Duratec Engine Brakes (replace pads once) Gas Mileage (31 hwy)

Cup Holders Auto Trans

This car was a decent buy for the money. I had the Duratec v6 engine and it is still in great shape. The interior of the car is pretty cheap but it gets the job done. The worst part is the worthless cupholders. The CD4E trans doesn't care for hills too much, but in flat lands it does alright. If the car is maintained like it should be, then it won't break down. It rides like a charm. The v6 engines gives it the get-up-and-go when you need it. The car has been extremely reliable and repair costs have been about average

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1999 Ford Contour SVT

V6 Engine (Definately) More then average pickup Good Crash Test Ratings (http://www.internetautoguide.com/crash-tests/09-int/1998/ford/contour/) Good stereo system Comfortable seats (Front & Rear) Lower than average insurance costs (To younger drivers) Low theft rate Many more to list.

Less than average rear seat space. Weak weatherstipping on rear doors. (End up with a lot of road noise) Slightly higher then average repair costs on the clutch. (Hydrolic FWD instead of the standard cable clutch) Factory rear struts fail prematurely Factory wheel bearings fail prematurely Hubs are more then average to repair Donut sized spair tire

Bought this car second hand. Not sure what the original owner did with it, or what maintenance he/she had done with it. Great car, still driving it today. Have had a few minor problems (Clutch went prematurely 100,000KM) Replaced water pump, 2x, but believe it was a faulty pump first time around. Wheel bearings went prematurely. Struts failed on rear of car, as did one of the rear springs (normal wear and tear) Replaced front brakes, rotors, pads, calipers. (Soon for the rear) Normal wear and tear. Good fuel mileage (for a V6) Excellent highway pickup! 0-60 8.5s, tested! Maybe because I drive the manual version. Half-decent stereo, but planning on replacing the stock speakers with some good all-range woofers. Heat shield fell off, always seems to happen, on any car! Tires are a bit of a pain to replace, as they can be a bit pricey, better then any SUV Tires. Not the best for winter driving, but better then most! I.E. Toyota Corolla. All in all I'd say this is a really darn good car for the money you pay! I have had it for three years now, and have had just standard repairs done (A couple earlier then expected) but overall, nothing out of the ordinary. Easy to repair the front brakes by oneself, instead of taking it to a garage. Having said so, I've worked at a couple dealerships, and got to know many of the cars out there. I must say, overall, this one seems to have something a lot of others don't.

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Plymouth Reliant, Dodge Shadow ES Turbo, Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Golf, Mazda Protoge + Protoge 5, Mazda Miata, Audi A4, Audi A6, Many More TO List (Worked at many car lots, so I know the strengths & Weaknesses of many different cars)

great gas mileage great handling very comfortable nice styling

none to mention

I have owned my contour for a few years and have been very happy with it. I drive almost 80 miles every day round trip to work. I am diligent about regular maintanance and have not had ANY problems. My car has well over 100k miles on it at this point. This car is very comfortable for my long commute. It handles very well. I would not describe it as fast, but it gets up and goes just fine. I have the 4 cyl and it performs as I would expect for the size and weight of the car. It consistently gets 29+ miles per gallon. It prefers to be wound up into the higher rpms. All of the ergonomics are well thought out. I read many of the reviews before and since purchasing my car. One detail left out of many of the reviews is how many miles are on the car, how and who services the car, and how often. Many of the complaints will happen with any car if you do not properly maintain them. Each car has things that sometimes a dealer may better know how to fix. I have not put brakes on since I have owned the car so I would not say brakes are a problem (as some have commented). I have had excellent tire wear. I have 16" rims with low profile tires. I keep them inflated properly and rotate regularly (40,000+ on my current set). I replaced the timing belt at recomended mileage and it looked liked it was still in good shape. I have had no electrical gremlins. The battery was replaced when it was about 5 years old (this is well past its expected life). Spark plugs and wires replaced at about 80,000 miles (regular maintenance). I have owned a lot of cars domestic and foreign and this one has been one of my favorite cars.

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98 mercury mountaineer 94 f150 short bed extra cab 66 fairlane convertible

Exceptional handling. Price.

Power train: transmission and engine. They'll do the job...

OK car. Basically, Ford is selling cars in Europe (contrary to GM). People might have higher expectations over there. Hence the quality of Ford cars is improving (check the new Ford Focus!!). The Ford Contour was sold in Europe under the name of Ford Mondeo. Unfortunately, the European Ford Mondeo was quite different than the American Ford Contour: the power train must have been different. Transmission and engine are below average on this car. Handling is exceptional. Interior might be cheap, but hey! it's a cheap car. I had two problems leading to two bills of $200 in these two and half years of ownership, and that's it. The car could have be fun to drive except nothing happens when you step on the gaz pedal. But since I am no Nascar driver, it's fine with me. As to reliability, my experience was relatively good. Ford Dealerships (the only ones able to do a fine job) are cheap compare to Japanese counterparts (not to mention European). I am writing this review to react to other negative reviews. You cannot compare this car to imported products that are twice as expensive. If you are buying a used car, for a small price, you will get a decent contour, clean and quite spacious with good air conditioning, or beat-up old and stingy Japanese car. Your call. FYI: I just sold the car (I am convinced it was a fair deal for the buyer).

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Volvo 740 91 Toyota Corrolla 97 (The Contour was my third car)

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... It's a soccer mom's car so I never got pulled over with minor speeding.

Engine, Tranny, Drivebelt, Emission Control System, Belts, Brakes, EVERYTHING REALLY.

Well it wasn't my choice, but my parents. We bought this thing a bit over 3 years ago at dealership. Mechanical problems are quite commonplace with these, as well as minor electric problems, cheap interior, cheap everything. Recently went through a hefty near-2000 dollar repair. Bad transmission, bad engine, bad electronics, bad handling, bad suspension, bad CV, bad everything almost. Horrible car, will never buy a Ford around these years ever again. Brake switch often falls off, which means the brake light remains on, and drains my battery while I park it(happened 3 times so far). Timing belt tensioner/pulley got shot easily, broke down on the road. Flexplate literally cracked apart, because of the transmission jolts that often occur. Shifting is shaky. Brakes are very spongy and weak, and needs to be serviced rather often. Wheel bearing wore out. Air conditioning pulley just got loose, started making horrible noises, so I don't use AC anymore. Seats/interior is very cheap, cupholders are weak and break a lot, seats are not too comfy. Access to engine is extremely difficult due to the unecessary amount of stuff that Ford had to pile in there, which also means horrible front/back weight ratio and more weight and more cost. Even BMWs or Nissans with more power and features are less packed under the hood, and you can get to things. Doorlocks easily got loose, and Im sure will break soon judging by the way they sound sometimes, and window switches sometimes just don't work.

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89 BMW 525i, solid vehicle, better gas mileage, nicer interior, everything works, goes faster, drives smoother, classier.

Comfortable ride, lots of space, good gas mileage, tight turns, good family car.

Brakes feel spongy. Seems to have an attraction for trouble. I have had a wreck in it and have had it vandalized twice.

I own a 1996 Ford Contour 4 door GL automatic. Not only is it the most beautiful car I have ever seen, it is also the most comfortable ride of any car I have been in. My kids carseats fit comfortably in the back seat, and my husband has an easy time folding himself into the vehicle. I have had no mechanical problems whatsoever with this car. I would recommend it to anyone.

I'm sorry, but there is NO strengths to this car.

No one knows how to fix this car. I can not afford a Ford dealer, and have reputable dealers who work on it for me. I goes to the garage 4 times a year and I only drive 8 miles a day total to work and back.

This is the worst car I have ever owned. I replace brakes every year. It constanly leaks oil. No one can tell me why. I have replaced 2 timing belts and it still does not go. The engine light is constantly on and the air conditioner does not work.

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I have never had a Ford and I will never buy one again. I wish someone would have warned me.

It does have a nice style to it and the front seats are comfortable. It also has good trunk space. It handles well and has good fairly good AC. I got a pretty good car for the money. It just has some odd, annoying kinks.

Minor annoyances with some of the cheap plastic interior. Also I wish the rear defroster wouldn't turn itself off after awhile, it's annoying when I wait inside to let my car warm up and then see that the rear window is still snowy because the drefroster doesn't stay on. I hate having to turn it on a couple times to do the job. But again, these are all minor complaints.

I bought this car fresh out of college, looking for a dependable mid-size and this vehicle only had 29,000 miles. But within six months my transmission went out. I also had an odd electrical problem where the dome light wouldn't turn off and would drain my battery. When I took it to the dealer's they couldn't find the problem, which did occur again. I think I may have had trouble with a shoddy dealer. I've bad better luck when I stopped going to them. But I've also had some problems with the dashboard warping and some of the rubber door trims coming off in addition to the rubber trim on the outside of a window. Oh and the plastic surrounding the wheel is breaking apart, This is all minor, but it is annoying. I also have problems with the paint flaking on the front of the dashboard but that could be my fault. Oh and just today I had a weird thing happen where I couldn't pull my key out of the ignition when I put my car in park and turned it off.

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1994 Pontiac Sunbird 1995 Ford Escort 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier

Mine was a 2.5L V6, I liked the power it had.

Almost everything: cheap plastic interior, incredible bad positioning of air-in, cup holder makes people laugh, no leg room for those in the backseats, expensive maintenance, etc..

I just bought this car from my savings last week. I had it checked, and it seemed to be OK. Then, after 300 miles driven, the transmission just broke. More than $3000 to get a new transmission! So, this car goes to the junkyard after having it for less than a week! I wish I read this forum earlier, I would have never bought a Ford, not this piece of crap. My advice: stay away from Ford, "if you haven't looked lately", don't even think about!

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94 Oldsmobile cutlass supreme. GM Rocks!

pretty :), nice seats, big trunk, nice pick up (i have a V6)

wears funny on tires, cup holders are worthless, expensive parts, airconditioner smells funny, loud on the highway, not good for long distance driving, speakers suck

for the first year the car was great! then little things started to go wrong. The tires made funny noises, i later found out it was because the way the contour sits with the wheels, if not rotated regularly (as in, every oil change) the tires will cup, and eventualy pop. in three years I have had to replace the tires twice! then, while i was away at school the car began to stall. I took it in to be looked at, paid $30 to have the car looked at, and they couldn't tell me anything was wrong! but, they guess that it may be the idol air control....? other than the stalling everyday in the winter, the tires being a pain in my ass, and just general upkeep (the parts for this car are sooooo expensive) the car is ok. the speakers suck, the cup holders are a pain, and the carpet is curling in front, but those are just little petty things. all around, this isn't a great car. if all you are doing is driving around town, perhaps it is a better deal, but it is definately not made for long distance driving. The body is great, however. my car is nearly ten years old and there is not a rust spot on it! it has held up a lot! I would recamend getting for a first time car owner, if only for in town driving, and only for a few years, and only if priced low.

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Ford Focus (my new car! I LOVE IT.)