2005 Cougar

Looks too much like the new Chrysler "sport" coupe, the Crossfire. After seeing one of those on the road, I'm not sure how I feel about the styling. It's certainly eye-catching, but it's not nearly as sexy as, say, a 350Z. And the engine leaves much to be desired.

awalbert88 said:

Bah, if the Couger comes back, I'd much rather see it as a FWD or AWD turbo or supercharged 4cyl perhaps. Something built to slay the sport compact crowd. That would go a lot further to save the Mercury brand than a Mustang clone. Just look at how much success Dodge is having thanks to the SRT-4. A lot of people (myself included) point to the fact that it's still just a Neon. But it outruns everything else for the price, and is definately the envy of a lot of the sport compact folks. If Mercury put out something like that, it would really boost interest in the brand.

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yeah....no one likes seeing a damn FWD cougar 4 banger I take it you didnt see what the cougar started out to be.

id rather not see ford join GM in ruining what used to be great cars just to sell.

The Couger name is more associated with the FWD V6 car of late than anything else. My point isn't so much that the Couger name should come back as that, but that Mercury would be far better off producing such a vehicle than trying to compete with the Mustang. The market isn't big enough to support more than a handful of muscle cars anymore, because profit margins are pretty thin on these things.

I say bring on the muscle cars...any and all of them mustangs, camaros, firebirds, chargers, challengers, baracuda's, bring em all out again just how they started to be..I always wanted to live in the 60's muscle car era.

RedHot91GT said:

I may be totally off but.. this is a concept that mercury put out... I think it looks ok.

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:worship: ONE COUGAR PLEASE!

Looks Aston Martinish to me, looks GREAT.

I'd personally LOVE to see a new Challanger/Cuda
In love with those cars...

I actually saw that grey Cougar at the auto show here in Atlanta and the thing was pretty sweet. One of the better looking cars at the 03 Auto Show.

If they made the cougar back into the mustangs twin I may buy it instead of a Mustang, just to be different

Someone I know was just at the San Francisco auto show. He said that the Messenger was there and that the people at the display were telling people to contact FoMoCo if they wanted Ford to build it.

I like the retro photoshop Cougar. If they came out with it I'd buy one. As long as its based on a rear drive platform. The front drive Cougar failed the same as the Ford Probe failed. I think alot of people would buy it that wouldn't even consider the new stang. It would be unique enough in apearance. The original Cougars were based on the mustang platform but with an extra 3 inches of wheelbase giving them more rear seat room. I loved my 69' with the 390.

That last Concept posted was the Mercury Messenger, it is built upon the current mustang platform. I can't remember any specs about it but I was not planned for production it was planned only as a glimps of what mercury is aiming for! Personnally I say build it!

Matt

hellyea i second that!!! bring on the muscle cars.... mercury could go some balls.... maurader... cogar, comet

For mustang enthusiasts i'd think you'd know more about the mustangs past

The cougars of late 60's early 70's WERE mustangs with more luxurious interiors and, for the most part, bigger faster engines.
example... MY '68 Cougar GT (rare car, made in canada, its brother was the Eliminator made in the US, The eliminator was longer and weighed a bit more, and usually came with a smaller engine)... 428 Cobra Jet, it eats up EVERYTHING on the road, Canary yellow with black soft top. 4 speed that does wheelies with a minor timing change. You can compare that to pretty much any '68 mustang you want to, and you'll notice they are practically identical (only better )

Now we look at Capri's, which were identical to 80's style mustangs. (I owned one of each) The capri was a mustang, trying to be more luxurious, but it was the 80's and they had ****ty taste, so it failed... Plaid seats??? wtf???

Jump to 2000, the new Cougar was meant to appeal to the new crowd, it was a front wheel drive V6 (like my new car... a '91 Z34). The new cougar was meant to be like those ****cans of the 80's that were now immitating the Thunderbird (ever wonder why Turbo Cougars and Thunderbird Turbo Coupes have the same engine... whoda thunk it)

Jump to 2005, anyone with any car taste wants a retro car. The cougar is by far my favorite car, and is most peoples favorite car. It hasn't been made in 5 years, there are less of them on the road, whereas everyone and their dog has a mustang. If the cougar came back, i say it should be V8 or V10 (put that new 5.8 into use) Keep it with the same looks it has in that photochop(notice its the eliminator... )

My mom has already given my dad permission to buy "the" 2005 cougar, he also found that photochop and was in love. Then he saw the messenger which is most likely going to be the new cougar instead of the eliminator... and first thing he said was... guess ill be waiting a few more years for a new car. That ugly ass messenger thing should be used as target practice for the military. You should have seen how excited he was about that cougar concept! And then how he almost cried when he saw the messenger. (he hasn't owned anything other then ford and mercury his whole life, except for one 86 monte carlo SS, he was the original owner of the '68 GT)

I completely agree with him. Messenger looks like ****, Cougar makes my mouth drop and i get all tingly inside when i see it. I would buy a cougar 10 times over a mustang. The cougar is like the Saleen to the Mustang, it has more prestige.

If the 2005 Cougar comes out looking like that and NOT like the messenger, I would sell all my belongings to get one.

Not that I am trying to start an argument. But since the 80's the cougar has been based of a t-bird. Until the current model of course. Now we know they won't base it off the new t-bird. But I think it has lot a great deal of prestige. Just look at the way you talk about current cougars. And I don't think you quite mean a Saleen. maybe a Mach 1or a Cobra. But Saleen is an expensive tuner mustang. Which may or may not be dying.

I like the photoshopped Cougar Eliminater picture too. I definitely do NOT like the Mercury Messenger. It looks like a spacemobile. Plus I think that it's too rounded. I would ONLY buy a Cougar if it only looks like the photoshopped picture. I don't like spacemobiles or rounded cars. I like cars that have more linear lines to them and which look nice like the 67-70 Cougar did.

looks cool to me,allways loved the eliminator!

dern soldiers,
We might have a winner. that last pic of whats supost to be a couger looks like a concept from a long time a go.

this is probably a stupid question.... since ford owns mercury, does ford have "the say" in how they want the cougar to look? or, does mercury do it's own thing?

Some of us who were alive in the 60's when all of this car stuff started remember the Cougar as a more expensive car than the Mustang. In my opinion, they really weren't in the same class and had different "images". Then over time they morphed into Mercury clones for the Thunderbird (late 70's and early 80's). The last version seemed to me like a small car that had lost its identity. I would suggest that Mercury think all of this through before they try another "experiment" with marketing. Just because they make it doesn't mean people will buy it unless it appeals to the right group of buyers.