Faults:

Check engine light 70,000 - cleaned EGR passages.

Check engine light 95,000 - O2 sensors.

Alternator at 130,000 - fixed with Ford Motorcraft. Aftermarket alternators don't last more than a few weeks.

Gear in seat adjustment broke at 150,000.

Motor mounts are due for replacement. At 160,000 miles, I'm OK with that.

General Comments:

Most comfortable fun car I've ever owned. Bought it to replace my Contour and transferred many performance parts over. Handling is EXCELLENT, Seats are super comfortable for such a small car, and the Contour SVT exhaust sounds fantastic and fits perfectly with a passenger side exhaust hanger from a '98 Taurus.

At 160,000 miles even the A/C still works.

The key to keeping this car healthy is aggressive maintenance, just like the Contour. Perform a 4 quart drain & fill on the tranny twice a year, and keep up with the more common stuff, & you'll be fine.

I still own it & commute every day. This month my daughter is using it because the tranny in her Honda is on its way out.

Faults:

I had to replace the discs & pads at the four corners. The rears were finished when I bought the car, but the fronts were new and they lasted about 20000 km (and NO I don't stand on the brakes or anything). I've replaced them with good quality ones, and they seem to be holding up much better.

The A/C compressor clutch failed.

The belt tensioner needed to be replaced.

The passenger front wheel bearing was changed at 160000km, and now the other side will have to be changed too.

General Comments:

This car rides like an American car, but handles like a European car. The only thing that detracts from the comfort is the high wind noise on the highway. The seats are too flat to hold you in the corners, but I guess that was required for large American behinds. The car is also quite good in winter with nice predictable handling.

The engine is powerful and smooth, but it can be a real gas-guzzler if you get too enthusiastic. It`s also physically big for the car, which makes any service under the hood a pain (changing the plug wires took me a bit more than an hour).

Biggest disappointment is the transmission, which has a sloppy change and badly chosen ratio. First gear is too short for anything other than standing starts.

The car hasn't given me too much grief, but it won't match Japanese reliability. But then, they are MUCH cheaper to buy used than an equivalent Japanese model, which makes them a good used bargain.

Faults:

I have owned this car for 2 years and have only put 11000 on it. I have had so much trouble mechanically that no matter what you do, it doesn't fix the problem.

General Comments:

I would never ever buy a Mystique again. A bad mistake.

Faults:

My car overheated while I was driving home TODAY!

Battery warning light still comes on daily even though I have new battery.

Front right dash board peeling.

Water enter the trunk when it rains.

When I changed any bulbs in the car, some fused gets blown.

General Comments:

I like my 1999 Mercury when I bought it thinking it would be a great car for a new daddy. Since I bought it, I had to make a lot of changes like filled it with A/c gas, buying new battery, changing fuses and now I wonder how much I will have to spend to repair the overheating problem. Already I'm a new dad and the though of having to pay more for the overheating problem I'm facing is killing me. By tomorrow if my mechanic tells me it will cause me a lot of $$$ to fix the problem, I will be getting rid of the car and get a JAPANESE CAR!!!