The first mistake everyone makes is to refer to cars as an investment. Unless it??s a genuine collectable and desirable, they are not.
The second mistake is that Ford has always built ??cars for the masses? and has no reason to build cars that take a long time to ??ware out?. Henry Ford actually set up the first auto recycling system. He would buy back cars and recycle the steel to build new ones. The majority of cars built today are built for rental houses and leases. 5 years and 100K is a lot to ask of a car on original factory parts. A statement that the contour is a disposable car applies to all cars and just about anything else you buy today (its?? just part of capitalism). Just check Edmunds ??true cost to own? on any car you like. See what the maintenance costs are in the forth and fifth year.
I could go on and on about the contour and fords (Jac the Ripper??s) efforts to build it and sell it cheap, but since we all own one so we already know this.
If the car was built the way we all wanted, most of us wouldn??t buy because we couldn??t afford it.
To sum it up, maintenance in the forth and fifth year of any car will get you. You just have to decide if you want to bite the bullet and do the work or buy a new car. Ford, GM, Honda and the rest of them are hoping you buy the new car. I chose to do the work since I could not find a new car that I actually liked. $1600 (that??s doing it all myself) later I have a car that is better then new. Let??s hope I have got all of Jac??s demons out of it.
jeff
