Well , I guess I've gotta add my 2¢ -
Thanks for taking the time to come here Troy ! Hopefully you take to heart all the things we say ! We didn't buy our SVTs to be grocery getters , we bought 'em because they're a great handling , mid-sized ENTHUSIAST car with PLENTY of room for groceries (or kids or whatever) .
First off with the SVTOA issue & the magazine & all ...
I bought my SVT on
1-24-01 and was told I will be getting the magazine & whatever for
a year . It only
2 months later , I went to the dealer (grrrr) to get a copy of the SVT ENTHUSIAST magazine and it says I must pay
$40 to get the mag from now on !! What the hell ? I know it's not THAT quick of a decision to change something like that . I talked to SVTOA about maybe getting a complimentary 1 yr. subscription since I JUST bought my car ... NO LUCK ! Only CURRENT MODEL YEARS get the 1 yr. comp . I realise it's a 2000 , but I just ponied up a BUTT LOAD of money for this car ! And YES , the 20+ thousand dollars is a hell of a lot of money to me !
The least you could do is grandfather in the NEW SVT owners into the new plan !!! I went into this thinking it'd be cool to get this too ... only to be dissed 2 months later . I mean , what could it possibly hurt Ford/SVT to do that to keep future customers ?? I mean , my future with new Ford or SVT cars is hanging in the balance here !
As for the SVT merchandise ...
Why should I suffer by having no Contour SVT merchandise to buy to show off my Contour SVT pride ? Give us NEW SVT owners a chance ! Also , many used SVT owners are popping up realising now that Contour SVT's are a great car ! Maybe THEY want to show off THEIR pride too . Up until 2 months ago , I was driving a '95 SE Contour , why would I buy SVT merchandise when I didn't even have the car ? Or even the body style ? Yea well , I guess SVT ignored SVT Contours there too ...
All the P.R. hype for this new SVT Focus makes me wanna HURL ! The car is
HALF the car that the Contour is , you know it , & I know it . The Contour is a great car , with pretty much room , and a TRUNK ! What the hell is that in the back of the 2 door Focus ?? You couldn't fit a deck of cards in the back of that thing ! The nice trunk in a mid-sized car is part of the reason I bought my '95 , luckily Ford didn't decontent part of my trunk in my '00 trying to cheapen up the car . The decontentented everything else ! I realise the decontenting isn't all you fault , but c'mon look at the stuff you're giving the Focus ...
heated seats , fancy pedals , cool shift knob , oil & temp gauges , 17" wheels & so on . Why no effort to go over the top like that for the Contour SVT ?? Why no 17" wheels for the Contour SVT ?? You're putting 17 inchers on a pipsqueak car like the Focus ... do you realise how those help a mid-sized car like the Contour ? Maybe you do ... then why not do it on later ones ? Didn't want to put the effort into new wheels on a dying car ?? Figures !
Why no improvements on weak or failing parts on the Contour as in other SVT products ? Others have brought this up , so I'll et them speak . Why didn't the SVT Contours have a stronger tranny put in it ? Why no Limited Slip Diff in the SVT Contour ?? That would've really helped the car & it's handling & stuff . They even had LSD's in Nissan SER's for god's-sake ! And SER's have similar performance numbers for almost half the cost of the Contour SVT ... WITH AN LSD !
There has been lack of love for the Contour SVT from the get-go at SVT ... you can tell me what you want ! It got no respect (as Rodney Dangerfield would say) .
If you're proud of the Contour SVT ... then PROVE IT ! DO THE RIGHT THING ! AKNOWLEDGE US ... WE WILL NOT GO AWAY ! We love our SVT's , but it's hard when Ford & SVT don't even make note that we existed ! You guys at SVT made a hell of a car in the Contour SVT , it's a shame Ford dropped the ball & screwed the Contour out of existance .
You say the SVT Contour will be dearly missed at SVT ... YEA , RIGHT ! We'll always be the red-headed stepchild you wish you never had . Or else you would've hyped the Contour SVT like you're doing to the Focus . You jumped ship on the Contour when times got tough ! That shows how much SVT cares for the Contour . I feel abandoned ...
Man , that's quite a rant ... sorry ! But it's how I feel (you asked !) Thanks again for your time !
------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Allen
Go Redwings !!!2000 Contour SVT Black w/ Tan
#2137 of 2150 / built 2-4-00Mods : ~ Factory DRL mod ~ "Powered by Ford" seatbelt covers
~ OF's TH fix ~ Audi A-6 Side Repeaters ~ Highs in Lows Mod
~ #885 foggies ~ K&N filter ~ Mondeo ST200 Badging & Shiftknob
Very Soon : ~ More "Mondeo-izing" and a ton of RE-contenting ~
My old 95 'Tour Our new SVT
