God forbid you spend your money how you choose.
Congrats on the purchase!

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.

Interesting thread. I think all of us who own Contours are going to be facing the decision relatively soon.

One one hand, it is almost always cheaper to keep an older car on the road. If a new car payment averages around $500 a month, then repairs have to exceed $3000 a year on the older car to justify the argument that the newer car was purchased to avoid expensive repairs on the old car. $3000 buys a lot of repairs, as someone pointed out. The newer car also brings higher insurance costs and property tax payments, so the annual number is probably closer to $4000 a year.

But all of us completely understand the frustrations an unreliable older car can bring. In the past two years, my E0 SVT has had a number of small things go wrong. None were catatrosphic in nature or repair price, but the irritation factor really gave me pause at a time in my life when I've got more than enough things to worry about besides taking the car to various repair shops. At the moment, it is behaving itself (after replacing tires, front wheel bearings, CD head unit, fixed the leak in the trunk, and got a new catalytic converter), so I'll hold off for a little while before I completely lose my mind and jump into an Evo.

There are some truly valid reasons to justify getting a new car:

1. Upgrades in safety
2. Changes in your life that require more utility, ie giving up that Miata when you and your wife have a baby.
3. When the old car is wrecked

But the fact that we hang out here on a car-releated board usually indicates that we are enthusiasts, and our hobby is the passion for automobiles. I know people who easily drop $5,000 a year on adult hobbies like boating or golf, so for a guy who likes cars, what is the harm in getting a hot new ride to supplant the one that he has? If you can swing financially, then it really isn't an issue.

Face it -- after a period of time we all get sick of our cars and look forward to getting something new. The average car in the US is now owned by its orginal purchaser for over seven years. With the Contour line appearing in 1995, that means a lot of us, on average, either already have or are contemplating their next set of wheels.

Is the Mazda 6s a logical replacement for the SVT Contour? Yes, it is. They are very similar in execution, price, and function. The Acura TSX deserves a long hard look, too. The horsepower wars of the past couple of years have made the sedan market very interesting. There are more choices than ever, so the automobile enthusiast can actually have some fun making the decision.

Lee K

good choice! picked one up about 6 months ago!

Using a $300 car payment, here is the cost difference between my 1996 Ford Contour and a $20,000 new car:

1996 Ford Contour cost-------------------$4500
Repairs for above including new tires $1000
Total cost of ownership, 2 years --------$5500

$300 month car payment times 24 months = $7200

7200 - 5500 = $1700

In just 2 years, my 1996 Ford Contour has been $1700 cheaper than a new car. In the next year, based on experiences with the 1995 Ford Contour, I project that there will be about $100 in repairs required (essentially, replacement of two O2 sensors). With a new car, in the next year I would have spent another $3600 in car payments, bringing the amount of money saved with the Contour to
1700 + ((300 * 12) - 100) = $5200 saved in 3 years.

Since the only way a $300 payment could possibly happen on a $20,000 loan with nothing down is with 6-year financing, taking this to it's logical conclusion and projecting that the Contour will need $1500 in repairs (to include a clutch replacement) during the last 3 years of this comparison:

5200 + ((300 * 36) - 1500) = $14,500 saved in 6 years.

It's hard to put a value on it, but the Contour has another thing going for it in that I know about it--I know what problems it's likely to have, I know where to get parts for it, and I know where to find answers about it. For those repair jobs I don't do myself, I can tell my mechanic things he might not know about it in order that he can fix it quicker and more effectively. With a new car, these things become a concern as soon as the warranty expires.

Congratulations Brian, you pass math... now remember that you're driving a 1996 Contour, and he's driving a 2004 Mazda 6. You get pleasure from the extra money that you're saving... he gets pleasure from the newer car he's driving. I plan on replacing the SVT sometime within the next year-year and a half. I paid $9k cash, and I've dropped over $5k in it with new wheels, random other mods, an IAC valve, and then a whole new engine because the old one blew. I plan on getting a new(er) import with less problems. Know why? Because I can't afford to be without a car for 3-4 weeks while my engine is rebuilt (by the worst shop ever, i might add), I'm sick of the creaks, rattles, bangs, the poorly functioning A/C, the fact that I can't shift out of first when its cold, the sagging sideskirt and rear bumper, and because I just simply want something different. Sorry that not everyone dreams of owning a Contour for the rest of their lives.

I guess the SVT models just suck for reliability, don't they?

i'm gonna be gettin rid of my Tour late spring, early summer and get an S2000. i test drove one and fell in love. plus i've always wanted a nice 2 seater sports car but always figured i'd never fit (i'm 6'4, 230lbs). i actually squeezed into it. only my knees were a bit cramped and i've read there are some slight mods you can do to the seat bottom that completely fixes it.

my point you ask? well it will be more expensive in the long run to own that car. but i will be able to afford it. i will greatly enjoy it. so why the hell not. if i were so concerned with saving money, i would've bought a car like my roomate's (old a$$ tempo). if saving money is a big issue, then yes, getting a more expensive car might not be a good solution. but if saving money by keeping a more annoying car which you're sick of isn't a big deal, then by all means go get what you want. after all, you can't take your money to the grave. live within your means and squeeze every last ounce of enjoyment out of every day. you never know when it might be your last!

This thread is interesting. There are 2 groups of people.

Group 1: Those who are enjoying their new rides.
Group 2: Those who are envious of Group 1, and feel the need to air their envy publicly by bashing them.

A few people made the valid point that if you can swing it financially, then why not? If driving a new car makes someone happy, then all the power to them!

More people just need to do what I did, keep a new car and a contour. Oh, wait I'm sure I'll be feeling it when I can no longer get the 10 dollar a month storage insurance on the svt.

It's just interesting that those in Group 1 all seem to have major problems with their Contour that require major expense to repair, and consider the Contour an "unreliable POS" because of it.

Originally posted by brianl703:

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It's just interesting that those in Group 1 all seem to have major problems with their Contour that require major expense to repair, and consider the Contour an "unreliable POS" because of it.

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i don't think people think the Contour is 'unreliable' - my car was absolutely wonderful - i still miss it to be honest, but i am not the type of person to sink 2/3rds of the value of a car just to keep it running - if i had been putting in a supercharger or turbo then YES i think it's a valid point if that's what someone is after...

if my ABS/Hydraulic unit went out in my Mazda6 and it would cost me $14K (roughly 2/3rds of the cars value) to make it 'normal' again - do you think i'd do it? heck no!

to be honest brian - i think what you're doing is perfectly fine - i'm all about saving money and there's nothing wrong with keeping the tour going! enjoy the heck out of the car - that's why were here!

oh - and Merry Christmas