To give Ford some credit, the '94 Contour was LIGHT YEARS better than the outgoing '93 Tempo. The ergonomics were substantially better, the design was modern, and the performance was competitive. Its size was on par with GM's N platform cars, Altima, 626, Galant, and others, and it had comparable features. Too bad it had a lot of reliability gremlins those other cars didn't. And there was no ignoring the price comparison to the roomier garbage Taurus in the same showroom. Anyway...I'm not adding anything you haven't mentioned. Just commenting to help your algorithm. 😁 5 Stars.
It was exponentially better than the Tempo...but the bar wasn't set very high! There were some former-Eastern Bloc countries making cars better than the Tempo at that time. 😁
@@IgoZoom1 My future wife had a 88 Tempo when we started dating. I would place it higher than Yugo quality. It was laughable compared to my 84 Celica GT then though.
As a former SVT Contour owner and having spent way too much time in the CEG forums, unless I missed it, Ford was also trying to fend off the Camry, so they put more money on the hood of the Taurus to keep those sales up. Buyers would show up at their local Ford dealer and see they could get the Taurus for the same, or even less if the rebates were just right, than the cost of the Contour. Add in the "bigger is better" mentality of the typical US car buyer and it's easy to see why Contour sales slumped. I liked the driving dynamics of the car, but I used mine for commuting and autocrossing. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea for sure. Fast forward 30 years and I've been driving primarily Toyotas and Mazda offerings since and am currently rocking a 2023 Mazda CX-30 Turbo Premium Plus. I like a small, fun to drive car and Mazda seems to be my sweet spot. FWIW to give some background regarding my preferences and biases.
I had a ‘96 LX 4 cylinder Contour auto as a company car for two years or so. I loved the car! Had I stayed on with the company long enough after it was sold, I would have bought the car from the new company when they eventually did away with company cars. That Contour is one of the few cars I have had (it was my daily driver even though it was a company car) that I ever missed!
these cars were the same length as the tempo/topaz before them about 15.4 Ft which is a larger compact car like an Oldsmobile Cutlass or a Buick Skylark or Mercury Marquis after being downsized in 1977 and another inch shaved in 1985
@doug6191 Thank you for reaching out to Auto Chatter's complaint department. As you can see, the channel created a Contour episode solely for your viewing enjoyment....and yours alone. Unfortunately, we accidentally set it for public broadcast, so others may see it too. I think AT&T just did somthing similar with millions of people's cel data.
At my high school, one of the kids moved away during our freshman year. His dad moved around his whole life with his job and this kid, of course, had to do the same. He moved back halfway through our senior year. He came back much taller, incredibly muscled and good looking, and his car... a Ford Contour SVT. I don't know a single guy who wasn't jealous. I had multiple friends over the years that these were their first car (mostly Contours) and they seemed to be bullet proof and cheap to run. Boring, but solid. Kinda like the Tauras of the time.
@reslider I graduated High School in B.C. times (Before Contour) in the early 90s. But I had friends,coworkers and such with them when we were in our 20s. A SVT Contour was a rare sight for me.
Another good one! Although I like the looks of the Contour, a lot of my viewers mentioned how much of a headache they are to live with. The Mystique was stylish but both cars definitely felt cramped inside. The contemporary escort and tracer felt roomier. Still grateful we had a variety of sedans to choose from back then. The current U.S. car market is trash
I had a 2000 Contour SVT. One of my favorite cars. I loved the size and proportions and like many people, I use my cars to commute and rarely have a second passenger, let alone anyone in the back seat. At the time, there were a lot of car publishing mags that did complain about rear seat room but it was a moot point to me as how often is the back seat actually used for carrying people? The car was fun to drive and the 5 speed manual was excellent. If the SVT had had the Taurus 3 liter V6 rather than the 2.5, it would have been a much bigger bang for the buck.
@SHO1989 I get that part, but it was a sedan,and as such the back seat was a bit lacking. Most of these sold were the garden variety regualr ones where people wanted more room.Car was pricey too as a 98 Mustang GT started about 3k less than a SVT then....I understand a SVT was pretty loaded up compared to a base GT though. If I was in a Ford showroom then shopping and only needed a token back seat, I would have got the Stang, but im a RWD guy..The 3 liter would have made it a beast!
Back in the day, my aunt had a 1995 Contour GL with tan exterior and interior and no tachometer. It was a cool, but every time we all go somewhere, the back seats were cramped. And in year 1999, my sister traded in her 1990 Tempo for a Contour GL base with blue exterior and interior and no tachometer, but I still had fun driving, it handled good, and the back seats were a little bit roomy. In 2008, I almost bought me a used red Contour SVT with a sunroof. I regretted it. Instead, my mom gave me her 2004 Dodge Stratus SE.
My uncle bought one back in 95 . A laser blue loaded leather model. To a teenager it was a slick modern looking car. Looked like a spaceship to me! My uncles complaints were that it was too expensive and there was no space . He had three preteen age kids at the time. He ended up getting rid of it not long down the road.
I never owned or worked on these cars, but I've sold auto parts since 1989 and I very well remember mechanics telling me that there was no pulling the engine from the top. The subframe HAD to be dropped, so if you didn't have a lift, home mechanics were usually at the mercy of a garage. Never a good thing for a "cheap" domestic car. Yes, that was heresay, but I heard it said often enough that I believed it. I did work with a young 20-something year old guy who had one of the SVT's. He was in love with that car, and it seemed to be something the ladies liked. We'll call that hearsay too lol.
Excellent job. I liked that you mentioned the global places it sold and the difficulties in the United States. I liked the footage as well. You made it quite interesting as well. Ford has tried these global cars and cannot seem to get the right because every market has different needs. They tried with The Escort, the Scorpio and XR4Ti, these two and many others. How do you make a global car? Honda and Toyota and Nissan and Hyundai seem to do it. One key is the cars have to be bigger for American tastes. I did again like how you talked about the global angle.
@OLDS98 I think the Japanese brands got around it...by offering North American specific versions of their larger sedans. The third gen big Altima wasn't sold in the home market. Honda had a Accord here....and one sold elsewhere that we knew as the Acura TSX. Camrys by the 90s had North American designed models. Thank you as always Olds! Did you watch the Buick Reatta last week? I mentioned some Oldsmobiles in it too.
@@autochatter I watched the Reatta video and commented on it. I wrote a detailed response. I sent you links to videos as well in the response. I have seen the JDM versions of models compared to the American versions here on You Tube and other places online. They did get around it by offering the different sized models. They looked slightly different too. I know they have design studios here in the United States as well.
@@autochatter I understand. We just went through a hurricane here. I just got my internet back at 8:38 pm tonight.( July 14) People are still in recovery mode here.
My mom had bought a used ‘97 Mystique in 2002. It was a nice car for what it was but the thing broke down so much. By early 2004 she traded it for a Focus that ended up being the most reliable car she’s had until she eventually replaced it with a 2020 Fusion which has been good too!
the reason why the legroom was so bad was actually due to the contour and mystique not opting for the scalopped seats, which the european mondeo did get from the get go. There was also the fact that even WITH that difference, in europe it also got the complaint for being somewhat cramped compared to cars like the VW Passat and the Opel Vectra (which was actually smaller in overall size), this had much to do with the short wheelbase the car had and the fact that unlike Mazda, they didn't make sure to utilize the wheelbase to the best of their ability (IE. no hatchback meant sedans with clunkier rear ends and generally less space due to the US loving their trunks xD
@TheChill001 Great post! I mentioned there was a few model years where they kept trying to tweak it. Read somewhere the platform was originally designed with AWD in mind too. Maybe there was additional compromises due to that? My old car was a 15 WRX and I was always impressed how roomy the back seat managed to be.
Nice touch with the Contour pillow. The 4cyl engine in them sounded like coffee bean grinders when you drove them like rentals. The example was a Thrifty rental lovingly called the Mercury Mistake. The V6 on the other hand changed those bad vibes. Was the Cougar of the same vintage not based on the same platform?
@ericharrison619 LOL..when I was writing it, I recalled some commercials for products named Contour that I used to hate to see on T.V. ("I got the microwave!") .Silly I know. Yes the final Cougar for all intents and purposes, was a 2 door Contour. I mentioned that in my Probe episode. The V6 was cool, but man was that engine compartment tight!
I would have liked to have a Contour, but the timing was never right. At one point when I was in the market for a car, used Contours hadn't depreciated into my price range. Next time I was in the market was years later, when they had too many miles on them. I definitely heard good things about the Contour.
Big improvement over the Tempo....but at a price (literally). They seemed to go away off the road pretty quickly. I haven't seen one in the wild for years.
If this replaced the Escort as Ford's compact sedan, it might have sold better. Because Ford was trying to compete with the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord (the best sellers among the midsized sedan class) with a car that was the size of a Corolla of the time.
@damilolaakanni The Taurus was what was duking it out with Camry and Accord. The Contour competitors would be vehicles like the Grand Am, Mailbu,Altima,Mazda 626...etc
I never understood the hate for these cars. They weren't exceptional in any way, but a friend had a base Contour SE and it was decent enough. I had a '96 Accord at the same time and I remember the Contour was much slower. But it wasn't an objectively bad car. Later on, a neighbor had an SVT and I always thought it looked good. Mercury was just asking for it when they named it though, Mercury Mistake just rolls right off the tongue.
@IgoZoom1 "Not objectively bad" could also describe somthing you rented from Avis LOL. They were not bad, just kind of pricey for what they were IMO. The back seat was a letdown. And yeah the Mystique name was almost as bad as calling a car a Probe....Good thing Ford didn't do that too 😉
@@autochatter I'm trying to be nice here. Funny you should mention Avis because rental fleets were where most of these landed (along with Tauruses after the new wore off). The back seat wasn't roomy, but it was probably bigger than in the Tempo/Topaz before it. I was in high school when the Probe was introduced. The jokes were endless! It's a shame because I thought it was a fairly interesting car (although I preferred the Mazda MX-6 it was based on). Names like that are proof of how detached Big Three Execs were from reality back then.
@@IgoZoom1 Yeah..I made mention of the Probes name when I did that vid...As far as the jokes that stemmed from it then (Its also why I had a Alien in the thumbnail). I was in High School when they came out too! The real detached part was what the Probe was originally supposed to be.
@@autochatter I remember some car mags calling it the Maztang or something similar. No doubt it would have sold better if it was called the Mustang. But it would have made a mockery of the name.
We had two Mercury Mistakes. Both were entry level and both were the ultra high performance 4 cylinder. While they were so much better than the Tempaz, Ford really dropped the ball.
@@autochatterthey had to write on the window sticker that you were getting a $50 credit be cause they couldn't add tilt wheel? Oh brother. It was a very elderly aunt who bought them. She gave one to her niece who traded it for a Toyota!!
@Mr6384 That kind of stuff happens..I think some GMs recently had a MSRP credit, because they didn't have blind spot monitoring or somthing like that due to the pandemic?
@@autochatter gotcha. I’d never seen that in my life. And, the underlying theme here, for me, is tilt wheel! See, I’m disabled with a back built by Yugo. So being able to flip up the wheel is a must have. (Not like these stupid unlock it/move it/lock it) My 2004 Grand Marquis, 1978 Ford Thunderbird, my 1978 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance and my 1986 K1500 all have tilt wheel!!! I’ll drive without a radio, but not with a fixed wheel! We bought a 79 Caprice one time-no tilt. My wife came out to use the car to go to the store-I had already replaced the steering column with a tilt column!!! Anyway, back on point-I’d never seen a manufacturer disclaimer that something wasn’t there. Funny part is that the euro version had tilt with the air bag.
@@Mr6384 When I did the 2nd gen Firebird vid, I mentioned you could forgo a big block on a Trans Am and get a credit...Like who would have done that? LOL. Sorry about your back. My current car has Tilt and telescope which is great, but given that it's a MX5, getting in and out isn't as easy as most other cars. Hope you liked the Contour vid...I was a bit harsh LOL.
Nobody bought an Expire on purpose, it was always "Sorry, your financing for the Escort did not go through...we can get you behind the wheel of something else though"
@@autochatter The seats were awful and there was some odd resonance while driving that didn’t feel like a malfunction. Weirdly intrusive NVH. I couldn’t wait to take them back and my standards for rental cars are pretty low (e.g. a Neon, Sentra, or PT Cruiser was fine by me).
@BillLaBrie I could see that. PT Cruisers get alot of hate, but I thought they actually drove OK. The 4 cylinder Contours were buzzy and the seats were more firm import and less domesticy plush?
@@autochatter I suppose one could say that. The other car of the time with the same problem was a Mercury Sable. I assumed Jacques Nasser was showing America how the average European (non premium) car drove.
I looked at a new 1995 contour and it was a few thousand dollars more than the tempo. And you didn't anything really extra. Plus it looked like a bar of soap.
Another glorious day for a chatter! These were awful cars and, as I recall, a very good friend of mine coined the phrase: "I'd rather shit in it than sit in it". I'm not quite that much of a hater of these than he was.... but not too far off. So... I've ran through the list of chatters done and, while there are some absolutely brilliant vehicles.... even iconic... you have yet to chatter about the Pontiac Grand Prix. In terms of numbers of different cars I've owned.... the Grand Prix is the one I've owned most examples of. It's definitely one of my favourite cars of all time.... just the RWD ones... I never felt the love for the FWD models. Plenty of chatters could be done on the various gens of that fine piece of 'Murican iron 🤔 Anyway... like, comment, subscribe and hit the all notifications bell y'all.
@haggis525 Well look what the internet drug in! 🤣 Thank you! Yeah....Grand Prix is going to get done sometime..Ive already done a disproprtional amount of Pontiacs.
I thought they looked good.... I bought a used one and it was the most horrible car i've ever had. Weird engineering. Got around poorly and winter and snow. Bad engine that Coolant got into the engine oil. Needed replacement. Add a top heavy feel Driving it. Bad design overall
To give Ford some credit, the '94 Contour was LIGHT YEARS better than the outgoing '93 Tempo. The ergonomics were substantially better, the design was modern, and the performance was competitive. Its size was on par with GM's N platform cars, Altima, 626, Galant, and others, and it had comparable features.
Too bad it had a lot of reliability gremlins those other cars didn't. And there was no ignoring the price comparison to the roomier garbage Taurus in the same showroom.
Anyway...I'm not adding anything you haven't mentioned. Just commenting to help your algorithm. 😁
5 Stars.
@doug6191 5 stars..I'll take it! Yeah we're sharing a brain on the Contour overall for sure.
It was exponentially better than the Tempo...but the bar wasn't set very high! There were some former-Eastern Bloc countries making cars better than the Tempo at that time. 😁
@@IgoZoom1 My future wife had a 88 Tempo when we started dating. I would place it higher than Yugo quality. It was laughable compared to my 84 Celica GT then though.
I had a couple of Contours with manual transmissions and really liked them.
I didn't see many manual ones, but I'm sure they were alot more fun.
As a former SVT Contour owner and having spent way too much time in the CEG forums, unless I missed it, Ford was also trying to fend off the Camry, so they put more money on the hood of the Taurus to keep those sales up.
Buyers would show up at their local Ford dealer and see they could get the Taurus for the same, or even less if the rebates were just right, than the cost of the Contour. Add in the "bigger is better" mentality of the typical US car buyer and it's easy to see why Contour sales slumped.
I liked the driving dynamics of the car, but I used mine for commuting and autocrossing. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea for sure.
Fast forward 30 years and I've been driving primarily Toyotas and Mazda offerings since and am currently rocking a 2023 Mazda CX-30 Turbo Premium Plus. I like a small, fun to drive car and Mazda seems to be my sweet spot. FWIW to give some background regarding my preferences and biases.
Excellent post. I own a MX5 RF, so I definately know where your coming from!
I had a ‘96 LX 4 cylinder Contour auto as a company car for two years or so. I loved the car! Had I stayed on with the company long enough after it was sold, I would have bought the car from the new company when they eventually did away with company cars. That Contour is one of the few cars I have had (it was my daily driver even though it was a company car) that I ever missed!
I had a 98 Contour, 4 cyl ztec - manual transmission. I had that for many years and drove it more than any other car. Great car.
@@leogeee1 The easier to work on engine choice and simpler manual.Recipe for longevity.
I bought one to replace my Escort. A 98 Mercury Mystique GS 5 speed. Loved the ride. It was my daily. 😊
@@Hobotraveler82 Cool!
You have my deepest condolences. 😥
these cars were the same length as the tempo/topaz before them about 15.4 Ft which is a larger compact car like an Oldsmobile Cutlass or a Buick Skylark or Mercury Marquis after being downsized in 1977 and another inch shaved in 1985
*There* it is. I knew the manager would address my complaint.
@doug6191 Thank you for reaching out to Auto Chatter's complaint department. As you can see, the channel created a Contour episode solely for your viewing enjoyment....and yours alone. Unfortunately, we accidentally set it for public broadcast, so others may see it too. I think AT&T just did somthing similar with millions of people's cel data.
@@autochatter Glad AT&T is so transparent.
@@doug6191 LOL..Im sure whoever hacked them thought so!
At my high school, one of the kids moved away during our freshman year. His dad moved around his whole life with his job and this kid, of course, had to do the same. He moved back halfway through our senior year. He came back much taller, incredibly muscled and good looking, and his car... a Ford Contour SVT. I don't know a single guy who wasn't jealous. I had multiple friends over the years that these were their first car (mostly Contours) and they seemed to be bullet proof and cheap to run. Boring, but solid. Kinda like the Tauras of the time.
@reslider I graduated High School in B.C. times (Before Contour) in the early 90s. But I had friends,coworkers and such with them when we were in our 20s. A SVT Contour was a rare sight for me.
I loved the glowing door handle wells.
@GeeEm1313 I forgot about those! Ford used to do those little light up keyholes for the outside doors too.
Another good one! Although I like the looks of the Contour, a lot of my viewers mentioned how much of a headache they are to live with. The Mystique was stylish but both cars definitely felt cramped inside. The contemporary escort and tracer felt roomier.
Still grateful we had a variety of sedans to choose from back then. The current U.S. car market is trash
@MotorMaster_Stunticon Thank you Rob! I agree.
The Contour SVT was quite the muscle car.
I had a 2000 Contour SVT. One of my favorite cars. I loved the size and proportions and like many people, I use my cars to commute and rarely have a second passenger, let alone anyone in the back seat.
At the time, there were a lot of car publishing mags that did complain about rear seat room but it was a moot point to me as how often is the back seat actually used for carrying people?
The car was fun to drive and the 5 speed manual was excellent. If the SVT had had the Taurus 3 liter V6 rather than the 2.5, it would have been a much bigger bang for the buck.
@SHO1989 I get that part, but it was a sedan,and as such the back seat was a bit lacking. Most of these sold were the garden variety regualr ones where people wanted more room.Car was pricey too as a 98 Mustang GT started about 3k less than a SVT then....I understand a SVT was pretty loaded up compared to a base GT though. If I was in a Ford showroom then shopping and only needed a token back seat, I would have got the Stang, but im a RWD guy..The 3 liter would have made it a beast!
Back in the day, my aunt had a 1995 Contour GL with tan exterior and interior and no tachometer. It was a cool, but every time we all go somewhere, the back seats were cramped. And in year 1999, my sister traded in her 1990 Tempo for a Contour GL base with blue exterior and interior and no tachometer, but I still had fun driving, it handled good, and the back seats were a little bit roomy. In 2008, I almost bought me a used red Contour SVT with a sunroof. I regretted it. Instead, my mom gave me her 2004 Dodge Stratus SE.
You may have dodged a bullet. All I remember about V6 Contours the most was no one liked having to do anything under the hood!
At least the Stratus engine was easy to work on with the 2.4 L inline 4 and plenty of space.
@ericbritton9346 Yep...Other than the occasional head gasket failure, they were pretty good.
Thanks!!!
@@vwgolf6487 I take it you enjoyed it. Thank you!
My uncle bought one back in 95 . A laser blue loaded leather model. To a teenager it was a slick modern looking car. Looked like a spaceship to me! My uncles complaints were that it was too expensive and there was no space . He had three preteen age kids at the time. He ended up getting rid of it not long down the road.
@sneakerfreak2002 those were my two biggest gripes with it too!
My late mother’s last car.
1995 Mystique LS.
Dark green with gray leather.
@@wmalden I'm sorry for your loss.
I never owned or worked on these cars, but I've sold auto parts since 1989 and I very well remember mechanics telling me that there was no pulling the engine from the top. The subframe HAD to be dropped, so if you didn't have a lift, home mechanics were usually at the mercy of a garage. Never a good thing for a "cheap" domestic car. Yes, that was heresay, but I heard it said often enough that I believed it. I did work with a young 20-something year old guy who had one of the SVT's. He was in love with that car, and it seemed to be something the ladies liked. We'll call that hearsay too lol.
@k.b.tidwell I'd say what you heard was valid! Except the ladies loving the SVT part LOL.
Excellent job. I liked that you mentioned the global places it sold and the difficulties in the United States. I liked the footage as well. You made it quite interesting as well. Ford has tried these global cars and cannot seem to get the right because every market has different needs. They tried with The Escort, the Scorpio and XR4Ti, these two and many others. How do you make a global car? Honda and Toyota and Nissan and Hyundai seem to do it. One key is the cars have to be bigger for American tastes. I did again like how you talked about the global angle.
@OLDS98 I think the Japanese brands got around it...by offering North American specific versions of their larger sedans. The third gen big Altima wasn't sold in the home market. Honda had a Accord here....and one sold elsewhere that we knew as the Acura TSX. Camrys by the 90s had North American designed models. Thank you as always Olds! Did you watch the Buick Reatta last week? I mentioned some Oldsmobiles in it too.
@@autochatter I watched the Reatta video and commented on it. I wrote a detailed response. I sent you links to videos as well in the response. I have seen the JDM versions of models compared to the American versions here on You Tube and other places online. They did get around it by offering the different sized models. They looked slightly different too. I know they have design studios here in the United States as well.
@OLDS98 You did...My bad..Been a crazy weekend LOL.
@@autochatter I understand. We just went through a hurricane here. I just got my internet back at 8:38 pm tonight.( July 14) People are still in recovery mode here.
@OLDS98 I've been in my share of those for sure!
My mom had bought a used ‘97 Mystique in 2002. It was a nice car for what it was but the thing broke down so much. By early 2004 she traded it for a Focus that ended up being the most reliable car she’s had until she eventually replaced it with a 2020 Fusion which has been good too!
@podmuse1994 I liked the Focus. Finally got the Escort right. The Fusions seemed to be good cars too I agree.
the reason why the legroom was so bad was actually due to the contour and mystique not opting for the scalopped seats, which the european mondeo did get from the get go. There was also the fact that even WITH that difference, in europe it also got the complaint for being somewhat cramped compared to cars like the VW Passat and the Opel Vectra (which was actually smaller in overall size), this had much to do with the short wheelbase the car had and the fact that unlike Mazda, they didn't make sure to utilize the wheelbase to the best of their ability (IE. no hatchback meant sedans with clunkier rear ends and generally less space due to the US loving their trunks xD
@TheChill001 Great post! I mentioned there was a few model years where they kept trying to tweak it. Read somewhere the platform was originally designed with AWD in mind too. Maybe there was additional compromises due to that? My old car was a 15 WRX and I was always impressed how roomy the back seat managed to be.
Nice touch with the Contour pillow. The 4cyl engine in them sounded like coffee bean grinders when you drove them like rentals. The example was a Thrifty rental lovingly called the Mercury Mistake. The V6 on the other hand changed those bad vibes. Was the Cougar of the same vintage not based on the same platform?
@ericharrison619 LOL..when I was writing it, I recalled some commercials for products named Contour that I used to hate to see on T.V. ("I got the microwave!") .Silly I know. Yes the final Cougar for all intents and purposes, was a 2 door Contour. I mentioned that in my Probe episode. The V6 was cool, but man was that engine compartment tight!
I would have liked to have a Contour, but the timing was never right. At one point when I was in the market for a car, used Contours hadn't depreciated into my price range. Next time I was in the market was years later, when they had too many miles on them. I definitely heard good things about the Contour.
Big improvement over the Tempo....but at a price (literally). They seemed to go away off the road pretty quickly. I haven't seen one in the wild for years.
I prefer the tempo it replaced over the contour in my opinion. Liked the look of the tempo so much more
@GaemerJosh The Tempo did age pretty well styling wise then...Even by 94.
Had a 96 with a four-cylinder… It was a total dog, but it rode good and handled great. As a used car was also dirt cheap.
@@Project_Low_Expectations Yeah...Resale value wasn't one of their strong suits.
If this replaced the Escort as Ford's compact sedan, it might have sold better. Because Ford was trying to compete with the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord (the best sellers among the midsized sedan class) with a car that was the size of a Corolla of the time.
@damilolaakanni The Taurus was what was duking it out with Camry and Accord. The Contour competitors would be vehicles like the Grand Am, Mailbu,Altima,Mazda 626...etc
My buddies brother had a Contour. And thats pretty much all i have to say about that.
@arieljones4595 A Forrest Gump quote? Either way it's hillarious!
One of my best friends had a purple Mystique in college, she traded it in for a Chevy Equinox
@altima119487 Ford was all about those purple colors then!
Contour SVT was interesting, but there were definitely better options.
@@GreenHawkDrive Agreed
I never understood the hate for these cars. They weren't exceptional in any way, but a friend had a base Contour SE and it was decent enough. I had a '96 Accord at the same time and I remember the Contour was much slower. But it wasn't an objectively bad car. Later on, a neighbor had an SVT and I always thought it looked good.
Mercury was just asking for it when they named it though, Mercury Mistake just rolls right off the tongue.
@IgoZoom1 "Not objectively bad" could also describe somthing you rented from Avis LOL. They were not bad, just kind of pricey for what they were IMO. The back seat was a letdown. And yeah the Mystique name was almost as bad as calling a car a Probe....Good thing Ford didn't do that too 😉
@@autochatter I'm trying to be nice here. Funny you should mention Avis because rental fleets were where most of these landed (along with Tauruses after the new wore off). The back seat wasn't roomy, but it was probably bigger than in the Tempo/Topaz before it.
I was in high school when the Probe was introduced. The jokes were endless! It's a shame because I thought it was a fairly interesting car (although I preferred the Mazda MX-6 it was based on). Names like that are proof of how detached Big Three Execs were from reality back then.
@@IgoZoom1 Yeah..I made mention of the Probes name when I did that vid...As far as the jokes that stemmed from it then (Its also why I had a Alien in the thumbnail). I was in High School when they came out too! The real detached part was what the Probe was originally supposed to be.
@@autochatter I remember some car mags calling it the Maztang or something similar. No doubt it would have sold better if it was called the Mustang. But it would have made a mockery of the name.
@IgoZoom1 I'm not spoiling my Probe vid, as you seem to be working your way through my vids LOL.
We had two Mercury Mistakes. Both were entry level and both were the ultra high performance 4 cylinder. While they were so much better than the Tempaz, Ford really dropped the ball.
They did I agree.
@@autochatterthey had to write on the window sticker that you were getting a $50 credit be cause they couldn't add tilt wheel? Oh brother.
It was a very elderly aunt who bought them. She gave one to her niece who traded it for a Toyota!!
@Mr6384 That kind of stuff happens..I think some GMs recently had a MSRP credit, because they didn't have blind spot monitoring or somthing like that due to the pandemic?
@@autochatter gotcha. I’d never seen that in my life. And, the underlying theme here, for me, is tilt wheel!
See, I’m disabled with a back built by Yugo. So being able to flip up the wheel is a must have. (Not like these stupid unlock it/move it/lock it)
My 2004 Grand Marquis, 1978 Ford Thunderbird, my 1978 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham d’Elegance and my 1986 K1500 all have tilt wheel!!!
I’ll drive without a radio, but not with a fixed wheel!
We bought a 79 Caprice one time-no tilt.
My wife came out to use the car to go to the store-I had already replaced the steering column with a tilt column!!!
Anyway, back on point-I’d never seen a manufacturer disclaimer that something wasn’t there. Funny part is that the euro version had tilt with the air bag.
@@Mr6384 When I did the 2nd gen Firebird vid, I mentioned you could forgo a big block on a Trans Am and get a credit...Like who would have done that? LOL. Sorry about your back. My current car has Tilt and telescope which is great, but given that it's a MX5, getting in and out isn't as easy as most other cars. Hope you liked the Contour vid...I was a bit harsh LOL.
A friend of mine had a Mystique.. He said it was the best car he ever had...
@tomtbi Yeah they were pretty good cars.
They were P.O.S brand new we called the Mercury version the Mistake
@mikeisaacs2314 Oh I heard them referred to that alot at one point.
The Contour could be a Taurus twin, style wise.
There was some Jelly bean family resemblance for sure. I think Taurus took it a bit too far though.
@@autochatter I agree.
People were buying the Aspire plain and simple
@@gregg9672 I'm sure that was it! 😃
Nobody bought an Expire on purpose, it was always "Sorry, your financing for the Escort did not go through...we can get you behind the wheel of something else though"
@ericharrison619 Such a unfortunate name for a car. Aspiring to be....a real car?
I only rented them, but managed to despise every minute of the experience.
I found them.....OK behind the wheel. Nothing really stood out good or bad.
@@autochatter The seats were awful and there was some odd resonance while driving that didn’t feel like a malfunction. Weirdly intrusive NVH. I couldn’t wait to take them back and my standards for rental cars are pretty low (e.g. a Neon, Sentra, or PT Cruiser was fine by me).
@BillLaBrie I could see that. PT Cruisers get alot of hate, but I thought they actually drove OK. The 4 cylinder Contours were buzzy and the seats were more firm import and less domesticy plush?
@@autochatter I suppose one could say that. The other car of the time with the same problem was a Mercury Sable. I assumed Jacques Nasser was showing America how the average European (non premium) car drove.
Ford's fleet rental cars
Alot of them were, but so was several other Domestic sedans then.
I looked at a new 1995 contour and it was a few thousand dollars more than the tempo. And you didn't anything really extra. Plus it looked like a bar of soap.
Yeah...Totally had the 90s jellybean style!
Another glorious day for a chatter! These were awful cars and, as I recall, a very good friend of mine coined the phrase: "I'd rather shit in it than sit in it". I'm not quite that much of a hater of these than he was.... but not too far off.
So... I've ran through the list of chatters done and, while there are some absolutely brilliant vehicles.... even iconic... you have yet to chatter about the Pontiac Grand Prix. In terms of numbers of different cars I've owned.... the Grand Prix is the one I've owned most examples of. It's definitely one of my favourite cars of all time.... just the RWD ones... I never felt the love for the FWD models.
Plenty of chatters could be done on the various gens of that fine piece of 'Murican iron 🤔
Anyway... like, comment, subscribe and hit the all notifications bell y'all.
@haggis525 Well look what the internet drug in! 🤣 Thank you! Yeah....Grand Prix is going to get done sometime..Ive already done a disproprtional amount of Pontiacs.
I thought they looked good.... I bought a used one and it was the most horrible car i've ever had. Weird engineering. Got around poorly and winter and snow. Bad engine that Coolant got into the engine oil. Needed replacement. Add a top heavy feel Driving it. Bad design overall
Ohh..Coolant in the oil is never good.