Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General I Might Buy a 98 Contour

My neighbor is selling his Contour. It is a '98, SE, with the 4 cyl. engine. The car has 91,500 miles. He is asking $2500.

He was the only driver; it was a fleet vehicle he bought from the company as a second car. He changed oil every 3-5000 miles. He has all the service records. Which I haven't looked through yet.

It needs inspected in 2 months including the new Pennsylvania emmissions test. Gee, EPA, when will you wake up an realize your tests cause more pollution than they save. opps., sorry.

I want it for my kids to get to summer jobs, or summer classes.

I have bought mostly GM vehicles and I know them pretty well. Ford are new to me.

QUESTION - What should I be looking for while I look the car over? I mean, is there anything the Contour is noted for that might be a possible problem?

I looked thru the forums and archives, and I don't see anything standing out as a chronic problem.

This is a great site, and you all seem pretty satisfied. I'm very happy for you all. Perhaps I will be around if I buy this car.

Thanks for any help.

As with any used car, there are a lot of little things that can go wrong. The 4 cyl engine in your car is tough, reliable, and has a good mixture of performance and gas mileage. The price sounds good. If you can do a few repairs yourself, you will probably get a lot of miles out of the car without a lot of investment. If you have to take the car to Ford for repairs, you could quickly invest as much in repairs as you did in buying the car. Make sure the transmission works properly........a major transmission repair could cost as much as the car. If you detect any problem whatsoever with the transmission, I would walk away from it.

My 96 has 300 000k--goin strong. I'd say the price is right, Im definatly satisfied!

I personally prefer contours, They are pretty confortable, yet affordable at the same time. Zetec (or the 4 Cylinder Engine) are known to be pretty reliable. I dont see much of any problems with it, take it for a test drive, and take note on how things work. Remember your basics: Is the alignment good? Does it brake even? Any strange sounds (loud knocking, squeeling)?
I bought my Contour knowing it had problems from a neighbor, but my tour works pretty good

i almost bought same kinda car with same miles..then i stumbled across my 6cyl 5 spd se w/only 60k miles for only a grand more! wait it out and you'll appreciate the 2 extra cylinders!

Don't listen to him. Zetecs last longer! The oldest tours milage wise are all zetecs. Zetec is the four cylinder BTW. I never had any problems with mine BESIDES a bit of a rough idle which was easily fixed by changing the plug wires and the PCV. This car should last you a while. And listen to the advice from above, DO NOT TAKE IT TO A FORD DEALER, that is how they get messed up. I learned that the hard way. Good luck and personally, I would DEFINATELY buy that car! These cars are really good when you get in an accident. If the car has been treated right, you will not regret it.

No there are lots of over 100K mi. V6 cars here on CEG. I saw 2 of them yesterday at a meet. It's a myth, Zetecs last no longer than most other compact cars.

But for a "kids" car, the $2500 one sound great, since most 1998 compacts cost $5000 avg.

It is an Automatic Tranny. I didn't notice anything. Should I be more cautious of a manual, or an automatic or both?

Thanks.