First off, where do you live? There might be a CEGer nearby who is willing to go with you to check out the car and make SURE it's the way it's supposed to be. Second, if all that checks out, do a Carfax. There are people on here who have accounts and are willing to check out the car for ya. If those two things are all clear............hell yeah get the thing. For $1850, that's a damn good deal. Just be prepared to possibly change out the water pump right off, if it's not been done already. Better to be safe than sorry on that little thing.
I have a Zetec 4 cylinder and I love the thing. I am not going to be a happy camper come December when we are going to try to trade it in for a minivan. We have two kids, and another one on the way due in March. There's just not enough room for a 12 yr old and two car seats in the back of a Contour..........well, there IS, but it's extremely cramped.
While we are partial to the Contour, one thing you will find on this board is we are not afraid to tell you that yes, there are some Contours that are lemons.......but you get that with EVERY vehicle. Alot of Contour owners that would never buy another one are people who never took good care of these cars (ie: changing oil on time, tune ups) and that's why they had problems. If you do those things when you are supposed to, the Contour will last you a good while.
Good luck.
