Faults:

First, the transmission went out. Started shifting funny.

The power steering pump/hoses constantly leaked.

The radio barely worked.

The lights in the grille had to be replaced to pass inspection, costing $8 per light, 4 lights.

Both regular headlight bulbs died and needed replacing.

The brakes were 75% when I bought the car... when I traded it only 5000 miles later, they were completely shot.

The car got really bad gas mileage... supposed to get at least 17 in town... on the highway I only got 19.

General Comments:

Do not buy one of these unless you are, are married, or are best friends with a mechanic. Or if you are rich. These cars were nice looking, comfortable, but the running gears are crap. When I took mine into the transmission shop, they told me that they see more Sables than Dodge Caravans. I had always heard the Caravans were bad for transmission problems... but Sables are actually worse.

Faults:

The battery cables had poor connection. They were really frayed and not touching.

The front passenger window doesn't roll up as fast if you try to roll the others up at the same time.

The window behind the passenger doesn't roll down at all.

The car tends to die when not pushing the accelerator to back into a spot or parallel parking.

General Comments:

The car will cruise at about 15 - 20 mph without pushing the accelerator.

The driver's seat will move up and forward or down and back by moving a switch on the side of the bottom of the seat.

If you try to close the tailgate or the back gate window too hard it won't lock and a light comes up on the dash board.

Faults:

They all happened over time, but could have happened at any time.

Broken passenger taillights, we were hit lightly.

No Air conditioning unless we wanted to pay to have it recharged every year.

Radio died, after all the buttons stopped working.

Headlights melted their holder.

Needed a new engine every hundred thousand miles.

Transmission died out at 450000 miles.

General Comments:

Good car for the shade tree mechanic who needs no luxuries like the radio or air conditioning.

We called it the cockroach because we kept expecting it to die, and it never did.

It was finally given tot the 16 year old driver for his first car, and took him two and a half years to kill it, even he drove it into the ground.

Good first car for a kid, If they can fix minor to medium problems.

General Comments:

I want to say as long as a vehicle has been taken care of, things like head gaskets, transmissions, engines, etc, will be a good car. The problem is that most folks don't go to honest, reliable, mechanics. Things like oil changes (trivial by the dishonest mechanic) are very important. For instance, for years my grandma went to one garage for her automotive needs. At 80,000 miles the main and rod bearings went out due to her mechanic replacing the oil change sticker and charging her for the oil change that never happened. Her AC Delco oil filter was the factory original at 80,000 miles.

When purchasing any car do the research. Get maintenance records. In my opinion, if it wasn't for Fords I'd be hungry. Fords are in and out of my shop more than any other make, and for major rework most of the time. Usually, the replacement parts are better in design and do last longer. Chevys are always in my shop for maintenance (oil changes transmission services, tune-ups etc). A little hard to make a living off of chevys, but I also own one too.

My Sable has lasted with proper maintenance. I've changed the head gaskets, power steering pump, and good thing I serviced the tranny (lotsa mud). But she shifts fine now and is the most reliable Ford I've had thus far. The kids like the Sable because "it's not loud," like the '70 Chevelle.