Used 2002 Mercury Sable Consumer Reviews
Used Sable for sale
See Edmunds pricing data
Has Your Car's Value Changed?
Used car values are constantly changing. Edmunds lets you track your vehicle's value over time so you can decide when to sell or trade in.
ABSOLUTELY One of the Worst Money Pits EVER!
Rob Bost, 01/27/2016
2002 Mercury Sable LS Premium 4dr Sedan (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
10 of 17 people found this review helpful
We bought this car used with 40,000 miles on it and drove it (sometimes) for nine years. I kept it simply because I am obviously poor. When I was lucky enough to trade the POS for a Civic (Yay!), I had barely managed put 148,000 miles on it. I drive nightly through five counties to work, about 62 miles or 1.25 hrs. one way. It left me walking three times in that period. Once was a broken throttle cable in the middle of a hot summer day. The next time was an electrical problem killing the lights in the middle of the night. The third and by far the worst was a failure of the computer that kills the ABS brake system. Every single seasonal weather change causes the ECM to send error signals all over the place. One of them will kill the ABS system. I put nearly a thousand dollars in the brake system over the years. This car is the only vehicle I've had in nearly 37 years that was literally dangerous to own. The plastic headlight lenses are made of cheap non-UV protected materials. They must be polished regularly to even see at night. They are $280 for one assembly if you buy new ones. If you park this car in the sun, the interior parts will eventually disintegrate. Each door panel came apart. Electrical switches failed on locks and windows. The electric mirror controls failed and fell off of the door panel, as did all the venting and A/C control knobs. The radio has the anti-friction volume control that NEVER worked. It also had a cassette drive!? Headliners break loose and fall at will. The dash and steering mechanism makes strange creaking noises from an ill fit. If there are any good points, the 3.0 V6 has plenty of power, but needs injectors constantly because of Ethanol gas. It barely got 23 mpg on the interstate. I also replaced the ignition module, and had a bad oil leak at the distributor shaft seal. When replacing a simple serpentine belt, a pulley made of cheap plastic broke and cost me another $85 to get replaced! Thankfully, the transaxle seemed ok. The seats are fully adjustable and comfortable for most adults and great if you have a couple of kids or riders. The suspension gives a smooth and quiet ride. The 16" tires are still cheap, and that's great because the front end needs aligning every year. That's about all the good. In the end, the worst failure of all was the entire speedometer/tachometer/odometer cluster going on and off at will during cold weather. As you know, you must sign a legal liability document on the odometer mileage if you are ever lucky enough to get rid of this dose of the clap. If it goes completely out you will be stuck with nothing but a junk-valued heap that doesn't work and nobody will buy. I was so lucky to get one shiny day of sun last month. I now own two old Nissans and a 2013 Civic that are all trouble free and get great gas mileage. That's EXACTLY where my money will stay from now on.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
I know I will get 300,000 miles
Andrew, 02/18/2008
2002 Mercury Sable LS Premium 4dr Sedan (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
I needed a comuter car so it needed to be reliable. Pat Goss from Auto week mentioned that the drivetrain was bulletproof now I see why. My car is at its 5th owner and starts strong every time. I would have liked to have the LS with the 200hp but with switching the air filter to a K&N and using 93 octane fuel gets me close. I actually feel it gets better performance because with the LS the power is all top end. Peak torque starts at 2500 rpm so with only slight presure on the gas she moves. For handling all I needed to do was change to lower profile tires, now it will and has out cornered BMW's.
2002 Mercury Sable for sale near you
Showing 3 of 7 listings
- GS SedanMSRP: $3,999373 mi away
- LS Premium SedanMSRP: $2,995412 mi away
- GS SedanMSRP: $4,000478 mi away
See all 7 listings
I must have found the one lemon!
Matt, 07/30/2010
2002 Mercury Sable LS Premium 4dr Sedan (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
3 of 4 people found this review helpful
Within 6 mos. the heat started coming on when we turned on the A/C. It still does this. No one can find the problem. Sometimes the heat comes on with the system off. My wife went to start the car in the parking lot at work and the air bags deployed. Glad she wasn't driving down the highway. I'm about to buy a Subaru. Maybe the air bags will wait for an accident to work. I will contact Ford about the issue. This car must have been built slowly on Mondays so everyone else got a good one. That would be a good plan to keep the workers with hangovers busy building lemons. I'm glad to here no one else has lived our nightmare. We still owe $3,500 on it. Anyone want a Sable for parts?
More problems than I can count
runner1, 08/05/2010
2002 Mercury Sable GS 4dr Sedan (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
5 of 10 people found this review helpful
My sister and I both bought used 2002 sables with approx 16,000 miles on them back in 2003. Since that time we both have had more problems that we can count, even though we have both kept our cars in great shape and did all the scheduled maintenance, etc. Her's is still barely running; mine bit the dust a few weeks ago. Here's a list of the problems we've had: - ticking sound from under the hood that no one can figure out. - wheels puncture from issue with wheel well. My sister had at least 4 blow outs due to this issue. - power steering issues/system breakdown. - interior faux-leather paneling on doors fell/peeled off. - SCARIEST: vehicle stalls, generally while going around 60 mph!
Hertz's Loss, My Gain...
The Big O, 11/06/2003
2002 Mercury Sable GS 4dr Sedan (3.0L 6cyl 4A)
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
Bought this car from a local dealer, that had bought it back from Hertz. It had 17,925 miles, and got it for $11k. Took it to Illinois to my brother-in- law's wedding that same week. Vulcan V6 did well with 4 adults and one 'flower girl'. Tighter handling/smoother ride than 2002 Ford Taurus counterpart. Interior in two-tones is very pleasant.