Faults:

Wonderful car. Almost nothing has gone wrong. I bought it from an elderly lady, who hadn't been able to drive it for many years. So many small things were wrong, due to age and sitting for many years, such as fuses, switches, light bulbs, tires, belts, hoses, wiper blades, bushings, boots, & battery. Those are related to age, and sitting for many years. Most of those I could fix myself.

Once I got them all fixed, it's been a wonderfully reliable, comfortable, ergonomic car, with plenty of power, yet easy on the fuel economy too. It is heavy, low, with an aerodynamic profile that helps it cut through high head-winds and cross-winds like a Porsche or a bobsled! It has a super comfortable feel, like my former Lexus LS-430. It's a luxury version of the Ford Taurus, so I assume the same rules for Taurus apply to this. You have to keep up with your maintenance on this car. But you need to do that with any car.

Only concerns I have is that the heater works marginally on cold winter mornings! And I notice that it is apparently burning motor oil quicker than I'd like, despite my using the best grade of Castrol synthetic oil & oil filter every 3,000 - 5,000 miles. It's been a great, reliable car, and I would be open to considering another Mercury Sable.

Faults:

2 transmission failures in 4 years ($2000 repair).

Accelerator belt snapped.

Battery was terrible in cold weather.

Brake lines needed to be replaced at 82,000 miles.

Interior was cheaply designed with plastic on passenger side door coming off.

Broke down 5 times in 5 years, only driving 10,000 miles.

General Comments:

This car was absolutely terrible. It is long and clunky for a sedan, and it has the unreliability you would expect from a Ford. Save yourself the pain that I went through with this car and avoid it at all costs.

Faults:

Drags a little bit on acceleration if the A/C is on.

My A/C compressor is going out. I can live without the A/C if the car will run without it... Anyone know if it will?

Kittykat1082@hotmail.com.

General Comments:

Car is reliable and has run great. I haven't had any major problems with it up until now.

Definitely a granny car, but fits two car seats, portable crib, and Graco stroller plus luggage and diaper bags with no trouble.

Faults:

At some point the driver's side power door lock quit functioning, but that was before I bought the car and it's a minor issue so I never had it fixed.

The door latches occasionally quit working in very cold temps - I once had to take a blowtorch to the locking mechanism just to get my door to shut so I wouldn't be late for work.

Other than that, nothing really went wrong with this car (besides normal wear and tear) until about a year after I bought it, when the lower ball joints needed to be replaced around 180,000 miles.

Around the same time the rear struts started going bad...

And now there are a couple more front suspension issues: broken stabilizer link and worn out tie rod on one side. But other than that, I have had no major problems with this car.

General Comments:

Despite a few problems here and there, at over 200,000 miles I am not complaining!

Performance-wise, I've found this car doesn't accelerate quickly and doesn't get great gas mileage - around 22 mpg. on average.

It handles wonderfully in the snow and it's nice and roomy with a huge trunk - perfect for long road trips.

There seems to be a lot of wind and road noise when driving at high speeds.

I've always thought the '96 to be a nice body style, very classy; people usually think my car is a lot newer than it actually is.