Originally posted by 96RedSE5Sp:
How on earth can you be surprised about the steep depreciation? You bought the car in January 2002. Were you living in a cave? Didn't you know that Ford had already decided to discontinue the Contour and that it was a lame duck car? Is it not common sense that when a car company pulls the plug on a car because of disappoiting sales, that depreciation for that model will be a serious problem?

People here seem to have little regard for Consumer Reports, but if you had perused a Consumer Reports Used Autombile Guide in January 2002, you would have learned that Contours, especially SVTs are great cars that handle beautifully but that they are not reliable and likely to suffer from severe depreciation in the future. Sounds like they hit the nail on the head. Just what did YOU expect?



Actually, I thought I landed a sweet deal in Jan of 02.
Contour SVT, very limited production, nothing else like it on the road, leather seats, sport tuned suspension, all the bells and whistles, not to mention a nice looking car...a touch of luxury with a sporty attitude...only 29K miles on the car for $12,500...seemed like a hell of a deal to me at the time...
BTW,consumer reports opinions are worth about two cents to me...they are very biased and pro imports.

1999 CSVT-Black 15.8@89mph Driver for hire. PM me.