Get a 626. My girlfriend has 133,400 miles on hers and it has less rattles than my Contour at 57,000. If you get an auto, make sure you get the V-6. The 4 cylinder's auto is the CD4E Contour piece of junk. For some reason the V-6 has a Mazda automatic that doesn't suck. The stick shift is good regardless of motor choice.
The 2.5 V-6 (Not a Duratec) cars are supposed to run 8 second 0-60s. That's not bad for the price you pay. They depreciate pretty quickly because some people think the Camry and Accord are better. This '99 626 is wonderful. Can't argue with what you get.
