Faults:

My electric cooling fan went at about 60,000 miles and the serpentine belt. Also, I had to replace both sides upper and lower ball joint bushings and sway bar link bushings as well. They are now made of neoprene a better rubber compound.

General Comments:

The car runs smooth and handles well. I upgraded to 18 inch rims with 245/45/18 which is the proper size for the car. its 26 and 1 half inches off the ground just like the stock 215/70/15 the car came with. the tires r wider and the car hugs the road great.

Faults:

When I had first received my car, my four catalytic converters were bad, and yet they still are.

My check engine light is on sometimes.

My door ajar stays on, even though the doors are not open.

And my tie rod (suspension in the front of the car) is not great.

Also I have a moon roof that decides to work when it wants to.

I have a leak when it rains, and I can't figure out where it is.

When I started driving my Cougar, the transmission shifted every 15mph while using regular gas, and then I switched to the highest type of gas, it shifts only at 50mph. It is now different car.

Other than that, there is nothing wrong with my car.

General Comments:

I have rode in a Cougar 3.8L before. Everything electronic with only 69,000 miles in it. My opinion is that I don't like the 6 cylinders in a Cougar; it's not meant to be except with the newer ones. I drive the 4.6L V8, and it's so smooth, I love that car.

The leather interior I have makes my seats feel like I'm in my own bedroom.

It definitely to me drives like it's brand new with over 200,000 miles on it.

Faults:

Cassette player: tape became stuck, removed and now won't play tapes.

I don't recall other problems, since the previous owner had all the required maintenance well documented.

Starting to pull a little to the right, but it may just need an alignment.

General Comments:

Since my '94 Accord had too many service and repair needs, I recently bought this from my father who purchased it new (he's always owned Ford products exclusively).

Sharp interior (leather and "custom cloth"); paint job has held up very well. Very quiet ride and unexpectedly good highway gas mileage (26 mpg so far). I obtained it for my son to use to and from college, but I've had it on the road for a few weeks.

Faults:

Nothing has went wrong with the car so far.

General Comments:

First of all, I want to thank the good folks at carsurvey.org, because after reading many reviews, I decided to buy the 1996 Mercury Cougar XR-7.

You people were right, this car is beautiful, gorgeous interior, power enough to spare, and my wife loves it.

The thing that sold me on buying this was that I like rear wheel drive, and I can't stand front wheel drive. I think I can trust this car to go across the country if I wanted to.

Everything still works really well on it, all the power stuff, which is pretty amazing, because it is a '96. I have the six cylinder, which still has plenty of power. I would recommend this car to anyone.