1996 Mercury Mystique GS review from North America

The first thing to shock me were the automatic locks. The night I bought the car I stopped to fill up with gas and fortunately pulled the keys out and put them in my pocket. That was a hard thing for me to get used to doing.

Shortly after purchasing it second hand, in the summer of 1999, I got 3 (three) recalls in the mail. Not a very good start.

3 months later I took it in for the headlamp switch/wiring recall. The dealership completed the work and charged Ford $58.00.

Jan '03 I was having problems with the speedometer lights working correctly - sometimes they were on - sometimes not! Since this vehicle had had the recall you would think the repair people would know what to look for, but they charged me $58. for labor to find the trouble (the headlamp switch!) After being pulled over by the local police for not having any running lights, it took 4 days to get the part and have it repaired. Total bill for parts and labor was $196 additional. Why did I get charged more than what the bill was from the recall?

I have also had other problems similar to what I have read.

Tires needing replacement

Battery

Brakes/rotors

ABS light comes on sporadically

cup holders are broken

trunk opener won't release

Hard to insert key into ignition.

The other major item was the A/C. In the summer of 2000 I was going on a trip and decided to have it checked before leaving. They installed freon and it was fine for the 2 weeks I was gone. In WI it's not needed very often, so it was 2001 before I turned it on again. It didn't work. When I took it in again they put in more freon. Two days later they wanted me to have it checked- freon was low, but they couldn't trace where it was leaking from. The only alternative was to remove the dash board to see if it's under there. I can't afford that. What I'm wondering is this - is it related to the recall for the wiring harness which they say can affect heating and cooling systems. When I asked them to do that recall they said they wouldn't/couldn't unless there were signs of a problem. Anyone have any ideas?

I can't afford major repairs OR a new car at this time.

I like the keyless entry. Sometimes I wish my house had one too.

I love the movable seats. Up, down, forward, back, tilt.

Trunk space is great.