2000 Mercury Cougar from North America - Comments

My engine is blown with 42,000 miles on it. Diagnosed by my father whom is a certified mechanic.

The rods are knocking and the car is overheating.

The trunk latch is broken.

The windows stick and hardly work.

The air conditioning blows out warm air for the first half hour at least even after they fixed the problem supposedly.

The car shakes BAD when your going 65-70 miles on the freeway.

Speakers had to be replaced.

I could keep going on and on!!

This was a car that was well taken care of. I made sure it was in for an oil change every 3,000 miles, faithfully and have documented proof of that.

Ford would not stand behind me to offer any help such as the diagnostic fee to make sure it is the rods knocking. My father is a certified mechanic and ensured me that it doesn't take a genius to figure out what the knocking is. Why should I have to pay for a fee when this engine should have lasted me for 15 years not 2 years??!!

Please do not buy any Ford product as they do not stand behind their products nor will they budge when it comes to helping people after the warranty has expired.

Beware!! I will only deal with car manufacturers that work with their customers even after the warranty has expired from now on!! Ford is NOT one of those people!!

I don't know what you have been doing to that cougar, but I have a 2000 mercury cougar with almost 40,000 miles on it and I haven't had any problems with it. I've been up to 127 MPH and mine doesn't even shake then. Mine doesn't overheat and my air conditioner has always worked and usually works faster than any car I ride in. Just about all of my friend love my car and I haven't had to fix one thing on it yet and Matthews Ford has been very good with anything I ask them.

Yes, I also have a 2000 mercury cougar with 35,000 miles and I have none of the problems that you have with your car. Therefore I'd have to agree with everything the person said before me. It is a great car.

It sounds like the original poster beat on his car like crazy to cause the engine to go bad that fast. Either that or he ran the oil out of it.

The vibration is probably caused by an out of balance wheel or a bad tire. Your father should have been able to figure that out if he really was a mechanic.

I've got 37,000 trouble free miles on mine. Everything works wonderfully. GREAT car! I highly recommend it.

I've had an overheating problem with my 2000 cougar which nobody can begin to figure out. It may or may not do it for months, until it does. It usually happens in either stop and go traffic, or after I've been on the road for a few hundred miles and then get off the exit into traffic. It has been into the dealership twice for this and nobody can diagnose this. Needless to say, purposeful attempts to make it overheat at the Dealer didn't work, although they did go through the entire wiring harness looking for shorts and ran all the normal diagnostics on it and couldnt find a problem. I'm inclined to think it's a computer glitch, as the temp gauge goes back down to normal if you shut the engine down and then re start it a few seconds later, although it tends to heat up again quickly when you do this; but an actually overheated engine wouldn't go back down to a normal temperature reading even for a few minutes on a restart. Again, this has to be a glitch somewhere, but on the other hand I'm a bit nervous about driving the thing with the temp gauge all the way to the top. (The idiot light never comes on for it being hot even with the temp gauge nearly maxed out either, which also leads me to believe it's a false reading).

Anybody else have a similar problem to this, or does my Cougar just need an Exorcist?

I bought my 2000 Cougar one year ago-used. I was very happy with it at the time. Since then, I've had many problems. I have put approximately $5,500 toward my car including: brand new engine, over 5 diagnostic checks (for engine problems), 2 batteries, and new fog lights. Currently, I am having electrical problems. My lights inside and my headlights tend to flicker when I drive. It seems like my car is going to die on me. At night when I have my lights on, I can't see my mileage or my gas mileage; the light is too dim to see and is nonadjustable. I am very disappointed with the results that I have seen with this car since I've had it. I will soon be selling my car. Buh-Bye to Ford!

2000 Mercury Cougar.

I brought my car back in 2000, new off the lot. Ever since I have had bad luck with it. After the first 2 months the car left me in the middle of the street. It turned out to be the recall for the battery cables. After Ford fixed that, I continued having problems. Point of it all is that I have changed 4 alternators, my sunroof doesn't work, and my windows don't go down or up. The AC only worked on 4, which was fixed by replacing the censor. The tires have been an issue since the beginning. The things that are wrong with this car are countless. Now for the past 2 months and the car is over heating. They have changed the fuel pump, thermostat, belts, hoses etc. & nothing??? Please help me I can't afford to put more money into it. Just today the car spilled out all the anti-freeze as it overheated. What do I do? $1,700.00 & it still doesn't work. Can anyone help me???

I bought a 2000 Mercury Cougar about 4 years ago. At the time of the purchase the car had 40,000 miles on it. I was 16 at the time and liked the way it looked, little did I know I would be paying for this mistake for 4 years down the road.

My Cougar has had countless problems. I have replaced an alternator, 2 batteries, 2 starters, struts in the back, as well as countless tires for alignment issues. The trunk latch also doesnt work.

I have taken care of this car, never drove it hard, and changed oil every 3,000 miles. My car also used to shake at around 60mph, but it needed alignment and new bearings.

Currently my car still isn't running and I don't know how to fix it. At this point I think it is something electrical. This car doesn't even have 80,000 miles on it and I have put 4,000 into it since I got it.

Stay away from these cars. No wonder American jobs are being shipped overseas, Ford can't make a decent car. Why does my car turn off a few miles down the road after I have replaced the alternator, battery, and starter?

I have been lucky: two alternators, one DPFE, both front wheel bearings, two batteries, and five sets of tires. from all of the reviews that I have read, I would agree that this version of the cougar deserves to be on the list of the top five lemons sold in north america. see this website for more information: http://www.mylemon.com/Lemon_Car_Complaints.htm.

I learned a lesson when I bought my cougar, don't buy a new model car in its first year. Fortunately, the problems occurred mainly under warranty, but I won't buy Ford again.

I bought a 2000 cougar in late 1999 right off the lot. The car has been a slightly below average car until lately. 71000 miles. Recently the 4 way flashers come on for no reason driving down the road. The cause... a wire UNDER THE DRIVER'S SEAT. Who would have thought to check there!!! Before WE found this problem - NO thanks to the dealer who tore the dash apart... The car caught fire!!! Luckily enough we put it out without too much damage. The dealer said there were NO recalls for the problem... Poorly routed battery cable. I found the recall on Edmunds.com. Once I showed up with the proof from the website they didn't charge me. The car has had 3 fuel pumps (recall notice after pumps have been replaced), the drivers door latch broke, coolant light problems, brakes, leaking intake manifold, leaking transmission pan, and a cover on the lower front grille keeps falling off.

NEEDLESS to say. NO more ford product wich goes for their other lines too.