Originally posted by ssmumich00:

(1) Used better leather on the interior,
(2) Used better plastic on all the surfaces and MADE sure it all fits flush,
(3) Seam welded the entire frame to the chassis so all those bumps and rattles would've pop put 50+k later,
(4) Had bigger Wheels Wells,
(5) Better paint?? Hello, why is it falling off now?
(6) Better oil pump. Better Water Pump.
(7) Bigger radiator or more external vents to "cool" off the air clogged engine bay. . .

Suneil



IMO the leather has aged well. I have done minimal care to it (maybe 1-2 leather care treatments in 3.5 yrs, 40K miles) and it looks pretty much new, even has a faint new car smell. A friend of mine with a 99 328i recently commented that my seats had aged better than his. And the steering wheel causing problems?? Not heard that before.

I agree plastics could be (much) better, dash rattles are a pain..mostly fixed by dash repair kit though..

Honastly not noticing any rattles related to chassis...seems stiff as new. Minor flex around sunroof going up driveway at angle only sign of weakness...but no worse than new. Even the 99 BMW flexes a bit here..

Paint = no problems, minor rock chips on hood and a few small door dinks, most of which did not chip paint.

Basically, dash & door panel trim a bit cheap looking but no worse than most American cars of the time at that price. The Germans are clearly much better at nice interior trim. Otherwise, pretty well screwed together for a 20K car from 99.

Also, used car prices are low in general..not just Fords/Contours. BMW/Honda/toyota better than average but you can find plenty of 3-4 year old 30-32+K 3 series BMWs available for around 20K. I was shopping them at that time & can say that they were not budging much off sticker and has signif higher maintence & insurance costs. So, I would have lost $10,000-12,000 this route...the SVT went for $18,400 and could probably bring $8,000 or about $10,000 lost. Higher % but same or less bux lost. Cars do suck as an investment but at least this one has been FUN...


1999 Amazon Green SVT Contour (#554/2760) "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." -Soren Kierkegaard (as posted by Jato)