1998 Ford Contour LX from North America - Comments

Absolutely nothing has gone wrong with this car, it is absolutely excellent to drive.

Well, at first when I was at the dealership, I was looking at a '98 Contour Sport. It had the mag wheels, a nicer colour, but higher mileage. The sales manager came over to me and said, " I have a nicer Contour over here with lower mileage and in better shape". I threw him back the keys for the sport edition and went over to check out the one he had mentioned. Sure enough, it was nicer looking, had half the mileage of the other one, and just had new tires and brakes put on. I took it for a test drive and the little four cylinder has lots of pep. I was going 145km/h down the highway no sweat. I bought the car and it's the same one I have today. It has air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, but missing the optional power windows, power seats, etc...

The gas mileage is great, although all the traveling I do it doesn't last long. It only takes about $20 to fill the tank.

It came with the new "Zetec" version of the 2.0L which just came out a couple years ago. I would not suggest buying a Contour with the 2.8L V-6 which is gutless, or any other of their crappy motors in the older series Contour. But the new V-6 in the newer models would have excellent power.

I completly disagree with the comments on the V6 engine. I own a '95 contour with the V6 and have driven all the different power-train combinations available in contours:

1) It's a 2.5L V6 not a 2.8

2) It makes far more horsepower than the 4 cylinder

3) V6's operate much smother than the 4 and last longer (visit www.contour.org)

4) A 4 cyl auto makes only 1 more MPG than does a V6 manual meaning the fuel cost vs power gained is very small.

5) 4 cyl autos are prone to cause the steering column to shake when stopped and the transmission is in drive.

6) neither the 4 or 6 cylinder engine designs have changed since they were introduced in the '95 model -- only difference is in '98 there is the addition of a third engine with 200HP available only in the SVT model.

I don't think that the 4cyl is a bad engine. I just don't recommend it with an auto transmission. But the V6 powered Contour remains a far superior car.

I have the V6 in a 98 SE. I completely disagree with the author. I think the 4 cylinder is garbage. If you read the comment pages you will find that most of the problem cars are the 4 cylinder variety. I don't know if the transmissions are any different in the 6 cylinder cars, but they seem to be put together a little better. My car has been excellent. It is used for 90% freeway driving, and I don't know if that made any difference or not. The only thing that bugs me is the check engine light. The car runs fine, passes our smog test with flying colours. I have learned to ignore the light, as most shops can't find the problem anyways.