The king of mini sports coupes

Compact cars being so popular in todays auto market it would seem logical enough to combine a compact car design with a more sporty fashion so everyone interested in a car with visual flair and perhaps a good amount of punch wouldn't have to turn to America's stable of larger V8 driven models like the Firebird, Camaro and of course the Mustang (nothing wrong with them however). Not many people can afford to go and lay down the cash for those lovely new BMW Z8s either.

After much investigation on the mini sports coupe market including the Eclipse, Prelude, and Celica I turned to Mercury's answer to the situation with their stylish new Cougar. Indeed the car was small and doesn't quite scream "look at me!" like the Firebird does yet it takes the familiar model for this style of car (rather tall hatchback making rear visibility poor, Euro style headlights...etc) and do it justice and visually I feel this car to be more stylish then either then new Celica or Eclipse, perhaps its biggest competitors.

Being as both my parents were quite adverse to smaller cars (and for such reason neither one takes a favorable liking to most foreign cars or compacts) they didn't like this car and over the years slowly had turned me against small cars too. If I wanted a sportier car then you'd probably see a new Firebird or Mustang in the driveway, until I really had a closer look at the Cougar.

The car really seems to do most everything right, providing you with decent pickup and speed, again nothing even close to what the Mustang GT or SVT Cobra, Firebird Trans Am or Camaro Z28 can do but for a little car like this with a average horsepower V6 its not all that bad. Really though, if you wanted a car that would nail your head to the headrest then why would you be looking at Cougars anyway? For what it promises as being a sporty, very attractive looking coupe with some pep to it and good handling for a reasonable price then you've found your car. On the plus side for this car against some of its stronger competitors, your bound to see much fewer Cougars on the road then Camaros or Mustangs (Firebirds however, is another story) making it stand out a bit more. I should take back my earlier statement when I said the car doesn't scream "look at me!" for in all honestly its the sharpest looking compact I believe I've ever seen.

Someone looking for another choice against the Celica and Eclipse would do well to check out the Cougar, its a fine choice indeed. The 2001 model by the way is set to have a much higher horsepower model so when that comes to be then there shouldn't be anything keeping the Cougar from being one of the finest sports coupes available.