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Swore up and down that they're not killing Mercury as it's still profitable
Of course, they are killing the Mystique, Tracer, and Cougar. For a replacement, we get the Marauder 4dr. At one time, a straight line thunderbuggy would have attracted me (60's) but even then, my tastes were a little more refined and I wanted some handling & road manners to go along with the acceleration. Large wasn't exactly a plus for me either, and I've never owned a 4dr, nor do I have any intention of doing so.
Lincoln, however, gets 3 new badges to play with.
Hmmmm, let's see here. Eliminate everything that might attract the younger, less affluent buyer, and return to total duffer mode except for a bit of retro appeal in one model. Give all the new stuff to the other brand (nothing small or sophisticated, mind you) and see what happens.
Forecast:
1. Lincoln makes a ton of money off people who don't know any better.
2. Mercury sales and profits drop like a rock because there's nothing to differentiate it from anything else, and no high appeal/good value model on the floor.
3. When it comes time for Skip to go car shopping again, he won't be at a Mercury dealer.
You never know, Dodge might be my first repeat mfgr. in 40 years of car buying. (I did have a Challenger, but that was really a Mitsi.)
Skip G.
I wonder if MWS is still around? Maybe he can help with the vibration issue? MWS?
WELCOME BACK!
Smc7:
I'd would have gone with the dark grey metallic if it had been available on the 2000.
(Uhm..yea, that's what we talked about....yes we did...)
Besides, Jaguar owners are used to having pieces fall off their cars.
You forgot to mention our brief conversation on internal combustion detonation and the long term effects it has on your engine. Although brief, it was very informative.
cwaligora
Ok you may be right about the "S" being a testing bed for the Jag, but what difference does it make? The Cougar-S is kaput, and that is what a lot of us were looking forward to. I can't afford a Jag, I can't even afford the insurance on a Jag, so this speculation (if it comes true) doesn't help me, and I'm sure a lot of others feel the same way.
Also, the concept "S" was equipped with all wheel drive and a 3.0L V6. Both of these were dropped early on, and the would-be production "S" was a front wheel driver with a hyped up 2.5L Duratech.
I don't mean to sound snippy with you. This is just a real sore subject for a lot of us. It will take some time for the disappointment to fade away.
A while back someone described a rattle in the vicinity of the air bag on the passenger side (duct for vent??) Does anyone know a do-it-yourself fix for this?
O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Here's what I did to fix it: Open your glove box and place your hand in the opening between the upper part of the glove box(lip) and the edge of the dash. If you put your hand up in the dash board you will feel a plastic vent. Pull the vent towards the rear of the car gently but firmly. Mine sort of snapped in. It appears the vent had come loose. I hope this helps. Please ask if you need more help!!
Hope everyone is having a nice, albeit a very winter-like March 2001.
FLAGS: Like those national flags -- is that an Edmunds.com profile feature or something you added to your profile as a photo option?
WATER LEAKS: Well, it rained like chicks crying during "Steel Magnolias" here in Atlanta yesterday. Luckily, the window leaks on my '99 Cougar V-6 appear to crop up only (a) in automatic carwashes and (b) when 45mph wind gusts force rainwater in while the car is parked. The latter happened yesterday.
NEW COUPE IN THE WORKS: Did anyone fork out more than $20K for a loaded Cougar in 1999? Just curious. Between then and now, you might have saved enough extra to plop down $26K for the upcoming Mercedes-Benz C-class coupe (a.k.a. hatchback in the vein of the BMW 318ti). It arrives in the U.S. this summer.
6-speed manual transmission, glass roof with automatic sunshades, and tons of standard safety features. It comes with a Kompressor engine, which I guess means supercharged. Also standard traction and skid protection control systems. Check it out in last week's issue of AutoWeek.
BADULAH -- WEB VIDEO: Badulah -- get in touch with me if you're still interested in posting/hosting some web video from Cougar events.
Y'all have a nice week.
Legal robbery is what it is!!
I guess I could get one and trade it in for a BMW after three years.
>8-)
Anyway -- how much did folks spend on loaded '99 Cougars? Anyone spend over $22K? I'm just curious, given that a luxury manufacturer like Mercedes is beginning to drop MSRP prices on similar vehicles into the mid-$20K range. If they don't sell well (like the BMW 318ti), then the price point could drop further.
Makes you wonder how the market has changed so much for these kinds of cars in the past 2+ years.
- Traction control (Would have gotten it, but the boob of a salesmen said it wasn't available with the MTX)
- Leather
- Full power seat
- ATX (Don't need to comment on why I didn't get this)
- Side Air bags (were not available at the time)
2 years+ & 20K miles, and I still don't have any rattles or leaks.
Cougars are getting common around here. I see at least 3 every morning on my commute, and they're not necessarily the same three. Even saw another gold one like mine, and that's rare.
Skip G.
Skip: I am glad to hear you have not experienced any rattles in your car. I wonder why some cars have them and other don't?
Jim H.
Now there's a a thought!!
Seems I've heard the earlier years had some problems--not screwed together too well. Have things improved? What do you make of the Consumer Reports review? How does the paint on the darker colors hold up? Does the 5-speed really get the 23/34 mpg promised?
Any advice you'd like to pass along we'll surely consider.
... from sunny San Diego!
I'm skeptical of 34mpg on the highway but am getting nearly 24mpg around town. I've got the V6. I had a 98 Contour with the same engine/transmission and only got about 28mpg highway. The Cougar shares about 70% of its parts with the Contour.
Now that I've got it about broken in and am getting on it more, I'm realizing what a well put together package the Cougar is. Loving it more by the day. Everything works so well together.
Lou
When I was shopping, I had touble working the swithches on the power seats in the car and thought the seat wouldn't go down to increase head room, but eventually I got it to work. Maybe that is the difference between the two 6' 2"s?
PS. to CSG still waiting for my MTX to arrive. The joyous date is officially 4/13.
I have had my Black Cat for well over two years and she now has 45,000 miles on her. The paint looks GREAT. Of course there is the occasional front bumper ding from road debris, but that is to be expected.
I brought my car in yesterday to get the tires rotated and balanced. The tech said that my tire wear is not that bad and as long as I rotate them every 4-5K miles they should be fine. I think I was being a little paranoid about the wear.
I also washed my car yesterday and she is sparkling. My paint has been great and seems very high quality.
http://www.evisteon.com/b2c/mach_mp3c.htm
They say it will fit selected Ford products and will be easy to install. It will play CDs with MP3 coded music. They claim a CD can hold something like 10 hours of MP3 music. It will available through Ford-Mercury dealers and, I thought I saw somewhere it will be priced $150-200 (seems pretty cheap, as Crutchfield sells an Aiwa unit for about $300).
This unit looks like it will fit the Cougar. It appears to be the same size as my indash CD changer.
Lou
Good Monday morning!!
Does everyone still own their Cougars? or Did you trade them in this weekend? ;-)
Anyway, I'm happy...for now.
Snow BITES!!!
so along with the recalls i am also having them do:
re-align the sunroof (doesn't close flush with bodywork)
the interior trim panel near the right rear speaker squeaks
(probably my fault since i normally listen to my music at "21" or "22" Dave Matthews needs to be listened to loud!!)
And last but not least the "stealth" front suspension noises that Helen Keller could hear yet the service department has yet to hear them after 3 or 4 tries ;^)
Jimbo_G
=^..^=
The New Edge Cougar could have been a good car. Not a great car, but a good car ( A great New Edge Cougar would weigh 500 lbs less and have rear wheel drive). But instead of fixing the little rough edges (power band, RPM hanging etc.) they let them rot. Besides that, Ford chose not to let anyone know the car existed. Besides that, they let the build quality become unacceptable. Besides that, they decided to make an SVT Fungus for people that didn't think a BMW coupe was ugly enough.
The Cougar's styling screams speed, elegance and comfort. Ford had a chance, a good chance, to back those looks up with a car that performed accordingly. Their choice was to abandon the entire platform. Ecch.
I too received the recall notice, but I am concerned. The other recall notice I received was some time ago. It was for the door lock problem. Before the recall fix I had no problems with the locks. After the fix was done, the locks act weird in the cold.
I didn't have time to read through the letter, so I'm not sure what the notice is for, but I will check when I get home tonight.