1999 Mercury Cougar review from North America

I could write a novel about all the things wrong with this car.

Within the first 3 months of purchasing this car:

The driver side window malfunctioned. It would usually roll down, but wouldn't always come back up. This problem has been addressed more than once at the dealership. I currently just don't use the window, as a replacement motor is not the cheapest thing ever.

The power door lock for the passenger side is screwy. You hit the unlock button once, the driver side unlocks, but the passenger side unlocks then locks right back up. I just lean over and open the door for whomever is getting in the passenger side.

The face plate on the stock radio (6 disc changer in the trunk) is warped or something. Worked fine until 6 months into ownership, then the faceplate needed to be held in for the radio/cd player to work. (I had a friend glue the faceplate in, so now it works just fine.)

The sunroof. This thing broke maybe 8 months to a year into ownership. It just stopped working when I was using it one day. It's currently open, but only up 1 inch or so. I feel super lucky about that, because the rain and snow doesn't leak in and on the brighter side, it's good ventilation (because I can't roll down the driver side window, remember?) anyway - the cost to fix this is $1600! Which I feel is slightly ridiculous, also, this might just be my dealership - but they refused to close the sunroof for me, and I'm fairly certain there must be a pretty simple way to just close it and tighten up the screws so it's permanently shut. I may be wrong about that though - I'm not a mechanic (obviously, or I wouldn't have made such a poor car choice)

The powertrain control module had to be replaced about 8 months ago and the alternator along with it. The car died on me very unexpectedly one night. These repairs were roughly $900.

The check engine light has been on pretty much continuously since I've owned the car. It's been diagnosed and shut off more than once. (I don't recall what the problems were)

Currently the left catalytic converter needs to be replaced. I've been quoted a price of $1550 or so to repair the situation. And also the struts, but that's no biggie, since it's an older car.

I'm sure there are a few things I'm forgetting - but the rest all just comes with the joys of owning a car.

I wanted to just note that I absolutely expected to have to make maintenance and repairs because it was an older car with a 70k miles on it when I purchased it. But I did not expect every single cosmetic / convenience feature in this car to break.

I was seduced by the looks of this car and even now, I do enjoy driving it and find it to be comfortable. But it's a money pit, and I suggest you think wisely and do your research before purchasing a cougar (unless you're wealthy and can drop a few thousand every now and again for repairs - then go for it)