1999 Mercury Cougar review from North America

Holy Mackerel, I have no idea what some of you expect from a 7-8-9 yr old used car! Maybe it's that I've owned about 29 or 30 of them in my life (only owned 2 brand new cars ever) but the belly aching and complaining is insufferable. All cars are money pits, even brand new ones, even ones that your mother's friend's neighbor who's a mechanic says run forever.

Doesn't mean you shouldn't look on these sites and find the common problems and work on them in a sensible way. I have only a few of the issues here with my Cougar, but I wouldn't be SHOCKED were a wheel to fall off tomorrow. Well, yeah I would, but I will NOT be shocked by sunroofs or sensors or electrical stuff in 10 yr old cars. If I buy an alternator and it goes out quickly, I won't keep putting more in without finding out why. Some of these "shocking" lists are pretty basic upkeep type problems that all cars need eventually. It would be more shocking were they NOT to happen. All sunroofs are problems.

I've got 130k on her and expect another 100k. When I got the car, I made sure all of the recall work had been done. It may have avoided most of the known problems. I will invest in basic sensible preventative maintenance, but if the time ever comes I need to sink 4 digits to keep it running, it may be time to move on to used car #31.