Fairly powerful for a 4 cylinder car. Plenty of trunk space, Good snow car.

Repairs, repairs, repairs. I mean, the airbag fell right off the steering wheel!

A laundry list of repairs and other problems. This car's engine failed at a mere 88000 miles. Electrical work was dodgy at best-- going through a large puddle led to the car stalling out for a second, and it would run on battery for a hundred feet or so before it kicked back in properly. Rear doors would make a horrific groaning sound when opened or closed. Early into the life of the car, the left side power mirror failed, then shortly afterwards, the airbag started falling off the steering wheel repeatedly. The steering wheel mount broke and the whole assembly would shake at idle. Even the Radiator cap eventually fell apart-- and it was a dealer part. The right side of the sound system would cut out on a cold day if you used a tape.

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Mitsubishi Galant, Toyota Corolla

Throaty V6 power, comfort, magnificent gas mileage, sporty design (i have the spoiler and got tinted windows, as well), just about everything.

Takes time to shift from Reverse to Drive gears (I almost jerked out the transmission a few times), CRAPPY stereo (bought a JVC Khameleon and some Bostons), somewhat jerky upshifting and downshifting, until recently i couldn''''t hear the front springs squeaking (now i can, but its no big deal.), a couple recalls, careless flaws in the design.

Overall this has been a sweet car. I love the power that is embodied in the Duratec V6. And I have found that it performs much better in the colder weather. It is also very comfortable. I currently have about 51K miles on it, and it has been relatively trouble free. Only three major things, as a result of the car itself, not negligence, were repaired: about a year ago the air would only operate on high on the far left air dial, the driver''''s power lock went out, and that long plastic air vent piece for the windshield defrost kept popping up. They said it was a design flaw on Ford''''s part, so there was nothing to do but replace the entire dash. So I did just that. Other than those 3 things (NO BIG DEALS), it has been a good first car. I don''''t understand all these reviews claiming that the drivers had to replace almost every part in their car. Here is some advice: DON''''T ABUSE THE DAMN CAR AND BLAME IT ON FORD! I don''''t abuse it and it works great. Overall = excellent buy.

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2000 Focus (crap), 1996 Taurus (not quite 170 horses), 1999 SVT (NICE! but a LITTLE too much), 1999 Civic EX (poorly built with a slow 4-cyl).

Good gas mileage for 7 years old. Still getting around 30 Hwy, 26 town.

to many to mention, whats up with the half as* cup holders? , sun visors barely cover half the window when folded out

The Contour has been a good car, but not to be considered a great car at all. I will probably not buy another ford car again. TO many darn recalls, check engine light( never have had it fixed, nothing wrong) ,had back coil springs break - but of course the front ones were the only ones recalled, so we paid full price. We did argue that if front spring break and are covered, how come the back ones aren''t even when there is less weight on them. now we had the water pump go out. Whoever designed this needs to be shot. why should it take 3 hours to take out a water pump. and 3-4 hours to put one back in ?

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ford tempo- leaked oil out of every orphus it had. My 84 chevy s-10 blazer has had less repairs. Like a rock !!!!

Handles well, decent mileage.

In reading the other 184 posts here I have had the same experiences with: - check engine light - gas door - check engine light - rug shrinkage - check engine light - cup holder - check engine light - transmission (busted) - check engine light - sensors, catalytic coverter and such. - check engine light - Water pump - did I mention the check engine light? Basically, it ran great until the check engine light came on after about 1.5 years. Then it seemed like I spent more time getting it repaired (check engine light about 6-7 times) than driving it. It was always something with intake system, O2 sensor, catalytic converter, etc. Transmission broke when my wife was out one day with my daughter. Water pump busted one morning on my way to work...no way in heck I could fix that...thought it was the thermostat and took an hour to find where I THOUGHT the thermostat went. I wish I had read this before buying it back then. I am either going to sell this to someone (resale value is not even close to Kelly Blue Book) or fix stuff myself until it is ready to go 6 feet under.

Thank God for the extended warrantee I purchased for $1,000. It has paid for itself about 5 times over.

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Dodge Omni (better), Plymouth Barracuda (can''t beat older cars).

fast for a sedan, handles well, great service team at Ted Britt.....they are suprisingly very helpful(they are not the ones that refused my clutch)

has spent as much time in the shop as it has with me.

WORST PURCHASE I''VE EVER MADE. I bought this car new thinking about how fast it was and how well it drove, I should have known not to buy a ford. My car now has 37,000 miles on it, has had THREE engines due to oil pump problems, 1 tranny replacement(its the five speed), when the tranny went it damaged the cv joints, cv boots, and one axle, however ford said that my clutch was fine and refused to replace it. I have also had to replace the heating switch, starter, Idle air control module, and fuel pump. In the past 9000 miles it has been in the shop 6 times. I wish ford would own up to to the poor quality of their products and give us, the unforunate victims, some sort of compensation for the burden of owning one of their cars.

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mustang, taurus, legend.....

fast. good handles well. smooth ride

engine a little noisy

great running car very peppy. the only thing i dont like is the sound system. but i work at best buy and that has all changed

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dodge interepid 1997, ford focus 2000

fast on the get up, good gas mileage, sooo comfy and havent really had to fix anything, drove to ky from ca and back again no problems

engine races (4cyl) brakes squeek whats with the check engine light

quickest little cornering, compact car i have ever owned or driven!

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toyota corolla

NICE SIZE CAR AND GOOD FRO THE FIRST 50K MILES.

WIRING IS BAD AND IT SEEMS A LOT OF CONTOURS HAVE THIS PROBLEM. TRANSMISSION SEEMS TO BE A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THIS VEHICLE, SO UNLESS YOU HAVE MONEY TO PUT BACK INTO A CAR FOR REPAIRS I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS VEHICLE.

THE FIRST YEAR OR TWO WAS FINE THE CAR RAN WELL. THEN WE STARTED HAVING SOME TROUBLE THE THE ELECTRICAL WIRING AND OTHER MINOR THINGS. ENGINE LIGHT KEEPS COMING ON. WE HAVE HAD THE BRAKES REPLACED, STRUTS & LINKS REPLACED, RECALL ITEMS DONE AND NOW WE ARE FACING REPLACING THE TRANSMISSION AT ONLY 96K. WE WERE LOOKING AT PURCHASING A EXPEDITION, BUT I THINK WE HAVE ENOUGH WITH FORD.

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TOYOTA COROLLA, I LOVE THIS CAR DROVE WELL AND HAD VERY LITTLE PROBLEMS OUT OF IT. ACTUALLY I LOVE TOYOTA''S.

GOOD PICK, VERY COMFORTABLE, NICE HANDLING, GOOD ON GAS, ROOMY, SAFE, SOUNDLESS ENGINE,

ONLY CUP HOLDERS ARE HARD TO CLOSE BUT ITS AND NICE CAR

I HAD JAPANESE CARS BEFORE BUT SINCE I BOUGHT CONOUR I SEEM TO LIKE AMERICAN CARS. ITS THE BEST DEAL I EVER HAD. THE CAR RUNS GOOD AND IS VERY GOOD ON GAS. ITS A VERY SAFE AND COMFORTABLE CAR, THIS CAR MADE ME CHANGE MY OPINION ABOUT AMERICAN CARS. I RECOMMEND THIS TO EVERYONE. I WILL BUY AN AMERICAN CAR REST OF MY LIFE. FORD CONTOUR IS A GREAT PRODUCT IN CAR MARKET

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CAMRY, PROTEGE, ESTEEM, CAVALIER

when it runs it has good pick up and acceleration

EVERYTHING

I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER FORD! What a piece of detroit trash! We have had this car for over 2 years and now and we must replace the TRANSMISSION AGAIN! My Wife drives this car so it is never driven hard. this is the second time it was gone out- slips very bad in drive, i must shift it manually for it to catch the gears. The car has 97K miles on it, and the transmission was replaced on 3/8/01 with 66K miles on the car at TOMBALL FORD. I have called the local dealership that did the transmission work last year and they told me it had a 12/12K warrenty and that we are now out of warrenty and they WILL NOT COVER IT. So i called Ford Customercare in Detroit I guess, and they gave me the same runarround with the same story thaat there is nothinbg they can do to help me. All i can say is that if you buy one of these cars be sure to get a extended warranty for the life of the car. it is junk. we have had atleast 10 recalls on it, the Heater relay under the dash burnt up while driving and filled the car with smoke, that was fun. the crank sensor went out and Tomball ford wanted over 350.00 to repair it and a independant shop wanted less than 200.00. Bottom line is in all of my dealings with Ford, they have always tried to rip me off, the last time i cought them and they issued me a refund for the "Over Charge" on the repair of the crank sensor. buy something else. Please do not put another contour back on the road.

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1997 Volvo 850 (PRE FORD MERGER WITH VOLVO)