Originally posted by Antonio:
Originally posted by Kung Fu Joe:
You know, some of you guys baffle me. On the one hand, folks are so ready to tout how great a car the SVT is. And then on the other hand, paying 10k for a 2000 SVT seems out of the realm of reality.

If it were me selling mine, I would ask for 12k. minimum. And I think it's worth every penny. My .02.

-R-



And your AD would sit at the bottom of the classifieds FOREVER. It does not matter how "great" these cars are. The fact of the matter is if you go by the classifieds and KBB. You will see that its(SVT Contour) is really not worth a damn. Just my .02



You guys know a lot more than I do about the value of our cars. And of course you have every right to express your opinions here. [end of politically correct blather]

Now, consider this:

Automotive sales and marketing people will tell you that offhand comments from other people can strongly affect the perceived value of any model of car. It's called "word-of-mouth", and it's the most powerful market force in the world.

This site is an extra-powerful type of word-of-mouth, because you all are rightly perceived by the public as having special expertise on Contiques. In other words, CEG members can easily drive down the value of our own cars by making negative statements here about their market value.

It's OK to grumble amongst ourselves about mechanical breakdowns, etc.; that's what this site is for. But when you make categorical statements about Contours never being worth over $10K (clearly a false statement) or that they are worth very little, don't be surprised when your own prophesy is fulfilled, far more than you expected.

The fact is that the Contique is a damn good car, and a hell of a lot better than most people out there realize. Don't get carried away with the few aggravating gliches we all know about. And please don't generalize about the value of our cars based on high-mileage cars that sold cheap, because all high mileage cars should sell cheap, no matter who made them.