21st Jan 2005, 16:35
I do not agree with the comment above. I think Ford Contours are pieces of junk. They are really very cheap cars. I bought my 1998 when it was pretty new. I paid more to keep it running than I did for the car. The bumper was falling off and I treated it like it was a 70,000 dollar car. I would have rather drove a lawn tractor than that thing. I was honestly worried that the wheels were going to fall off when I was driving it.
7th Jul 2005, 00:04
All of the problems you listed are not to be unexpected in any car after 80,000 miles. Belts wear down, tensioners may come loose, TIRES wear down after 50k as mentioned above (many even well before that). I hope you've at least changed your oil.
11th Jan 2008, 17:54
Correction: The above damages are not unexpected in cars over 80,000 if they are AMERICAN made. Foreign cars hold up much better... and this is coming from a person who owns 3 Ford vehicles... a 98 Contour, Ranger and F-250... I only keep them because I love the look of the F-250, and it is pre-computer so I have do the repairs myself... the Ranger because it was my late grandfathers, and the Contour because it was a gift. All my relatives drive foreign now, and they don't have these problems and they get much better gas mileage.
13th Jan 2009, 21:03
Everything above "temperature gauge not working" is wear and tear, NOT breakdowns! Brakes have a finite life, tires have a finite life. IIRC, the timing belt that broke at 85K is scheduled to be replaced at 60K. Also, the tires were allowed to wear all the way to the cords?!?
Owning a car requires more than just putting gas into it.
5th Oct 2004, 04:37
I own a 98GL, timing belt went out at 119k miles cost me 150 bucks to fix it (with Labor).
Also the driver side running light is out, but the turn signal still works, its not the bulb I have changed it and still the same thing.
Other than those 2 problems the car has been great to me, I don't mean to sound rude, but complaining about having to change tires at 87k miles when ALMOST all tires are only rated for 50k isn't that bad, also remember 90% of all problems are operator error, meaning if you get in a family car and try to drive it like a race car what can you expect it to do?