Faults:

Bought a 99 Cougar at the end of June, and had almost next to no problems.

I had my engine light come on once for needing to replace the gas cap, but it was saying the car was fine, so if you replace that it could take the light off for the O2 sensors.

Other than that, I've only blew a few fuses (from my boyfriend installing an aftermarket stereo) and I just recently blew the alternator because I didn't put a compositor on the subs. I got a quote for about $170 Canadian, so it shouldn't be too bad (I'm getting my boyfriend and a mechanic friend to do free labor, which saves me about $900). Other than that, nothing has given me trouble.

My trunk release went on me the day before my alternator blew, so he thinks it could have been that.

If anyone has questions or comments, feel free to email me - Chanice_kristen121@hotmail.com

Faults:

I have been the owner of a 99 Mercury Cougar for approx 8 years now. The car has cost me a lot of money up until this point to keep running (a lot of engine work, new gaskets etc.).

The Cougar recently started jerking and making noises upon acceleration (the idle module just goes crazy!). I noticed even upon braking, the vehicle acts like it still want to go and literally "pushes" you to drive it. The dealer ran a diagnostic test on the engine, which the Cougar passed with flying colors. After doing a little research, I am starting to think my fuel filter may be clogged, therefore, preventing enough fuel to flow to the designated spots, thus causing the jerking/noises. has anyone else had this problem?

General Comments:

I think Ford/Mercury should've recalled the Mercury Cougar entirely. This vehicle was very poorly made.

Faults:

I bought this car from my Uncle who only put 30,000 trouble free miles on it. He purchased the car brand new and didn't do heavy driving with it because it was a leased vehicle. However, when I got the car I used it to commute 150 miles per day; everything worked fine and looked perfect on the car.

At 70,000 miles the transmission started to slip, and a day later I took it to AAMCO to get fixed; 10 days later I got it back after paying 3,000; I was shocked but I still loved the car and just took it in stride.

Exactly 1 year later, and just past the warranty, the transmission went AGAIN! I was 100 miles from home, so I had it towed to a local AAMCO hoping they would honor the warranty, they didn't. They then proceeded to berate the car and try to tell me how many things were wrong with it (despite the fact that it now had 100,000 miles and a daily commuter vehicle). So I called their bluff and had a tow truck come and pick up the car and bring it to a competitor transmission shop. They "fixed" the trans, agreeing to charge me less than $3000 - right! They charged me $2,998.

General Comments:

Well, that was 3 years ago now, and the "fixed" tranny still leaks after being parked. Difference is, I check my trans fluid and oil every 4 days just to make sure. It still runs great though.

Trunk latch doesn't seem to work, and minor problems with the window switches that can be attributed to burnt-out wires near the switch terminals (behind the buttons).

Temperature gauge all of a sudden does not read correctly, if continually fluctuates from cold to hot (red area) which was alarming at first until I realized that it was not in-fact overheating at all.

I am sorry to give the car now to my 17 year old daughter who is a new driver, but she loves the car (and so do I).

I test drive the car every other night now, just to make sure everything is safe for her.

Despite replacing the tranny twice, gave me 196,000 almost trouble-free miles - I can't complain on that.

I just purchased a 2007 Dodge Magnum.

Tony - Brick, NY - 732-948-6774 - avp0713@comcast.net