Faults:

Water Pump went out at 130,000 miles.

Gas tank lid will not open from the inside I have to pop the trunk and open it from there.

Speed sensor went out at 120,000 miles.

Dealers were extremely rude whenever I did have to take the car in.

General Comments:

I have always been able to rely on this car. It has never left me stranded and has caused very little worry over the years.

It handles great and is very comfortable to drive.

Seats are comfortable.

Roomy trunk space.

Overall I have over 130,000 miles on this car and it is still going with no major repairs.

Faults:

The transmission blew 1 year after I bought it. Around 90,000 miles.

It stalls in puddles and squeals in the rain.

Most of the time it starts.

When I pop the trunk, the gas door will swing open.

The tail lights weren't that hard to fix, but it was still a pain in the butt.

Right now, the car won't drive, the engine turns and turns, but won't start.

Right before that, it started overheating... in Dover's winter weather. It doesn't show that it's overheating, I found out when the smoke started pouring out of the hood!

General Comments:

Although this car has been far more reliable than my old Honda Accord, it's still given me major grief!

The transmission was quite a pretty penny... even for a used one (which, as a college student, was all I could afford).

It's kind of embarrassing when my car squeals like a pig in the rain and even more so when it stalls and I can barley steer it off of the road!

I've had trouble with the starter almost since the first month I bought it. I just thought my car was mad at me.

My friend also has a 1996 Ford Contour, and when she pops her trunk her gas door also opens! This doesn't bother me, I think it's rather funny and got quite a giggle when I passed by her car in the lot one day and the gas door was open! I shut it for her.

I just figured it was time the tail lights died, I didn't blame Ford for that. Then again, this is only the second car I've owned and I don't know much about cars in the first place!

About this overheating thing... it all started a couple of summers ago. The gages didn't register that my car was indeed overheating, so I didn't know until it just died (at 60 m.p.h.) I let it cool down for over 2 hours, luckily I didn't have a cell phone or help from passers-by, and it started back up and hadn't given me any trouble until the next winter. The thing is it would overheat and break down, but then it wouldn't give me trouble afterward. So until now I again assumed my car was possessed. Right now my car is very near 100,000 miles and my ex-boyfriend says that's the "magic number" in which everything goes wrong. I think my car is prematurely aging. In any case, my car wouldn't drive any further than 7 miles and stalled out at every light. Now it won't start.

I do love the way it handles when it does run and I love to drive it! Unfortunately, that isn't often enough. I do not plan on buying another Ford Contour after I pawn this problem off onto some other sucker. I laughed heartily at all of the other reviews and knew I had to share my own experience!