future cougar owner

[future_cougar]

hey, i will be purchasing a cougar in the future and im lookin for input on what yr to buy. im shying away from a 99 cuz its the 1st yr but other then that i dont kno. to be specific i want to find a cougar S with the 200 hp and such but dont kno how hard they are to find. any advice would be awesome! thanks

[spanky_wbw]

If you're thinking of buying the new edge cougar ('99-'02) then the best years to buy would be an '01 or an '02.

[future_cougar]

anyone out there own a cougar S? and what ya think of em?

[spanky_wbw]

hmmm, what year was the cougar S? as far as I know, the only special cougars (new edge cougar: '99-'02) to come out were the XR, ZN, C2, and the 35th anniv... Along with various other "special packages" which those were for cosmetic value only.

and if you're not talking about the new edge cougar, I'm sorry to have bothered ya :-D

[beyondloadedSE]

To my knowledge, the cougar S was just a prototype by ford using the svt contour engine. It was never released to the public.

[future_cougar]

oh yeah, my bad lol i meant the C2. the S never came out. im lookin for any knowledge you guys have about the best type of cougar, 99-02, for preformance and power. i kno the C2 has more hp and better handling but other than that i don't know whats out there.

[future_cougar]

what do ya mean new edge cougar? im not familiar with the lingo lol

[spanky_wbw]

the "New Edge Cougar" is the new body style of the cougars. specifically the '99-'02, as it only ran for 4 years before they stopped making the cougar line all together.

as for the best kind to get...year wise would probably be "the newer the better" (ie: 2001 or 2002)

the special cougars, which are the XR, C2, ZN, (specifically called "Cougar XR, Cougar C2, or Cougar ZN...you get the point) and the 35th anniversary (which basically is a cosmetic package which was put on one of the previous named "specials") were set at 170 whp, but if you're wanting to bump power, you can always build a 3L hybrid engine *winks* which is what I did my first engine, and that set up has been dyno'ed to 225-235 (if i'm not mistaken) fwhp. the cheapest upgrade to a stock cougar would be a cold air intake which will give you about 10-15 in gained HP.

and actually, the "special" cougars previously named are all cosmetic packages, just on a sportier cougar (upgraded engine/suspention). the regular cougars only give about 155hp...

in saying that I disagree with your comment about the C2, b/c they are all the same, the XR cougar is trimmed in red, the C2 is trimmed in blue, and the ZN is trimmed in yellow, I think the 35th anniversary was trimmed with silver, but not sure, but all are on the (in my opinion) "better cougars" but, I just love power and speed, so thats all that comment is: my opinion :-p

any more questions, I'd be glad to answer for ya.

[future_cougar]

wow, what a dissapointment. i was under the impression that those 3 models were different based on performance. thanks for clearing that up for me. so do the 3 have distinct body styles? or are they similar in appearance? also, the 35th anniversary model its prob just glitz and glamour right? or did they redesign the interior? so ya built a new powerful engine huh? well i am at a disadvantage there cuz im not a big car guy yet and my knowledge is very limited. i have heard of people buying a 200hp engine to replace the 175 but have no idea where they got it.

[future_cougar]

im also not too crazy about the 01-02 body style. the back end seems a bit too long and it seems like it lost most of its distinctive cougar shape. the 99-00 style seems sportier but as u said the 99 is the 1st model so thats a bust on terms of mechanical bugs but what about an 00 model? would ya recommend it?

[spanky_wbw]

*Quote from you* i was under the impression that those 3 models were different based on performance.

~those 3 models are different from the regular (cheaper) cougar because their engine is better...(170hp compared to 155hp) they are similar in physical appearance, but like I said it is a cosmetic package, but the base of the car (what the 'cosmetic package' is applied to) are all the same, there is little variation in those 3 models. the 35th anni. is glitz and glamour, just like the others, but it was put on the stronger cougar (170hp) as well.

*Quote from you* i have heard of people buying a 200hp engine to replace the 175 but have no idea where they got it.

~correct, you can take either (year is sort of a preference, but I like the 2001 year models) the engine out of an SVT contour (which is similar to the cougar engine being a 2.5L, but being an SVT, it is bored larger), Ford Taurus(3L engine), or a Ford Escape(3L engine), all duratec engines, and can all be swapped with the cougar engine with minor modification. I chose the Escape engine b/c it had the least amout of modification. what most people do is build a 3L hybrid, which is take a 3L block (Escape/Taurus), with SVT heads, upper intake manifold, and SVT cams. the ideal set up is using 3L heads, with the affore mentioned parts...but thats getting into technical jargin...lol anyway~

*Quote from you* what about an 00 model?

~I've owned a '99, an '01, and currently own an '02...by far it has been the best one to own, but I have never driven or owned a 2000, so I can't give you my honest opinion about it. I think that year it only had 4 (though I may be mistaken). but it is a lot better then the '99 *grins*

~~~~~
once you get your car, and ever get the idea you want to modify your car in any way, there is another forum, strictly for the '99-'02 cougar but I don't know if I can post it on here, so just IM me on here

[beyondloadedSE]

Originally Posted by spanky_wbw

the engine out of an SVT contour (which is similar to the cougar engine being a 2.5L, but being an SVT, it is bored larger)

not true. Both the cougars and contour svt use the same 2.5L duratec with the same bore. However, the contour svt engine displacement was decreased from 2544 cc to 2499 from 98-99 to 00 and the extra hp was compensated with the extra .25 compression ratio. Im not sure if the cougars went with the early model 2544 cc 2.5Ls or the 2499 cc, but either way, they are exactly the same, or if its a 2000 svt bore, the bore is actually smaller than the cougar.

[spanky_wbw]

Originally Posted by beyondloadedSE

not true. Both the cougars and contour svt use the same 2.5L duratec with the same bore. However, the contour svt engine displacement was decreased from 2544 cc to 2499 from 98-99 to 00 and the extra hp was compensated with the extra .25 compression ratio. Im not sure if the cougars went with the early model 2544 cc 2.5Ls or the 2499 cc, but either way, they are exactly the same, or if its a 2000 svt bore, the bore is actually smaller than the cougar.

I appologize, I should have specified, the block is the same, but the upper intake and heads have slightly larger bores...