I don't think so. The Cougar did her job when the industry asked her to. But here's a video that shows that people didn't get it and the world moved on from what we were supposed to be, I guess?
Are we irrelevent?
- Thread starter Mako
- Start date
Look at the middle market cars that are about today which what the cougar was back when it was new, do you think in 20 years time there will be a club of people who still love them?
Irrelevent? No .
Mad? Maybe
Cool? For sure
Irrelevent? No .
Mad? Maybe
Cool? For sure
There will be for some of them yes. What there wont be is cougar parts though. Ford doomed this car when they made it. In a period when they're other models were starting to go back to their roots, like the early 2000s thunderbird. They completely went a different direction with one of the most Iconic muscle cars of history. People fantasize about 60s cougars, to make a 2 door car that for some ungodly reason turned out FWD. Instead of going back to its roots as some people were expecting, they produced a car that looks like it belongs parked between a celica and an eclipse. It's design wasn't appealing to anyone who wasn't fresh out of school at the time, but had so many design short comings that anyone who put their money into a honda civic stood a really good chance of beating it. Put that with the fact that Fast and the Furious came out in 2001 which showcased all the import cars. It took what crowd the cougar was building away.Look at the middle market cars that are about today which what the cougar was back when it was new, do you think in 20 years time there will be a club of people who still love them?
Irrelevent? No .
Mad? Maybe
Cool? For sure
Like so many blog, vlogs, YT videos and fake news on the internet these days, that one is just some random bloke's opinion.
There may be any number of reasons why the public perception of a product is that it was a flop, when it may well have completely met the manufacturer's expectations.
eg. low sales numbers in the UK; cost of adapting product for RHD; availability of product for export (manufacturing capacity allocated to local markets), tax reasons (why manufacturers have to choose whether to send a few larger high-value cars or many smaller cheap cars). Using up production runs of obsolete or soon to be outlawed components.
The Cougar, being a limited production run/limited sales success car makes it special more so than the relatively common (in the UK) Puma, which itself was probably too small to succeed Stateside (Dan?)
The sharing of Mondeo (mainly the cherished sporty variants) parts makes it at least possible there'll be availability of important spares for our lifetimes.
The landscape is due to change, electric cars a likely to be a major factor in the future, heck even cars that take the fun out of travelling. Driving might be something most mortals only do on experience days and they'll marvel at the skills those of us who get behind a wheel on the road. Our classics might even be condemned to self-driving vehicle transporters just to make meets and shows.
Make the most of it now...
There may be any number of reasons why the public perception of a product is that it was a flop, when it may well have completely met the manufacturer's expectations.
eg. low sales numbers in the UK; cost of adapting product for RHD; availability of product for export (manufacturing capacity allocated to local markets), tax reasons (why manufacturers have to choose whether to send a few larger high-value cars or many smaller cheap cars). Using up production runs of obsolete or soon to be outlawed components.
The Cougar, being a limited production run/limited sales success car makes it special more so than the relatively common (in the UK) Puma, which itself was probably too small to succeed Stateside (Dan?)
The sharing of Mondeo (mainly the cherished sporty variants) parts makes it at least possible there'll be availability of important spares for our lifetimes.
The landscape is due to change, electric cars a likely to be a major factor in the future, heck even cars that take the fun out of travelling. Driving might be something most mortals only do on experience days and they'll marvel at the skills those of us who get behind a wheel on the road. Our classics might even be condemned to self-driving vehicle transporters just to make meets and shows.
Make the most of it now...
I think why its considered a flop is because it came in under what was the projected sales numbers. That wasn't just in the UK though it was in all markets of the world.
And we can't really blame it on just 1 aspect. The fact that roush made parts for it should be enough to make any ford enthusiast love the car but unfortunately that isn't enough.
There are a number of reasons why the car failed.
1 they named it a cougar. Had it been called anything else I think it would have stood a better chance. Had they not redesigned it to something the cougar has never been in a time when everyone was talking about going back to their roots would have been even better. For what the market was doing at the time, it almost needed to be a RWD with a drivetrain similar to the mustang and look like an updated version of a 68 cougar.
2 they aimed it towards the middle aged family man in marketing. If you want to know what that was a serious flop. Spend a week putting a car seat in and out of the back.
3 aftermarket parts. Sure we had cold air intakes and limited slip differentials, and the special vehicles team parts. But there just wasnt the parts manufactured to make the car fast for the amount the charged for the car. Completely modified and running a 125hp shot of nitrous I've never seen one of these cars that can go a 1/4 mile in less the 12 seconds. When I can build a honda civic that would do the same thing more reliably in 10 seconds or less for probably less money. Why would I buy a cougar? By changing everything about it I can't even fall back on its reputation with car guys at the time because they hated it.
4. Its design sucks for building any power with. Anything much over 300hp and you have built yourself the most expensive smoke machine money can buy. Again it just doesnt make sense.
We aren't irrelevant I guess. We're just the select few that said what the hell and drove on and fell in love with a doomed car even after considering all these above. I'm by no means saying they suck with all this. Hell I have 3 of them myself.
I hope everone understands that I started this thread to get us talking again, and thinking about who we are and why we're here for a new year.
The responses have been thoughtful and respectful even when they conflict, which is exactly what I expect from you good people, so thank you all.
The responses have been thoughtful and respectful even when they conflict, which is exactly what I expect from you good people, so thank you all.
I consider y'all family even though I talk nothing like all y'all, I drive on the wrong side of the road, and enter my car from the passenger side ( can't help it that's where they put my steering wheel). I'm not arguing with anyone about anything to do with it. I know a crapload about them. Probably enough to take it apart and put it together with my eyes closed while half asleep, talking on the phone, drunk, and the whole time eating some of the thinnest bacon any of y'all have ever seen. My way isn't always right, and I don't know everything. So honestly, I don't have a right to tell someone no you're wrong even if I do have an easier way to do something.
Why are we here? Easy. Each of us for whatever reason, and I'm sure there's a ton, have fallen in love with what is possibly the worse version of a cougar to ever go into production. The public tells us this with things like your video. They have dozens of problems, performance, visual, and reliability. We spend hours under them. They cause us to cuss. They make us bleed. Damn near kill us. They make us drink.
It's just something about these things, and how new cougar fans are built that make us want to be drunk, bloody, damn near dead, cussing idiots that could have bought something easier to work for cheaper that has less problems. But thats not us. Maybe we're all just insane. But for whatever reason we love these cars and severely Fancy the others who love them. Maybe it's because we all know exactly how much each other has suffered making their car what it is, especially if it works right.
There is just something about getting in one of these cars and driving it. Its hard to explain it but it puts your inner self at a zen when the rest of the world.
While I don't disagree with most of this........
This really only applies to the US (and yes I know was it's main target market) most people in Europe have never heard of or have any attachment to the old Cougar Muscle cars
Does this really have an impact on new car sales? I suspect Motor execs couldn't give a rats bum about future owners
It's price was too high, it wasn't anywhere near an adventurous enough design, it wasn't desirable, and the interior is horrible which goes a long way in any vehicle priced at a premium.
Having said all that, they did something right because the design has stood the test of time and they still look good now, we all love ours so here's to happy Cougaring
This really only applies to the US (and yes I know was it's main target market) most people in Europe have never heard of or have any attachment to the old Cougar Muscle cars
Does this really have an impact on new car sales? I suspect Motor execs couldn't give a rats bum about future owners
It's price was too high, it wasn't anywhere near an adventurous enough design, it wasn't desirable, and the interior is horrible which goes a long way in any vehicle priced at a premium.
Having said all that, they did something right because the design has stood the test of time and they still look good now, we all love ours so here's to happy Cougaring
I'm still learning y'alls history on this car. Being that you guys didn't have the attachment. I'm guessing that's some of the reason so many times I read that someone either loves the car or has no clue what it is thinking its a jag because of the cat. Here you get 3 options. They love them, they don't really care, or that's not even a real cougar.
As for do parts matter. Yes. The fact I could make my car look like this is what got to me look at the car to begin with
That was kind of the problem, as we know. Over here we had fast Fords but they weren't big V8s. Instead we had the CDW27 platform that they could stick a compact V6 in. "Great. I'm not paying over £25K for that."
I totally agree. Ford does not and has never cared. "Ugh. Here's a Yank car for bank managers. Like, whatever."
Yeah no. It's still better than a modern VW or Audi. C1 or C2. Come at me, bro.
Having said all that, they did something right because the design has stood the test of time and they still look good now, we all love ours so here's to happy Cougaring
Agreed, definitely. I could have an R-Line Passat right now on a cheap lease. But I drive a Cougar.
I accept that, but you are surely in a minority?
I'm not sure what the market is now but when these were new I was contracting to Ford, and most new car sales, especially larger cars, were to fleet buyers.
Sold in huge numbers at hugely discounted prices, Ford would then get them back after six months or so and sell them as approved used cars through the Ford Direct scheme, often at higher prices than they went to the fleet operators for!
Like I say the market may be different now, and I can only relate to the UK market, but back then....fleet owners didn't care a jot about mods, and couldn't do it anyway.
I'm not sure what the market is now but when these were new I was contracting to Ford, and most new car sales, especially larger cars, were to fleet buyers.
Sold in huge numbers at hugely discounted prices, Ford would then get them back after six months or so and sell them as approved used cars through the Ford Direct scheme, often at higher prices than they went to the fleet operators for!
Like I say the market may be different now, and I can only relate to the UK market, but back then....fleet owners didn't care a jot about mods, and couldn't do it anyway.