23rd Nov 2002, 12:45
I own an imported (made in Mexico) 1998 Mercury Mystique LS with Automatic Transmission. Current Mileage is 68,077 with no repairs only normal maintenance. The car is fun to drive, looks great, and was the right choice when I bought it new and compared it to the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. For essentially the same price as those cars I got a larger car with a V-6 engine that seriously outperforms either of those other possibilities. I am extremely pleased with my choice. I use all synthetic lubricants which may explain why my automatic transmission is problem free. My only complaint is that the Group 40R battery can only be replaced from Ford/Motorcraft unless you substitute an 'almost' sized one from another manufacturer.
21st Feb 2004, 00:35
Today, I purchased a 1998 Ford Mystique LS, 117 K miles, for $2,000.00 at an auto auction in Ohio. The car had a low fuel indicator which was indicating reserve gas emergency, Just as my Beamer motorbike does.
The auto was oil sluddgy, and had inexpensive bald skins- (tires). I put on Michilen X 205 x 15" tires.
And the trunk seems to be locked, but I will get that fixed.
12th Feb 2006, 15:44
I would like to know why everyone thinks these cars are made in Mexico. All newer Fords (1990 and up) are Mazda/Ford except for Mercury Villager which is a Nissan. The only reason an automatic would "blow out" before 150,000 is because of mistreatment, like running it out of fluid, or just plain beating on the car with reckless driving. If you drive hard, changing the fluid after 50,000 miles is a good idea. I do prefer manual transmissions though because they are much more reliable and they take the abuse a lot better than an automatic. That's the reason why someday I will either change mine over to a stick or just go buy another Mystique that already has a manual tranny. I am very happy with mine, it's too bad some of us are not. However, it seems that when there are people that are unhappy with their cars because of small problems that appear big, that will usually mean the end of a good car. If they didn't sell, Ford would have stopped making them.
8th May 2007, 10:58
I own the 99 mercury mystique. it has 75,000 miles on it, but it is fun to drive, although I have the automatic trans, it is still a fast car. I took off the resonator and put a straight pipe that is 3.5 inches width. also I put a huge performance muffler that is 3.5 inches outlet, 19 inches overall, and 8 inch width. it is a loud car and I have beaten stick-shift Honda hatchbacks with it before. the only thing is my motor moves a lot and I have already replaced the motor mounts, I think it could possibly be the transmission mount, but I am not sure. not a lot of repairs on this car. when I got it its in the 1/3 of its life so parts have to be replaced, but other than that the car runs good. it only revs to 4.5 rpm though, I am wondering why it does this can anyone answer that? is it my fuel injectors?, my ignition module? please write back at drewgutterz@hotmail.com.
15th Jul 2002, 09:04
I own a '99 Mystique, and my previous car was a '98 Mystique. I wouldn't have had to buy the '99 if I hadn't rolled the '98, which was a great car. Both of them have (had) the 24-valve Duratec V6 with the 5-speed manual transmission.
The Duratec's smooth revving is great for the manual tranny, but when coupled with the automatic, a lot of "grunt" power is lost in the torque converter. Most of this engine's torque is produced in the higher RPM range, and for an automatic transmission to feel "right", there has to be a considerable amount of torque in the low RPM range, like Ford's old push-rod 3.0 V6 engine used in the Taurus--the Vulcan.
The lack of low RPM torque forces the automatic to rev the engine higher before shifting, and possibly results in more downshifts.
No wonder so many people with the automatic transmission aren't happy! Buy one with the stick! They're much more fun.