Ford Cougar Experience/Users Here? Help With Buying

[Hunts887]

I did open a different thread regarding a certain selection of cars I have been looking at recently, and some of you pointed out Ford Cougar 2.5 v6 as an options. I have been looking in to this, and was wondering if any of you have any experience with these, but more pointedly, any idea of what to look out for while buying?

There is a Cougar near-ish to me, for £1000, and relatively low miles. It was recently MOT'd over 2 months ago, and upon looking at the cars history I discovered the following;

"Nearside front suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement front (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside front suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement front (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Nearside front brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c))
Front both brake flexi ferrels covered in grease
Nearside front tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge very close (5.2.3 (e))
Nearside front integral body structure is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced sill (6.1.1 (c) (i))
Offside front integral body structure is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced sill (6.1.1 (c) (i))
Offside rear integral body structure is repaired but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced chassis leg (6.1.1 (d) (i))
Nearside rear integral body structure is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced sill (6.1.1 (c) (i))
Front brake caliper spring retaing clips missing both sides
Underside of vehicle heavily coated in underseal
Power steering pipe/hose slightly corroded (2.1.5 (g) (i))
Sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
Rear suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened both sides (5.3.3 (b) (i))"

- Based on your experience, should I be worried? Is this something that is going to turn into a costly job come the next MOT? or worse still, would I have to end up binning it in that state? I have no idea if most of these issues can even be repaired, which kind of brings me to why I am posting this here for advice.

I know beggars can't be choosers at £1000, but that's near enough what a half-way decent one is worth, and I want to know if it's something that will be economical to fix, should I buy it.

[anonymous-user]

I have owned a Cougar in the past and I personally wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. You might be able to run it until the MOT runs out if you are lucky, but I suspect it will fail badly on corrosion at the next MOT. Looking at that list of advisories, it would be totally uneconomical to repair.

I owned mine about ten years ago and noticed a tiny rust scab on the sill, when I touched it my finger went straight through the rust.

Seriously, there must be much better cars than that available for £1K, also the fuel economy will be terrible.

I paid £1K for a 2.0 one ten years ago and it had a full tank of fuel, six months road tax, a load of service parts in the boot and an iPod adapter that I sold for £40 on eBay.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 17th November 13:45

[georgeyboy12345]

Assume that all those corrosion issues will need fixing at its next MOT, so basically you will have to scrap the car come then. So that's £1000 for a car to last until then. And whatever you do, don't crash it or you'll die.

[ZX10R NIN]

I'd look elsewhere.

[Hunts887]

ZX10R NIN said:

I'd look elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice. Say I'm feeling a little but stupid, would you think it could be worth the gamble for £600? it's less thank 80k miles on it. There's not many near me and I was keen on these being my first car.

[anonymous-user]

Hunts887 said:

Thanks for the advice. Say I'm feeling a little but stupid, would you think it could be worth the gamble for £600? it's less thank 80k miles on it. There's not many near me and I was keen on these being my first car.

Not if you plan getting it through another MOT. Plus they are not even good cars, they are based on the Mk1 Ford Mondeo. I had one, they are crap the BMW E46 I had next was in a different league.

Only buy it if you are happy to run it to the MOT, scrap it and take a gamble that something major won't go wrong in that time.

[Hunts887]

Joey Deacon said:

Not if you plan getting it through another MOT. Plus they are not even good cars, they are based on the Mk1 Ford Mondeo. I had one, they are crap the BMW E46 I had next was in a different league.

Only buy it if you are happy to run it to the MOT, scrap it and take a gamble that something major won't go wrong in that time.

You see any of the BMWs worthwhile in the North East region? been looking myself

[biggbn]

Hunts887 said:

Thanks for the advice. Say I'm feeling a little but stupid, would you think it could be worth the gamble for £600? it's less thank 80k miles on it. There's not many near me and I was keen on these being my first car.

600 quid punt, enjoy it for a year, sell it scrap, years motoring for 450 quid? Doesn't sound dear. I like them, mk1 mondeo is a wonderful chassis, right at the forefront of the Parry-Jones revolution.

[Hunts887]

biggbn said:

600 quid punt, enjoy it for a year, sell it scrap, years motoring for 450 quid? Doesn't sound dear. I like them, mk1 mondeo is a wonderful chassis, right at the forefront of the Parry-Jones revolution.

Might not be a bad way of looking at it. I might go for it, or keep looking for a one with more service history. Or just go for the Celica or Hyundai Coupe, not sure.