1991 Mercury Cougars
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The 1991 Cougar XR7 |
In Ford's continuing quest to keep the car fresh, the Cougar received a minor freshening for 1991. The car now had a more solid look, thanks to the new trapezoidal waterfall grille and "cat's-eye" headlamps. Ford went back to the look of the 1987-88 Cougars with these new headlamps, as only one bulb was needed now. The front bumper was given two pierced "nostrils" per side to let air in, and they were aligned with the new grille to continue the trapezoidal theme. The hood was now separated from the grille, and the sculpted hood lines were given a more aggressive flare-off toward the windshield. New taillights continued the Mercury bar theme, only now a "bubble" protruded from the center of each taillight, horizontally, with the car's nomenclature attached there. And, brand new side trim was installed---it actually tapered toward the back of the car.
Finally, after over 2 years of work, Ford engineers were able to fit the 5.0 V8 into the new Cougar platform. Surprisingly, the only major revision was the upper intake manifold, with shorter runners to clear the hood. And, Ford wisely used the High Output V8 for this motor, instead of the standard output V8 it had used in the Fox chassis cars. Power was now up to 200 hp even. The V8 was optional, however, as the base engine was still the 3.8 V6. The LS model now had a non-speed sensitive feature; the electronic speed assist was still available on the XR7.
The bad news was----the supercharged
3.8 was cancelled for the XR7. It did, however, have the new 5.0 standard,
and all the features of the previous XR7 were retained. So, the XR7 was
still a performance model. Visually, the XR7 was still monochromatic, with
Black and Oxford White continued from the previous year. Bright Red was
no longer available; in its place was Electric Red. And, fog lamps were
integrated into the front bumper lower portion. Finally, the letters "XR7
5.0L HO" appeared on the molding directly behind each door.
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The XR7 gained a set of bumper-mounted fog lamps standard. |
For the interior, the secondary glove box on the dash was deleted. The XR7 received a new instument cluster, due to the disapperance of the supercharged V6. The LS had a new analog cluster standard, with the digital dash optional. Also, the XR7 style cluster could be optioned when an LS was ordered with the 5.0 V8. The LS lost the bright trim surrounding the dash panel but retained the wood trim. The XR7 continued with its bright silver interior trim.
ENGINES
LS - 3.8 (232 cid) V6; 140
hp @ 3800 rpm; 215 lb-ft torque @ 2400 rpm
XR7 - 5.0 (302 cid) V8;
200 hp @ 4000 rpm; 275 lb-ft torque @ 3000 rpm
TRANSMISSIONS
LS and XR7 - AOD 4-speed
with overdrive
BRAKES
LS - Front 10.9 inch disc,
rear 9.8 inch drum
XR7 - Front 10.9 inch disc,
rear 10.0 inch disc with antilock brakes
GENERAL
Wheelbase - 113"
Overall Length - 199.9
Overall Width - 72.7
Overall Height - 52.7
Cargo Capacity - 14.7 cubic
feet
Fuel Capacity - 19.0 gallons
CURB WEIGHT
LS - 3587 lb.
LS (w/V8) - 3753 lb.
XR7 (w/auto) - 3800 lb.
TOTAL SALES
GRAND TOTAL -
63,822
NOTE: 15.9% of 1991 Cougars (10,146 cars) had the 5.0 V8 option.
