For 20 years, between 1986 and 2005, the Sable was Mercury’s counterpart to the popular Ford Taurus. During the third generation (1996-99), the Sable copied the “oval” design of about everything about the other car, also to the Taurus. A dealer in Portland, Oregon, is offering what appears to be a very nice 1996 Sable LS station wagon here on craigslist. And the asking price of $1,495 harks back to the good old days! An attaboy goes to “Curvette” for this tip!
The Sable was the front-wheel-drive successor to the Mercury Marquis, an old-school, rear-wheel-drive cruiser in the same vein as the Ford Crown Victoria. The Sable lived in the shadow of the Taurus, which was one of the best-selling cars of the 1980s and 1990s. The seller’s station wagon (they hadn’t been made obsolete yet by the SUV) is from the last year of the Sable’s third generation (there were four overall). It looks like a well-heeled example loaded with plenty of options and creature comforts.
We don’t know the history of this wagon or why it’s priced so cheaply. We assume the selling dealer believes no one will want it otherwise, so it’s been tagged to move at an amount you could easily cover on a credit card. It’s powered by a 3.0-liter, 24-valve V6 engine with 104,000 miles. That’s not an excessive amount of usage, so we assume this Merc could soldier on a while longer as a second or third vehicle in the family.
This wagon has some modern features, like ABS brakes and dual air bags, and some less-so-modern features like a cassette tape player. The body, paint, and interior all look more than adequate, with only a small dent in the left front fender and a bit of fading to bother anyone. Would you take a gamble on this ride for less than $1,500?
Nice write-up! Some college student somewhere will get a nice stocking stuffer!
Especially if they’re in a band.
This is a really great wagon for $1500. I always thought the Taurus and Sable were really good cars. Its very clean too. Someone is going to grab it.
These cars have the distinction of my lost interest in modern cars. Stout motorheads, like me, were horrified, THIS is what will replace dads trusty LTD? Engine, transmission, drive shaft, rear axle, like God intended. What’s this front drive baloney? Regardless, the Taurus and Sable were a remarkable success, millions being sold. I can’t figure out why someone would have spent an extra $1,200 for the Sable( $21,195) over the Taurus($19,995), but ain’t that America. Did Europe have “badge engineered” cars too? The wagon was a bit less popular, but many put a lot of miles on these cars before minivans, every soccer field parking lot had several. They were okay cars, again, as aging owners, um, age, these will pop up for years to come.
Putting a car on a credit card, never thought of that. I guess it is do-able, as long as there was an agreement with the seller as to the card fees. In our society we put thousand-dollar purchases on a card all the time.
Car looks to be in reasonable shape and the mileage isn’t horrible. Like Fahrvergnugen says, if a college student got this, he or she would quickly be a popular person…. “say, could you haul my (____) to the (____).” A good way to make friends?
I managed a fleet of 38 cars. Every year they would ask me what we needed. Then they would show up with Ford Taurus in multiple. The 3.0 V6 had some issues. But the transmissions were junk. The recalls were frequent. The duty paid 5% above my pay grade. A young guy wanted that. I retired. The last I heard one of the Taurus was 12,000 miles past due on oil change. The Supreme being never created an engineer for a Taurus.