1999 Mercury Cougar 2.5 from North America
Summary:
Beautiful car with terrible factory defects in the engine design
Faults:
Body defect from the factory. Fixed under warranty. Car in shop 1 day for this one week after purchase.
Starter, flywheel, and transmission failing at age 9 months (as of this review). Being fixed under warranty, air conditioning, engine, hood, and transmission all have to be removed for the repairs. Dealership/Technician has no prior experience on this kind of repair. Vehicle has been in shop for two weeks as of 07/06/2000, repairs have not started yet.
General Comments:
Would not recommend this to anyone. I love the styling, love the performance and love the interior, but the engine, flywheel and transmission are apparently defective from what the local Ford and Mercury service centers have told me. I have spoken with other Cougar owners who are having the same problems. Engine, transmission, and powertrain problems in addition to problems with windows, suspension, and more are normal on the 99' Cougar. All the regular car reviews talk about the edgy styling, and how the car is built on a proven platform from other Mercury vehicles. What they fail to mention is the heavy flywheel in the engine results in most of this car's engine problems.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 6th July, 2000
13th Apr 2001, 13:31
I have not had the above problems with my 99 Mercury Cougar V6 MTX. The one problem I did have is that I had my throttle break 50 miles after the factory warranty ran out!
Since I had made a modification to my throttle, I do not really count that because it could have been my fault. Thank God I had an extended warranty.
Other than that my Cougar has been trouble free, it is unfortunate that you have had the above problems, and it is also unfortunate that FOMOCO has essentially given up on developing this car.
Please go to Edmunds.com, enter Town Hall, then enter Owner's Clubs, and then go to the Cougar Enthusiasts Group in order to correspond with other Cougar owners.