You have to take the good with the bad. You might pay a lot more just for routine maintenance on a Porsche, Mercedes, or BMW than you would ever spend on repairing your Contour.

I think the Contour was built better than most Fords. Ford wanted to market the Contour worldwide so they built it with very good quality and craftsmanship. I think the Contour was built for a thrifty type of person.