2000 Mercury Cougar convenience package review from North America

The air conditioning broke at 5,000 miles.

The power windows hardly work. They drag as you try to put them up. It went into the dealer 4 times for the same problem and still does not work properly.

Many tire problems. Germain Lincoln Mercury, Naples, FL, is the worst for sales and customer service. They think that every one of their customers is made out of money. I brought the car in to have the air conditioning and windows fixed, under warranty. Both were fixed, however, they offered to rotate the tires. I thought that was nice. However, $40.00 later, I was driving my new vehicle home and the car shook uncontrollably. To make a long story short, the mechanic bent the rim and would not admit it. "She" said that I must have hit a pot hole. Well, newsflash. There are no pot holes in south Florida! She bent it on the test drive and she knows it! After speaking to the service manager and venting my frustration with this piece of crap that I leased and how unhappy I was with the car's performance, he refused to take blame and wanted to charge me $330.00 to put a new rim on. I went to another dealer, which is great for sales and customer service, located 50 miles away and the mechanic there put another weight on the rim. He said that I shouldn't have to pay for what the other dealer did and since I was leasing the car, it should make it better and not to worry about having the rim replaced. Well, it helped. Three months to go on the lease and the shaking started again. I brought it to a private mechanic and come to find out, the tread on the front tire was separating. Needless to say, the manufacturer of the tire is Firestone. This car has been "babied" big time and I have never had so many problems with a brand new car in my life. I will never buy another Ford product as long as I live. American manufacturer's wonder why they can't compete with the Japanese market. The answer is very simple. They don't stand behind their product. They leave loyal customers out to dry and fend for themselves. My lease is up in 3 months. I cannot wait to throw the keys at the dealer and run as fast as I can, across the street, to lease my next car, which will be a Honda or a Nissan! If I were you, do not buy any car from Germain in Florida or Ohio or a Ford product. They both suck!