I've still got a '96 Contour. In the two years since I bought it [outright, no car payment] it's required an alternator (which was killed by a defective battery), a battery, a waterpump, and an oil pan gasket. Oh, it also needed an O2 sensor (which the dealer charged $170 to replace, which is about $120 more than I could have done it for myself--I wasn't going to argue since they replaced the precat under the emissions warranty at the same time).
I also had to put new tires on it.
Needless to say, I do not share your experience of needing a car payment's worth of repairs every month. Not even on my 1988 Mustang GT, which has parts die of old age if they don't die of mileage.
The '96 Contour has the defective wiring harnesses, but I fully intend to make Ford replace them under the 99M03 recall since I'm going to keep it for another few years.
The extended warranty is just about useless, by the way. I had one on my '95 Contour, and I wouldn't bother with it again, mainly because Ford service sucks and because the $1500 it costs would buy a hell of a lot of service at an independent shop.
