My 1999 Ford Cougar

[Harding91]

Picked this up on friday and it Cost me nothing I did a straight swap with a guy on here for my mk6 Ford Escort

It's a 1999 C1 Ford Cougar, 2L Zetec in Silver (ish!)

Has 89K On the clock and the bodywork is shocking No leather seats or xPack unfrotunately but im still happy with it!



But.. I love it.

For some odd reason i keep getting Fords, there's something about them, ive always wanted a Cougar since my dad got one 5 years ago, he got the 2.5 V6 with xPack - He still has it to this day and has put many miles on it, i loved go'ing in it as a kid and i loved driving it on the odd occasion after i passed, there's something about Cougars i love, i have no dea why either!

I saw this on the Classfields and saw he would take something in P/X.. I figured what the hell and emailed him, he was happy to swap for my Escort (In my opinion they were roughly worth the same)

I decided that if i ring my insurance the next day and they quote me anything under £170 ish a Month i'll pay it as i did really want it, To my suprise they only want £128 a month to insure it, The same as my little 1.6 Escort on a 2L Cougar

Two days later, a 150 Mile trip down to Plymouth to hand over the keys to my Escort and pick up the Cougar, Taxed the cougar and drove it back, that was by far one of the most Awesome 150 miles i've driven yet! Me and a mate on a nice sunny day, windows down flying along in a car ive wanted for 4/5 Years

Averaged 35MPG also! Which i consider good as i wasnt driving overly frugaly I even had a 10-15 Mile blast with a Blue Focus ST down the A303 He won!

Definately wont be the last Cougar i own either, Once insurance/income alloys i'll own a V6 One


The car is no minter, it needs work.
-Bodywork is shagged, i have a new bumper lined up when i get paid end of the month and may attempt rear quarts myself.
-Interior is messy/loose - Needs a giant clean
-Alloys are curbed and the front right is buckled i think as wheel wobble at 70 and there's a chunk missing
-Needs new ARB bushes
-All brake discs will need replacing before MOT in november.

But as with any other Ford ive owned, ill be working on it myself, i enjoy it most of the time

Plans for now are:
-Full Clean inside/Out - See if i can salvage some paint with a good tcut etc.
-Silver front bumper to replace the black one
-Fit my stereo as the standard ford CD player only works when it wants to

-Enjoy it


Few more pictures to kick the thread off I will update with anything i do, hoping to clean it as soon as weather permits.

Checking it over when i was there:


Taking a tacical piss on the way home:


Same layby, different angle:

[ALfooy]

Nice.

I'm the same, always had something for Fords for some reason, i think its a mixture of my dad's mate always owning them (i always remember his sunburst orange mk3 XR3i) and the history of the company (regular and motorsport).

I've infact just got my first Ford, just a cheap mk4 Fiesta Ghia X which i plan to keep until me and my girlfriend go to New Zealand in the summer and when i get back, while i'll be looking at everything from MX-5s to ovloV, top of my list are mk5 Zetec-s' and Pumas

BTW if you can, keep us posted of the MPG because i'd be tempted by a Cougar myself

[Harding91]

ALfooy said:

Nice.

I'm the same, always had something for Fords for some reason, i think its a mixture of my dad's mate always owning them (i always remember his sunburst orange mk3 XR3i) and the history of the company (regular and motorsport).

I've infact just got my first Ford, just a cheap mk4 Fiesta Ghia X which i plan to keep until me and my girlfriend go to New Zealand in the summer and when i get back, while i'll be looking at everything from MX-5s to ovloV, top of my list are mk5 Zetec-s' and Pumas

BTW if you can, keep us posted of the MPG because i'd be tempted by a Cougar myself

I've put 200-250 ish miles on it so far (150 were the drive back) And its averaged 32-35. I beleive about the same as my 1.6 Zetec Escort, i find i dont put my foot down anywhere near as much in the Cougar It isn't bad on fuel.

My dad averages OVER 35MPG in his V6 one! He is old now though

[ALfooy]

thats actally pretty good, i think Pumas only get around 38 mpg (according to Parkers) so think i may well look into something with a lil more meat under the bonnet.

Hows it drive, barge-like or lighter on its feet than you thought?

[Harding91]

ALfooy said:

thats actally pretty good, i think Pumas only get around 38 mpg (according to Parkers) so think i may well look into something with a lil more meat under the bonnet.

Hows it drive, barge-like or lighter on its feet than you thought?

Definately lighter than i thought, handles rather well also, hooning back with the Focus ST i kept up around the corners but he was faster on the straight

[GTiFrank]

off I go to parkers. Have you driven a mondeo of same era? I heard they share a platform as puma did with fiesta.

[ALfooy]

Harding91 said:

Definately lighter than i thought, handles rather well also, hooning back with the Focus ST i kept up around the corners but he was faster on the straight

Sweet, bet he wasen't best pleased with that

I like the underdogness of them tbh, the unique looks and the prices you can pick them up for.

future classic maybe?

[smugglersvin]

Great cars I have had two 2.5 manuals in the past both with Xpack, I was so sorry to see my last one go as it took me 6 months to find and was mint with 48,000 on the clock. but I lost my job and couldn't afford a car.
The great thing I find with the cougar is you dont get the rust bug like on the puma, plus the toys you get in the car are fantastic. I find if you drive it just using the engine torque you can get well over 30 to the gallon even on the 2.5.

I sold mine for £1100 about a year ago and still regret it.

[Harding91]

smugglersvin said:

Great cars I have had two 2.5 manuals in the past both with Xpack, I was so sorry to see my last one go as it took me 6 months to find and was mint with 48,000 on the clock. but I lost my job and couldn't afford a car.
The great thing I find with the cougar is you dont get the rust bug like on the puma, plus the toys you get in the car are fantastic. I find if you drive it just using the engine torque you can get well over 30 to the gallon even on the 2.5.

I sold mine for £1100 about a year ago and still regret it.

I love the way they drive My dad has the 2.5 V6 Manual with Xpack, he gets 35-37 MPG on a long run and around 30 going to work and back and around town, very good for a V6 He gets the same mileage i do in my 2L Zetec But im young and have a leadfoot!

GTiFrank said:

off I go to parkers. Have you driven a mondeo of same era? I heard they share a platform as puma did with fiesta.

Ive never driven a Mondeo unfortunately, I drove a friends Puma, only the 1.4 but reallyh nippy and handled well enough, i much preffer the Cougar though

ALfooy said:

Sweet, bet he wasen't best pleased with that

I like the underdogness of them tbh, the unique looks and the prices you can pick them up for.

future classic maybe?

I hope so, i love them, although a lot of people find them really ugly Its a love/hate car

And yeah they're dirt cheap to buy, great value for money, and it's a Ford so it wont ever let you down reliability, dont get me wrong, it'll break on a daily basis but will never die

[smugglersvin]

They share the same underpinnings but do have model specific wishbone arms which are very expensive as they can only be bought from Ford.

[Harding91]

smugglersvin said:

They share the same underpinnings but do have model specific wishbone arms which are very expensive as they can only be bought from Ford.

As the Puma? Or Mondeo?

And i beleive you can get aftermarket wishbone arms as there was a group buy on the forum a while ago and there's a few around, or so i beleive. Could be wrong

[Spitfire2]

If your dad is getting 37 mpg are you sure the little motor which opens the secondaries at 3100 rpm is working.

Only time I got near 30mpg with mine was when that thing had jammed closed. 24mpg was my usual.

[Harding91]

Spitfire2 said:

If your dad is getting 37 mpg are you sure the little motor which opens the secondaries at 3100 rpm is working.

Only time I got near 30mpg with mine was when that thing had jammed closed. 24mpg was my usual.

He gets 37-38 ish on a run of half an hour or more usually, he's at that stage in life where he just potters along though, and his car is regularley serviced and really well cared for Im still impressed by the MPG from it being a V6.

I'm sure i could get mine to touch 40MPG on a long run if i drove properly, I have too much fun booting it off roundabouts up to 60 Although i rarely drop below 30 unless im really giving it hell, I really like the little 2L Zetec engine, its brilliant

[Harding91]

Awwwww Yeah

[designforlife]

bargetastic... I had a 2.0l silver cougar for a cpl yrs before my current mx5.

It had 110k on the clock but never missed a beat, and i've never driven any 2 door car with such an epic boot space.

It was slow and had the hardest ride ever but visually I think it was a car ahead of its time...

[Harding91]

designforlife said:

bargetastic... I had a 2.0l silver cougar for a cpl yrs before my current mx5.

It had 110k on the clock but never missed a beat, and i've never driven any 2 door car with such an epic boot space.

It was slow and had the hardest ride ever but visually I think it was a car ahead of its time...

The boot space is madness, seriously huge. Although the back seats are stupid.

Still loving driving it

[Harding91]

Went for a little blast around some lanes near me today, Great fun, and actually nice weather

Also this arrived

[Spitfire2]

Before the Cougar I hade a year with a (cough) Probe. Now that was a ridiculously huge boot with joke back seats

[smugglersvin]

Harding91 said:

smugglersvin said:

They share the same underpinnings but do have model specific wishbone arms which are very expensive as they can only be bought from Ford.

As the Puma? Or Mondeo?

And i beleive you can get aftermarket wishbone arms as there was a group buy on the forum a while ago and there's a few around, or so i beleive. Could be wrong

Based on the Mondeo MK2, as for the wishbones you can order after market ones from America for the mercury Cougar, but you will have to pay duty on them, so its cheaper to buy the genuine Ford ones at around £200, unless you buy over Ten sets, plus there have been issues with the aftermarket ones, and once you have them your going to have trouble sending them back.
I have put new wishbones on both my Cougars, both were low mileage one owner cars. generally they need doing every 10 years so its not the end of the world if your keeping the car.

[BorkFactor]

I have just sold a mk2 Mondeo ST24 - same engine as your Dad's and same platform as the Cougar. Was a properly brilliant car - handled so well and made a great noise!

My one did 42 mpg at a steady 65 (brim to brim, no trip computer) but dropped below 20 on occasion when I took it for a proper blast

108k miles and 14 years old and all that was wrong was a bit of rust and the IMRC (inlet manifold runner control - opens up the secondaries over 3500 rpm) was a bit temperamental. Very reasonable insurance too - I was £800 a year at 19

Enjoy your car - I prefer the Mondeo (because I am boring ) but I really like the Cougar too.