Mercury’s Cougar brings together edgy styling which have stylish handling and you will a readily available V6 system

Mercury’s Cougar brings together edgy styling which have stylish handling and you will a readily available V6 system

Discover Auto

The fresh new 1967 Cougar shared design and gratification, and you can Mercury says it tried to reach that goal exact same harmony when designing that it most recent age bracket design having side-wheel drive.

Design Roster

Two engines come. The beds base system is the Zetec, a two.0-liter double overhead-cam, 16-device inline-4 ranked from the 125 horsepower and you may 130 ft-lbs off torque. Elective is a 2.5-liter dohc, 24-valve Duratec V6 rated from the 170 hp and you will 165 base-lbs away from torque.

You might give hence engine the auto has actually of the considering this new tires and you will rims: Six-spoke 16-inches tires feature the V6 model, five-spoke fifteen-inches rims incorporate the newest 4-cylinder design. A rear spoiler comes standard with the new V6, but can feel erased getting an effective $235 borrowing from the bank; it’s a $235 solution with the cuatro-tube.

Legs Cougar boasts cooling, 15-inch aluminium tires, fuel windows, strength doorway locks, electricity peak-adjustable chair and Am/FM/cassette music. The sport V6 choice boasts the latest spoiler, 16-inch rims, disk brakes, fog lamps, recreation chairs, high-peak slim, and a leather-based-covered tyre and you may move manhood. A comfort class contributes cruise control, butt washer and the superior music. An automatic alert can be obtained just with the V6 design. Solutions were front airbags, Abdominal muscles and you can grip handle, a great sunroof, and an out in-dashboard Video game athlete.

Walkaround

Along with its catlike headlamps and you can sweeping contours, the fresh Cougar ends up very little else on the road. This coupe has simple, toned surfaces laid out by the clean folds and evident intersections. Areas of this vehicles ends up it absolutely was toned with an excellent sharp knife, since bottom fender try game, and you will similar to new Lexus South carolina. This car now offers some nice additional information: Quick triangles tell you the region towards the jacking issues. Front side markers play the role of turn indicators so you’re able to alert vehicle operators across the street.

Cougar seems able to have higher rate and wandering ways. An element of the cause of this can be their seemingly a lot of time wheelbase which have European-design short overhangs.

Indoor Keeps

The fresh exterior’s The fresh new Edge college away from design is transmitted to the with a capturing arch one surrounds the fresh driver’s website name. It’s an extremely useful environment which is funny towards eyes. Sporty devices ability white number to the a dark-gray records. Switchgear looks highest-tech that is very practical. Durable round air ports feature personal incorporated for the/out-of changes.

The leading container seating try organization and you may supporting. Getting back in back is straightforward in addition to rear buckets was truth be told comfortable. Scooped out chair bottoms promote good headroom, when you are room within the front side chair provides down legroom. Still, that is zero sedan. No-one will want to trip for an excessive period of your energy straight back here.

Riding Impressions

Cougar now offers the truth is an excellent addressing and you can solid balance within rate given that I came across at the Street Atlanta, a good gutsy higher-speed street-racing routine from inside the north Georgia. No place was this even more visible than at the entrances to turn 2, a fairly sluggish technology location regarding framework dynamics. The latest change-inside point because of it correct-hand part was at the top a mountain which is immediately preceded of the an easy escort in Pearland leftover. I crested this new hill topped call at third tools. Since car was cresting brand new mountain, brand new suspension are unloaded as there are absolutely nothing pounds towards rims – an emotional spot for smooth braking. However, very tough stopping must sluggish the auto and you may you can brake too late and you will capture through the turn-within the part. Braking and you can flipping at the same time is obviously difficulty and it’s really problematic on suspension system unloaded. You can spin the auto in this situation.

However the Cougar thought reliable at the change-in the point, allowing me to opened the V6, plunge down the slope or take the second selection of higher-rate curves flat out. In contrast, a past-generation Mitsubishi Eclipse GS felt undecided subsequently dos, hence less get-off speed in the area. A good Saturn SC2 experienced downright rough, though it addressed fairly well. From highest-price transforms, the latest Cougar was the new Stone out-of Gibraltar. The steering considering most readily useful getting compared to most other one or two trucks and the fresh new suspension offered more control.

Cougar’s program is based on this new Ford Contour and you will Mercury Mystique, but adventures on a wider track – the length involving the right and leftover tires – and you can uses a much firmer suspension system to help you excite fan people. A rigid chassis, intense anti-roll pubs, and you can highest-rates springs are designed to boost handling. Specially customized system mounts are designed to minimize music. Pounds shipping is actually . The leading suspension spends MacPherson struts which have coil springs minimizing A-arms. The back are a great Quadralink program that have strut-type coil springtime/dampers and inactive rear direction.

The latest racetrack exercise is followed by a lengthy great time through the hills north out-of Atlanta where in actuality the Cougar clung on roadway particularly a cat dangling to a forest. Brand new Cougar noticed home from the slopes and you may appeared aptly called truth be told there. Their balance provided believe while you are the clean handling and you can brisk throttle effect recommended saturated driving. The brakes, which use rotors borrowed about large-efficiency SVT Ford Shape, did rather than fade-in spite out-of repeated hard explore.

My thoughts have been reinforced seven days later, the spot where the Cougar’s right direction and you will better-tuned suspension system assisted it cut cleanly because of a rigorous autocross direction close Baltimore. In comparison, an SC2 did actually assemble pylons, and also the fuel steering push on an enthusiastic Eclipse GS cannot maintain direction enters from slalom.

The beds base Cougar try an incredibly in a position to automobile one prompts demanding driving. Ford’s 4-tube Zetec system brings a beneficial reaction within path increase. Which system weighs in at less than the brand new V6, which enhances the equilibrium of your vehicles.

Still, it appears an embarrassment to find a Cougar without the intelligent Duratec V6. Effortless and you will higher level when you’re touring, it produces a pleasurable growl whenever riled. Although it does not allow the Cougar this new strike off an enthusiastic Acura Integra GS-Roentgen or Honda Prelude SH, it could keep up with these two athletics coupes with the north Georgia’s mountainous paths. Simply don’t get spoke on a pull competition for green glides as you you will eradicate. Low-price and you can condition-start acceleration is right, but passage stamina is great. Better rates is projected at the 137 miles per hour, but i haven’t experimented with you to.

The new smooth-progressing 5-rate tips guide gearbox are suited really on V6, that have percentages you to definitely match the brand new torque of your engine. We strongly recommend they. This new four-price automatic was designed to promote effortless moving forward and also to eradicate searching for gears when take a trip down and up long grades.

Conclusion

Driving followers in the market for a sport coupe would be to just take a closer look at Cougar V6. People who need an attractive, basic coupe need not be worried to the 4-cylinder model. They are both charged aggressively to help you compete with respective habits out-of Japan.

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