After 4 weeks of ownership, I'm afraid she'll have to go :-(

C

Catface

Forum user
Nov 15, 2012
39
0
Isle of Axholme
I've done alomost 1000 miles in my Cougar since I bought her, she's been no trouble at all but I'm afraid she''l have to go. I can no longer cope with the stiff suspension, it's intolerable on the roads around here and the road noise on motorways is just tiring on long journeys. I have decided the Cougar is not for me, I shall be going back to a softly sprung car as soon as possible. This is a great forum and the people on here are friendly and helpful, I would love to get more involved with it but I am not as enthusiastic about the car as you guys are. Hope you all continue to enjoy your Cougars, I'm sorry I'm just not getting along with mine :(
 
What Quicksilver said.
Mine's too hard a ride for the wife (oo eer missus) and my Mondy is certainly more comfortable, but maybe less fun to drive and it certainly don't sound as good (it's a diesel)
 
I'm in Haxey Mr Scunny! I have tried to like this car, I really have but the more I drive it the more I realize it aint for me. Thanks everybody, I'm looking forward to getting another car that has some form of springing and comfort, perhaps I'm just too old for sporty type cars .
 
A bitter disappointment.

I can't fault you for getting rid of a car that doesn't suit you though. Good luck in finding something that does, Catface.
 
Are you sure your suspension is not just on its way out and in need of some cheap drop links or arb bushes? Probably seen you around...I work in epworth
 
I really don't know mate, I have bought some droplinks for it but can't be arsed to fit them tbh. Might get my mate to pop them on for me tomorow to see if it improves things. Took the car to my mates garage/mot station and had them look around the suspension and steering, they gave it a good going over and found absolutely nothing wrong with it, car has full service history and it seems it has had everthing it ever needed, it had a major service at Ford only 3000 miles ago. I know droplinks can make an awful noise even with only a slight bit of wear. Seen a purple Cougar parked near the traffic lights in Epworth, is that you ?
 
Sensible dicision. The cougar definately isn't for everyone, as the original sales figures proved way back. Get the car you're comfortable with, it's no joke driving a car your just not happy with.
 
No, that's not me. I don't actually own a roadworthy Cougar at the minute. I know the one you mean though. I can't do the work, but if you want me to give you an opinion as to whether your car is 'normal' and therefore 'not for you' then I don't mind?
 
Even when new the Cougar was slated in the motoring press for a poor ride quality. It handled well, but the car didn't half fidget on anything but the smoothest of roads. I had mine from a fairly young age and I know it was in good mechanical condition. The ride on these does become significantly worse when the dampers are tired though - but it's the bounce you're feeling rather than the bump itself.

As I said though, even new, Cougars had a pretty bad ride.
 
jamie_duff said:
Even when new the Cougar was slated in the motoring press for a poor ride quality. It handled well, but the car didn't half fidget on anything but the smoothest of roads. I had mine from a fairly young age and I know it was in good mechanical condition. The ride on these does become significantly worse when the dampers are tired though - but it's the bounce you're feeling rather than the bump itself.

As I said though, even new, Cougars had a pretty bad ride.
Click to expand...

And yet oddly, Clarkson was really taken with it. Said it was a worthy big brother to the Puma, which is an incredible little car. Which goes to show you never can tell.

Getting out of a Mk3 Rover 216* into the Cougar did feel like getting out of a MiG-21 and into a 757-200, but it's not supposed to be the same sort of driving experience and in my case that's exactly what I wanted. But if that's not what Catface is looking for, I can't really argue with that.

From the sound of things, someone is about to buy a very well-maintained Cougar...



* Lowered on adjustable coilovers, uprated ARB and F&R strutbraces
 
out of interest though ae you running standard wheels and tyres as larger alloys and hence lower profile tyres really make the ride hard. I had 225/35/18"s on mine and it was crippling.
 
Mr Catface, thats quite sad to hear, i'm err probably a bit older than perhaps a few on this here forum (maybe) and i find the ride ok on mine, its only got 40k on the clock from new so the damping is still pretty good i would have thought, and i've had it precisly 2 weeks tomorrow.

But then i like a firmer ride (ooerr misses) if you want to drive something fiddgety test drive a Citroen DS3 any hoo,

Another place to investige would be tyre pressures the standard pressure according to the handbook is 34psi front and 29 rear with a recommendation of 31psi front for a more complient ride but i'm running mine at 32 front and 29 rear, which seems to work quite well with stock 16in alloys and 225-50-16 tyres fitted.

But if all this fails good luck with your next car,
 
Hi all, thanks for your nice comments and helpful hints. I'm running the stock alloys with the correct size tyres, 34psi all round. Even at 34psi the front tyres seem to bulge as if they are underinflated but the rears have no bulging at all. I am going to continue running the car until the new year as it's giving me no bother reliability wise. Another problem I have is that I am 6foot 4 and suffer with my back, the Cougar isn't helping, I can't really get comfortable in it, it's also a bit low for getting in and out of. It's a shame because there are many things I do like about the car, for instance it's looks and the engine is sweet as a nut, not keen on the auto box it's not the nicest I've experienced but it's working ok. I might drop the rear tyre pressures a little and see if it improves any. When I bought the car it had 45psi in the fronts and about 20psi int the rears!!
 
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