What are they?
2001 Mercury Cougar Special Editions
What's special about them?
Unremarkable describes the 2001 Cougar Zn and C2, unless you've got the kind of friends who think paint-and-stripes special editions are slick. The Zn is sheathed in zinc (Zn on the periodic table) yellow paint and rides on 17-inch machined aluminum wheels finished with black painted ports. A dopey-looking stick-on hood scoop doesn't help improve the Cougar's trapezoidal New Edge design, and neither does the Cougar logo that decorates the rear glass. The Cougar Zn is equipped with a 2.5-liter, 170-horsepower V6 mated to your choice of a manual or automatic transmission.
The C2 gets unique French blue paint, with French blue instrumentation and a French blue spoiler. The machined aluminum wheels have French blue center caps. Why didn't they call it the Cougar Fb? Because you can also get it painted in white, silver or black.
Both the Zn and C2 have diamond-patterned cloth upholstery (black in the Zn and, you guessed it, French blue in the C2). Leather is optional (black only, sorry, French blue fans), with zinc yellow or French blue logo badges. Standard equipment includes an in-dash six-disc CD changer. Guess what? On the C2, the stereo can be dressed with a blue faceplate.
Reports that Steve Burns, of Blue's Clues fame (!), will be the spokesperson in Cougar C2 commercials are not true.
Why should you care?
The Cougar Zn and C2 are replacements for the long awaited but never produced Cougar S in Mercury's lineup. You might recall that the Cougar S was intended to get the Contour SVT's massaged 195-horse, 2.5-liter V6 and free-flowing exhaust system, but now the thinking is that SVT hardware needs to stay within the Ford camp. So instead, we get the Zn and C2, hip, cool, modern-day iterations of a Cartier or Bill Blass Mark V. Yuck. — Christian Wardlaw
2001 Mercury Cougar Special Editions
What's special about them?
Unremarkable describes the 2001 Cougar Zn and C2, unless you've got the kind of friends who think paint-and-stripes special editions are slick. The Zn is sheathed in zinc (Zn on the periodic table) yellow paint and rides on 17-inch machined aluminum wheels finished with black painted ports. A dopey-looking stick-on hood scoop doesn't help improve the Cougar's trapezoidal New Edge design, and neither does the Cougar logo that decorates the rear glass. The Cougar Zn is equipped with a 2.5-liter, 170-horsepower V6 mated to your choice of a manual or automatic transmission.
The C2 gets unique French blue paint, with French blue instrumentation and a French blue spoiler. The machined aluminum wheels have French blue center caps. Why didn't they call it the Cougar Fb? Because you can also get it painted in white, silver or black.
Both the Zn and C2 have diamond-patterned cloth upholstery (black in the Zn and, you guessed it, French blue in the C2). Leather is optional (black only, sorry, French blue fans), with zinc yellow or French blue logo badges. Standard equipment includes an in-dash six-disc CD changer. Guess what? On the C2, the stereo can be dressed with a blue faceplate.
Reports that Steve Burns, of Blue's Clues fame (!), will be the spokesperson in Cougar C2 commercials are not true.
Why should you care?
The Cougar Zn and C2 are replacements for the long awaited but never produced Cougar S in Mercury's lineup. You might recall that the Cougar S was intended to get the Contour SVT's massaged 195-horse, 2.5-liter V6 and free-flowing exhaust system, but now the thinking is that SVT hardware needs to stay within the Ford camp. So instead, we get the Zn and C2, hip, cool, modern-day iterations of a Cartier or Bill Blass Mark V. Yuck. — Christian Wardlaw
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