99-02 Cougar is the new Ford Probe.

[CoRDiTe]

I came across this trying to find some RWD cougars from 99-02 that people converted themselves and came across this. Thought some of you might be interested to know what people think of the 99-02 cougar about it really not being a cougar, that its really a probe.

Page One
http://www.swdns.com/printthread.php?t=56438
Page Two
http://www.swdns.com/printthread.php...8&page=2&pp=30

[BBOX]

K . . . its not a Probe. At all. The only thing they have in common is the general class they fall in to.

Two, wow those guys are jackasses. I had an MN-12 platform T-bird for my first car. I loved it, but they make it sound like our cars are some little ****-ass econobox whilst their cars are the pinnacle of motoring. What a bunch of tools.

[carajo]

if you probe this site a little deeper, you will see that this is a

[GrandMasterKhan]

lol those old cougar/thunderbirds are FREAKING BUTT UGLY BOATS. enough said.


it makes me want to puke thinking that my cougar shares the same name as these boats.


check out those mad tight curb feelers....


roomy. yeah. thats one way to describe it in a postive light.

[wadespencer99]

Heh..if those guys want to disown the NECs and lay their claim to those boats....they're all theirs

[UserDrew]

The only good cougar besides the New Edge ones where the 67-1974. Now, our cars may not be torque monsters but at least we aren't mullet wearing rednecks like these people.

[Instigator]

weve had this discussion on here before. in fact, i think i started a thread about this before.

here is how i see it

probe and contour/mystiques co existed in the '95-'97 model years. If we were a 3rd gen probe, we wouldve been built on the probe platform, not the contour platform. Once probe sales fell enough to warrant killing off the name/platform, all ford had for a sporty 2 door coupe was ther V6 mustang.

after sales for the 97 cougar warranted its demise, they saw an opportunity to make some money by bringing the cougar back as a sporty 2 door coupe. With the probe platform gone, they chose the already "on its way out" CDW-27 contour platform.

The probe and our cougar are in no way related except for 2 door FWD V6, just like BBOX stated. Different engine's, different chassis and suspension setup.

[stringfellow]

I personally own a '92 Cougar and love it. I post frequently on TCCoA and have found that generally the people there are pretty cool and helpful and I'm pretty sure none of them wear a mullet. I have heard that the 99-02 Cougar was originally going to be the Probe but who knows. The arguement that it is a different chasis and engine and everything else doesn't mean it couldn't have become the next Probe or else these cars wouldn't have been called Cougar. I do believe that people from here and TCCoA will agree that the cars pictured above are ugly. I think the person who posted them at TCCoA was just being sarcastic.

[pgtatx]

I still find it funny that people say the cougar is the probe...

First off, who cares...

Second off... as cars go through their own generations, they change. The platform, powertrain, amenities, cost, colors, comfort, etc etc etc...

Heck if the older generation cougar owners don't consider the 99-02 cougar a "cougar", but Ford Motor Company does... then is the New Cougar actually a cougar??

The Cougar is not a probe... was never intended to be a probe, and never will be a probe. It was a fill in for a need for a sport compact car. Sales tanked, and the car was cancelled. Honestly, when the cougar was released in 98 (99 model year). It was already set to be cancelled.

Mechanically the cougar is not a probe... heck the cougar is built on a 4 door platform, where the probe was not. The Probe was mostly made by mazda in japan, and the cougar mostly ford in europe.

I've owned both cars...And the funny thing is I've owned 3 consecutive cars with a 2.5L displacement motor. Does that mean they are all related?? Maybe my STi is the third gen probe, or the second gen "new Cougar"

Either way... at least it's not a honda...

[Fett]

Actually, the Cougar is the Probe replacement. It was not intended to wear the Probe nameplate, but it IS the Probe replacement. Actually the design itself was supposed to be the MX3 replacement, you can actually see the design lines between the two cars. The MX3 was the smaller MX6, which was the Probe twin.

Ford used design drawings from the next gen MX3 and came out with what we know as the Cougar, which was originally going to also be used as the replacement for the Probe on Fords end.

So while the Cougar is NOT the 3rd gen Probe.....it technically is the replacement. But as Dan said, "who cares?".