Posted first in the General Forum but no particular info was provided. Maybe I will find a better luck here.

"I had to drive the wifey's Duratec today and what a difference in the inside temperature; on the minimal setting it's significantly warmer than my Zetec. Also I remember that the Zetec wasn't always that cold - it used to be as warm as the Duratec for the first 4 years and approx. 2 years ago I started noticing the "global un-warming".

What could be the reason and could it be fixed?

Thanks.

Somebody posted that the thermostat might be the culprit - any other ideas?

old coolant

Hmmmm... was changed like a 10 months ago.

This could be it...

http://www.contour.org/FAQ/FAQ.php?s=probs&displayid=9

since it cold out you tour' might not overheat?

Nope, it never overheats during summer but been cold for the last 2.5 years. It's not that the heater blows cold air, it's just significantly colder than "normal" cars, so whenever the car is iced/frozen and I remotely start it with the heater set on max defrostm all the way in the red zone - after 20 minutes of idling - the car is still kinda "cool" - whereas the Duratec will be hellish hot after 5 minutes.

thats how mine is it will idel and never warm up but once you hit 70mph the little temp. needle flys up....

Your electric fan isn't running all the time is it?

Try sticking some cardboard infront of rad to see if temp comes up more (if the fans r not stuck on) if so I say thermostat is getting part stuck maybe. There cheap enough to just pop one in I'm sure.

Maybe it's the right time for a new (ZXTuner's) thermostat - something I wanted to do for a long time...