Mercury Cougar

Which Mercury Cougar years should you avoid?

Going by 1,673 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Mercury Cougar years to avoid are 1999, 2000, 1990 and 1993.

• 1999454 complaints, 4.9× a typical Cougar year, most often about the electrical system.
• 2000211 complaints, 2.3× a typical Cougar year, most often about the electrical system.
• 19902.1× the usual share of fires, crashes and deaths for a car of its age (9 fires, 8 crashes).
• 1993195 complaints, 2.1× a typical Cougar year, most often about the engine.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →