I had several 'large' problems with my Contour as well ... and much incurred in the way of labor charges too. My biggest issue was the fact that the car would be down for weeks at a time while problems got diagnosed and fixed .. I couldn't deal with that kind of inconsistency. Much as I hated to get rid of what was essentially my first car and certainly the longest driven (from junior year of high school through half my senior year of college) -- as well as it being in relatively good condition when I got rid of it -- I wanted something I could count on and not worry about.
