1996 Ford Contour GL review from North America

When I first bought the car, it had a bad wheel bearing on the front passenger side. I had that fixed and the driver's side front wheel bearing went. Now less than a year later, the same wheel bearing on the passenger side is going again.

The first day I drove the car, the blower motor broke. There was a recall on this so I got it fixed.

The timing belt rattles horribly whether or not its cold. It's just worse when it is cold.

The engine light is on. I was told that it is the (EPR) Valve and the (EPR) sensor. I don't know exactly what (EPR) stands for, but it has something to do with the fuel. Now I did try to replace this, however, you need a wrench and its hard to figure out what size it is. Once you figure out the size wrench you need, you'll have to make sure it is short enough to be able to turn it. There isn't a lot of space to work. So that's still not fixed.

The oxygen sensor went bad as well.

The doors all creak really bad. WD-40 works for a short while, but it still comes back. Sometimes they are hard to open.

Gas door release quit working, I had to break it open, so now it doesn't close.

Trunk release doesn't work.

Turn signals keep going out.

Condensation inside headlights.

Seat belts fell apart in back seat. I have one back there that works.

Driver's seat doesn't lock fully, so it jiggles just a little bit.

When I try to back up, there is a horrific sound like the brakes are going to fall off.

It doesn't idle at a constant speed.

It tries to stall when you first drive the car.

This car constantly needs wheel alignments or it shakes between 55 and 70 miles per hour.

The tires do not wear evenly.

Temperature gage started reading high. I had it tested and the fan kicks on at the right temperature, but it didn't used to do that. I also replace the thermostat, but that didn't fix it.

Overall as a car it is very comfortable and rides well aside from the shaking. It handles well in the snow. Since I had a manual transmission, I didn't really have a problem with pick up. However that's after the first 5-10 min of driving. With all the things that have gone wrong with this car. I will never again buy a Ford. I am sure with my list of things that went wrong I am probably forgetting something. But, as you can see many people have had many problems with this car. It is quite possibly the worst car ever produced.