Since owning my 99 cougar I have had nothing, but problems from the wiring starting on fire that controls the shifter to the alternator having to be replaced 4 times.
I like the car now as I have started fixing it myself! To all the cougar owners that have had major problems with the alternator I have foung out that this 9- 10 times is not the problem and to all the comments that posted that they have spent $1000 on electrical repairs, I have a quik fix to all those problems and has worked 99% of the time, what it is: Is that there is a thick guaged wire that comes from the battery (its black if your wondering) to the starter and from the starter it runs to the back side of the engine to a inline 150amp fuse, and from there to the alternator in which either burns out or since ford put the wire so close to the exhaust manifold it will melt and short out causing the car to stall, shut down stop suddenly etc.. Quik fix replace the fuse can get at most auto places, and re route the wire to a place where it won't short out, this is your alternator, battery, and car stalling problem that there charging you $1000's of dollars to fix, and can be done in no more than 2 hours.
Ford really didn't plan the development of the 99' Cougar's out too well. It seems that they just took things from the Contour/Probe/other Fords and compiled them into one car.
I was planning on buying a black 1999 Cougar V6 with a 5spd manual. But after reading all these comments and researching the recalls on this car, I'm beginning to think twice.
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