1991 Mercury Cougar LS review from North America

I bought this car with 46,000 on the clock, I parked it at 265,000 because it needed too much work and I got another car, lower miles, that had a blown engine.

I will list the things that I had to fix. Keep in mind, we drove this car for 12 years (love the low salt south) so the list may seem long, but this car never left us stranded.

Replaced head gasket 2 times - at 97K and again at 251K - needed to have heads shaved that time, both upper control arms due to worn out upper ball joints, both rotors due to warpage, Headlight switch, Had to fix heater controller, heater core 5 times, fan clutch, radiator, water pump, front cover gasket, alternator, starter, AC compressor, AC condenser (probably caused failed compressor), turn signal flasher. For the most part, If I did not list it here, I did not need to replace it, and that means it lasted over 200K.

Overall this car held up OK. I stopped driving it because the rear end was howling, it started at 186,000 but never broke, then the transmission dropped 4th gear around 250K. The engine was still running strong so I pulled it and put it in a 94 cougar that had a blown engine.

Keep something in mind about these, and other Ford cars, the odometer gears get stuck and break if the car sits for an extended period of time. If you have one that has set for more than 6 months, it is likely the odometer will quit.

This was a pretty good highway car. I never had any complaint about the comfort or the ride. This thing would cruise down the highway at 80+mph all day long and still get 24mpg at that speed. It was never a quick car, but handled as flat as could be. This is the reason I kept it for 12 years and then planted the engine into a 94 Cougar rather than junking the works.