Greetings Cougar folk. I have just arrived in Cougar Land, although somewhat prematurely. In fact I am only half way over the wall at the moment, still having one foot in Probe Land. Last week I left home in my trusty Probe V6 (157000 miles and running perfectly). I turned on the radio but within a minute I thought "why am I listening to this drivel when I can listen to the sonorous growl of the Mazda KL-DE V6 ?"-Radio off. Now that may well have been tempting fate! Within 5 miles the worlds most perfect car dropped dead. It had previously dropped dead at 137000 with failed imobilliser card, but I removed that and bypassed it with jumpers and she came alive again. This time it may be distributer since there is no spark. On the other hand there is no smell of unburnt pertrol at the exhaust. Jumpers in the diagnostic socket do cause the petrol pump to run, but is it running when the ignition is operated ? Anyway this is all "2BDUN". I had been planning to get a Cougar, but taking my time to find an A1 by July when the Probe MOT was up. As it happened fate suddenly changed its mind about me and a Cougar appeared for sale locally. Upon inspection it was in very good shape except for well worn discs. I judged them to be an MOT fail, so I said nothing to the salesman, but at the last minute requested he put an MOT on it, although it still had 5 months to go. He agreed and as planned (by me) they made him put new discs and pads on the front. Dont you just love it when a plan ..etc. . I have driven it a few days and found that it is in fact "The worlds TRULY most perfect car". My Probe was a mere pretender. To be fair the Mazda did have a better growl from under the hood, and it does have a 3 stage variable induction tract - which never went wrong ! . I have noticed that the Cougar revs dont spin up as fast as the KL-DE engine, but I think that is because of longer accelerater pedal travel distance which I havn't adjusted to yet. When changing insurance over I got charged an extra œ130 ! Why ? Normal rip off I suppose. My plan is to go over it underneath and apply Plus-Gas and underseal every where in advance of anything to be done in the future. Will change rear discs/pads in the spring. Its got 215/55 s all round. Depending on what happens to the worlds second most perfect car (albeit dead), I will probably bring the 225/50 s over - same rolling diameter so there should be no problem. Its a pity I cant use the Mazda wheels since they have "Fan" shaped spokes which help extract cooling air over the discs. Next step is a tow bar. (1) Anyone know about towbars ? (2)Anyone know about fitting extra driving lights ? (3)Anyone know a good point under the dash to pick up 12V either through the key or always on ? Or (4) where is a good place to get a lead through to the engine bay ? More posts in due course.