Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General This may be a dumb question, but . . .

I came upon a 1998 Lt. Pr. Tan Contour SE V6 MTX w/ power goodies yesterday. It has 77, 511 miles and is in decent shape inside & out.

I currently drive a 1999 Lt. Pr. Tan Contour LX I4 MTX w/o power goodies and with 65,125 miles. My paint is in better shape overall than the '98, but that's no big deal.

So the question is, should I consider the OLDER car which has a bit more miles simply because it has a V6 or would you keep the newer (only slightly) Zetec 'tour since I've had it since day one?

BTW - price on the '98 is about $7,700. I think that is high, so the dealer might have to come down, but I'm buried about $3,000 in my '99 Contour. It's only worth about 5K, but I owe almost 8K - sux!

Anyway - words of encouragement or discouragement are welcomed! Thanks in advance!

my suggestion is always to wait in that situation...you would be looking at paying 10,700 for that 98 v-6....and that is if they give you 5 for your 99. I paid $8500 for my 99 v-6 with 40k miles on it. you should wait, put your tour up on the market and see what you can get for it as a private seller or just wait till you aren't so much upside down. thats my 2 cents

P.S. the Duratec engine, while fun, is also notably more unreliable than the Zetec. I would pass on this. At 77K miles, problems will happen soon. Also, it's used - you don't know its history (was it driven hard? How many problems did it have?), whereas as the only owner of your 99, you know exactly how many things happened to it.

The tradeoff for all this is a sweet sounding, quick engine. But in your case, coming from a 99 Contour, I don't think it's worth it.

I've got a 98.5 SE Sport Duratec ATX with 81k miles on it.

What problems are you referring to that are about to happen soon???

I'd agree with Matthew, stick with what you got...you know its history, and someone probably traded it because:

a. they thought it had a lot of miles.
b. they wanted something newer.
c. it was about to have a major problem.
d. they liked it.

Answer: probably NOT d.

Take the cash down payment you were going to use changing to a V6 equipped car and buy a turbo.

Then just wave and smile every time you go passing by them...

However don't go further lopsided in you loan just to get a V6 though!

Thanks guys for the replies.

**BTW, the turbo for the Zetec sounds great & I searched for it, but I couldn't find whether or not it was available yet - any info??**

I talked to the salesman, who happens to own a black SVT w/ supercharer. Anyway, he told me that he would do what it takes to put me in the SE V6 if I wanted it. He said that he'd sell it to me cheaper, like in the $6,500 range and they will give me $5,000 for my car. So now I just need $1,500 in cash to put the deal together.

I drove the V6 on a quick trip and it seems to run fine, but what should I look for on the Duratec as potential problems?

I can have $1,000 cash by early July and he said that the car might still be there since it's a MTX. Anyway, I'll check back when I have the cash and see if I can make it happen.

I am worried that the V6 has more miles than mine - maybe I'll shop around for another V6 car since I have some time.