1989 Mercury Tracer from North America - Comments

Faulty componentry:

Catalytic converter

Cancerous driver door

Nagging inability to pass emissions testing without shortcuts

Gradual piston ring wear, cause of emissions trouble

Overall age related wear to carpet, seats, etc.

I just can't kill this car. I drive it like I'm going for the fastest 0-60 time all the time, and it has always had sufficient response from the engine compartment. Thus, my gas mileage suffers at around 29mpg/city and about 33mpg/highway

In my near five years of ownership of this car, I've only had to do general maintenance and repair, with no major overhauls of any sort on its history

I completed a 5000 mile road trip two months ago without a hitch

I've turned a lot of heads with this car. For having a quarter million miles on the clock, it's still pulling its weight around. If I can get it to pass emissions, it may well make it to 300k miles

Almost a year later, I finally realized I used a frown face for this review. Should have been a smile face. der-whoops.

I've since moved on to a '98 Saturn SL2. This Tracer's final numbers (in my ownership) : a little under 268k miles with a new radiator as the only major repair, though a new windshield and right front bearing assembly are necessary.