Faults:

The cup holder tends to throw drinks onto your lap...

The worst design for a cup holder I have ever seen.

If I keep it under a half a tank of gas I run the risk of it not starting... lower than half a tank is a huge gamble.

Eats up gas like there is no tomorrow.

My right speaker tends to buzz.

Most of the warning lights have ALWAYS been on, since I bought it i.e. The coolant light, and the maintenance light.

Operation VARIES in different weather conditions extremely.

Eats up tires and brake pads.

The 6 cd trunk CD changer it originally came with has horid and ate my cds for very long time.

Transmission has recently become jumpy.

There are censors that need to be replaced.. I do not remember which ones.

General Comments:

I enjoy the look of the car, and the highway speed. But, there are a lot of faults... when the car was first purchased it was a dream come true.. but more recently it has petered out a bit.

Makes a great first car, is pretty reliable and pretty fast.

Does not handle well though, and is like a boat especially in urban areas.

Aside from the speaker buzzing the stock speakers have been pretty good to me and I am sure I abuse them.

I tried to pamper this car.. but all in all this car performance is moderate.

I did very much enjoy the speed before the transmission started feeling sketchy, now I have to gradually get to speeds instead of how fast it was before.

Faults:

At 21k, trunk actuator failed and was replaced (warranty).

Sunroof track broke at 26k miles. This happened one month after my warranty expired.

At 39k I decided to replace all of the rear wheel studs, because they were breaking.

At 54k, the rear sway bar snapped on right side and had to be welded.

At 63k, the CD player gave me an E12 message, so I had the radio repaired.

At 65k, Flex plate / starter failed.

At 68k, replaced an oxygen sensor.

At, 74k, replaced another oxygen sensor.

At 75k, the rear sway bar snapped on the left side and had to be welded.

At 82k, oil pressure switch was replaced.

At 102k, replaced front-right knuckle assembly.

General Comments:

Car is fun to drive and gets 30 mpg on the freeway.

Hatchback is practical.

I will not buy another Ford / Mercury product.

Faults:

First, this is car is horrible. I mean I could have bought a new car if I hadn't bought this piece of crap.

Let me tell you:

Horrible electric wiring all over, including the A/C fan.

They use cheap flywheel so they can save 10 dollar on manufacturing, that can cost you only $100 bucks to replace, but $3000 for labor (WTF).

3 bad oxygen sensors, $300+.

A bad catalytic converter, $600+.

2 bad alternators within a year, $300+ each.

Losing the battery.

I mean there are other things like G.R.S. sensor, solenoid, and other sensors I wouldn't even mention.

I mean I tried this American car, because they say American cars are improving, but this is the last time I will ever buy a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury. It's a nicely designed car and very stylish, but I really wish that I would have bought a Honda or any other Japanese car.

General Comments:

Bad American engineering. If we build cars like this, we might as well give the automotive industry to the Japanese and the Germans.