Faults:

Water pump impeller broke - I knew this was a problem and first time I revved it to 6K it let go. At least it did it for me, and not when wife or daughter were driving.

Lower control arm bushings got noisy. Miserable critter to change right side.

AC quit. The drier was rusted through.

Transmission pan gasket leaked. Miserable thing to replace as it is on the front of the trans, under the battery and behind AC receiver drier, which all had to come out.

Front suspension noise. Sway bar links were worn out, as well as right inner tie rod.

Had a lean running condition. Replaced leaky intake gaskets, and then found a defective air hose on the intake that collapsed on decel, and cracked.

One front O2 sensor went bad.

The heater only worked on high - the connector on the fan switch, and the switch itself, had overheated and burned - I replaced both.

The center brake lights worked, but the regular (signal) brake lights did not. The connector on the signal switch was overheated-corroded. I cleaned up the connection and it is working (for now)

The cup holders disintegrated. Not going to bother trying to fix what is a terrible design.

The clock display has lost several segments.

The shift interlock would not allow shifting out of park when cold. I snapped off the lever in the console so the interlock is no more. - solved THAT problem!!

Power antenna quit - replaced it with a standard non retractable one.

It "mooses" in cold weather. Have not fixed that yet.

Brakes corroded badly - spent $750 on parts alone - put in Kevlar pads - see how they stand up.

General Comments:

A joy to drive and a pain to work on. And I work on it too much. It is said any "car nut" worthy of the name needs to own at least one german and one british car. With a Porsche designed engine with Cosworth heads and what appears to be Bosch designed electrical connectors I think this car qualifies as German Enough for me - I've owned British cars before.

It rides and handles very well, with more than adequate performance.

It is NOT a cheap car to keep on the road.

I likely would not buy another one.

Faults:

First of all, let me say it is not a question of using an incompetent mechanic or vice versa. This car is truly a lemon. Ford darn well knows this too. I came across this Mystique when my girlfriend bought one 3 months ago. This Mercury has given her nothing but problems. I'm glad I came across this site, because I thought I was going crazy. I would say I'm pretty knowledgeable on cars and maintenance. I've been working in retail auto parts for over ten years, & tend to do most of the work (from oil changes to tune ups) myself.

But let me tell you, the first problem was the stalling! It would stall for no apparent reason. The (mistake) stalled on her on 3 separate occasions; twice on the freeway (highway) & once driving on the streets. No matter what I did, I couldn't find the stalling problem. After a week of troubleshooting and brainstorming for possibilities, it was found to be a problem within the fuse box under the hood. The wire going to the main fuse was burned & melted.

Then the transmission started to act up. It shifted like a brute... the o.d. light in the dash started flashing? It had a mind of its own, stopped on its own & worked again fine, like nothing ever happened.

The next thing is the temperature. This car runs very hot; the needle in the temperature gauge almost hits the red before the fans are activated. I changed the thermostat, flushed and replaced the coolant, changed the coolant temp sensor, but still it runs the same (as before). And no; the gauge or sending unit are not defective.

Then the blower fan only works on high, not on low or med. but high. Aside from the minor things like water leaking into the trunk, the cup holders breaking, air vents breaking, dull headlights lenses, etc. this car is a freaking total nightmare!

General Comments:

To those whom have had no problems with this model, let me tell you, you guys are lucky; sooner or later it's going to start acting up.