Faults:

Clutch replaced at approx 90,000 miles - £450.

Timing belt replaced at approx 100,000 miles - £220.

Wishbones are on their way - £400ish.

General Comments:

The car still looks very modern and goes fairly well, however does drink fuel when driven briskly.

The best MPG I've achieved is 46MPG on a long motorway run, which is good for a 2.0 engine in a heavy car.

At the moment, the main point to watch out for when buying is that the front wishbones have been replaced, as the rubbers can't be replaced; it has to be the whole unit, which costs around £250, plus a few hours labour costs for fitting.

I've serviced mine with new oil / filter every 8000 miles, and the engine is still running sweet as a nut.

The boot is enormous for a coupe, and the rear bucket seats can fit a couple of adults easily.

Used prices for Cougar's are rock bottom now, and are a great buy - especially considering you get climate control, CD player, ABS, electric windows + loads more kit as standard.

Faults:

Nothing, no problems.

General Comments:

Great car, huge fun to drive, still looks stunning after 10 years, one of Fords best ever cars.

Been very reliable, low insurance for a sports car, and low service costs, being a Ford.

Faults:

I bought the car knowing it'd need a starter go to get replaced, and they tell me I need a flywheel too.

Now that winter has come and temps are under the norm this year, I leave for work a tad before 6 am, and my car in extreme temps will idle high when you start it, then drop below 1 and putter until it flat out dies or revs itself up repeatedly, and repeating these two actions over and over. I was told I need an upper intake manifold gasket; the mechanic says the cold weather has made my old one shrink, and it's allowing too much cold air into it, causing it to run bad or not at all. He says that's why when the weather warms up, it runs fine.

Well since I've found this out a week before Xmas, we've had constant freezing weather and then snow storms, so I haven't gotten a chance to fix it... now this week with wind chills making it neg 20 degrees out, my car is giving me a run for my money.

I wish I would have stuck with my great driving cheap to fix Cavy, not to mention the Cavy was gentle with gas. I get 18 miles a gallon in the Cougar on lucky days... every tank it changes lately it's been 14.

Oohhh this is the kinda situation I wish I would have been smarter about... It's not all about the looks, and that pretty little black Cougar sitting outside screams that for sure!

General Comments:

When winter comes, the Cougar hibernates. When summer comes and it runs good, I might love it again. Until then it's in time out.

Faults:

I bought the car in May of 08. I had wrecked my Cavalier at Christmas, and had only been allowed to start driving again in April.

When I got it, I had to fix some minor things in it, no big deal. Someone had tried unsuccessfully to cut the cat con out.

In the beginning I was pretty excited. The car is what you would consider fully loaded, the whole nine yards. It was by far the nicest car I had ever owned.

In July, on a weekend trip, the transmission slipped and quit working, with no warning. I managed to get it home, only to have it sit in the basement for two months.

After two new sensors, and almost a hundred dollars, my father finally admitted it was the trans, and we couldn't fix it. So we paid a local auto repair shop to do it, because the dealer tried to screw us once we had the car up there. That visit to the dealership still cost me 150, not counting the gas to haul a car there and back.

The local auto shop was honest and up front, a first, and charged us 3050, removal, installation, and Ford re-manufactured transmission with 100k or three year warranty. I wasn't taking chances.

As I was driving it home, the alternator went out. To have that fixed, 340, not counting the gas to take it up and back.

I've had the car for not even three hundred miles, and I've already put more into the car than I paid for it.

If this is how it's going to be, then I'm getting rid of this car. The only good thing about it is the previous owner replaced the engine, so it's pretty new. So I guess I practically have a new car between the trans and engine.

The body is in fantastic shape, and the exterior is perfect. Cosmetically it's superb, but so far, mechanically, it's lacking.

General Comments:

As far as how it drives and handles, I love it. I love everything about the car except the cost of all the parts.