1997 Mercury Sable GS from North America - Comments

11,500 miles, my radiator started leaking. ($300 fix)

17,100 miles, my transmission started slipping (I was really low on transmission fluid, and just added fluid and it has been fine since)

25,000 miles, my car overheated (bad thermostat, $10 fix)

This is my first car and I really like it, but I am very scared that it will end quickly, and I think I have been very lucky.

I have heard nothing but bad things about the engine and the transmission in these cars. I am a 19 year old single mom of twins, and I would not want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere with my 1 year old twin boys. I am very lucky to have only been stranded down the street from my house, and also very lucky to not have a bad transmission or a bad engine.

My friend has a 1997 Ford Taurus, which is the same as this car, and it had to have the transmission and head gaskets fixed, like one after another. That kills money.

My car is so far pretty reliable, but I just hope it stays that way. I got this car for free pretty much, my Grandma can't drive anymore so she gave it to me, and she rarely even drove it, which is why I got it with only 8,250 miles. But then again, it is also an 11 year old car.

Update to my article "so far it is decent".

I just posted my article about my Sable yesterday, and I am really upset with what just happened. I was driving home from getting my twin boys back from their father, and going to the store when it happened. We were getting ready to leave the store with groceries, I started the car and it sounded so bad, the engine was making loud knocking noises, and my service engine soon and oil pressure lights were on. My kid's father came down to see what was wrong with it, and he said it sounded like I was missing cylinders. There was oil in the engine too when this happened, in fact it just got changed 3 days before. He told me I could drive it home and I did just fine except for the loss of power, and it took literally a 1/4 tank to make it home from the store, which is a 9 mile trip. Mechanic says my engine is missing cylinders 2, 4, and 5. He says they are seized and he says that this engine is literally crap, and he fixes a lot of them, they keep him in business.

I like this car in all, but at 27,413 miles with seized cylinders, I cannot drive this anymore until it gets a new engine by the weekend. I hope the new engine does better than the last one.