it's an "expensive to repair design". And like I said, Ford is not the first company to do this.
So my long winded answer can be boiled down to this ...
There is absolutely no way any oil is going to make this problem go away or be less of an issue, no matter how wonderful one believes any lube to be. One cannot avoid the pump going bad at some point; it happens to all water pumps. The key here is to detect it going bad at early onset, and change it before it ruins the oil which then ruins the engine. If one chooses, they can change the pump even before that shaft bearing/seal goes bad; that would avoid the disaster all together.
