My one son bought this 95 Ford Controur a year or two ago from friend at work. Only paid 1700 and it had only 35,000 miles. Looks great. Now his wifes family gave them another car so they are going to sell this one. Thinking of having other sons family take it.

Engine light comes on and off. Think it is OBD I. Some driving noise (Rattle) when I turn around in driveway, in front right, and driving.

I finally got rid of that 98 Ford Windstar, and I am hesitant putting time and money into another Ford. This car only bluebooks for around 1500 - 1900 even with the low miles, and being in excellent looking condition.

Anyone ever have any experience with a Ford Contour. I understand that there is a sister car Mystique or something that may be in the Mercury line, that is similar.

Thanks.

If it's a Ford, it's a problem. Best let that problem be for someone else. Good chance it'll be junk within a couple years.

Depends on a lot of factors -- what's the body like?

Your turning grinding is just a ripped boot and grit into your axle. Those are relatively
cheap repairs - and with just 35000 miles???

I thought they were decent cars when I first looked at them back then, out of curiosity, and
I hate (generally) American cars compared to Jap cars.

Parts are everywhere - because of shared parts, including those that went into
Mazda / Flat Rock, Michigan output (things like, for example, though not for certain,
MAF sensors, transmission range sensors, etc.).

Where are you? If you are close, I'll come look at it - so I have a car to go 4 wheeling!

I agree the OBD 1 is limited...... still, 35,000 miles????

Jimmy;

35,000 on a Ford

or 135,00 on an (pre-Ford) Volvo, or Honda or Toy

all things being equal, which car has the most miles left in it?

This was Ford's first attempt at a "world" car and was designed by Ford Europe, so some consider it a cut above the run of the mill Ford. And as jp notes above has lots of common parts with other models. It bombed in the US and is basically an orphan which is one of the reasons for the low resale. I see a lot still running strong at 150K+, so I'd put a few bucks in it and pass it down to the next son.

Engine light could be something as simple as a loose or bad gas cap to something major. As jp mentioned, the rattle turning probably is just a bad CV joint boot with the joint now bad. Best to take it to a mechanic you trust to see if the repairs are worth it.

As for reliability, they may not get up to the level of Toyota or Honda, but the Ford cars are not as bad as they once were. We got our son a '98 Merc. Mystique 3 years ago to be transportation to college, it has been getting the job done so far.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2008 07:57AM by JoeH.

Keep or Pass?

RUN.

I myself have a 96 Contour, with 65K miles on it. I've had the engine check light problem, which I only just now am getting fixed ... to the tune of several hundred dollars, (It turns out to be something nontrivial in my case.) I wouldn't have bothered except for the fact of it not having that many miles on it (relatively speaking) and otherwise being in pretty good shape, and that I don't have the bucks for a new car, nor do I feel like taking the risk on the relative unknown of another used car. For the engine light, you'll probably need a scanner... could be simple, like an O2 sensor, could be complicated.

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Freya says, 'Hello from Valhalla!'

A sound, essentially working car that you know is much more valuable to you than to anybody else. The bluebook value reflects the risk that the buyer prices into an arms-length transaction. Ignore it in this decision. You know much more about this car than any buyer ever will.

Personally, I would not hesitate to put a few hundred bucks into an older creampuff. CV joint? O2 sensor? This is all routine maintenance. Better to pay up for that ever once in a while than make a car payment each and every month (or, equivalently for those who don't finance vehicles, lose the opportunity cost for capital tied up in a newer, more expensive, depreciating asset).

An exception, I think, is when a car is in an accident and you receive a chunk of money from an insurance company to do repainting or other substantial repair. This happened to me a few years ago and if I had to do it again I'd take the money and dump the car rather than repairing it.

despite the fact that they are a wee bit odd looking, if I had a '95 Contour with about 50K and it was fully paid for, I'd keep it running, and run it into the ground. It should have 5-7 trouble free years left in it easy.

And yeah, Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique were the replacements for the Tempo/Topaz, but were completely redesigned. Bidg difference was about 25% more horsepower, and a 4 speed automatic I believe. Huge improvement. I have had 3 90-94 Tempo/Topaz in a row.

Here in Seattle that thing would go on Craigslist in a day for 2 grand with people lining up. Good basic transportation.

My Mom has a 1996 Mystique. It has about 45k miles. She only gets about 18 mpg but most of her driving is short trips in town. She is thinking of getting rid of it even though it works fine just because she wants something newer to drive her friends around in.

The worst aspect of reliability is it has interior plastic cosmetic parts that keep breaking and falling off because of poor design and manufacturing. One part that covers the seat belt retractor has been replaced three times. The most recent replacement is laying on the floor in the back seat.

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"MULTI-GRAIN"

The contour is probably one of the best cars ford has made for a while. I think most have the 3.0 v6 that is still in wide use in both mazdas and fords (it's a ford engine though). Our mazda mpv has the 3.0 v6 and it's going strong with 115,000 miles. We've been getting 21mpg, all in town. My wife is disappointed in the mileage, but I'm surprised it's that good. I'd pass the contour on to someone, or drive 'til it dies. It's not worth selling. kj.

kj, hmmmm... I'll have to check to see what I have. I'm pretty sure what I have is a 96 (but may be a 95), and that it's an SE.

Mileage -- it's been really poor for me, but apparently that's a result of what's wrong with it which needs to be fixed (causing the check engine light) ... mechanic says it has a serious vacuum leak and is running lean, also has fouled spark plugs because of this ... translation, anyone? He says once fixed, I'll see a serious improvement in fuel efficiency.

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Freya says, 'Hello from Valhalla!'

I vote keep.

Quote
PeterB
kj, hmmmm... I'll have to check to see what I have. I'm pretty sure what I have is a 96 (but may be a 95), and that it's an SE.

Mileage -- it's been really poor for me, but apparently that's a result of what's wrong with it which needs to be fixed (causing the check engine light) ... mechanic says it has a serious vacuum leak and is running lean, also has fouled spark plugs because of this ... translation, anyone? He says once fixed, I'll see a serious improvement in fuel efficiency.

I'm just guessing (I don't know that much), but it might be that air is leaking past the AFM (air flow monitor?), so your car is miscalculating the air:fuel mixture. I would think more air would make your car think it needed to add more fuel, so you would be running rich, fouling your plugs and using more gas than it burns, sending unburned gas out the tailpipe. Does that make sense? kj.

kj, it does, but not consistent with what he told me ... here are the notes I took down on what he said it needed:

- Two oxygen sensors faulty
- Bad vacuum leak at intake manifold – runs lean, puts more fuel in, fouls spark plugs, he says once repaired, will also see much improved fuel efficiency
- Set of spark plugs
- Need to repair vacuum leak at manifold

... not being familiar with an intake manifold or what it does, but Googling for Contour and "check engine light", it seems that these sorts of problems are fairly common for the Contours, and can range from there just being a bad O2 sensor, to something more extensive like the vacuum leak he mentioned.

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Freya says, 'Hello from Valhalla!'

That makes sense. Air is getting into the engine that wasn't accounted for by the engine's computer. Or the sensors aren't measuring correctly. I don't think those are uncommon problems for many cars. I'm sure that could cause your mileage to suffer. What a pain cars can be! kj.

I had a '95 LX with the 2.5L V6

Bear in mind that it's a first-year production run of that model. Mine drove wonderfully, but it started wanting repairs like a real foreign car.

Highs: Some of the most comfortable seats I've ever had in a car, fantastic HP with the 6-cyl, terrific handling -- much better than the second generation a few years later. Decent gas mileage- upper 20's on the highway.

Lows: Repairs - it seemed like mine was always coming up with some weird repair, including going through at least 3 sets of O2 sensors in 5 years. Rear seat legroom is tight for tall adults.

It's a shame Ford uglified and then killed off the Contour. Right about the time they removed it from the market, the next generation Mondeo came out, looks fantastic. As usual with Ford, their European small cars are for more interesting than their North American counterparts -- the '95 Contour and '00 Focus being notable differences as they were Euro cars adapted for the US.