Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Eastern Canada Test drive FSVT

I went with my girlfriend to test-drive a 2003 ZX5 FSVT last monday.... and now I realize my Mystique runs like crap.. oh well!

I was windering how much they'd be asking, since I read here a while ago that the Toronto dealers were lowering the prices to get people to buy them.

Turns out Formule Ford in Granby is doing the same thing... 24k for a ZX3 and 24.5k for a ZX5. Somrthing like 4k less than usual. GF was in shock to realize her 27k Civic LX (loaded, keys in hand) was alot less car than the FSVT..

We took backroads out of Granby, and came back by highway 10. Handling in the backroads was awesome, torque was more than expected, shifter is short and tight, but not that precise, not that bad though - nothing like my '98 Accent!

Had alot of tire rub, the salesman had mounted 17" Toyo Observes on the stock rims (same size) for the winter, and still had them on. Seems winter rims are still not available for the FSVT, unless you buy 16" ZTW rims.

On the highway... err I can't talk about it without the post being locked.. Legal speed is easy in 3rd, and there are 3 more gears... From 0-100 km/h it's nice, but I've tried better, but from then on it's another car entirely. Road noise is ok, exhaust note is discrete - I don't like fart-can ricemobiles, and this was not at all like that.

The engine screams when pushed hard, and I was surprised to realize that it's pulling as hard as my Mystique, if not harder. Over the very bad pavement of that area, I felt that the FSVT could be a very nice daily driver, suspension is not that hard, and reacts very well to sudden imperfections..

All in all.. I want one!

Any idea if Ford got the bugs out of them yet? I looked at buying a Focus a couple of years back, but decided not to as Ford managed to screw up another dynamite car by not sweating the details and released it half-assed with a ton of issues to be ironed out.
Erik

I don't know, but I didn't notice any real bugs while I was driving it. Maybe the lack of space between my head and the headliner...

Every car has bugs, mine sure does, my girlfriend's Civic has some too - and it's a 2003 model. I guess the grin I had most of the time prevented me from noticing anything but the obvious...