FORD COUGARTiming chain or Belt?

The Ford Cougar is a sports coupe manufactured by the American marque Ford. It was sold in Europe between 1998 and 2002. This model was marketed during the same period in North America as the Mercury Cougar. It was originally intended to be the third generation of the Ford Probe. However, the brand decided to change the name to Cougar after restructuring its coupe range. Nowadays, the Ford Mustang is considered to cover this segment.

The Cougar was based on the Mondeo of that time. It was Ford’s second attempt to reintroduce a sports coupe in Europe, following the discontinuation of the successful Capri. The Cougar was launched in Europe in December 1998 and received mixed reviews, partly due to its New Edge styling. However, sales failed to reach the levels of its predecessor. In fact, very few units were sold, prompting Ford to withdraw the model from several markets to avoid losses.

In terms of powertrains, the Cougar was available with two: a 2.0-liter 16-valve Zetec or a 2.5-liter 24-valve Duratec V6. The two spec levels, largely equivalent to a Mondeo Ghia and Ghia X, offered manual and automatic transmissions.