Originally posted by PlatoSVT:

On the "Ford" token, I do (as I am sure many Contour owners do) get alot of crap for it being a "Ford", but then 2 weeks later that same person is complaining about how their engine is leaking oil, or the windows stopped working, or the brakes are making noise, or the radiators leaking.... I could go on and on, but plain and simple, I think this is one of the best Ford's that ford has put out. Reliable, quick, appealing, low insurance, 4 doors, FWD, MTX, and only a few predictable quirks that need replacement every now and then.



I hear that from my dad alot. this past weekend, we took a little vacation and on the way back home, we stopped off the visit my parents. He wanted me to look at his car, 97 Buick, and see what was wrong with it. It had died on him three times in the past month or so. I had a feeling what it was, but said I would anyway. We go out for a drive and sure enough, it dies... in best place of all, an intersection! Well, just being me, I jump out and just hold my hands up and yell, "No problem here people! Got it all under control! Move along!" LOL! Anyway, it was the fuel pump. We get it started and make it back home fine.

Once back home, we sit there talking about all the stuff he has had to do to it since he bought it (used) about 2 years ago (engine, muffler, struts two times, rear shocks three times and two fuel pumps) and said that it might be time to start thinking of getting something else. I said, "Maybe".

A little later, he asked me how my car was holding up and I tell him that my struts were starting to show their age (a little over a year and a half old and well over 50K miles) and that I needed to start looking for some more. And he goes off, shaking his head saying, "D@mn son, you have put so much into that thing and it just keeps letting you down! When in the world are you going to get rid of that thing and get something else?". I quickly did a comparison between our cars; keeping mind what their purchase price was, length of ownership, total money spent on maintaince and total spent of repairs, as well as total mileage driven on the cars since purchuse.

Let's just say that he did not mention anything else about it the rest of the weekend because I beat him hands down. Even including my mods!

Phillip Jackson `98 Mystique LS 262K+ and counting... ATX rebuilt @ 151K "This storm has broken me, my only friend!" RIP Dime