The Cougar was Mercury’s best-selling car from its inception in 1967 to its retirement in 2002. Over these 35 years, it competed in lots of different classes, first as a pony car and last as a sport compact. The seller has an 8th-generation Cougar from 2000 that comes with few details. But that may not matter much as they’re only looking to get $350 out of the sale. Located in Daytona Beach, Florida, this current paperweight is available here on craigslist.
By the time the seller’s car was built, the Cougar was a 3-door hatchback using a transverse engine and front wheel drive (a first for the Cougar). Power was supplied by either a 2.0-liter I-4 or a 2.5-liter V6, but we don’t know which one applies to this project. It should have a 4-speed automatic transmission. The car wasn’t terribly popular, seeing a drop in sales from 88,000 units to 45,000 between 1999 and 2000. And it went further downhill from there.
The photos offered by the seller aren’t good and really don’t show much. The machine has 75,000 miles but has no battery and a flat tire. Apparently, it was “Mom’s” car, but she got hurt, and the car has been sitting for several months. At $350, this could be a great parts auto or perhaps even the project of the year if it doesn’t need a lot. Thanks for the tip, Randy Johnson!
Oh Cougar, you were once so proud, ( except for that Cougar station wagon fiasco) look what they reduced you to, an Asian knockoff,,for shame. Despite the obvious turn around, I think these were okay cars, but good heavens, any relation to this and that ’69 XR-7 I adored, is in name only. To anyone not understanding my unhappiness, just look at the 2 cars, and that should explain everything.
I only knew of one person with one of these. It was a good car and didn’t give them trouble. I got a good laugh from the last line of the ad….. “so if you interesting give me a call”. I think that’s a first for me.
Were the photos taken from a digital camera from the year 2000 as well? 😂
Smells like a scam, pictures of pictures and low price. Sob story and poor grammar as well. I hope it is real, but be careful out there.
I second the “beware of scam” warning but they’re only asking 350 bucks. Usually scammers go for bigger scores.
No idea what Mercury was thinking when they sold these things. What a low point for Mercury. And yes, this reads scam all over it.
Well, Howard, as a positive, you might look at it as a cheap alternative to the new Honda Prelude.They’re basically the same car conceptually, lol!
That aside, there had been some dark spots in the Cougar lineage before this. Maybe it’s just my tastes, and I might get dinged on this, but I always thought the 1971-73 versions looked bloated. The 1974-79 was basically a rebadged Montego. They looked nice, but they were not particularly creative.
The 1980-82 was an oddly proportioned affair that looked like a squished together version of the previous one. I did like the 1983-88 turbo XR-7s and the 1989-97 supercharged XR-7s, but even these eras had the Bostonian, which many regarded as a modern attempt at a 1970s pimpmobile.
I agree these might be the worst of the lot, but that’s because I just generally don’t like secretary sport coupes. But insofar , as those are concerned, this is actually not that bad.
What is steel bringing at the scrap yard?
$170-$300/ton, however, I’m not sure there’s that much steel in these anyways.
Don’t wreck one of theses as you will never find headlamps…
I was working at a body shop when a lot more of these were on the road.
We waited months for a set to arrive. Probably non existent now.
Who knows what they were thinking when they decided to call this a Cougar!!
This generation of Cougar was simply the 3rd gen Ford Probe. Ford already had the car done and decided to rebadge it as the Cougar. These, especially with the V6 and a 5 speed were really nice little cars. Fun to drive, fairly quick and great handling.
Title, title, title. No title, no drive in FL. Don’t be surprised by the grammar. There are many of the English as a First Language and well as ESL in Central and North FL. Personally, I don’t have a use for it, otherwise I’d drive the 180 miles to check it out. Ya’ never know !
Certainly not the highpoint for the great Cougar name. Probably one of the worst used car ads I’ve seen, poor info, poor grammar, poor photos, but the price is below dirt cheap for nowadays if it’s real. Personally, I’ll take the 69′ XR7 that’s currently listed here.
What do you know, here is the 2nd Cougar of this generation posted on BF since I mentioned that my brother in law had one and had not seen one since.
This CL ad has less than $350 worth of effort put into it.