Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-75, 76-90, 91-104
I bought my 1996 Mercury Mystique when it had about 25k miles on it. The car handles really well so it's unfortunate that folks have had so many problems with it. Last year I it started stalling on me at stoplights and stop-signs (especially in hot weather.) I had to have the mass air flow sensor replaced. This cost me about $500. A couple of months later the check engine light came back on and I had similar problems. I then had to have the oxygen sensor replaced. This cost me over $300. Over the last couple of months the rear passenger-side turn signal has stopped working properly. I'm not sure I want to spend any more money on this car. It still only has 90k miles on it.
I just recently brought a 95 Mercury Mystique that had 153,000 miles on it. After about two days of driving the car, the car starting running hot and the antifreeze just kept leaking out of the car. After having the car looked at several times, I fought out that I had a blown head gasket. So after driving the car home from the shop, the car made a loud noise and it just cut off in the middle of the road. After pushing the car over to the side of the road, I found out that the engine locked up on me. So now I just spent $1200.00 to get a engine put in, and the car is still driving funny. It takes a while for it to pick up speed, and when it shifts gears it jerks really hard. Now I have to take it to the shop again to see if my transmission is going bad on the car.
I got a 1997 Mystique two years ago, and have had many little problems since. A few of the comments I've seen said they've had problems with the car stalling or not turning on all the time. After many people telling me it's the battery or it's the alternator, the dealership finally got it right- they replaced the fuel pump and the problem was solved. However, the motors for my power windows have all died, which were 350 bucks each. Anyone want to buy a car?
I bought my Mystake 2 years ago. It had 49,000 miles on it. I got it because it seemed the right size for my two boys and me. Within the first month I had the engine light on. When I took it back to the dealer they gave me an extended warranty for the car saying that it would only be $250 every visit no matter what happened till the car reached 60,000 miles. I was relieved because the first thing that went wrong was the catalytic converter and its sensors. Between 49,000 miles and 60,000 miles I had it in for the converter, the fuel intake, the transmission, the engine light constantly on, and the overdrive light constantly going on. Since then I have had problems with it stalling, running hot, window motor failure on two windows and a third almost out. The cup holders snapped off, the vent crossbars all fell off, and the windshield wiper fluid squinter won't work on the driver's side. The ashtray front came off in my hand and there seems to be some sort of warping on the rear window. I can't turn on the heat or the air without the engine going crazy and the stalling is always accompanied by a wonderful engine reving that makes it so exciting. The biggest joy is when you make a left turn into a driveway or something where you have to slow down and the car dies. I love that one! I couldn't afford a new car and the dealership made me believe this was a good car. I explained to them that I was a mom and needed a safe car to drive with my kids. This is what I got. After reading your stories I realize now that there is NO way they didn't know what they were doing to me. I feel violated, conned, and cheated. I want to do something about this; we all have rights to a good product for our money. Ford should have pulled these bombs off the road ages ago. I don't know how they sleep at night knowing so many people are stranded with their messed up cars. I can't afford to get out from underneath this monster and to top it off, I now have serious reason to believe they turned the mileage back because there is a faint marking on the drivers side window that was there when I bought it that says next oil change 78,000 miles. If you do it every 3,000 miles and I bought it at 49,000 miles that does not make sense now does it? By the way, the engine light messes up the smog check and you have to have it turned off before you can get it registered. The dealer will turn it off for free; they know it's a permanently on light. After over two years of being on, it has become a much richer darker golden glow and when you and a loved one are stalled on the side of the road its almost romantic. Ha ha ha. Too bad they all don't just catch fire.
I purchase my 96 Mercury Mystique 3 years ago and have been keeping it well maintenance ever since, I have had a few problems with it throughout the years, but nothing major. My odometer recently went over 145,000 and the transmission has completely went out, I always knew there was something wrong with the transmission because every once in a while the transmission would hit hard when taking off, but when taking it in for preventive maintenance they would tell me that it's nothing and that your car would keep running as long as you keep the maintenance up. Now isn't that something?
I purchase my 1998 Mercury Mystake in 2000 with only 30,000 miles on it. I started having trouble with the cooling system about 9 months ago. The car started overheating, I took it in and they found nothing was wrong. A few months later the engine light came on, once again I took it in and they found nothing wrong. Well, now the car is seriously overheating, stalling, and shutting it self off on stops. I changed the thermostat and coolant temp sensor, that didn't fix the problem. Tomorrow, I'm changing the water pump, I'll let you know how that went. Never again would I buy Ford or an American car again.
Bought it new off the floor in 1997. It's a 2.0L Zetec.
Had various, annoying problems up til now, but nothing like having to get the Tranny Rebuilt/Replaced at 56,000miles ($2000). Now I'm at 99,000miles and the Tranny is GONE again. Will cost another $2000. What do you do? spend $2000 on a questionable vehicle, or spend $2000 on another used car that may, or may not, be more reliable. Signed, totally pissed. Good Luck To ya.
I just bought a USED 1995 Mystique. It has 119,000 miles on it and seems to run fine. However, the check engine light is permanently on, the automatic transmission shifts very hard up and down, and it appears that there is no overdrive at all. After reading through all the comments here I have not found anyone with a similar tranny problem. Anyone ever hear such a thing? No overdrive?
I have a 96 mystique and I have 85,000 miles on it. first off, the cup holders broke off. then, the windows stopped working. my relay for the blinkers went out so it clicks constantly real fast. my trunk leaks, my gas cap only opens when it wants to and my dimmer switch went out. now recently the upper radiator hose blew and I've always had problems with overheating. most recently all my wiring went bad so its sitting in my front yard till I can get the money to fix it. I hate this care so much I wanna just roll it off a cliff, but I can't afford it. would someone please let ford know we all need new cars? if someone wants to try and get something together e-mail me at possom281@yahoo.com.
My wife has a 1996 Mystique GS that has approx 149K KM on it. She just informed me that the car has started to act up. Apparently the overdrive light flashes periodically and the engine emits a high pitched whine. I imagine this has something to do with the transmission not being in the correct gear. Can anyone shed any light on this situation before it ends up costing a fortune to fix. Thanks.
When I bought it about a year ago I wondered how a car in such seemingly good condition could be that cheap, now I know, everything fails all the time. I've even been thinking about crashing it to use the insurance money and buy something decent, first thing to go were the rear windows, they don't work anymore, then the ac stopped working and it took about 500 dollars to fix, it worked for about a month and then I decided i'd live without it until the compressor stalled, requiring another 500 dollar repair and breaking the alternator belt, the instrument lights then stopped working and last week the speed sensor broke, taking with it the transmission, now I'm faced with a 1200 dollar repair on a 1600 dollar car, but I wouldn't sell it to anyone, I'd have an enemy for life after that, so I'll see how much the junkyard offers for it.
Since I can't use four letter words, I can't comment on Ford and its Mystique.
I am the owner of a 1998 Mystique, it has served me well for many miles... however now in its high mileage years (105000) it is starting to be unreliable and I would never drive it out of town. The check engine light was on for 2 years and I needed it out for registration... cost me $1000 some sort of solenoid... now it stalls in turns or whenever it feels like it. Trunk leaks, electric door locks sometimes won't work... It is time for a new car... all in all I have had good luck with Ford and will purchase another Ford Product... I guess cars are not made to last as long as the older simpler models of my youth. If you took care of them they would last forever. Oh well I will have this paid off just in time for it to go to the junk yard.
I purchased my 1996 Mystique in 1997 with 16,000 miles on it. I now have put 100,000 miles on it since then. I have had nothing but problems with the car. The first thing that went wrong with it was the dial that controls where the heat blows to snapped. We just left that be and let the heat/air blow straight up. Next the cheap cup holder snapped, a result of very cheap plastic. At 35,000 miles my wife swore up and down she could hear a knocking noise coming from the engine. Sure enough, the dealer diagnosed it as a "mis-shaped piston". End result of that was a new motor, which thankfully was under warranty. We then began to notice that the heater fan only blows at two different speeds. This has been fixed three different times and still does not work correctly. One of the most interesting problems we had was when the car was at 75,000 miles. My wife was leaving to go somewhere and she couldn't get the gear shifter to get out of park, it was jammed. A call was made to the dealer, and the problem was diagnosed as a very common problem on Mystiques. He said Ford knew this was going to be a problem on the Mystiques, and built in a little spot where you can jam a screw driver into a slot and somehow mechanically release the car from park. We tried it and PRESTO, it worked. We took the car to the dealer and $250 later we no longer had that problem. But new and more uglier problems were lurking. At 85,000 miles the power antenna quit working, the clock quit working, the front passenger window did not roll down, the fuel door no longer opens, and a wide array of fuses would seemingly blow daily. After spending entirely too much money to fix these problems, we then were met with the with the ever common overheating problem. Luckily, this is not a problem unless driving in heavy traffic in the summer time, which where I live is only 5 months. At 100,000 miles we were greeted with the overdrive light continually flashing on and off on the dash. This was a warning of things to come as the car rapidly began to shift very hard. End result was $1700 spent on a rebuilt transmission. Just the other day, my Mercury decided to start leaking a small pool of antifreeze below it in the driveway. I am terrified to have the car looked at by a mechanic, because I know that very bad news will follow. End result, I am trading the car in for a new Civic, and hopefully that car will not slowly bleed my wallet to death like the Mystique.
I purchased a 1996 Mercury Mystique in 1999 with about 42,000 miles. I paid a little under $10,000 (after tax and tags) which I can only laugh at now. This car has been nothing but trouble for me. I've only had it for about 4 years and I've paid about half of my originally purchase price in repairs. Some of the problems included a trunk that leaked, the driver's power window (the cable snaped) and the Transmission which died leaving me stranded in the middle of an intersection. It now also seems that my CV joints are going. This will probably put my total over $5000 in repairs. This car is totally not worth it. When the Transmission went I had less than 80,000 miles. I drove a Chevy Celebrity over 200,000 miles before the transmission went. I will never, EVER, purchase another Ford product.