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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 7,117
Hard-core CEG'er
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Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 7,117 |
Originally posted by 96RedSE5Sp:
... the racer-boy gee-whiz styling of the CSVT is an enormous liability and the overall styling of the second generation Contours was a serious mistake.
I want to like this styling, I really do, but the styling, especially the front grill and headlights of the second generation makes me cringe. My next car will be either a pristine '96 CSE with low mileage or a new Mazda 6.
I do, however, like the styling of all Mystiques - no matter what the year.
Just goes to show, "To each, his own.". You may like the look of the new Mercedes cars, but I think its a bit pedestrian considering the modern style trends. I prefer the classic sweeping lines of a Jag.
I LOVE my 2nd gen Contour styling. I think its slick, and smooth, and "on the edge" in its time, perhaps even ahead of its time.
The SVT ... There was an article about SVTs posted here last week that talked about the ground effects being a take-off of the M3. I have heard very few critics of the M3 styling & its ground effects, as was the determination of the columns author.
Love it, hate it. It was an awsome car when introduced & I love my SE still. 
Must be that jumbly-wumbly thing happening again.
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Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 67
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 67 |
Exactly, to each his own
I didnâ??t like the 2nd generation restyle of the contour until I saw the SVT. I think the deeper air dam, sill extensions, and back bumper of the SVT combined with more aggressive wheels and dual outlet exhaust really helped balance the look of 98+ models. Otherwise, the bigger headlights and mystique-styled taillights look too bulbous and top heavy when compared to a leaner, more chiseled, 1st generation contour. I was never crazy about the 1st gen mystique.
I guess if I were to rank the best looking Contours I would go:
1: SVT
2: 1st generation SE
3: 2nd generation non-svtâ??s
imho, of course
NEW: '05 Black Hemi Magnum
SOLD:'99 Silver Contour SVT (no mods)
R.I.P. '92 SHO
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Joined: May 2001
Posts: 682
Veteran CEG\'er
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Veteran CEG\'er
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 682 |
Originally posted by ezsvt:
I prefer my svt -- if I was buying a NEW car now, it would not be a mazda 6 -- for a little more I can get a wrx (turbo and all wheel drive -- important around here) for example.
If I were buying a new car now, I'd stay away from all FoMoCo products, due to the huge quality control problems they've had over the last few years. They may be coming out of it now, but for a while there they were making even Chrysler look good, quality-wise.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 795
Veteran CEG\'er
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Veteran CEG\'er
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 795 |
Originally posted by Dan Nixon:
Originally posted by 96SEMAN:
I was somewhat taken aback as was my wife so we left without even a test drive,looks like
I will have to consider going to another dealer in another city before I'd buy one from them.
If I were you I would go on the test drive, haggle with him for hours over options..waste a whole afternoon of his prime selling time..then say: "Well, the good news is I want to buy this thing. The bad news is, I don't want to buy from YOU because you dissed the Contour"...
Then pop the hood, point at the Duratec, and say "does this look familiar"..
rotflmao
- Eric
previous:
'98 contour sport
zetec mtx
light prairie tan
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 101
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 101 |
Tomorrow is the big day I return to test drive the "6" and see what he says to me this time....I better at least get to drive the car,or he's going to be in for a fun time.... 
96 contour SE,E1 rims w 205/60/15 Comp TA's VR4's,optimized y-pipe,SVT doorsills,KKM intake,BULLIT MUSTANG fuel door,painted grill,every available option w/leather !
95 mystique LS,every option minus leather,optimized y-pipe+exhaust
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365 |
Originally posted by 96RedSE5Sp:
Originally posted by Drumbo:
Meaning no slight to non-CSVT owners, I'd say all Mystiques and non-SVT Contours (respectable cars in their own right) look like diminished versions of the CSVT.
Meaning no slight to CSVT and second generation Contour owners, I'd say that Ford took a serious step backward in the design department when they restyled the first generation Contour. For me anyway, the racer-boy gee-whiz styling of the CSVT is an enormous liability and the overall styling of the second generation Contours was a serious mistake.
I want to like this styling, I really do, but the styling, especially the front grill and headlights of the second generation makes me cringe. My next car will be either a pristine '96 CSE with low mileage or a new Mazda 6.
I do, however, like the styling of all Mystiques - no matter what the year.
Yeah, despite earlier confusion re: my comment that the CSVT's styling cues, derived from the Mondeo as they are, make it the styling "daddy" stateside, I've sometimes wondered what the EO would have looked like if its styling had leaned a bit more toward the earlier generation Contour/Mystique ... Meaning the headlights, primarily, I guess.
One thing I have noticed, though, is when viewed from an elevated angle or when the car is on an incline pointed nose-down, it's easier to see how the CSVT headlights fluidly integrate with the car's lines.
Fortunately, I still get a big enough kick in the pants when driving it and enough favorable comments about its appearance to keep me happy ... and looking back at it every time I park it.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365 |
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Wow, I seem to remember you talking about the CSVT being the benchmark and the "daddy". Even as far as styling goes this would not be correct, especially the "daddy" part. Review the thread. 
No need. The (quoted) comment I replied to was about the car's styling.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365 |
Originally posted by TourDeForce:
Originally posted by 96RedSE5Sp:
... the racer-boy gee-whiz styling of the CSVT is an enormous liability and the overall styling of the second generation Contours was a serious mistake.
I want to like this styling, I really do, but the styling, especially the front grill and headlights of the second generation makes me cringe. My next car will be either a pristine '96 CSE with low mileage or a new Mazda 6.
I do, however, like the styling of all Mystiques - no matter what the year.
Just goes to show, "To each, his own.". You may like the look of the new Mercedes cars, but I think its a bit pedestrian considering the modern style trends. I prefer the classic sweeping lines of a Jag.
I LOVE my 2nd gen Contour styling. I think its slick, and smooth, and "on the edge" in its time, perhaps even ahead of its time.
The SVT ... There was an article about SVTs posted here last week that talked about the ground effects being a take-off of the M3. I have heard very few critics of the M3 styling & its ground effects, as was the determination of the columns author.
Love it, hate it. It was an awsome car when introduced & I love my SE still.
I saw that article a few years ago. My reaction was the same as yours.
Who knows? Maybe the writer was driving a BMW and just couldn't stand the thought of the 1998 CSVT actually coming out ahead of every 3-series Beemer BUT the M3 in so many important performance criteria. Or maybe he and the BMW PR guy had just come back from an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas. Let's face it -- if car mag writers were subject to even minimal conflict-of-interest guidelines, many of them wouldn't have taken the gig in the first place.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 365 |
Originally posted by Paul Kienitz:
Originally posted by ezsvt:
I prefer my svt -- if I was buying a NEW car now, it would not be a mazda 6 -- for a little more I can get a wrx (turbo and all wheel drive -- important around here) for example.
If I were buying a new car now, I'd stay away from all FoMoCo products, due to the huge quality control problems they've had over the last few years. They may be coming out of it now, but for a while there they were making even Chrysler look good, quality-wise.
True. But it's getting difficult to find a safe-bet these days at any price.
In a recent issue of TIME magazine (which, having just looked, I discovered I no longer have), there was a comparison of "out of every 100" late-model Buicks vs the number of late-model Mercedes that come into dealership service depts for "non-scheduled maintenence". The Buick number was somewhere in the mid-20's; Mercedes was in the mid-40's.
Not only is this is in-line with other items/murmurs I've seen/heard about persistent QC/QA problems in the Mercedes line over the last 2-3 years, it's also in-line with the experience of friends of mine who bought a 430-series (or whatever the biggest-displacement 8-cyl MB drop-top coupe was about two years ago). Over the 10-11 months they had the car, it was in the shop nearly 20 times. Problems ranged from the (really crappy -- I drove it) Triptronic transmission to the onboard navigation. Finally, after hammering on the dealership long and hard, they renegotiated the deal, gave them back the 430, and drove off with a newly-traded, same-year Lexus SC400 ... Which turned out to be a far better car -- plenty of power and everything worked ... and still does.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 101
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 101 |
Finally got back to the dealer,he wouldn't let me test drive without a more firm commitment,(NOT!!) as they only had 1 manual car and it was inside the showroom,so I guess when I go out to another city this weekend I can only hope to have more luck and maybe someone who acknowledges just how much ford is actually in the "6" 
96 contour SE,E1 rims w 205/60/15 Comp TA's VR4's,optimized y-pipe,SVT doorsills,KKM intake,BULLIT MUSTANG fuel door,painted grill,every available option w/leather !
95 mystique LS,every option minus leather,optimized y-pipe+exhaust
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