1980 Mercury Cougar XR-7 coupe

In October 2025, a Mercury Cougar XR-7 coupe with 16,000 miles came up for auction on Bring a Trailer. It was the first fifth-generation Cougar to appear on BaT—enough to get me to write a blog entry about this era of Mercury’s personal luxury car.

“From a pedigree of personal luxury.”

Mercury made big changes to the Cougar for the 1980 model year, moving from six separate models to just one. The Cougar sedan was gone entirely, and both the base and the Brougham coupes were no more. Only the XR-7 coupe remained, and it was all new.

The third Mercury based on the “Fox” platform (the Zephyr and the Capri had come first), the fifth-generation Cougar was one of the more radically downsized automobiles in the North American auto industry. In comparison to its 1979 predecessor, the 1980 Cougar XR-7 was 17 inches shorter and 700 pounds lighter.

Standard power for 1980 was a Windsor 118 bhp 4.2 liter/255 ci V8 with a Motorcraft two-barrel carburetor paired with a SelectShift three-speed automatic transmission. Powertrain upgrades were available; buyers could specify a $150 Windsor 131 bhp 4.9 liter/302 ci V8 with a two-barrel carburetor and then add a $138 automatic overdrive transmission (available only with that engine). Buyers who purchased both powertrain upgrades got a sprightlier car with a slightly longer range.

	Windsor (4.2 liter V8)	Windsor (4.9 liter V8)	Windsor (4.9 liter V8)
Transmission	3-speed Select Shift	3-speed Select Shift	4-speed Automatic Overdrive
0-60 mph (approximate)	14.9 seconds	12.7 seconds	11.1 seconds
Fuel mileage (1982 standards)	18 city/26 highway	17 city/26 highway	17 city/29 highway
Range (10% fuel reserve)	285 to 310 miles	275 to 300 miles	295 to 325 miles

The XR-7‘s base price was $6,569—about $28,300 in today’s dollars. Standard exterior and mechanical equipment included a half vinyl roof, variable ratio power rack-and-pinion steering, power front disc/rear drum brakes, and P185/75R14 black sidewall steel-belted radial tires on 14-inch wheels with full wheel covers. Inside, a cloth front Flight Bench seat, a four-spoke color-keyed steering wheel, a two-tier instrument panel, a trip odometer, and an analog clock were standard. The XR-7 had no standard radio of any type—interestingly, all Thunderbirds included at least an AM radio.

Groups, Individual Options, & Production Numbers

Mercury offered three groups to upgrade the base XR-7:

• The Decor Group ($516) added Luxury wheel covers, dual bright remote control mirrors, Twin Comfort Lounge front seats, a Luxury steering wheel, and Deluxe seat belts
• The Luxury Group ($1,987) added a Luxury half vinyl roof, dual remote control sail-mounted mirrors, and metric TR Type radial white sidewall tires on cast aluminum wheels. Inside, it included Twin Comfort Lounge front seats with Luxury trim, the Electronic Instrument Panel, a Luxury steering wheel, power windows, and Light Group
• The Sports Group ($1,687) added a Tu-tone paint treatment, metric TR Type radial white sidewall tires on cast aluminum wheels, dual bright remote control mirrors, Recaro front bucket seats with a console, and power side windows

Individual options included tinted glass ($71), a flip-up moonroof ($219), air conditioning ($571), and automatic speed control ($108). Leather interior trim ($303) was only available with the Luxury Group. A choice of nine radios, ranging up to an AM/FM stereo with auto-search ($333), was available. A well-equipped Cougar XR-7 could easily reach $10,500—about $45,200 in 2025 dollars.

To say the market was not ready for the 1980 Cougar XR-7 is a distinct understatement. Despite a significantly higher level of standard equipment, the XR-7 was less than five inches longer than the Zephyr Z-7 coupe, whose base price was almost 20% less. Sales of Mercury’s halo coupe collapsed, dropping from 163,716 in 1979 to 58,082 in 1980, and losing substantial sales share during a year when none of the leading General Motors competitors in the personal luxury coupe market had more than a facelift.

The View From 2025

For unclear reasons, Hagerty’s valuation tools do not track any Cougar after 1973, although they do value Ford Thunderbirds through their entire production history. Fifth-generation Cougars occasionally appear in the Hemming’s Motor News classifieds and on eBay Motors. As I write this blog entry in October 2025, there’s a Medium Blue Metallic 1980 Cougar XR-7 coupe with a dark blue vinyl top and a blue interior for sale on Hemmings, showing 31,000 miles and asking $12,000.

Make mine the same Silver Metallic/Back Tu-tone that is in those brochure pages, please.

The only other Cougar I have written about so far is the 1988 XR-7 coupe. I’ve also written about the 1980 and 1982 versions of the Thunderbird. Other Mercury models include the 1983 Grand Marquis sedan, the 1984 Grand Marquis Colony Park LS station wagon, the 1986 Capri hatchback coupe, the 1987 Lynx XR3 hatchback coupe, and the 1988 Grand Marquis Colony Park station wagon.