Originally posted by KingDiamond:
First let me introduce myself. I'm 21 years old and I'm in Chicago, Illinois. I have owned a 1994 Mustang GT for 3 years and it now has 109,000 miles and is starting to be a pain in the neck. I need to spend about $200 on it every month just to keep it running, and I do most of the work myself. Also I am a guitar player and have just joined a band and I need a car that I can fit my big half-stack amp into. Also, gas is going up in cost, and I get 12 mpg in the city. The mustang is modified quite a bit and it is fast, but it is also loud and terrible in wet/snowy weather.

So I'm thinking about getting a Ford Contour SVT. I want to stick with Ford because I'm pretty loyal to it. I have had an Escort and Lincoln Mark VIII previously and both were great cars. So what I'm looking for is a sedan that's about $7,000 and gets good gas mileage and has room in the back seat in which I can put my amp. I think the SVT fits the bill. I have a couple questions though...

1. How reliable are these cars? Anything that usually goes wrong at a certain mileage?

2. Is it a bad idea to buy a Contour SVT with over 80,000 miles? I bought my mustang with 85,000 miles and it was fine until about 100,000 miles and stuff started breaking.

3. What octane gasoline do they use?

Thanks and I hope to purchase a Contour SVT soon, and if you know anyone that is selling one in Chicago please let me know.



Welcome to CEG! I am also new here and just bought a SVT Contour. I am also a guitarist with a half stack to lug around every once in a while and this is a great car for that. I can fit my cab in the trunk laying down but it would fit in the back seat too. Its fast and practical. The reliability has been mentioned in other comments so i wont add any more. Same with the mileage. The one thing that i will add that noone seemed to mention is that if you are that strapped for cash, the contour CAN use regular grade fuel (for those of you that havnt read your manuals, its on the last page of the SVT guide). You will get a slight loss of performance when you do switch though. I personally am using 91-93 because when gas prices are so high, the 20 cents more that premium costs is less of a percentage of the gas price then when gas is cheaper.

hope this helped

~Ryan 1999 T-Red SVT Contour 41k Miles #1701 / 2760 B&M, Custom Y-Pipe, Alpine HU, Pioneer 6x8's & 6x9's