MY Turn... Women and children please leave the room...
Ok seriously. I will be cordial.
I'm the Proud, but worried owner of a 2000 SVT Contour (12/2/99)
The biggest questions are:
You mention the SVT Contour was such a low production run (only 11,445) that SVO/SVT/European Parts were not worth bothering with in it's 3 year run. What about the other 300,000 cars built on the same platform. You don't think only SVT vehicles use those "special" parts do you? Do you?
What about all the problems Ford has to know about but won't lift a finger to help. (And don't you even try to tell me Ford with it's billion dollar R&D programs can't figure this out but our site of 3000 member can)
This is just the big stuff
A transmission that is revised every month because of it's faulty design to begin with. (They revised it mid model year 2000, then again this year 2001 and guess what! They're revising it again for model year 2002. Go Figure! They know it's a problem - Why won't they help us?)
A transaxle that can't handle the torque of a weed wacker. (What a Joke! I have no words to describe the fear I get when my car experiences wheel hop! It's like a mild heart attack worrying if that wet road just trashed my diff)
A water pump that fails in less then 40k miles. (Not only that, but normally takes out the plate behind it and contaminates the entire cooling system becuase it disintegrates, not just stops working! Oh Yeah. No real warning signs either!)
Known! Oil starvation issues (How many Warranty Motors does it take to cure this problem. Do you know? We haven't found out yet.)
Con Rod failures (lest do some quick math. 2000 SVT 10.25 to 1 Compression, DOHC and 7k redline. Powdered Rods! Doesn't take a rocket scientist does it?)
Bumper sag (Man! Took my SVT about 2 mos to get the droop. No cure! The early models did it too over 3 years ago. This is Not a new problem)
A sunroof that the manufacturer has told me is a defective design and they have NO fix for... (If they Know, you're damn sure Ford does too! hmm?) This one hit me. I still don't understand how this didn't get recalled. Cable operated electric sunroof. When the temp gets above 90 degrees, the cables can flex and bind the motor. This normally burns the motor out. I went to the dealer (3 different ones) about 7 times last summer over this. I have since done a mod myself (surely voiding my sunroof warranty no doubt) and seem to have it cured.
Man I could go on...
However; Don't get me wrong. I truelly love driving my Contour. There is nothing like it out there. But I can say I hate the thought on owning it very long. It's like a running time bomb. I'm sure some of us think this is why Ford and SVT ditched it and ran for cover... What are we suppose to think? All theses problems and Ford just trying bandaids or outright warranty denial... Eventually there will too many of us to ignore. I sure hope it's soon!
