Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Contours Solid/reliable car?????

Class ? Four door sport sedans. At the time it was being made the only real competitor was the 3-series but it was more expensive new than the csvt and the 328's and m3's are still more expensive today, used.

Originally posted by IRingTwyce:

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Originally posted by jtour:

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And yeah an accord or toyota corrolla will last FOREVER!

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Yes, but they have no souls. They're the "gingers" of the car world.

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Contour's don't have a lot of soul either ...

Well from the 2 CSVT's that i have owned i have the good, the bad, and the Ugly.. well the first a 2000 CSVT Black/Tan
ran fine was as quick as a dream handled like it was on a wire all the time .. was the sweetest svt that i have ever owned .. only prob was the jack covers poped out or off and looked bad ..... #2 1998.5 Silver Frost/Midnight Blue (currently parting out)was a POS,looks are great interior is great but i took the same corner same speed same conditions as my first SCVT and the first one rode that bank like it was on rails the second one spun like i was on ice ... had Exhaust noise .. and threw 2 rods through the block on feb 8th 06 @ 113000 i ran both hard but i also had a lot of preventive maintnance as well oh also i killed 3 alternators in 1 year of owning # 2 and the Alt is A Bioch to change just ask around .. though hoping to buy another CSVT off the Classifieds so im a buyer of # 3 soon so if that helps there ya go ..

Considering what I have done to my car and the amount of miles 155k, I would say they are fairly reliable but somewhat a pain to work on. Even changing the plugs requires undoing the coil pack and such. Things to look for are the waterpump, alternator and possible clogged precats. Depending on the year and if it is auto or manual, the earlier manuals were not as strong as the later ones regarding the synchros and shifter forks. If it is a post 96 v-6, make sure the IMRC is functioning properly. These are just a few areas to look at as there are probably many more, but you will get that with any car.

I just realized you siad SVT so all above applies.

Love my 4 cylinder to death. Will not part without it. I recommend a 4 cyl over a 6 anyday due to the fact their easier to work on. If your going for a V6 get a SVT, otherwise go for a I4. My I4 auto is a little slow, a I4 5 speed would be great. Can't really comment on the waterpump issue, don't know if mine's been done. The only thing that's happened to mine that you might want to watch for is pull a spark plug and make sure no oil is around them. If their is it's the valve cover gasket, which is releatively cheap.

I can't comment on the SVT, but I like my '99 SE 2.0. It has needed a bit of maintenance, but nothing uncharacteristic for a car of its age and mileage. I bought it in 8/04 with 60,000 miles, and it now has 84,000 miles. It's underpowered, but I'm thinking about installing an intake kit and underdrive pulley. It's no BMW, but it's a nice little car at a reasonable price. If nothing else, it's the car I used to take my son home from the hospital after he was born.

I have had my 98 CSVT for two years. I am one of those people that paid too much for the car, because I needed one quick.

I love the car. I think that the styling is sweet. For the money the SVT is sportier then other similar products. With my passenger side air bag shut off switch I can transport a 4 kids with 4 doors to make entry/exit nice.

But... In the time I have had it I replaced the following:
clutch at 85K (normal wear item
Blew the diff - due to excessive wheel hop
Front control arms
Front swaybar bushings
Engine stabilizer mounts
Front sturt bearings (did it with the control arms)
Synchros
Stupid peaced together radiator hose - small leak again
Little clip that holds the secondary valve connecting rod in place
Need to fix the fog lights because they point almost directly at the ground
Buffed the headlights to remove most of the checking,
Lost one of the jack covers
Driveshafts (because of diff failure)

The Dealership replaced the precats, front break pads and rotors.

I did not know the condition of the car when I bought it and did not get much chance to check it out. Impulse buy. I had most of these problems in the first six months. The last year has been great. There are a couple small things, but I will get to them. Make sure you keep the oil filled - full or a little over.

Hope I did not scare you away. I did all of the work myself so I could not tell you how much any of this would cost to have done somewhere else. I do wish that they would not have used the Taurus front sub frame and that it was rear wheel drive.

Other then that it is a great car.
Paul