New Cougar’S Dramatic Styling Breaks Norm

Fri., Feb. 12, 1999

Mercury’s dramatically styled ‘99 Cougar was introduced last spring, but it still warrants a double-take. The skin is like nothing you’ve seen before, all odd angles and intersecting planes.

This is Mercury’s vaunted “New Edge” styling ethic and if it works as well on other models, the company is on to something.

In its former lifetime, the Cougar was considered a “personal luxury” car based on the Thunderbird, but it thunders back as a front-drive coupe aimed at a youngish style-conscious market. It shares mechanicals with the Contour/Mystique package, but it’s sportier than either, an attitude born out by the available five-speed stick shift.

The base engine is a 125-hp, 2-liter inline four (available with the manual gearbox only), and a 170-hp, 2.5-liter V-6 is optional.

Elsewhere in the family, the Grand Mar quis gets a power bump to 215-hp and the Sable LS and GS lose their rear anti-roll bar as standard equipment. It can now be had as part of a package that includes 16-inch wheels.

The Mystique gets a redesigned instru ment and more rear-seat legroom.

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