1997 Ford Contour SE from North America - Comments

I had to replace the starter at 33000 miles, 60000 miles, and 96000 miles.

Replaced the flywheel at 35000 miles and 96000 miles.

The water pump failed at 70000 miles.

2 of the 3 catalytic converter's failed at 71500 miles.

Rack & Pinion, and lower ball joint replaced at 96000 miles.

Both lower control arms replaced at 98500 miles.

This car is a maintenance nightmare.

What happened to "At Ford quality is job 1".

All these issues seem pretty normal to me for any car.

I do understand what your going through. I am recently putting on a new head gasket on a friend of my friend's 97 ford contour, out of all the head gaskets I've seen I've never seen one that had blew out so bad. The new one however is a solid tin one that has four pieces riveted together. Now I'm not a "ford technician," but I've been around and fixed a lot of cars, but this one is a true born lemon!

In the grand scheme of car repairs (and we've had to do plenty of them with 3 drivers in our family), these don't seem to be unusual repairs. I wish I had that kind of "luck" with our vehicles.

I have a 1995 Ford Contour SE

I just replaced the starter and the flywheel went.

I also had to replace the fuse panel, and ignition coil.

I can't afford this car. I just bought this car 1 year ago and have spent over 2000 dollars including repairs and towing.

I Don't think its "pretty Normal" as one persons comment was.

I agree... it is a nightmare. I wish I had never bought this car.