"Sorry dad, I just totaled your Contour"

Okay, I will start this review off my stating that while I don't own a Ford Contour, my father did. Well, until I totaled it in a hailstorm at 55 mph by running into a guardrail. I am happy to report that I walked away from the crash with a few scrapes and bruises. Oh yeah, after the Contour finally stopped, I was hit by a Jeep.

A little background here: I borrowed my father's Contour to take a trip to the midwest, and I drove it about 3,000 miles without a problem. Then 40 miles from home, if you can believe this, I lost control of the car in a severe hailstorm and slid into a guardrail at 55 mph. After the car stopped, a Jeep Wrangler rammed into me, damaging the car even more. Not a good day at all and I had some explaining to do, but I strongly believe that I would not be here today had it not been for the safety features of the Contour. As for my dad being upset, he said that he could care less, as long as I was okay (which I was, after a visit to the ER).

Handling - The Contour handles really well for a passenger car. The model I drove was a LX (which is considered a midrange model). While the LX has four Cylinder, 2.0 Liter, 125 horsepower engine, I found that while the car didn't have a great deal of pick up, it did cruise well once you reached a desired city or highway speed. I drove in Montana at around 80 mph with no problem (quiet ride, no vibration). Steering and braking are also smooth.

Features - The LX model features A/C, power windows and locks, AM/FM cassette, ABS and dual airbags (fortunately for me). I found that all controls for these items were placed nicely, and could be easily reached.

Comfort - The seats in the Contour comfortable and firm and recline in two different positions. A person can easily sit in these seats for a few hours on a long trip. The Contour seats five comfortably and has a huge trunk space, and nice storage areas along the door panels are found on the driver and passenger seats.

Price - The sticker price for the Contour (when it was new) was $15,000.00, but it can be bought used now for around $11,000.00 or less. Based upon checks that I have made, the Contour doesn't depreciate too bad, for a midsize car, and would be considered "average" in this department.

Safety - As I said, I got into a serious accident in this car and totaled it through no fault of the car. The ABS worked as it should have and prevented the car from skidding even more than a car without ABS would. Also, the airbags deployed fast for both myself and my passenger. Finally, for a car the size of the Contour (which does look somewhat small), the car took a great deal of impact and damage and protected both of us from being seriously hurt. While the body was pretty smashed up, the interior of the car did not take a great deal of the impact and we survived the accident with just a few minimal injuries.

Sadly, my father's Contour is now in the great junkyard in the sky, thanks to me and an unexpected hailstorm. However, not a day passes when I am not thankful for being in a car that was as well made as the Contour. I only wish that the hailstorm would've hit after I got home.


Note: To see pictures of this (totaled) car, copy and past this link into your browser, and hit enter: http://www.mindspring.com/~bachmeier/wreck.html