Faults:

Transmission failure.

Battery failure.

Alternator failure.

Problematic windows.

Problematic speakers.

I purchased a new transmission at 100,000 miles, at the expensive cost of $2,800 (which is probably worth more than the vehicle itself). I also purchased a new alternator, which wasn't cheap either. That cost me $650.00.

General Comments:

It's a very cute girly car, for normally a good price. But it is not reliable at all. It is my first car, and I got it when I was 16, so I wanted the car for looks at the time. But buying it was a mistake; with all the money I've put into it, I could've purchased a better and more reliable car.

Faults:

I bought this car from a person who worked at a Ford dealer, and it needed a clutch. After I started ripping apart the car to do the clutch I found he had totally abused the maintenance. I replaced:

Clutch - I have never seen one smoked this bad!

Both ball joints.

CV boot.

Repaired BAD exhaust leak.

Rear drums/shoes.

Front rotors/pads.

BOTH parking brake cables.

BOTH rear brake hoses.

General Comments:

After dealing with the previous owner's NEGLECT, the car has been great! It shifts smooth, gets AMAZING gas mileage. 40 mpg highway. Although the 2.0 is possibly the most gutless motor I have ever driven.

Car has power everything, including moonroof. Everything works great.

Overall it's been a great car. Just keep up on maintenance. And don't trust when people say "I'm an employee at a _____________ Dealer" Chances are good, even though they work there, they don't maintain their vehicle!

Faults:

Car fuel pump went out.

O2 sensor, 6 things wrong, AKA oxygen sensor.

The seals on the back window are coming off twice.

The car rusts pretty fast.

Transmission went out.

Had to change tires twice.

General Comments:

Wow I just bought this car today. I really thought I was getting a great deal due to it ran fast.

Brakes were pretty good, and it only had two owners before me.

Little did I know, as I was driving home to go buy new car seats and a steering wheel cover due to there was a lot of wear and tear done to the seat and carpet, which I thought was normal, then I read that a lot of cars had this problem.

Now I had a mechanic look at it, and they told me I need to change my fuel pump and a lot of other things. This is going to cost me a cool 900 dollars. I wish I had researched this car better and read this ahead of time. I do not recommend this car to anyone. I feel bad that I'm going to sell it, but I'm a single mom and need a working car, not a problem.

Thank you for listening to my cry!!

Faults:

I bought the car knowing it'd need a starter go to get replaced, and they tell me I need a flywheel too.

Now that winter has come and temps are under the norm this year, I leave for work a tad before 6 am, and my car in extreme temps will idle high when you start it, then drop below 1 and putter until it flat out dies or revs itself up repeatedly, and repeating these two actions over and over. I was told I need an upper intake manifold gasket; the mechanic says the cold weather has made my old one shrink, and it's allowing too much cold air into it, causing it to run bad or not at all. He says that's why when the weather warms up, it runs fine.

Well since I've found this out a week before Xmas, we've had constant freezing weather and then snow storms, so I haven't gotten a chance to fix it... now this week with wind chills making it neg 20 degrees out, my car is giving me a run for my money.

I wish I would have stuck with my great driving cheap to fix Cavy, not to mention the Cavy was gentle with gas. I get 18 miles a gallon in the Cougar on lucky days... every tank it changes lately it's been 14.

Oohhh this is the kinda situation I wish I would have been smarter about... It's not all about the looks, and that pretty little black Cougar sitting outside screams that for sure!

General Comments:

When winter comes, the Cougar hibernates. When summer comes and it runs good, I might love it again. Until then it's in time out.