1996 Ford Contour GL review from North America
"Reliable if maintained, very costly when it does break, too many known problems/recalls"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
Got in April '05, front doors very hard to open.
Fan switch high setting quit working in December.
Rear passenger and front driver wheel bearing went bad in summer.
Front coil springs broken (apparently they were that way when I got the car, and it's a known problem).
Ball joints bad, shakes at highway speed.
Transmission slips in cold weather.
All brand new tires in may 2005 and I already replaced all 4 again a couple months ago.
Replaced all the timing in September because a pulley broke inside.
Also it gets terrible gas mileage after a full tune up. 26-27 mpg highway and my 89 Celebrity with a V6 gets better than that.
Both cupholders broke off.
Windshield developed a crack from god knows what, slowly worked its way all the way across.
General comments?
Car runs great, drives good, it starts up every day.
Besides the stuff that's wrong with it, (since most of it was bad when I got it, I don't know what caused it or how long ago it happened) it's actually a pretty good car. but I'm just waiting for all the problems I hear about it to start happening.
Kinda slow, no power... but the a.c. works great!
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 |
| Model year | 1996 |
| Year of manufacture | 1996 |
| First year of ownership | 2005 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2006 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.0 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 5 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 8 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 8 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 8 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 106700 miles |
| Most recent distance | 126500 miles |
| Previous car | Isuzu Stylus |
| Date of Entry | 26th August, 2006 |