Not a Cougar owner, yet!

Burger28

Burger28

Well-known user
Dec 2, 2010
220
12
Gloucestershire
Hi, I'm Dan, aged 23, Gloucestershire.

I've previously owned a Probe V6 and am currently looking to buy a Cougar V6. I'm currently driving a 55 plate Hyundai Coupe V6 but I'd rather not have so much of my money locked up in my car. I'd also like a bit more powerful so I'm hoping to buy a Cougar and get it up to around 200bhp if possible from induction & exhaust mods.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Dan and welcome to the forum mate - the only place to be for all things cougar. We've had the debate about Cougar vs Hyundai before and the cougar always wins :LOL:

I knew nothing about cars when I joined up two years ago but slowly over that period of time and with plenty of help and encoragement from the good and knowledgable people on here my old gal is now putting out 214BHP :)

Just a word of warning - there are restrictions on newcomers selling on the forum. You have to have at least 30 posts and be a subscribed member for at least a month to advertise cars for sale so I will delete the last bit of your post and you can put it back on in a bit.

As far as membership is concerned it is currently £18pa and for most people - the best £18 they ever spend on their cats (y)
 
Welcome Dan Ian is right this is a fantastic forum to be a part of and full of loads of helpful people and info.

Try to pop along to a meet or two and you can see what the guys have done first hand and pick their brains but be careful some of the northerners don't have a lot to spare ;-)
 
Hi Dan, and welcome to ukcougar.com, your in the right place for all things cougar related, as well as some crazy banter. You will also be able to find all the fixes you need in our subscriber sections. Have a browse around the open forums and get a feel for the place. Remember! ukcougar.com is the only workshop manual for the big cat.
 
Quicksilver said:
Whitminster ish?
Click to expand...
Almost. Eastington, the other side of the motorway.

Have a fair few of you guys owned/driven Probes before? I'm interested in the differences. I quite liked my Probe, if you ignore the niggling faults, but what I have really missed from all 5 of my cars (excluding my 1990 escort) was 'driving feel'. The steering is way too light on the Hyundai I've got and you don't get much feeling of the road, Although she's more than capable of taking a corner she just doesn't give you the confidence to turn in like some cars. I've just seen the Clarkson Top Gear review of the Cougar that's posted on here which has improved my confidence in the Cougar option as a next car.

My main issue is getting rid of the Hyundai at the moment as not many people want to buy sports coupes with the fuel price so high and people who can afford to pay that much for fuel would rather buy the RX8, 350Z or something which has a bit more of a brand image. I see car dealerships selling these Hyundais for £6-8k but they won't offer me more than £3600!

I won't be signing up for the club membership here just yet as I do have the tendency to change my mind a lot :p I'm pretty sure the Cougar would be a great step-down in price and that I could quite easily find the 200bhp for not too much cash after asking you guys about it, but if I can't shift the Hyundai then it's just not going to happen. :(
 
hi welcome to the club, there are a few previous probe owners who now have the cougar, i enjoyed the probe , but it was really a mazda, however the cougar is a hell of a lot better, never done anything to the probe, but alreafy got the modding bug with the cougar, i also test drove the hyundai and it didnt have a patch on the cougar.
 
welcome to the club.

Be in no doubt the Cougar can have niggling problems, but most of them get sorted on here!

That said, for the money, I would argue there are not many better cars on the roads.

I don't know what your budget it, but for £1200 you should get a very very nice car, and even for a little less you can pick up the odd gem.

I have never regretted buying my first, I then bought a second but circumstances dicated we had to sell one. I have now agreed to buy my third cougar.

Be warned, they are addictive, as is 'modding' them.

As for 200bhp, thats very achievable - as Mo-fo has said, he is getting 214bhp. Yes, he has spent a few quid getting it there, but its well worth it.
 
Good luck with your search for a Cougar mate, definitely worth taking your time to make sure you get the right one.
 
mofo sob said:
I knew nothing about cars when I joined up two years ago but slowly over that period of time and with plenty of help and encoragement from the good and knowledgable people on here my old gal is now putting out 214BHP :)
Click to expand...

How much did it cost you to get that BHP and which mods have you done?

When I had looked into making a 200bhp Probe I was quite sure I could do it within £2k and had originally assumed it would be the same parts on the Cougar (as the engine sizes are the same), but of course, the Cougar is using Ford engines not the Mazda ones! I suppose that should mean it's cheaper really? *fingers crossed*
 
christ mate its cheaper than that!

My car is running st200 lower inlet (free), St200 upper inlet (£130), st200 throttle body (£40), st200 air box (£30), St200 bellows (£8), sports cat (£100) and stainless steel twin exit exhaust (£305).

I would guess I am now close to the 200bhp mark, maybe creeping over that.


Mo-fo has stainless headers as well, and a remap.
 
The thing about the cougar is that ford always intended to do an ST200 version - even got as far as doing a brochure and some of the parts - but due to failing sales - caused primarily by the introduction of the C2 "uglybug" :)devil:) they cancelled it.

The cougar was built to have an ST200 version and it is a massive shame that ford took the above stance.

The cougar still shares a lot of parts with the mondeo mk 2 ST200 and by far the cheapest and most effective way to upgrade is to buy an ST200 engine and stick it in (y)

If you were aiming to do this from the start you could probably buy a decent cougar with a knackered engine for £300-£400, an ST200 engine for £200-£300 and an engine swap - the Bolton Mafia (resident cougar experts) will do the engine swap for a couple of hundred - other garages 2 or 3 times that and hey presto - an ST200 cougar for less than a grand :)

I went a more expensive route (for some unknown reason :geek:)

AIR IN - ST200 UIM, throttle body, bellows, MAF and dual entry air box.

FUEL IN - ST200 green injectors and ST200 ECU.

EXHAUST OUT - Racebits performance headers and MIJ sports cat linked up to the existing Blueflame exhaust.

You'd be looking at around a grand do do that - plus I had a remap on top but - boy is she a fantastic drive :whistle:
 
mofo sob said:
The thing about the cougar is that ford always intended to do an ST200 version - even got as far as doing a brochure and some of the parts - but due to failing sales - caused primarily by the introduction of the C2 "uglybug" :)devil:) they cancelled it.

The cougar was built to have an ST200 version and it is a massive shame that ford took the above stance.

The cougar still shares a lot of parts with the mondeo mk 2 ST200 and by far the cheapest and most effective way to upgrade is to buy an ST200 engine and stick it in (y)

If you were aiming to do this from the start you could probably buy a decent cougar with a knackered engine for £300-£400, an ST200 engine for £200-£300 and an engine swap - the Bolton Mafia (resident cougar experts) will do the engine swap for a couple of hundred - other garages 2 or 3 times that and hey presto - an ST200 cougar for less than a grand :)

I went a more expensive route (for some unknown reason :geek:)

AIR IN - ST200 UIM, throttle body, bellows, MAF and dual entry air box.

FUEL IN - ST200 green injectors and ST200 ECU.

EXHAUST OUT - Racebits performance headers and MIJ sports cat linked up to the existing Blueflame exhaust.

You'd be looking at around a grand do do that - plus I had a remap on top but - boy is she a fantastic drive :whistle:
Click to expand...

How much did the remap set you back?

I was planning to run the car as standard for a few months to make sure I liked it enough to spend the cash on it so buying a dead-engined example isn't really on the cards. There are a couple of examples under £1k within 100 miles of me, I'm currently waiting for responses from a couple of dealers in regards to part/ex with my Hyundai... which would be the simplest option.
 
The re-map was part of a package with the headers supplied and fitted by Racebits (member on here + dogsbody - sales rep). Shaun (Racebits) is trying to get a group session sorted out. Iirc it would be about £30 for a power run £100+ for re-map and about £175 for the full monty - rolling road remap with power runs and printouts for before and after to show where the car has been improved,
 
I've been thinking about that ST200 engine swap idea, it's grown on me a bit. Could I get away with buying a 2.0 16v Cougar and still do the ST200 transplant or is the 2.5 V6 so different that it wouldn't work? Or does the V6 have much better kit levels so it wouldn't be worthwhile buying a 16v?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.