An ex-girlfriend had a '96 Zetec Mystique; its temp gauge was erratic and would jump to the upper range of "NORMAL" all the time. It seemed like the needle would move around wildly in response to minor temperature changes.
On the other hand, the needle on my '99 V6 Contour never moves. It's always just below the middle. Even when it heats up enough to kick on the fan, the gauge never budges.
I wonder if Ford made the temperature gauge less sensitive in later or V6 models. I know on many other cars, they designed the gauges so they just sit right around the middle in any normal temperature range.
Overall I'm not much of a GM fan, but I sure prefer prefer their gauges. They actually tell you what the temperature is, using actual numbers. What a concept!
