Contours in general are reliable cars IF taken care of. My zetec has been so trouble free for the 4 years I've owned (and beat on it) that I sorta hate to sell it.
SVTs/duratecs do have some problems that the zetecs don't have, but in general if the car is taken care of then they're not big issues. Most of the problems are easily fixed and have already been discussed on here, so finding information on fixing stuff is not hard.
Just don't overpay on the svt and look over it good for any existing problems.
