1999 Mercury Cougar review from North America
"196,000 miles is pretty darn good after all!"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
I bought this car from my Uncle who only put 30,000 trouble free miles on it. He purchased the car brand new and didn't do heavy driving with it because it was a leased vehicle. However, when I got the car I used it to commute 150 miles per day; everything worked fine and looked perfect on the car.
At 70,000 miles the transmission started to slip, and a day later I took it to AAMCO to get fixed; 10 days later I got it back after paying 3,000; I was shocked but I still loved the car and just took it in stride.
Exactly 1 year later, and just past the warranty, the transmission went AGAIN! I was 100 miles from home, so I had it towed to a local AAMCO hoping they would honor the warranty, they didn't. They then proceeded to berate the car and try to tell me how many things were wrong with it (despite the fact that it now had 100,000 miles and a daily commuter vehicle). So I called their bluff and had a tow truck come and pick up the car and bring it to a competitor transmission shop. They "fixed" the trans, agreeing to charge me less than $3000 - right! They charged me $2,998.
General comments?
Well, that was 3 years ago now, and the "fixed" tranny still leaks after being parked. Difference is, I check my trans fluid and oil every 4 days just to make sure. It still runs great though.
Trunk latch doesn't seem to work, and minor problems with the window switches that can be attributed to burnt-out wires near the switch terminals (behind the buttons).
Temperature gauge all of a sudden does not read correctly, if continually fluctuates from cold to hot (red area) which was alarming at first until I realized that it was not in-fact overheating at all.
I am sorry to give the car now to my 17 year old daughter who is a new driver, but she loves the car (and so do I).
I test drive the car every other night now, just to make sure everything is safe for her.
Despite replacing the tranny twice, gave me 196,000 almost trouble-free miles - I can't complain on that.
I just purchased a 2007 Dodge Magnum.
Tony - Brick, NY - 732-948-6774 - avp0713@comcast.net
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| 1999 - Cougar Sport V6 2.5L Duratec 24 Valve A thrill on a tight budget |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Yes |
| Model year | 1999 |
| Year of manufacture | 1999 |
| First year of ownership | 2002 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2009 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.5 Duratec Automatic |
| Performance marks | 8 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 8 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 4 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 7 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 30000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 196000 miles |
| Previous car | Chevrolet Corvette |
| Date of Entry | 17th July, 2009 |