Guess what day it is! It’s the first Friday of 2023! And you know what that means, right? It means it’s time for Mercury Monday! Yes, Mercury Monday on a Friday, because I keep forgetting to do these and if I’m honest don’t really care about consistency or anything like that, which is why so many parts of my life are a mess, if I’m honest. Look, the fact that I’m talking about Mercurys at all here on the pages of the Internet’s Biggest Car Website (don’t check that) should be considered a fucking gift to every Mercury-lover in the known universe, so let’s all just calm down. Are we calm? Good. Now, let’s get amped up again, because we’re going to be talking about a truly under-appreciated and nearly-forgotten Mercury: the eighth (and last) generation Cougar.
Yes, that Cougar. I bet the last time you can remember seeing one your life was in a very, very different place, because these are almost extinct and have been for quite some time. They’re pretty much all on Ghost Car status now, which is, I think, a shame, and we’ll get into why. The eighth (that word never looks right to me, by the way. I mean, over 66% of that word is “ghth” which reads like the sound you make when you walk crotch-first into a fire hydrant. Also, right now, try saying the plural of “eighth,” which “eighths.” Go on, say it out loud. Eighths. Eighths. Ew, it feels so weird.) generation was sold for the model years 1999 to 2002, and was a real break from Cougar tradition in so many ways.
It was the first transverse-engined, FWD Cougar. The first hatchback Cougar. The first Cougar that didn’t necessarily drink gas like a drunk elephant. And, significantly, the first Cougar that wasn’t a Mercurized version of a Ford product. Remember, the first two generations of Cougar were slightly upmarket-ed and chrome-slathered and over-fake-grilled variants of Mustangs, then the next two gens were versions of Torinos, then the next two were Fox-chassis versions of Thunderbirds or Granadas, then the next-gen Thunderbird.
The eighth Cougar was based on the Contour/Mondeo world car platform, but there was no Ford equivalent car that it was re-badged from. There may have been, since it started life as a new version of the Ford Probe, but in the end it stood alone as a unique Mercury, though in global markets that lacked the Mercury brand, it was badged as a Ford Cougar, which may make it the first Mercury to be re-badged as a Ford, in some exciting opposite-day shenanigans. Maybe some commenter will prove me wrong, but at this moment I can’t think of another Mercury that got re-badged to a Ford.
I’ll admit that I hadn’t thought about these cars in a long time, so when I started looking back at them, I was pleasantly surprised; these things aged well, I think. A lot of that has to do with the fact that this Cougar was the first Mercury to make it to market to feature Ford’s New Edge design language, which I think overall has aged quite well. The New Edge look defined the visual vocabulary of the Cougar, which featured crisp, clean, flowing lines, an actual respect for panel cutlines, which were used to define the shapes of the lighting units and air intakes.
The look was teased with the 1997 Mercury concept car known as the MC2, and it had a more pure New Edge look with more dramatic curves and angles and, interestingly, a more traditional Mercury waterfall grille hiding in that little arched maw, something that wasn’t retained for the production car, which was impressively free of Mercury’s usual fixation on adding a bunch of chrome trim bits and details.
I always liked the taillights on these, too, with their angular shape but also with those two inset hemispheres growing out of them, like geometric and non-unsightly pimples. I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to put the Cougar – and a lot of the Ford New Edge cars – in the same general category of Good 1990s/Early 2000s car design along with cars like the Audi TT. There’s similar motifs of cleanliness and geometry and precision that are pretty timeless.
Even after over 20 years I think this car looks tidy and modern and sleek. It’s handsome and unfussy, and the heavily raked beltline emphasizes the sports-coupé feel. This whole category of car – the sporty coupé, is pretty rare today. Cars like the Toyota 86 or Supra or BMW 2 series are similar in coupé-ishness and size, but they’re all much more serious about their performance and sporting character. The Cougar was just sporty, in that you’d use it to get to work and get groceries and fill the hatch with bags of peat moss and pick up your buddies to go bowling or whatever, but when you’d turn and look back on it in the parking lot, or gun it a bit when getting onto a highway on-ramp, you’d get a little tingle of I-drive-a-sports-car in your bathing suit areas. Just enough to keep things fun.
It’s a hatchback with more fun proportions and I suppose a more cramped back seat; really, for a lot of drivers, what’s not to like about this?
Commercials played up the sporty nature of the car, and in that one above, you get some nice emphatic gear-shifting, too, because that’s how you know fun is being had. The spy thing was a bit of a series for these Cougar ads, and Ford must have taken it pretty seriously, because, look, they got Udo Kier to star in them as the undeterminedly-foreign bad guy!
Damn, that spy is fantastic at disguises! And fast, too!
Other ads and brochures definitely continued to emphasize the sportiness, and relied heavily on the late ’90s/early 2000s love of the word and concept of “attitude.” Why did we like that so much? I feel like today we’d call the same traits we meant by “attitude” just “being a dick.” Maybe I’m wrong.
As far as if it was able to cash the checks its sporty looks were writing, I think the answer is that, for the era, pretty much? You could get the Cougar with either a 2-liter four-cylinder Zetec engine that made a respectable but not really notable 125 horsepower, or a Duratec V6 with 500cc more than the four that made a genuinely decent 170 hp. Remember, a significantly more expensive FWD sports coupé of the same era, the Audi TT, was making only 10 hp more. It wasn’t bad!
There were MacPherson struts up front and a quadlink rear suspension, with a rear anti-roll bar, and while I don’t think I’ve ever actually driven one of these, I suspect that they were likely on par with other sports coupés of the time. I mean, MotorWeek seemed to think it was pretty okay:
They especially liked the variable-ratio steering and the exhaust sound, the latter of which kinda surprised me. Also, it seems that cable-actuated shifter is smooth as sex-butter, and you got the Contour SVT’s antilock brake system with the V6 (optional for the four). Hell, they said it had “superb handling!” Their only real complaint was that the back seats might be tough for ample-assed friends. Still, overall, pretty glowing review! A John Davis glowing review!
Today, in the absurd Year of Our Ford 2023, it’s hard to think of a mainstream car more forgotten than the Last Cougar. You pretty much never see them on the roads, and the closest one in anything like my personal orbit is probably the one that was owned by our own Stephen Walter Gossin, but that one caught on fire on the side of the road and is now in Mercury heaven, which is interestingly located in the orbit of Venus, not Mercury.
At least you get a nice view of that lovely intake manifold with the charred hood torn off, so that’s a plus. Stephen also gave me a bit of insight as to why these Cougars are all but extinct in their natural habitat of our nation’s roads: they’re a pain to work on. Here’s one example:
If a guy like Stephen, who’s tolerances for what is or isn’t worth putting time and effort to keep running far eclipses that of most normal, healthy humans, is saying it’s better to junk the car, then that definitely means something. It could be that this otherwise charming and appealing little sporty fella just had too many ass-pain Achilles’ heels like this power steering hose, and they ended up all junked when something like this – that could have been a reasonable repair on another car – failed.
Mercury is itself something of a ghost marque, and I think this Cougar is among the ghostiest of Mercuries. You’re more likely to see an old ’60s Cougar or even a Fox-body Capri than an eighth-gen Cougar in the wild. It’s also a shame the Cougar name died with this car, too, because I do love evocative animal names for cars. Of course, the modern slang of a sexually aggressive older woman who seeks out younger partners may have rendered the name an unlikely future choice, but who knows?
Anyway, if you see one of these, I suggest taking a moment to stop and appreciate this handsome and now uncommon lithe cat. And happy Monday on Friday.
Everyone Forgets About Mercury So We’re Solving That With ‘Mercury Monday’
Mercury Monday: The Mercury Cougars Of The 1980s Are The Fox Bodies Everyone Forgot About
The Mercury Bobcat Was A Lesson In The Barest Definition Of Luxury: Mercury Monday (On Friday!)
The Mercury Villager Nautica Always Reminded Me Of This Particular Shoe: Mercury Monday
Mercury Monday: The Un-American Mercury Tracer, The Econobox With A Miata Engine
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As a Ford Probe fan, I was excited for this car upon its release. I finally test-drove one in 2002, a used model with a cigarette burn in the front passenger seat cushion and questionable mechanical issue. It was nice to experience it, and I’m glad I had enough sense not to buy it!
We had the older sibling, a 1995 mercury mystique with the V6 5spd. Very fun car. Went to drive the Cougar when it came out. Disappointing. Felt like it was a detuned version of our 95. Not sure the later versions of V6 had the two stage intake like the 95…was like kicking in second half of a 4bbl when got past 3800rpm.
While I agree these were good looking cars for their day, I do not have fond memories of them. I was a tech at a Ford dealer from ’98-’01 and I hated working on these (or Contours/Mystiques) with the V6. 10 lbs of crap shoved into a 5 lb engine compartment. Accessing any component required removing 2 others. I also sliced my hand open on a replacement seat track for one of these.
Exactly my feelings on the matter.
I (kinda) admired these when they were around. The only people I knew that owned last-gen Cougars were all kinda d-bags so that’s who I associate them with.
I loved mine… ’00, V6, auto. Not too thrilling from a speed and handling point of view but a really comfortable car. I spent the bulk of my first job out of college paycheck on the thing in 2005 so couldn’t afford real mods but I managed to fit a K&N cone filter on a toilet-flange air intake and an eBay cat back exhaust. It sounded pretty good for what it was. Once even managed to fit 6 people in the thing designated driving back from a party! I miss that thing.
I was never a fan of the grill opening on this generation.
Worst rear seats in production car history.
A friend had one in college. Yes, it was absolutely a PITA to work on. His had electrical gremlins which kept it garaged at his parents barn. He traded it for a Mountaineer with the V8.
After doing the power steering pressure line replacement procedure twice (and it afterwards still needed a 3rd line), all love was lost for this platform with the V6.
Want to hear about the dumbest time a Mercury was rebadged as a Ford? It may stretch your definition of rebadge.
Cast your mind back to 2004. Ford of Canada had stopped selling the Crown Victoria to private citizens for 5 years at this point. If you wanted a Panther, and you weren’t a cop or a rental company, you had to imagine yourself in a Mercury.
But Ford didn’t actually want to sell Mercury in Canada, so the brand was being phased out that year. But how would they sell the Grand Marquis? Ford had a plan – they would call it the Ford Grand Marquis.
They also would change nothing. Okay they would print the brochure with “Ford” written on it. But the car itself? No changes. Not even badges. It still bore the complete set of Mercury badges. There was no indication anywhere on the car that this was a Ford now.
Got a detail… I wouldn’t say wrong but it is weird:
Ford got rid of the Mercury dealers in 2000. But the Cougar and Grand Marquis were still called Mercury. It was really weird.
Ford did exactly this in Mexico for many years since the Mercury brand didn’t exist there. Living in San Diego in the ’80s and ’90s I recall seeing plenty of Ford Grand Marquis, Ford Cougars, Ford Topazes, etc. from across the border.
I rented one of these with a V6 and a slushbox while on a business trip back in the day. My daily was a 1997 Eclipse GS-T, so I was stoked to have something other than a generic domestic sedan.
My disappointment was palpable. I could not believe how sluggish it was – to the point of popping the hood at one point to see if someone had slapped a V6 badge on a 4cyl car (negative).
Out of all of the cars in the world this is certainly one of them.
All jokes aside I always liked the styling of these. They look a bit meaner than they actually are, but I agree that they’ve aged well. It’s wild to think about the fact that there was an entire realm of economy/mid tier sporty looking but not actually sporty coupes in this era. Obviously there was also the Cavalier, a few years later there was the Scion TC, the Pontiac G6 was absolutely another one of the cars in the world that existed because my friend in college had one, Sebrings were everywhere terrorizing enthusiasts, I smoked a blunt in a Chrysler Crossfire with a coworker back in like 2010…it’s hard to even imagine today.
Manufacturers made regular ass coupes that ass people bought. And you know what? Maybe that was a good thing. In a world where everyone is driving SUVs and full sized trucks now it sure sounds pretty ideal in retrospect.
You make a good point – it was a time when everything didn’t have to be as desperately hardcore (whatever that means) as it is now.
We lived like Walter Mitty and our vehicles reflected that – we needed the occasional distraction from reality but the rest of the time, we lived in the real world. Now, much of the public seemingly needs to pretend 100% of the time that they’re in an action movie where the only thing between them and that (totally likely) zombie apocalypse or whatever is an expensive military-grade truck or a street-legal racecar, often driven accordingly.
To each their own of course – I’m not one to talk – but it is striking how disconnected things have become between our actual needs vs. our wants.
I forgot the Pontiac G6 coupe existed! It’s like a generation of sporty coupe were raptured.
My friend had the hardtop convertible! Honestly considering this was the early 2010s on a college campus she was doing alright. We had some fun in that thing…the backseats were big enough for medium sized adults
Re the Cougar’s design: I am beginning to to feel like the late 90s/2000s were the best most recent era of automotive design. A perfect mix of aerodynamics and tasteful subtlety.
Could it be argued that the late 90s/early millennium was the worst era for dashboards though? Everywhere a marshmallowy, noncommittal-in-form gray or black blob just barely showing up to do your bidding. Instrument panels printed all in a single plane, with all the passion and font-creativity of a bank statement. Nihilism as a control panel.
Give me the jet-controls of the 60’s or the Atari ostentatiousness of the 80’s any day. Heck, the 70’s dashboards (even after tachometers and other -meters had been nearly banished) were made in actual colors. Often not tasteful colors, but nonetheless. Can you tell I’ve been stewing about this for some time?
* gets off soapbox.
Yeah, it was the era of everyone trying to do Euro-clean. But when you’re doing that at Ford or Toyota price points, you end up getting what you so memorably describe.
I think a big problem was it worked for European cars b/c it matched generally clean body styling; but on lower end cars, it was at odds with their often more rambunctious exteriors.
I saw one, parked in a nearby street just the other week, Down Under, with its paint on the hood slowly surrendering to the God of UV by offering its clear coat. First in quite a while, though. Does the Mercury Capri count as a Ford rebadging, from my side of the world?
only if the Capri Convertibles stolen from Australia in the early 90’s do as well.
I can’t wait for the Mercury Monday on the Capri.
They were quite fine for what they were…provided you didn’t know the Mazda Miata existed.
I always liked this Cougar. I didn’t have one, but we had a Contour with the same V6 and that was a pretty enjoyable sedan for the time. I always heard that the Contour and Cougar had some significant wiring issues as they aged.
they were underpinned the same and had many of the same issues. they kind of came late tot he fast and furious party and were not that fast nor furious. Kind of surprised they never tried the SVT thing on them like the contour though.
There was a Cougar Eliminator concept in 1998, but it never went anywhere other than inspiring the fake hood scoops on the 2001 ZN (Zinc) special edition, and also a Cougar S concept which used the 3.0L Duratec from the Mazda6/Ford Fusion and related models that had AWD
I’m glad someone else remembers the Cougar S concept–in addition to AWD it also had some nice side skirts/ground effects and the internet says it was rated at 215hp? Not bad, not bad at all. It was no Eagle Talon AWD, but it was close?
I helped my sister buy one of these new to replace her 1990 Acura Integra. It felt heavier and wider than you’d expect–very firm and planted, not very tossable. So the driving was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I still liked them.
I miss sporty coupes. Just… take an economy sedan, shift the b-pillar a bit, come on.
Hell, we barely have any economy sedans left to base FWD sporty coupes on
I unabashedly adored these when they were new. More mature than the Eclipse, Civic, Integra, later RSX, Celica, etc., but with Ford and Mazda underpinnings and powertrain. I couldn’t afford one when new, and now that I could afford one they don’t make it, and when I was/am able to afford it, it doesn’t give me “the fizz”. They also inherit some fussy electronics from Ford and the European Ford Cougar.
That said, if Ford/Mercury had made the high-performance Cougar Eliminator concept from 1998 a reality (basically a mechanical twin to the SVT Contour if memory serves) it would have been much more desirable, and also shed the unearned “chick car” association it had (arguably because Mercury used so many spokeswomen in their ads).
The fact that it was an evolution of the Mazda MX-6/Ford Probe duo makes it more appealing in retrospect, especially as underdog-good those were – along with their 626 sedan mate.
Sorry Jason, but The Bishop and I were already talking Mercurys today, you’re late to the show.
A not-really-a-girlfriend-but-definitely-a-friend of mine in high school drove one. The red color of the car complemented the red color of her hair very nicely.
wait, did you know nicki too? she may have spelled it, ‘nikki’, can’t remember, but she looked great in that cougar.
Nope, Jenna B. For some reason everyone always swapped her initials…
haha, it seemed too random to be possible. good memories, regardless.
I have an unbelievable love for the look of the first generation Cougar. It’s the cat’s meow.
The Cougar name is not quite dead depending on how you say it. The Ford Escape is sold in Europe as the Ford Kuga. Not sure why they choose the weird spelling.
I didn’t realize it until now, but the 8th gen Mercury Cougar looks like a 4th gen Mitsubishi Eclipse that decided to start eating right and hitting the gym.
Monday-through-Thursday-Torch is good and kooky, but only Friday-Afternoon-Torch can bring a level of inanity that results in an entire paragraph about how weird the word “eighth” is, and I am here for it!
I remember being a junior or senior in high school (if it debuted in 1999, that checks out) and wanting to buy one of these. I don’t know how I thought I could buy a new car, but I did like the way they looked.
My oldest cousin had a red manual one, pretty sure he totaled it while drunk, which is really the most Cougar way out for a Cougar to go.
I liked this Cougar too, and always feel it’s biggest problem was coming out too late – by the late ’90s, SUVs were becoming the quasi-sporting vehicle of choice (“hey, it’s like I’m driving a tough off road truck!”) for the masses, pushing out the personal coupes that ruled that niche in the previous era.
It was a decent car, it was just that the market had moved on.
Had one for 9 years. Really like the car – east to drive and handled well. Moved from college, to college, to house in it. Manual was decent (automatic was blagh).
I seem to recall that the 4-cyl model with a manual had about the same real-world power as the uplevel V6 with an auto.