The standard 2.5-liter Duratec V6 is a nice unit when stock, but SVT bumped its horsepower up to 195 by adding a larger throttle body, lighter flywheel, conical air filter, larger radiator, oil cooler and higher compression pistons. The heart and soul of the SVT Contour is its engine and gearbox. Their job is to create limited-production models that appeal to driving enthusiasts, and I think this one adheres to their philosophy of balanced performance even better than the Mustang Cobra. How did this jewel come to fruition? The gearheads at Ford SVT (Special Vehicle Team) snared Ford’s European-bred Contour, tweaked its handling, added more power, bolted in leather seats and slipped fat tires on 16-inch wheels, creating a bargain-basement BMW with a 143-mph top speed. It follows your lead like it is telepathic. Head out to the countryside and it tracks through twisty two lanes like a Beagle nosing a rabbit’s scent. It romps through the gears with the kind of enthusiasm usually found only in high-dollar European sports sedans. Deeper fascias front and rear, dual exhausts, fog lights and five-spoke wheels are the only tip off that this is a special model.Ĭonsidering its price of $22,900, it is the performance bargain of the year. It is the perfect stealth-mobile because it looks much like the standard-issue Contour. In spite of its sedate profile and seats for four, this much-modified Contour, built exclusively at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, is more of a sports car than a family sedan. Waiting for it to enter the trailer was sad because this little hot rod and I had become fast friends in the last four months, thanks to its hyperactive V6 engine, 195 horsepower and a slick-shifting gearbox. This specific car, a hand-assembled prototype, built before actual production had begun, was not a “real” car and destined to have a limited life span.ĭid it represent a regular production car? If anything, it would be less reliable, less tight, but it was none of those things. That’s right, a perfectly good automobile had come to the end of its line. Its tenure in our household had expired, and it was heading back to the motor city where it would be scrapped. Only the Contour wouldn’t come back.įord agreed to an extended-use evaluation of the car because living with one reveals much more than a week-long test drive.
FORD CONTOUR SVT DRIVER
Like with a lot of new cars.As I stood in the darkened shopping center parking lot waiting for the truck driver to load the red SVT Contour into his covered transporter for its final trip back to Detroit, I felt like a dad sending his kid off to college. They bring one in, 10 buyers line up for it, $10,000 over MSRP. Kwik_Shift There are no new Renegades for sale within my geographic circle of up to 85 kms.He drove it to empty and then he and his fraternity brothers pushed it into the woods and left it there. One day he decided that the last tank of gas he bought was worth more than the car. A friend had an early 90s Hyundai Excel as his college beater. Zerofoo "Hyundais just got better and better during the 1990s, though, and memories of those shoddy Excels faded."Never.Chuck Norton And guys are having wide spread issues with the 10 speed transmission with the HP numbers out of the factory.Johnny ringo It's an interesting vehicle, I'd like to see VW offer the two row Buzz in the states also.So annoying as a passenger.Drive smoothly out there. It feels wrong because it is wrong, and it is wrong because Calculus.Sidebar: I have some in-laws who engage the accelerator and brake on a binary on/off all-in basis. ToolGuy Last picture: Labeling the accelerator as "play" and the brake pedal as "pause" might be cute, but it feels wrong.
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