Name That Shifter, No. 104: 1999 Mercury Cougar

We presented this week's shifter on Monday and asked you to identify the make and model of the vehicle from whence it came. The first commenter to correctly identify it as a 1999 Mercury Cougar V-6 was repeat winner Icculus, but we like to share the love here at C/D, so we're also crediting Peter L. for his second-place guess. Peter will receive a Save the Manuals magnet and sticker as a reward. The Cougar pictured here participated in a seven-car comparison test in our December 1999 issue. Despite its futuristically crisp and fresh sheetmetal, the Cougar only managed a last-place finish against competitors like the redesigned (at the time) Toyota Celica, long-in-the-tooth Subaru Impreza RS, and Acura Integra GS-R. The Cougar shared its underpinnings with the Ford Contour, as well asthat car's weak 170-hp V-6 engine. Weird is perhaps the best way to paraphrase the our period description of the Cougar's road manners, and the manual shifter was so bad we actually recommended buyers consider the optional automatic transmission. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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