1995 Ford Contour from North America - Comments

These are just the highlights:

The transmission has been replaced three times. The first time, I had less than 10,000 miles on my car and had owned it for less than a year. I was the original owner. The second and third times came approximately a year apart for each of the following two years.

There have been several recalls including the need to replace the gas tank, seat belts, sensors, and five or six others I can't remember exactly. I have a HUGE stack of papers detailing all the work that has been done on my car and all the recalls.

I have had to replace the neutral safety switch twice.

My check engine light started coming on in 1998. Five years and five thousand dollars later, I have had approximately 8 months in which the light didn't come on. Just in time for emissions testing for my annual inspection, I had problems again. In my county, your car has to pass emissions testing for the inspection to pass.

I believe there are around 32 sensors related to the engine in my car. I have replaced 15 of them.

The catalytic converter has been replaced.

The oxygen sensor has been replaced.

The mass air flow sensor has been replaced.

The torque converter has been replaced.

The spark plugs had to replaced at 35,000 miles!

The battery died way before it should have.

The brakes have been replaced twice.

I think the back seat of my car has been used approximately 10 times. You can imagine my shock that the interior panels are popping out (the ones between the passenger door and the rear window).

One of the springs in the driver's seat (the back) is popping out.

The exterior paint started peeling three years ago despite appropriate care.

The chrome trim has taken on a peeled/tarnished look.

The turn signals and brake lights have electrical problems I continue to have to have repaired.

This car gets all recommended servicing and is driven gently. I can honestly say that I have not done anything, but provide the Ford recommended care to this car and follow the servicing guidelines. I have had it for 8 years and it has less than 70,0000 miles on it.

The dealerships refuse to admit there is a problem with the car and consider me unreasonable in my beliefs that as representatives of Ford, they should be eager to make good on the $35,000 I've spent on purchasing and repairing this car.

For a few years, this was a beautiful car with a lovely interior. The working components of it, however, have never been anything, but junk. It doesn't technically meet the guidelines for a lemon in my state since each time in the shop is a new problem; but; it is most definitely a lemon. Ford owes all of us for the money we have wasted on the purchase of and on the good faith efforts to care for this junk.

I wholeheartedly agree. My Mercury Mystique (a Contour clone under the Mercury badge) started to experience serious problems at 70,000 miles despite nothing, but TLC. The front struts had to be replaced at 70,000, the mass air flow sensor and other assorted engine parts at about 74000, and the transmission at 79000. From about 50,000 miles on, virtually every warning light has come on for one reason or another, in particular the check engine light and the coolant light both of which have flashed multiple times. Sometimes the lights pointed to a real problem, other times not. But even so, there's always at least the $65 charge for diagnosis. Oh, and at about 40,000 miles, the exhaust manifold cracked. When this car ran right (and it did up to about 50K miles) it was a baby BMW. But I could not possibly recommend this car (or by extension any Ford product) based on my experience.

I will never buy a Ford again.

Contour owners abroad. Please check the wiring under your hood so you don't wind up like me!! I have a 95 SE contour. The wiring harness insulation began to crack allowing water to get into the wires. This shorted the whole electrical system out and now its just setting in my driveway. Useless. There was a recall on the wiring harness dated 99mar03 to replace the under hood wiring. I was never notified of such a recall. But Ford will gladly fix it for around $1900.00. Take a close look at the wires under the hood. bend them to see if they are cracked.

Garbage Garbage Garbage

The ford contour was my first car and it's a major disaster. I have a huge file on it. I wish we could get compensated by ford.

I agree with everyone who has many major complaints about this hunk of junk the Ford Motor Corp. has the nerve to call a car. My husband said if he ever buys a Ford again he wants me to shoot him. We are in debt so much to this car that we have no other option, but to fix it. The kicker here is this contour only has 70,000 miles on it. I do agree that Ford should find out who all of the contour owners are and either give them another car, and NOT a contour, or give them some sort of settlement.They could buy me off real cheap, $3,000 and i would keep my mouth shut about this sorry lemon.

I'll add that the brakes are poor, it feels like they won't stop the car! Sometimes I get scared of driving because of this. Also the cupholders are worthless and the plastic interiors... Despite this I have no major complaints on it.

I must add that not all fords are junk. I owned a 95 contour v6 se 5 speed. Although it did have minor problems it was extremely reliable and I put 60,000 miles on it. When I bought it it already had 113,000 miles and I only paid $2,000 for it. Now I own a 1991 ford escort pony. I only paid $500 dollars for it. I have driven it for a whole year now and it has not had any problems at all. All I have done is changed the oil and antifreeze.