I totally agree. The Contour is an awesome car for highway miles. Well,actually,for any miles,anywhere. I don't do alot of city driving,so I'm like 95% highway miles.
I had a zetec atx mystique,and I hated everything about driving that car,especially on the highways. I found it had no passing power,no uphill power,was very rev happy,but wheezy. I had to put my foot to the floor everywhere I went just to keep up with the pace of traffic. I always had piss poor fuel economy,usually 300-400km to a tank. The car was always well maintained,and completely stock. It was a terrible car to drive,and I would never buy another Contique with an automatic. I would settle for a Zetec with an mtx,but no way would I ever go back to an automatic. Plus,I never liked autos and the Mystique was the first car I had with an auto.
My duratec mtx is a different story. All sorts of stupid power left over to pass anyone and anything,but the governor at 180kmh keeps things "slow". Need my chip....
Anyways,I find it to be an incredibly comfortable car to drive. Of course it feels weighed down with 4 or 5 people in it,but with just me or 1 passenger the thing flies. The stock seats are great,suspension is well tuned,but I'm still going to lower it,and overall,out of all the cars I've owned,I think my Contour is the best one yet. I love my car,and it would take a lot for me to want to give this one up. Gas milage is great,as I regularly see 500-600km to a tank with hard driving (100-140kmh highway driving,backroad carving,roaring off from traffic lights etc).
I had an incredible bond with my Celica,but my Contour just 'fits' me. I think it is the perfect car.Looks good,has been exceptionally reliable,great on gas,comfortable,very practical,and most of all it's fun to drive,which can't be said for a whole lot of vanilla sedans out there.
