airlifter

you could be driving a Ford Contour. Traded mine in for the Pro last year after numerous problems. Many of them repeat items, like three waterpumps, constant CEL, and you name it.
Just went back to the old Contour forums and saw they now had in their Problems section over 2900 topics with over 17,000 posts.
Only decent thing about the car was the power of the Duratec, that's the ONLY thing I miss about the car. Otherwise, from my personal experience, it was a POS.

funkdaddysmack

My girlfriend's parents have a Contour, probably around a '99 or '00. I rode in it over xmas and I could tell that the transmission wasn't that great. It only has about 25k on it, but the transmission was shifting a lot rougher than it should have. I was not very impressed with it.

My roomates '00 zx2 on the other hand is nice. I think it has some version of a 'duratec' engine in it, and it's a great engine, lot's of pull.

freekwonder

the ZX2s have the Zetec motor in it. pretty much the same as the focus motor, but the heads are different. The Zx2s had VCT (variable cam timing) on the exhaust cam, it ony help it for emissions. i had a 98 zx2 traded it on my MP3 i miss that car is was fun.

jlanger

Hey don't be knockin the tour. I haven't had any major issues with it yet and I'm at 80k. My atx can still take any protege (in a straight line) and scare the beejesus out of ya in the corners too. However I do admit many tours have thier problems just like any other domestic car (especially ford) Look at the focus. CR voted it the best small car overall but the least dependable. (don't get that reasoning) I guess that detroit knows how to build good cars that aren't really durable.

The Old Guy

For over 20 years I had owned nothing but Fords and Mazdas. I've never had any major problems with any of them except a 84 RX7 that my ex-wife kept driving after a heater hose blew up, Temp gauge maxed out and all types of warnings were lighted up and beeping etc. Hell, I still don't know why she kept going.

I had a '00 Contour v-6, which I traded in for my Expedition, and never had any problems with it, after over 36k miles in one year.

People, if you want your car to last ( regardless of the brand or make except if it is a Yugo), all you have to do is change the oil every 3k miles and don't forget the tranny ( I service the tranny every 12k miles ) Rotate your tires, check your alignment and suspension components every 12k miles, check your belts every 12k miles, and if something minor starts giving you problems fix it as soon as possible because normally a minor deal will turn into a great deal....