Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General I hate my car!

Yesterday, I cleaned up my car so good, a detailer would be jealous. I've been trying to sell the car privately, but figured I'd sacrifice $1000 to sell it to a used car dealer instead, and save myself the headache. I've done this with my last 4 cars, and came away with great deals! I'm lucky in that I have about 40 used car dealerships within a 6 mile span on a single road. So I just hop from shop to shop and get the best price I can negotiate.

Today was a whole other animal. Ironically enough, NOBODY wants this damn car! I had a dozen dealers that were amazed at how great my car looks, given that I have 48K on the car.. But as soon as they saw the 5-speed transmission, most backed away. As soon as the word "Contour" escaped my mouth, most replied "Not interested".

One of the frankest dealers told me after the nightmare involved with selling their last SVT, they'd NEVER buy one again, despite the fact that it was the owners favorite car to drive.

Oh, and us 1998.5 owners are screwed, because despite the fact that we bought the car essentially a year later, there's nothing to reflect it in the NADA guide.

I actually only had 2 offers, out of 30 dealers.. And I think those 2 were because the people thought I was desperate to sell (which I'm not). One was (get this) $4500! When I told him how much it was new, his jaw dropped. And the other offer I got was for $6500. Oddly enough, one dealer that showed me their NADA guide, and my car was worth $9950 on trade in, $12K retail (prices lowered in recent month due to the soft used car market right now). So I guess they were just padding themselves, in case it took them awhile to sell the car or whatnot.

All in all, not what I expected.. The limited production aspect of the SVT doesn't do a thing for the resale value of the car.

Ads go in the newspaper next week. First $12.5K gets it.

I noticed this myself. It really blows. There is no way to distinguish the cars and the year difference.

Man, it sounds like you are having a lot of fun. :rolleyes:

Good Luck and Keep the Faith.

I want it. I'm short the cash though.
I just drove a CSVT for the first time yesterday (since I leanred how to drive a stick better). Wow, it's so much better knowing all the basics of manuals, I just LOVED driving it...
*sigh*

Dealers only want to sell automatics, since they are in it for the money. they could care less about "fun to drive" and anything like that.

:p They want to sell to naive off the street buyers who can't drive a stick if their life depended on it.

OTOH:
If a dealer has an SVT for sale, they will bend ove backwards to say "it's the top of the line" and "it has better resale than the regular contours"

Crapper! That makes me sick to my stomach to read considering that I'm in the process of buying a '99 for $12K right now. In reality though, I didn't buy this car for resale and I'd be happy to drive it 'til it was useless (and/or modified beyond all recognition) and then park it in the trader for the first $4000. The thing is, although it's an unwanted car to dealers and an unknown car to the general public, it's a damn fun car and a freaking bargain when you look at the content/dollar ratio. Of course I can say that 'cause my car payments just dropped like a rock (from a $30K Maxima to a $12K Contour) and I'm as happy as a pig in chit. My plan is to autocross it until all of the wheels fall off. I may never sell the car.

How short? Maybe me and you could work a deal??

this 17 year old would give you 8000. thats 1500 more then the dealer is giving you.

i really want the svt tour.

but money issue comes up

o well i guess i have to live with my lx

im coming close to the svt tho. got the body kit.

now to get the perf parts and it is gonna be great.

Don't blame the dealers for not wanting a 5-speed. There just are not many buyers. I just recontacted a private seller w/ a zetec 5-speed that has been for sale for a while. She said yes it is still for sale the manual scares everyone off. Did not take my $2500 offer though.

The bright side is when you buy (used) you should be able to get a good deal on manual transmission. Though I am still working on that...

I am doing my part to maintain at least a tiny market for mtx. I plan to be sure each of my 3 kids learn to drive on one. My daughter who will soon be 18 initially hated the mtx but after she got used to it she decided she only wanted mtx.

Friggin People need automatics so they can smoke, drink coffee and talk on their cell phone all at the same time. That doesn't include adjusting the radio, slapping the kid in the back seat and flipping off the f'd up driver that just cut you off.

I have never owned a auto and never want to. I get a sense of the road and my car when I drive manual, when I do drive auto's, I feel bored.