Ford Contour SVT or Taraus SHO

[sncwfo99]

I had an 89' SHO w/5 speed and a 94' w/the auto. Both were the Yamaha V-6. My 89 was definatley faster, I don't know if it was because of the 5-speed or not, but seat of the pants driving the auto didn't seem to have the output that the 5-speed did. Never had any problems with the 94, the 89 I got rid of because of electrical and ignition problems. I had the 89 for about 3 yrs and the 94 for a little over a year. BOth were a blast to drive, had decent handling for a sedan and the onlly stock car I couldn't beat was a corvette. I could chew up and spit out camaros all day, the same with mustang gt's, but the lx's were a pretty close match. I don't have any expierences with the contours so I'm no help there. Hope this helps ya out some.

 

[SVO]

The SVT Contour's are by far much slower than the SHO's.

 

[Hokie]

Originally posted by jobunn
Two other cars that many people might think are too expensive but I've seen at incredible prices but still in awesome condition after 100,000 miles are the early 90's Acura Legend and Infiniti J30.

My thoughts exactly. 91-95 Acura Legend. Amazing car.

Full size comforts, ride, and luxury.

Stout 3.2L V6 (with beautiful mid range torque)

Better reliability/handling than an SHO.

Mom has a '91 Legend L (the year they redesigned it ~ it often gets confused for a '98) She has put 85k on it since dad bought it for her in early '92. It has been her favorite car that shes ever had and dad and I still love to drive it. You can get the GS version with a hotter V6 and a 5 or 6 speed manual (depending on year).

 

[TravisC]

I say neither. I personally don't think either of those cars would be as realiable or as good as an import. Now I'm not big on the import scene but I bought a 2000 Nissan Maxima in July and it's freaking sweet. Everything about it is great. Extremely realiable, great ride, comfortable inside, good gas mileage (24-26 mpg) and just over great car. So that's my vote!

 

[Heath]

Travis, I have to admit that one of the cars thats in the high running right now is the 96-97 I30t, I have seen them in my price range... And sadly enough, I usually can find the I30t cheaper than a similar year Max, with simlar mileage but less options...

 

[Stephen]

Not surprising, Infiniti's resale is terrible. The Q45 has the highest depreciation around. Might change with some higher profile cars like the FX SUV and the G class.

Have you driven a Contour? I didnt fit in it, and I'm 6'1' 210 lbs. I just dont see how its going to be a viable car for you, your wife AND a carseat. Dont see it happening, its a little car.

Another car I dont know if you've mentioned looking at is a 94-96 ES300. Great reliability (Not at all unusual to see them 200-300k) plenty of room, still good looking stylewise after all these years, easy to work on (Its a Camry) Good online support, surprisingly sporty actually. I have a customer with 2, a 90 ES250 and a 94 ES300 and they're both still running great. One well take care of with low miles should definately be in your price range. That would probably be a more reliable choice than the I30.

 

[88vert]

Originally posted by TravisC
I say neither. I personally don't think either of those cars would be as realiable or as good as an import. Now I'm not big on the import scene but I bought a 2000 Nissan Maxima in July and it's freaking sweet. Everything about it is great. Extremely realiable, great ride, comfortable inside, good gas mileage (24-26 mpg) and just over great car. So that's my vote!

Travis does it have the BOSE sound system?My buddy has the same car in silver and it is quick

 

[espnfreak]

Originally posted by Stephen
Not surprising, Infiniti's resale is terrible. The Q45 has the highest depreciation around. Might change with some higher profile cars like the FX SUV and the G class.

Have you driven a Contour? I didnt fit in it, and I'm 6'1' 210 lbs. I just dont see how its going to be a viable car for you, your wife AND a carseat. Dont see it happening, its a little car.

Another car I dont know if you've mentioned looking at is a 94-96 ES300. Great reliability (Not at all unusual to see them 200-300k) plenty of room, still good looking stylewise after all these years, easy to work on (Its a Camry) Good online support, surprisingly sporty actually. I have a customer with 2, a 90 ES250 and a 94 ES300 and they're both still running great. One well take care of with low miles should definately be in your price range. That would probably be a more reliable choice than the I30.

why not just buy the camry then?? why go for the Es300...its not that much nicer..

 

[udmsvt]

ok, if you are going to get a SHO, get an older V6...more reliable and more fun (avail with 5-speed) when comapred to teh V8....but as a former contour owner, i have NEVER driven anything like it to date. i miss that car greatly! if you are really serios, you can do what the contour enthusiasts call a 3.0 swap....you can get teh 3.0 block into an SVT to replace teh 2.5. teh contour is based off the european modeo, a cousin of the x-type. for me, it isnt a question...SVT. also see www.contour.org

 

[Stephen]

I never said it wasn't nicer, the ES rides better, I think they're better looking (all interior and body panels are different) its sportier (this generation ES was designed to be sportier than its sucessors) its quieter, more interior room. The powertrain is just mostly shared with the Camry making it easy to find parts for and work on, as opposed to the LS he was looking at a while back that was going to be expensive for him to maintain.

Actually...looking around (slow day around here lol) you could even get into a 97 or 98 and still be in your price range. The 97-99 however isn't as sporty as the previous generation.

Here's a loaded 96 (CD changer, chrome wheels, gold package, leather, the works) they're asking $8900 for and its got 94,000 miles on it. $8900 is high, there's a lot of negotiation room there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2448005896&category=6298

 

[Stephen]

Wow, here's a 93 with 27,000 miles on it in FL. Its in gorgeous shape...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2447906796&category=6298

 

[TravisC]

Originally posted by 88vert
Travis does it have the BOSE sound system?My buddy has the same car in silver and it is quick

Yes it has the BOSE sound system, leather, heated seats, power seats, power windows, automatic climate control and it's a 5-spd!! It will get down the road pretty quick. I'm not going to be big in the ricer mode but I'm going to tastefully modify it in the future. No big pop can exhaust or anything like that.

 

[SaleenEXP]

I'm with Stephan, I would either go with an older generation ES300 (which as he said was designed with more sport in mind then the later versions, I actually have an old review somewhere against Audi, BMW and Mercedes from the early/mid 90's and it did very well), that or an older Acura Legend. Before I got my truck, years ago when I was 16, I was looking at an Acura Legend GS coupe with a 6 speed.

The Contour I would think would be too small for you, your a pretty damn big guy lol, along with your wife, babyseat etc. The Sho's, if something goes wrong, are very expensive to fix.

I wouldn't even bother with a V8 Sho, their slower then the V6's but get V8 mileage, and have a nasty problem with cam sprocket slippage, think there's even a class action suit I think against Ford/Yamaha. Basically, if your engine fails b/c of this your going to be stuck with a $12K repair bill

I say an older ES300 or Acura Legend for the money and especially reliability, I would personally lean towards the Acura Legend (91-95, before they became the borring RL), lots of luxury, top notch build quality and reliability, and I've always liked the smooth looks of the 91-95 Legends. Way back in high school, a friend of mine was given his moms 93' Legend that was bought new by her, had 130K miles on it and still felt new, not a single rattle or sign of wear. Ended up being totaled from some stupid a$$ kid flying out of the parking lot, which he was then brought to the world of Explorers (stepdad gave him his 94' XLT).

 

[Heath]

I'm going to go and testdrive the SVT if they still have it over at Burt Ford... I will still have to go and testdrive the ES, but looking through the window it didn't look as nice inside as the I30... But I'll give it a chance...

 

[Alec]

Lexus' are much more reliable IMO than Infiniti.

 

[GaSouthern1]

I would say older ES300 or the Maxima.

 

[Heath]

You do realize that the I30 is just a fancy Maxima right...

 

[Stephen]

I found the ES300s of that era much more comfortable than the I30s, roomier, etc. Lexus before 2001 or so are like that, its not a flashy interior with wood everywhere (my old 98 LS400 didnt have a lot of wood at all, my 04 LS430 has about 5 trees in it, wood everywhere, very nice, but a change for Lexus. My sons 03 ES300 is the same way, MUCH more wood) Lexus of that era are about elegence simplified.

Never even thought about the Legend, thats a great car. Great styling on the last generation too, still looks fresh even today.

 

[Heath]

Yeah, well the I30 got dropped from the list... It had the highest insurance cost of all the cars I've been looking at... An 00 Contour SVT was cheaper to insure than a 97 I30... I thought that was rediclious... The best of them is a 94 X that I'm eyeing... The ES300 was about $100 cheaper (every 6 months) for insurance than the I30....

 

[Stephen]

Really, weird...

Lexus' are much more reliable IMO than Infiniti.

We'll find out, check out my other thread in this forum