Q:
A: I have a 1999 mercury cougar and it has 132,000 miles on it. i beat the living crap out of it everyday and the engine runs perfectly fine, and the transmission does not slip at all. they are great cars, and very reliable. i have not had any problems with it besides normal maintainence. But it really depends on what engine you are going to get with the car. if you get the 2.0 ztec you might want to get the timing belt replaced or atleast looked at before you go on any long trips on it. you would want to get that looked at right away because it is an interception engine.