I Thought I Saw A Puddy Cat:
A review of the all new 1999 Mercury Cougar

Story and Photography By Brian Leshon

History And Overview: The Mercury Cougar was launched in 1966 as a 1967 model. It was originally based on the Ford Mustang platform and was intended to offer muscle car performance with European styling. Mercury envisioned the car appealing to men and were surprised to find the car had an instant following with women. Over the years the Cougar grew in size. In later iterations it was based on the larger Thunderbird platform. Mercury admits they lost their direction with the Cougar. With the demise of the Thunderbird platform at the end of 1997 they felt there was an opportunity to bring Cougar full circle back to the personal sport coupe of its origin.

The 1999 Cougar is indicative of Mercury's next century plans. It is the first production example of what Ford calls their "New Edge Design," first shown on the MC2 and MC4 concept cars. New Edge Design marks a departure from the rounded "Gel Cap" look of the last generation Ford Taurus. Simply put, they are about clean, crisp line and surface intersections creating the impression of movement. New Edge Design gives sharp edges to the rounded surfaces typified by Italian sports cars of the past combining them with modern aerodynamics.

Mercury is attempting to attract younger buyers into their showrooms. The Cougar should accomplish this goal. It is targeted to appeal to buyers between the ages of 25-39, who see themselves as fashion conscious individualists. The buyers are technologically literate and as a result Mercury plans to use the Internet heavily to reach them. Although Mercury officially believes the car will have a near 50/50 male/female split, some on the inside say women may make up 60% or more of the buyer base.

Vehicle Type: Two-Door Compact Sport Coupe

MSRP Range: $16,195 to $18,095

Invoice Range: Not Available

Engine: 2.0- liter , 16- valve , fuel-injected, I4 , 125- horsepower VTEC engine. Optional, 2.5-liter, 24-valve, fuel-injected, V6 , 170-horsepower DURATEC engine

Transmission: 5-speed manual or dual-mode, 4-speed automatic

Mileage: 4- cylinder manual combined 31.9, V6 manual combined 26.4

Safety Features: Standard driver and passenger front airbags, load limiting seat belts, semi-deformable steering column, secured child seat installation.

Options include: driver and front passenger "Head-and-Chest" side impact airbags, four-wheel disc brakes (standard on the V6, optional in the I4), anti-lock brakes ( ABS ) and dual-mode traction control

Note: The cougar is the first Ford vehicle to offer the new driver and front passenger "Head-and-Chest" side impact airbags. Ford intends to have them available for all their cars over the next three years.

Standard Features: air conditioning, power door locks and windows, adjustable steering column, rear-window defroster and heated dual-power side mirrors