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Comments
CSG Chat Tonight From 7-8pm EST!! If you get a chance, stop in and join us for awhile.
Please detail recall notices:
Can someone -- let's say...Badulah -- please describe, in detail each recall notice that's been sent out in recent days? As usual, I'm not getting a thing in the mail because the dealership never set my address up correctly to begin with when they registered the vehicle. Of course, my whole friggin' vehicle is a rolling recall.
Explain this springy noise:
As of this cold morning in Atlanta, my clutch has a new sound to it, in addition to the click that my dealership has never "reproduced." When I push in the clutch, I get a sound like a bed spring -- an old bed spring. SPROING! is the only way I can describe it. Any suggestions on what it might be?
Have a great hump-day!
(not meant as a sexual reference in any way, shape, or form)
You can also go to www.mercuryvehicles.com and go to the owners section. You can register your VIN # and they can tell you all the recalls that affect your car.
I got my car looked at this morning for the latest recall and it was not affected.
I agree with Fish8. You should either go to your local dealership or register your car on the Mercury web site to get the latest recall data. I don't mean to shrug your request off, but I might not be able to acquire all the recall notices that specifically apply to your vehicle. It is apparent that some of these recalls effect some of our cars while not effecting all of them.
sdmartin4:
Post #849 unfortunately has some valid points. First off, alot of us are very very upset with ford for cutting the high performance Cougar project (AKA the Cougar-S) and then introducing the high performance Focus project (AKA the Focus SVT). We also have issues with Ford for a number of other things they did or didn't do to promote the Cougar. Their lack of advertisement for this car has been a sore subject for well over 2 years.
As far as the reliability issues are concerned: The early 1999 Cougars had a number of bugs that have been worked out in the more recent models (late 2000 and all 2001 models). Unfortunately some of us who own earlier models are still experiencing problems and are still having to deal with service issues.
As I said, newer models seem to be much more reliable. I would still recommend a Cougar to someone looking for a decent Sports Coupe in this price range. For the money, it is still the best bang for the buck in this segment of the market.
By the way, I just got a flyer from DELLERGO Iimport/Export, a die cast car outfit listing both 1/18 & 1/43rd scale Cougars. $29 & $39 respectively. I've got the big one, and it's a nice model.
Of course, it's the Euro/Ford version, but, that's all that there is out there.
You can e-mail: tomkassler@worldnet.att.net, if anybodie's interested.
Now, if I can just figure out how to take it apart without doing any damage, I can change it from Blue to Ash Gold. Just like mine. First car I've ever owned that I could get a miniature of.
Skip G.
Anyone who tells you they have an "S" or can order an "S" is either misinformed or is a flat out liar. It never existed, but it will be missed.
Most of the time the dealerships are just misinformed. Although there are always a few exceptions to the rule.
Sorry just had to let that steam out.
-benisem
The S question: I have a story which will, quite obviously, paint my impression of competence of salespeople at Mercury dealerships.
The morning I had come into the dealership to purchase a used Cougar at a discount, my salesperson let some other guy start selling it to a woman who came in before me. So...he offered to give me a brand new one (minus the ATX) at the same discounted price. We're talking less than $16,000 for a brand new car with 22 miles on it vs. a used one with an ATX and 6,000+ miles. I was sold. Then...the lady walked out on her deal.
What did the salesperson do? Came right back to the table not 5 minutes after making me the offer on the new car and said, and I nearly quote, "Guess what! We're going to get you into that used car after all. Let me get the paperwork started." I laughed, gathered my umbrella, and walked out of the dealership. Later, when I told the sales manager of the "deal" I'd been offered on the new car, he shook his head and said, "I can't believe he did that. That was dumb, wasn't it? You can have the new car at the price he offered."
They're just not bright at all, and they blame Ford for their misinformation as much as Ford blames them for not paying attention. I think both parties are at fault. That's why you have to know your stuff when you walk in the door and just demand test drive keys and/or your price on a new car.
Did get my recall notice: Badulah and Fish8 -- I just got a recall notice in the mail yesterday for the battery cable problem. 'ppreciate your recommendations nonetheless.
Sdmartin4: I would have to agree with the evaluation of the Cougar's reliability and Ford's commitment to the car as stated by lmigliore. The '99 model year was a terribly buggy vehicle, and I'm not convinced, after reading comments in this conference, that the new cars are too much improved. Everyone here, including myself, will tell you that the car is very stylish and a great value. However, you must decide on whether or not the time/cost investment you'll make at the dealership for silly build quality problems/recalls is worth it or not.
Yikes, that is scary though isn't it? Working too much to be able to visit even for a moment to post in perhaps the greatest community in the world! Shame on me ... tisk, tisk.
So now that that's out of the way, I thought I'd post my replies to some of the questions that I've just read in the past 71 posts: (in case I miss one, just let me know)
I've been averaging for almost two years now (July 10th) about 19.5 mpg. Not bad for a V6 and a lead foot. :-)
Also, I think that the Cougar is getting better with age. I know I've gone back and forth on this one before (see many, many previous posts), but the darn-diggity-yarn Firestones are impressing me again. They've still got Lincoln's hair covered on the penny, and in the amount of rain we got today in Northern Virginia the traction control didn't even come on, and I thought I made some maneuvers that would have certainly engaged the system. That said, the Firestones are at ~31,someodd thousand miles and they are least holding up as good as they've been since 20K. Maybe they've gone through their break-in period and it just took a while. I've got about 35psi in each and it's really nice to feel the road through the pedals and wheel. It gives the car a sporty feel, and with the weight I know the Cat has, it still remains nimble and comfortable to ride in.
I think I've mentioned this before, and that is the rattle that's developed on the plastic part behind the headlight switch. If I'm driving along and it starts to rattle, I can push on it to make it stop. Mind you, this is after almost two years of harsh, stop-and-go, and construction roads that I know the car should be able to go over fast (they test them this way, over railroad ties and stuff like that to make sure the suspension can hold up to extreme real-world condtions) and many, many other road conditions that would drive the nearest modern Chevy to the scrapyard (the Corvette's not a Chevy, silly! - it's a CORVETTE!)
Anyway, I also failed to mention that I was involved in a collision in my beloved Cat. Not hard enough to do anything but bruise my soul, and not hard enough to knock the dog off the passenger seat. I was in dead-stop traffic, due to an accident, and was creeping and stopping in the right hand on the freeway (not a very appropriate name, if you ask me). And I heard a honk behind me. I instinctively looked to my rear-view and saw two headlights: of different vehicles! They were competing for the same physical space and began volleying the gas/brake combo to outdo one another. The next thing I know is THUD. I got rearended by one of the people who should have been hitting each other. This is a sad statement in society to my eyes, but if you think about it, it's been true for a while now. Two parties inadvertently involved a third into a brutal fore' into what I can only describe as "selfishness". Oh well. I'm fine and it's totally dude's fault, so I should get my deductable back soon. It's almost $400 worth of damage and all that's visible is the holes left from his license plate. The other person was in too much of a hurry in dead-stop traffic to even stop, and when I asked her to pull over her reply was, "I'm in a hurry, and besides, I wasn't involved." I told her she was a witness and a cause and she offered to give me her phone number and that's the best she could do. Sad, isn't it?
So I've got to make an appointment with my dealer to have the work done to fix the bumper and whatever else may be damaged, and will keep you all informed of the progress.
In response to all the questions about the car and whether or not you should buy one: Go get one! :-) We would love to have you as "official" members, and would love to have more representation on the road against the venerable "H"-badged wondercar.
Whew! That was two handfulls of keyboard there, wasn't it? Oh well, until next time: Happy Cougaring!
(P.S., the CSG chats are really fun to be in, and we do actually talk about some of the things mentioned before a certain percentage of the time. And we love (or try to love) our Cougars.
Sorry to hear about your accident, but I'm glad no one was hurt. Hopefully the dealership will do a good job repairing the damage.
As far as Firestone tires go, I'm sorry, but I can't agree with you on this one. After using the Dunlops for several thousand miles, I would never go back to Firestones.
Other than your accident, it was nice to read your post which, as usual, was very positive sounding. It's really been getting me down reading the CSG posts of late.
Take care all and happy Cougaring!
Take care everyone, and have a great weekend! Happy Cougaring!
My Owner Connection site doesn't list the new recall either; however, I got the letter from Lincoln Mercury. The MSN Car Point site shows that this recall as well as a recall for the Brake Light Switch affect the 99's. I don't trust the Owner Connection site.
I have to agree with jdbishop -- the Owner Connection website is suspect. I received a notice in the mail for the battery recall. This would make either the second or third recall I've received for my '99 Cougar V-6 (manufactured in Fall 1998). I have yet to see a single recall applicable to my vehicle appear on the Owner Connection website.
This is another sad example of the failed connection between a major pre-existing manufacturer and its online customer service strategies. There's more marketing of oil changes and loan incentives on the website than there is real, tangible, useful customer care information.
If you're in business school, these sorts of e-commerce faux pas will appear regularly in your readings. If you haven't seen this one already in a business case, I'd suggest using the Owner Connection joke in your graduate theses.
Why not? It'd be about the only thing the website's good for.
I got two recalls on Saturday. :-)
I will have to get them checked out when I get the car into the shop for the bumper. Oh well, that's what I get I suppose for speaking before I know any better.
On a positive note, the Cat's got to be in the shop for a day or so to get the bumper replaced, and I'll have them perform the recalls when it's in. Wierd correlation: I don't think I'm inconvenienced by the recall notices because I'm not going there specifically for that - I was inconvenienced by other people. Anyway, I'll probably forget about them after they're repaired because the car didn't burst into flames by now, and the taillamps haven't blown out of their sockets either.
Take care everyone, and Happy Cougaring!
Actually, she's on order so I'm not officially an owner yet. But 4 weeks and she's mine.
smc7
CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW PURCHASE AND WELCOME TO THE CSG!! You have come to the right place for Cougar information!!
Hopefully the next 4 weeks will fly by and you will have your Cat before you know it!
The weasel has been well-behaved since the last time it wouldn't start; that may be because I threatened it that the next time would be the last.
I got back from my trip to Florida yesterday(Sat) and all I can say is I'm not a happy camper!!!!
My A/C gave out both on the way down and on the way back from Florida. This is about the 5th+/- time this has happened. The bad part about this is, the AC will slowly stop working after about 1-2 hours of operation while driving at highway speeds. The fan also starts to make a weird noise that comes from the passenger floor panel. The bad part is when I let the car cool down or stop for the evening and get back in the car the AC will work normal. The dealer has been unable to fix the problem(the last 2 times) because, they say "we are unable to duplicate the problem". Sound familiar??? The first 2 times the replaced the o-rings once and something else the second time( I can't remember).
I will bring in my car tomorrow(Mon) and talk to the service manager to see what can be done to fix this problem once and for all. Along with the AC problem, I will have them look at a couple of new rattles that have popped up in my dash(surprise!!) and it appears that some of my clearcoat is peeling on my front hood. Lastly, I am hearing a chirping noise coming from somewhere in my car. Even my wife asked if I had a bird in the car!!!! I'M NOT LAUGHING!!!! It's a good thing I was bringing my car in for an oil change anyways!!! Any help on these issues would be greatly appreciated!!! I also hope they give me a loaner!!!
I am starting to regret buying this car. I really love this cars styling, but it appears to me that they rushed the engineering on the '99 models just to get them into production!! Just my opinion!!
Sorry for the rant!!
Thanks
As far as fitting in the car, take yourself to a Mercury dealer and sit in one with a moonroof. Should be the same thing.
Just my $0.02!!
That is pretty sad. Someone has got to be able to help you with this issue. What did the service manager say? What was your response to his answer?
I told him I was getting very frustrated with the entire situation and it is pretty sad that I can't take my car on a long trip unless I want to deal with the AC acting up. He agreed and said they will be more than happy to fix it(whether in or out of warranty) when the problem can be identified.
I guess I will just use the AC as normal and hope it either never acts up again or it stops working for good, so they can find the problem. Now, my car is in the body shop at the dealer to get the clear coat peeling taken care of(under warranty).
Second thing -- how can you tell if your car was affected by the battery recall? I took the vehicle in for the recall service this morning, and an hour later, they drove it around front and sent me on my way.
Couldn't find the service rep who handled the repair. There are no parts listed under the recall section of my bill -- perhaps that says enough. Any ideas?
Thanks,
burnsmr
Frankly, if they did it -- fine. If they didn't -- also fine. I'll see the dealership owner in court if the car's electrical system shorts out and burns me (or most of me, if I plan to see them in court) alive :-)
Later,
burnsmr
As for the paint, if it is laser red, it's a tri-coat process, which is difficult to touch up. Very small dings don't look too bad, anything bigger is more noticeable.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for all your opinions on my used Cougar. I might have come a across a factory used cougar which would be a better deal.
If I broke any rules by posting another web site please remove this post, or tell me to.
You haven't broken any rules. We appreciate when people post useful information. If you were posting spam, that would be a different story.
Anyway......
I seriously doubt they would be willing to touch up any dings currently in the car. If necessary, you could ask, but don't expect a positive response. In my opinion, I would check out both Cougars and see which one you prefer. Your going to be spending quite a bit of your hard earned money, so you may as well spend it on something you really like. Two quick questions, have you considered buying a manual transmission (MTX) V6 Cougar? Are both cars automatics?
Skip G.