Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Used Mystique Questions

Hey everybody. I'm a brand new member to these forums and the new owner of a '96 Mercury Mystique GS/Spree. I recently bought the car while on vacation in Florida. I was in the market for a small, relatively inexpensive used vehicle and this Mystique was quite clean with only 48 thousand miles on it.

I bought it from a dealer, so while only paying $4700 for the car itself, the final price turned out to be more like $5500 after dealer fees, taxes, et cetera. It drove back to Michigan flawlessly and got decent gas mileage so I really had no worries about the car at all. That is, until I began to search for more information on it. After reading some of the reviews and discovering the plethora of recalls and TSB's related with this vehicle, I find myself at a crossroads.

You see, I am attending Western Michigan University which is a little more than 30 minutes from where I live. I drive to school everyday, and I must have a reliable vehicle. My last car was a '92 Taurus with 158 thousand miles on it, and that car put me through hell. Needless to say, I lost a lot of money when I finally had the chance to off that sucker. I am very weary of repeating that process all over again with the Mystique.

So my question is this: Supposing my Mystique has no outstanding recalls and will be well cared for under my supervision, is there reason to believe that I will have a lot of issues despite the fact that it only has 50 thousand miles on it? I mean, I understand that parts wear out, and I'm not against replacing a $50 dollar part on occasion. But I am against constantly having to replace the O2 sensor (which I've read in reviews to be a reoccurring problem) or other expensive repairs on a normal basis. I can't afford to have my transmission go at 100 thousand miles or whatever. All of you who are especially familiar with this line of vehicles should have some insight into the service problems I might be facing. Is this really the Mercury 'Mistake?'

If it is the case that I will be up against a slew of service problems in order to get this car ready for the school year, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to get out while the getting good. I?d love to think this car will go another 80 thousand miles with the proper maintenance, no racing, and perhaps minor repair from time to time.

Any insight will be more than appreciated.

Dustin

You'll probably get atleast another 40,000 trouble free miles out of it, if you treat it right. That price isn't too bad, though that dealer jipped you on fees.

Thanks Redcon96V4.

Can anybody concur with that? What kind of problems should I expect to encounter after another 40 thousand miles? Like I said, I can't afford costly, repeat repairs.

If you can find out, check if the water pump has been replaced. You are at about the right area for it to go. Also have a good Ford dealer check if the wiring harness recall has been done. If you do, you will probably save yourself some headaches when you really need the car, like when school is in session.

My 1995 Contour SE was still running fine at 96000 miles before it was totalled (RIP). It's not a perfect car but it was a decent one. If you want reliability, buy a Jap car.

I wouldn't worry to much about your mystique if it was taken care of and you plan on taking care of it. I got my 95 just over two years ago with 83k on it and now have 103k, no major problems. I am hard on it sometimes but i do take care of the car. The water pump is only an issue on the 2.5l engines, but it is your choice to change it if you like. Only problem I have it a TC light every so often, mainly in warm weather. Other then that just normal stuff for a car that age. Sorry but I can't help you with the ATX since mine is a MTX, good luck and welcome to CEG

Being an enthusiast group, most people on this forum are performance gurus, they stress thier cars to the limit. Most of the problems are caused by neglegence/abuse, if you maintain the car, and don't put too much pressure on the components, these cars will last well over 150,000 miles with proper maintenance. Some people already have 200K . I've found these cars to be very well designed, and most of the trouble i've had has been self induced....if you promise to take care of the car like you said, and if you don't mind replacing dinky items here and there (water pump, vacum hose, various filters/gaskets), and if you can learn to do some of the work yourself, its very easy to keep a contique runnning strong for a long while.