1999 Mercury Cougar

125 mph is plenty fast. It's fast enough to make many small cars feel like they're fighting for control, particularly when negotiating a tightly radiused turn.

But the steep banking on Ford's Lommel test track in Belgium and the absolutely rock-solid structure of the '99 Mercury Cougar hatchback coupe made those autobahn-style speeds feel like our 70-mph morning commute. You could say we were purring along.

Later, scrutinizing the undercarriage of the new Cougar on a trackside lift, we were surprised and impressed to find that the car's excellent structure and crispy dynamic feel hadn't been undermined in any way by the light, shallowly drawn stamped-steel pressings that serve as its suspension control arms.

The Cougar appears to stand as a triumph of highly skilled engineering over fairly pedestrian materials and tight cost management. And that's important if Ford Motor Company is to deliver to American and European (right- and left-hand drive) customers a reasonably priced sporty two-door hatchback with performance capability equal to some of Europe's price-premium sport coupes.

The newest cat is out of Mercury's development bag. And it pays virtually no engineering homage to the host of V-8-engined rear-drive Cougars that have come before it. In fact, its nearest platform family members are the Ford (CDW27) Contour, Mercury Mystique, and Ford of Europe's Mondeo front-drive sedans. Developed in England and Germany by Ford's Small-Car Vehicle Center, this new Cougar comes by its agile, European manners quite naturally.

Inside, the feel and look are neat and Euroid with logically located controls and large, legible instruments. The seating is gently contoured and comfortably firm. Some of the car's more impressive safety features include height-adjustable front shoulder belts, three-point rear belts, standard front airbags, optional four-channel anti-lock brakes, and traction control.

There are two different multivalve powerplant choices. The base engine is a 2.0-liter/120-horsepower Zetec four-cylinder or a 2.5-liter/170-horsepower Duratec V-6. Additionally, the car will come to North Americans with either a cable-operated, five-speed manual or an electronically managed four-speed automatic.

Surprisingly, even the four-cylinder feels adequately powerful with the auto. However, the slick manual gearbox and the smooth V-6 was our favorite combo. Ford's engineers have clocked 0-60-mph times of 7.5 seconds, but we weren't allowed to strap our test gear to this prototype.

Interestingly, several high-level Ford sales and engineering types asked whether an SVT-style Cougar with just under 200 horsepower would be a viable production piece. We gave them an enthusiastic nod, considering reasonable volume expectations and the right price/value ratio.

The Cougar's highly controversial "New Edge" look is certainly fresh and arresting. Chiseled with sharp edges and crisply intersecting lines, it makes an eye-popping statement. The softly curving balloon shapes of the early and mid-'80s were banished from the studio for this coupe. And modelers must have relied heavily upon a straight-edge as they cut the clay, shaping and sweetening the coupe's lines. We believe the car will be an immediate hit with Europeans more used to the bolder shapes of autos from French and Italian styling studios. We're thinking of the quirky Alfa, Renault, Citron, and even Fiat models. Looking different and new is important in this segment. Sport coupes don't have a long shelf life (though a convertible is being considered). Ford styling experts say the industry only gets about two good sales years after an introduction, but given how very different this car will appear against an American backdrop, it should have at least that many years of intense customer interest in the States.