Replying to a thread about a civic hybrid,  and how I'm planning on giving my 01 Civic to my gf when/if we get married to replace her Contour, I just wanted to tell you all NEVER buy this car...

First of all I have an 01 Civic EX with 70,000 miles on it.  30mpg city and up to 40mpg on the highway.   In all the miles I've racked up, I've only had one electrical problem that was covered under a recall and fixed for free.   I've changed the front brakes (myself) once,  had the trans fluid changed at 60K, and replaced the tires at 50,000.  Other than oil changes ever 6,000 miles and a tank of gas every 400 miles it's needed no other maintainence/repairs.

NOW, let me talk to you all about the Contour.  It's a 1998 with 70,000 miles on it.   It it's 70,000 miles, it has needed:

Battery replaced 2 times, and the cables replaced once due to corrosion
Engine valve cover gasket blew
Eats up tires left and right,  wears them unevenly
Paint is coming off
Has spit off 2 hubcaps on the highway
Hoses for the winsheild wiper fluid cracked and broke (you don't use rubber hoses on top of a hot engine!!
Alternator replaced
2 broken belts so far
Brakes have been replaced 2 times,  still squeek.
CD player will eat a CD and won't let it out
Sunroof worm gear was made out of plastic, and on any day over 90 degrees you risk stripping it.  this has happened 2 times.
The light that is in the area of the driver's feet stays on all the time (real pain in the ass at night)
Left blinker blows bulbs,  blinks fast, or doesn't blink at all,  depends on the mood.
There are a few more things, I just can't think of them at the moment.

DO NOT even get one of these if they are free.   Any other Contour owners with the same problems?  

It's a Ford.  That's enough for me to avoid it.  

Father in Law has one.

His has electrical demons and front suspension problems.

Never had any of those major issues.  In fact, was on a board with Contour owners and never heard of those kinds of issues.

I had a 95 LX V6....which was the first year in the US.

The SVT Contour was a pretty nice car.

BTW, the Mondeo was the basis for the Jag X-type and the Mondeo was the cousin to the Contour.

All fords SUCK

from what I've seen, all economy cars that are domestically produced suck, badly

Never heard anything good about these cars...Dunno if it's the biggest POS ever, but it ranks up there pretty high. The Tempo was a huge POS as well.

Like TheRedHorseman says, most domestic econo cars blow.

All of the major USA automobiles don't spend enough time/money doing R&D for the vehicles. And they take major shortcuts that shows up in longivity problems. If you only plan to drive a car for 3-5 years and then trade it in you can get by on a USA car, but your trade-in value will be worth zero. If you plan to keep a car for the long term or want to get max resale value, get a Honda, Toyota, Inifinity, Lexus etc. Those rice burners have a better resale value.

Quoted: It's a Ford.  That's enough for me to avoid it.

That may certainly apply to the cars, but I've been pretty damned impressed with their SUV's and trucks lately....

Quoted: All of the major USA automobiles don't spend enough time/money doing R&D for the vehicles. And they take major shortcuts that shows up in longivity problems. If you only plan to drive a car for 3-5 years and then trade it in you can get by on a USA car, but your trade-in value will be worth zero. If you plan to keep a car for the long term or want to get max resale value, get a Honda, Toyota, Inifinity, Lexus etc. Those rice burners have a better resale value.

<cough>BMW<cough>

Quoted: Father in Law has one. His has electrical demons and front suspension problems.

Most all fords have those -  the gremlins didn't die in the pinto - they just changed residence.

Owner of:

1995 Mercury Grand Marquis (Electrical, Vaccuum, Suspension, Engine, Interior, Window Regulator, Door Locks, Transmission Problems)
1997 Ford F150 (Electrical, Suspension, O2 Sensor, Radio Problems)

Family:

1996 F350 (Transmission, Electrical Problems)
1999 F150 (Transmission, Electrical, Suspension Problems)
2002 Lincoln TownCar (Transmission, Electrical Problems)
2004 F150 (No problems to date, but only 6 months old!)

Notice a trend with Fords?

Quoted: All of the major USA automobiles don't spend enough time/money doing R&D for the vehicles. And they take major shortcuts that shows up in longivity problems. If you only plan to drive a car for 3-5 years and then trade it in you can get by on a USA car, but your trade-in value will be worth zero. If you plan to keep a car for the long term or want to get max resale value, get a Honda, Toyota, Inifinity, Lexus etc. Those rice burners have a better resale value.

The Contour was being built in Europe and sold there as the Mondeo for two years before it was ever made and sold here.

The design and development were done.  It is very possible that Ford cheapened the build of the car here to make it price competitive.  In Europe, the Mondeo is not an "economy compact", but is considered a mid-sized family car and sells for more money.

Never driven a Chevy Cavalier have you?

I owned Fords most of my life, drive Fords, have a Mustang for collectors in my garage.  The dealer pissed me off two and a half years ago and I bought a Subie WRX.  A ford SUV bitch crushed it with me in it, I replaced it with a 2004 turbo Forrester XT.

Quality is top notch, cars is quick as hell and runs like a dream, ever accessory works, the dealer is great, the price was almost free and with all wheel drive it is stable and great on snow and on muddy roads.  I'll never buy another Ford again.  As with most shit made by GMC, american car makers still miss the point on quality and performance.

Why pay 25K for a Ford with cheap plastic bits that fucking fall off or break? My last Ford had pot metal bits holding the antenna on,  they broke in the cold or a car wash and cost 45 bucks to repair, the "A" pillar trim was brittle and cracked in 6 months, the lighter or power outlet was a 15 dollar option, the electric windows sounded like a garage door opener was in the damned door. Who needs this shit?

The Ford Contour/Mondeo and Mercury Mystique was designed as a "world" car and was Ford's first attempt at it. The car was primarily designed in europe and also cost a ton to design and bring to market.

It flopped in the US marketplace. There are consequences to a car flopping in the marketplace.
 -It means Ford vice presidents decide to retire
 -It means the company boosts sales by selling the car to rental car agencies
 -It means the company starts stripping the car of cost in order to make the car competitive on price since it is not competitive on anything else.

When you start stripping the car of high cost items and make them cheaper, guess what, quality goes down. Hint... Hint.... do not buy marketing flops that are sold on price.

Never had a Ford, but my 93 Dodge Spirit is still going strong.  Engine sounds like the pistons have a couple of inches of clearance between the cylinder walls, but still runs good with almost 180,000 miles on it.  Decent little grocery getter.

My 97 Toyota Corolla with 150,000 miles on it is in a totally different league than the Spirit.  Engine sounds new, very tight, and I swear you could balance a nickel on it with the thing wide open.  It is a great car.  

Sorry about your Ford.  

vmax84

Quoted: Never driven a Chevy Cavalier have you?

nope, but I've worked on a lot of them, I'll pass

Quoted: All fords SUCK

+1

Quoted: Quoted: Father in Law has one. His has electrical demons and front suspension problems. Most all fords have those -  the gremlins didn't die in the pinto - they just changed residence. Owner of: 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis (Electrical, Vaccuum, Suspension, Engine, Interior, Window Regulator, Door Locks, Transmission Problems) 1997 Ford F150 (Electrical, Suspension, O2 Sensor, Radio Problems) Family: 1996 F350 (Transmission, Electrical Problems) 1999 F150 (Transmission, Electrical, Suspension Problems) 2002 Lincoln TownCar (Transmission, Electrical Problems) 2004 F150 (No problems to date, but only 6 months old!) Notice a trend with Fords?

Not a flame, but what keeps you coming back??? I stopped buying Chebby after my first crappy one (96 Malibu). No problems with my Dodge Trucks... only minor ones with my wife's Jeeps.

I had a 2000 Contour SVT and it fucking ROCKED!  great car.  Enjoyed driving it and nothing ever went wrong with it.

Traded it ini on my Miata.

Agreed.

My wife brought one with her when we got married. It died in July, turns over, has spark and getting fuel but doesnt start. It's been sitting in the apartment parking lot since then. I'm building a house and haven't had time to fix it. I just got a OBD 2 code reader so I can pull the codes out of it and fix it. Till then she's driving my 04 Chevy 2500 HD big block and I'm driving the 85 Chev pick up I've had since high school (11 years)

Quoted: Not a flame, but what keeps you coming back??? I stopped buying Chebby after my first crappy one (96 Malibu). No problems with my Dodge Trucks... only minor ones with my wife's Jeeps.

No flame taken.

I've tried to tell my family to stop buying Fords, and it has worked for the most part.  My grandfather who was adamant about buying Fords bought his first forgein car - a Volkswagen!  

My first car was a 94 F150 with absolutely no problems - and I beat the shit out of it.  I decided to keep buying Fords - the Mercury has been a different story.    Problems from the day I took it home.  Well my first Ford truck was good - kinda hard to screw up a pickup truck.  I regretted buying that dump of a truck - the 97.  

My wife and I are about to trade the Merc for a Nissan Maxima.  Something that will not have problems hopefully (but built by those French cheese eating surrender monkeys!)

These are the last Fords I will ever own.  I have seen the quality of Ford plummet the last few years.  I think they may end up like Chrysler and will have to be bailed out if these quality issue keeps continuing.

The rest of my family is looking to ditch all their Fords, but car prices being so high, it takes a while to save the money for a new car.  

If I had the money, I would buy a new Nissan Titan.  I love the style and looks of that truck.  But at 30k+ I just don't have the money.  I'm stuck with the dumpards till I get out of law school at a minimum.

Quoted: Quoted: Father in Law has one. His has electrical demons and front suspension problems. Most all fords have those -  the gremlins didn't die in the pinto - they just changed residence. Owner of: 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis (Electrical, Vaccuum, Suspension, Engine, Interior, Window Regulator, Door Locks, Transmission Problems) 1997 Ford F150 (Electrical, Suspension, O2 Sensor, Radio Problems) Family: 1996 F350 (Transmission, Electrical Problems) 1999 F150 (Transmission, Electrical, Suspension Problems) 2002 Lincoln TownCar (Transmission, Electrical Problems) 2004 F150 (No problems to date, but only 6 months old!) Notice a trend with Fords?

Big +1

Bough a '99 Ranger, brand new. By 2001, It had gone through 2 fuel pumps, electrical problems, suspension problems, and finally, despite regular maintenance, The tranny took a dump, and the motor threw a rod. Left me owing a big chunk of cash...if my soon to be father in law [at the time] hadn't owned a dealership, I would have been screwed...ended up getting 4k for the truck, and dumping 2k on top to keep from being upside down.

Fuck Ford.

it took you 70K before you figured out it was a poo poo car

I owned a 2000 Contour.  Was the WORST car I have ever owned.  In the 33K I had it I had to:

Needed a new brake proportioning valve as part of a safety recall.
Replaced the fuel pump.
Clutch cable snapped due to being routed incorrectly at the factory.  Stranded me.
Parking brake froze due to water in the cables.  Also stranded me.
Had the alignment reset twice.  Second time tie rod ends had to be replaced.  Car could never hold an alignment.  Seemed to have too much power (200hp) for the cheap econo car chassis.
Had to replace the switch for the Moonroof when it failed (luckily while closed.

Asked Ford dealer about trading it in less than 2 years after buying it.  Offered me $6200 on a car that stickered for $19,000.  Sold it for what I owed on it before the warranty ran out. Turned my back on Ford and won't go back.

My experience with this car, a 1998 Windstar I had as a company car (total failure of the transmission) and my time calling on Ford as a supplier have led me to the conclusion FUCK FORD.  They do not even deserve credit as an 'American' company due to:

1) Pushing all of their major supplier to open factories in Red China as a requirement to getting new contracts.
2) Outsourcing their major data processing functions like Accounts Payable and Engineering Change Management systems to India.
3) Their fanatical diversity hiring practices which is destroying the salaried work force.

Ford is making JUNK.  Stay away from them.  Even their trucks are starting to go down hill, last year they set a target of $1000/unit Material Cost Reductions for the F-Series due to inadequate profitability.  God only knows how cheap those will be by 2006.

Get a DCX product instead.  They're starting to filter their Mercedes hardware down to the Chrysler/Jeep products.

Quoted: Never heard anything good about these cars...Dunno if it's the biggest POS ever, but it ranks up there pretty high. The Tempo was a huge POS as well.

+ a gazillion.  And the Taurus also.  If I ever meet the Ford engineers responsible for the Taurus asskicking will ensue.  Egad what a POS.

Huh, funny then that my Mercury Mystique (same car you know) has 130,000 miles and not one repair.  My previous car was was a Topaz that I sold with 140,000 miles.  It too had no repairs, heck it was still on the original clutch!  

Some people can break an anvil in a sandbox.

Quoted: + a gazillion.  And the Taurus also.  If I ever meet the Ford engineers responsible for the Taurus asskicking will ensue.  Egad what a POS.

I bet there are a few that post here, and they will be unanimous in saying: "If it was our call, we would have done it different".

Unfortunately, management makes most of the big engineering decisions like what the piece part cost will be, and what technologies will be incorporated into the design and manufacturing processes. The engineers are left to solve the problems with inadequate tools/budget/space/weight/suppliers/etc.....


It also doesn't help that the car lines just suck for profitability and the lesser management guys end up on the car side, where trucks are bringing home the big bucks and the better management types end up there.
Not that I used to work there as an enginer and experienced it first hand or anything ................

Quoted: it took you 70K before you figured out it was a poo poo car

Maybe he's an optimist?

I had a Chevy Caprice (two actually) that went 200k miles. I started reading the service receipts one day and realized the THOUSANDS of dollars I spent fixing the damned things.  Who ever has had to rebuild a rear end because the bearings wore out? Water pumps and alternators every 50 - 60k like clockwork. I started replacing them at those intervals knowing they were going to crap out. Cheap cars to buy that were damned expensive to keep on the road.