Faults:

Faulty thermostat housing at 134,000 miles.

Sway bar brackets at 134,000 miles.

Valve cover gasket at 147,000.

Passenger front wheel bearing replaced at 155,000.

Front ball joints at 160,000.

Fuel gauge stopped working at 150,000.

General Comments:

The car had 130,000 on the clock when I bought it, so I knew there would be issues at some point. I had done plenty of research and learned enough to avoid the troublesome 6 cylinder/automatic transmission combo.

Although the 4 cylinder 2.0 was no speed-demon, its 125 horsepower was more than sufficient in town & on the highway, and the mileage was admirable (25 MPG in town, 32 to 35 MPG highway).

It was the aesthetics of this car which initially drew me to it; such a unique design! Even now, I miss just "looking" at it. It managed to look sporty without looking cartoon-like.

The stiff suspension was a bit jarring at times, but the car cornered phenomenally. Curvy roads = instant smiles.

The 2.0 proved to be a rock-solid engine; despite the high miles on the car, it never once ended up on the side of the road. No major issues at all, really. Still had the original clutch when I traded it in.

If you find a low-mile Cougar with the 2.0 and a manual transmission, buy it! You will absolutely love driving this car.

Faults:

Cd player stops working for months at a time.

Brakes wear quickly.

A LOT of blind spots.

General Comments:

Very reliable.

Great on gas if you put a decent amount in.

Handles great.

Accelerates very quickly.

Perfect starter car.

Faults:

This is the second Mercury Cougar I've owned. I owned a '99 Cougar that I bought in 2008 with 75k on it. I only owned the car for 7 months, because after a few months, I started getting extremely poor gas mileage. I brought it to the dealer, suspecting I had a gas leak, and was told nothing was wrong with the car.

The first week I bought the car, the alternator and battery had to be replaced.

I own an '01 Cougar now, and I'm having the same problem with the gas. Whenever I fill the car up, my meter will go down 5 miles for every miles I go, until it reached below half full. Then it's normal.

General Comments:

The leather in the car is pretty decent. If you get the car with cloth, the seats wear pretty quickly.

Faults:

Car has 320,000 Southern California miles on it and is still going strong. Original engine and transmission. I have religiously changed the engine oil and transmission fluid per manufacturer specs, and the car has taken care of me.

The transmission has just started slipping a bit, but with 320,000 miles, what can you expect?

The air conditioning no longer works, but it probably just needs a charge.

Interior when cleaned up looks great still.

General Comments:

Handles pretty well and still looks good. Soaks up the miles pretty well.

Faults:

Catastrophic engine failure @ 1300 miles - cause not known - replaced with crate engine under warranty - dealer not allowed to examine failed engine.

Windshield washer reservoir cracked/leaked - replaced under warranty.

Seat belt retractor failed - replaced under warranty.

Coil pack failed - replaced @ $500.

Sway bar bushing failed - replaced @ $250.

Driver side exterior door handle failed.

Transmission mainshaft seal leak.

Rubber moldings on antenna rotted/cracked.

Defroster vent/diffuser in dashboard won't stay fastened at end clips.

Graphics/lettering on dashboard faded and worn off.

Cougar emblem on steering wheel has internal pitting.

General Comments:

Liked styling and features of this car. Performance reasonable. Quality abysmal.