1996 Ford Contour SE review from North America
"A very good car with a very bad head gasket"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
1. Check engine light on at 24,000 miles.
2. Speedo, cruise control and odometer stopped working at 64,000 miles.
3. Replaced catalytic converter per recall at 91,000 miles.
4. Blown head gasket 110,000 miles.
General comments?
Overall a good car. Very good handling,
reasonable comfort and performance with 5 speed, decent value for the money.
My wife noticed that I wasn't driving as quickly after I replaced the cat, I couldn't, it sapped a good deal of power. The car lost a lot of my affection at that point.
Blown head gasket was catastrophic - it was quite expensive to get fixed. The car was then sold as slag. I was quite disappointed and was hoping to get at least 30-40k more out of vehicle.
Other family members also endured premature catastrophic Ford failures.
Recommended reviews
| 1996 - Contour GL 2.0L Zetec DOHC 16v Good handling car that's cheap to run, and a great gas sipping commuter car |
|
| Great road manners, great performance, expensive to maintain, and in the end, not worth repairing |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| Year of manufacture | 1996 |
| First year of ownership | 1997 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2000 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.5 V6 Manual |
| Performance marks | 8 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 9 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 7 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 7 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 7800 miles |
| Most recent distance | 110000 miles |
| Previous car | Pontiac Grand Prix |
| Date of Entry | 31st January, 2001 |