Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Should I avoid buying a 95 Contour?

mine is great. 106K and never even replaced the muffler. but mines a zetec so you know i cant speak for the duratec.i did do the cluthc at about 90K but im hard on cluthces (i wont give you details for fear of thread lockage)... and my chrome bumper strips are coming off when i do my door dings...

For that kind of money you can get a 1998, 1999 SE with a V6 or an I4. Just shop around, the deals are out there.

My 95 v6 5spd...still has under 50,000 on the closck..runs fantastic. but had all the recalls done..the only thing ford ever did good for me. I replaced the rear bumper with a 98 and up to get rid of the dhrome strip and then shaved the front strip and put on a chin spoiler. talk about a cheap svt look! I originally paid $2000..ebachs and konis, focus 16's and all body and paint myself..still inder $3500.I never knew anyone in this area suffering frmo a dash warp problem..must be warmer climates. Avoid a 97 tho. an no automatics.. 97's have had many more problems and it seems all autos for some reason have had to have a tranny put in them..sounds like the old taurus problems shining through on that.

97's were fine, I had one. And automatics in these are well made, no recalls for them. Of course the MTX purists will scream.

The owner wants too much, offer $3000 and see what they say. I bet the car will sit for another few months, and then they will ask for less.

I had a '95 SE and had ZERO problems with it . It was a great car , I traded it for my SVT with about 80k on the clock . The ATX tranny worked like a charm , even with frequent autocrosses & trips to the drags . My brother is still running his '95 SE . His 'SE is at 180,000 miles , and he's had very few problems with it . It's even still running the original clutch . With routine maintenance , a Contour will last a long time .
IMHO , the '95 is the BEST year for the Contour . I even like the chrome strips on the bumpers . If they're faded , just clean 'em up with some plastic polish , no biggie . At least there's a reason for the molding being there , to dress it up with a bit of "chrome" . To me , the '96-7 cars look strange with the strip there being body-colored . It looks like someone f-ed up . Don't be afraid of an early car , Ford took a bit more "pride" making the early ones ...

I'll go on ahead and reply here.

My 95 mystique is just now hitting 116k, not there yet but getting there. I've had a FEW minor quirks. First off the people who owned this car before me BABIED it. It still had the new car smell at 74,000 when I got it. She had bigger balls then the V6's I tested against it. Plus it was a four cylinder. Way to go!

My problems are as follows.
Heater KEEPS acting up. I'm taking it to a mechanic friend (for those in MD he owns the Mobil 1 Station and the route 301 and 4 exit. he knows his [censored]!) and he's gonna give me the hook up.

Next is the timing belt, the original owners didn't replace it. But I think you said you have a V6 so you needn't worry about that.

Alternator blew up, think it was because of water building up in the tail light. It all happened at the same time. Interesting story.

Rough idle.. it came back but it isn't nearly as strong as before.

Power window cables like to screw up.

And the chrome on the front part of my car is peeling.

I love the styling of my car after 1 year. I've kept her cleaned and the only thing I've really neglected was turning the rotors and changing the tranny fluid. BTW, the ATX is going strong. I don't know what happened to those other ones but mine is ok. We'll see later on.

I definately love my car and when the time comes to sell one of our cars, the 93 grand prix is going out the window and the stique will become the beater. She's staying with me until she dies. And let it be a long time before she does.

"Ford took a bit more "pride" making the early ones ..."

I disagree, they had the usual first year bugs and were not all that different or better. And the UAW makes the cars, btw. But if one owns a 1995, then of course they should think it's the "best".

Those in the market for 95's should know that they are now nearly a decade (9 model years) old. So, they should be priced accordingly, $1000-$3000. Some on Ebay are selling for under a grand, too.


"BTW, the ATX is going strong." Same here, ;-)

I own a 95 SE MTX with 180k miles and it runs great... I have no problems with it except my cup holder is broken.. it was broken when I got it