My Sable is a 1999 model year with the Vulcan 3.0 OHV engine hooked to the heavy-duty AX4N transmission with a modulated high-stall torque converter and HAYDEN transmission cooling system. My car had 89,000 miles on it when i purchased it in December 2003. The car had a bad transmission when I got it. When the tranny was fully warmed up it would neutral out in the process of shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. The rpm's would flare up and it would slam into 2nd gear, sometimes chirping the front tires. I had it put in the shop and they said it needed an aluminum piston in the forward clutch pack. They replaced that part, changed the fluid and filter, scanned the computer and when I got my car back it was still acting up. I couldn't keep putting my car in and out of the shop so I drove it like it was and I realized that if I shifted the transmission manually from 1st to Drive that it never neutraled out. So I drove the car like that for one year and six months. Eventually my rack and pinion started leaking fluid from the boots by the tie rod ends and my power steering went out. I still continued to drive the car. I was shifting gears manually and struggling to steer that front heavy car. Finally I put the car in the shop and had them install a used transmission, auxiliary transmission oil cooler, new rack and pinion, new power steering pump, new ball joints, new CV axles, new motor mounts, new wheel lugs, and a new battery for $1200. Is that a good price or what? I had all this work done around 120,000 miles. Now the car basically needs a good tune-up, a throttle-position sensor, and 4 new struts. I recently customized the exhaust system about 2 months ago. I had the muffler removed and a Y-pipe added with dual chrome 18" X 2 3/4" tips for $175. I know this modification has gave my motor atleast a 10 horsepower boost because i can squeal the tires at every stop every time. Before this modification I had to work at it to chirp the tires. It even increased my fuel mileage. I get 24mpg in the city instead of 20. The sound is not a bass like a Mustang or Camaro but it's a throaty baritone like a noisy V-6 Camaro 3.4 or a real loud Grand Prix 3.8. At high rpms it sounds like a strong, deep tenor like an SVT Contour. My Sable has only 3 options; 6-way power driver's seat with lumbar, 14-spoke machined aluminum wheels, and no-charge 5-passenger seating with mini-console. The 99' models don't even have a sway-bar in the rear, because Ford decided that it would make the car ride better. The only way you can get a rear sway-bar or rear disc-brakes on a 99' Sable is if you ordered the 16" wheel/tire package or the station wagon bodystyle. I think it's ridiculous because my car has very poor braking characteristics. I used to have a loaded out 98' Taurus with the Duratec package and it had 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes and the braking power was phenomenal compared to the front disc/rear drum setup on my Sable.