1996 Mercury Sable LS review from North America
"This car has been very reliable, even at 200,000 miles!"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
At some point the driver's side power door lock quit functioning, but that was before I bought the car and it's a minor issue so I never had it fixed.
The door latches occasionally quit working in very cold temps - I once had to take a blowtorch to the locking mechanism just to get my door to shut so I wouldn't be late for work.
Other than that, nothing really went wrong with this car (besides normal wear and tear) until about a year after I bought it, when the lower ball joints needed to be replaced around 180,000 miles.
Around the same time the rear struts started going bad...
And now there are a couple more front suspension issues: broken stabilizer link and worn out tie rod on one side. But other than that, I have had no major problems with this car.
General comments?
Despite a few problems here and there, at over 200,000 miles I am not complaining!
Performance-wise, I've found this car doesn't accelerate quickly and doesn't get great gas mileage - around 22 mpg. on average.
It handles wonderfully in the snow and it's nice and roomy with a huge trunk - perfect for long road trips.
There seems to be a lot of wind and road noise when driving at high speeds.
I've always thought the '96 to be a nice body style, very classy; people usually think my car is a lot newer than it actually is.
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| 1996 - Sable 3.0L 12 valve Vulcan V6 Awesome daily driver |
|
| Expensive to repair |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | Don't Know |
| Model year | 1996 |
| Year of manufacture | 1996 |
| First year of ownership | 2005 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2008 |
| Engine and transmission | 3.0 V6 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 8 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 4 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 164000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 205000 miles |
| Previous car | Ford Taurus |
| Date of Entry | 15th April, 2008 |