My mother, sister, and I are all avid readers and I recently asked them how often they encounter spelling and grammatical errors in books, we all agreed it was an alarming amount considering print media presumably has to go through an editor before it is published. My mom brought up how many errors she finds in online…

Well, how else can state officials attempt to extort Ford for “campaign donations” if there’s a whole layer of local government in their way?

The SVT Contour had been on my radar for a long time and I finally got one in 2018. Been loving it ever since and the community surrounding it is also great.

If you want a hot Mondeo, there’s the ST220 from 2002:

The SVT was not offered in “that awful champagne color” - they were limited to only 4 color choices: black, red, silver, or later on, Tropic Green.

Back in the mid 2000's when I was rolling around in my 2001 Mercury Cougar these SVT Contours were all the buzz across the forums. First of all the cougar was based off this chassis which is why it’s heavy for a coupe. Ford didn’t have a large aftermarket for bolt-ons for their 2.5 V6 So when these started to show up…

The problem with three contour was the sedan body. Totally compromised the rear head room. UK got a bubble glass lift back that gave better passenger and cargo space.

Base engine bullshit, not an SVT specific issue.

Yep - tons of stuff on these cars have been gone for years (especially the SVT-specific) so it’s a total parts yard/FB marketplace/forum hunt for anything to keep them going

I test drove a slightly used edition just as I was getting ready to graduate. At the time this was a pretty hot car for the price point especially when comparing it to others in the same performance category.

The engine made a glorious sound and was eager to rev.

Sadly the price was to high and my meager salary to low.

Replacing the power steering pressure line is a nightmare on these V6 engines.

My dad had this car in 2000 and the entire family hated it. He got a great deal due to the car being a low mileage 1999 that had been previously owned by his boss at the Ford dealership he worked at.  He was all about ballin’ on a budget and this car fit the bill perfectly.  It was that awful champagne color that Ford…

Woof...you can see each individual injection molded piece of plastic on the dash.  FoMoCo’s interiors sure have come a long way!

That article was one of the reasons I bought a ‘98 Prelude.

There’s still one lurking in my area. I’ve always been a SVT fan so I enjoy seeing it from time to time. Unfortunately, the driver seems to just be someone who happens to drive a SVT Contour, not a SVT/Ford guy. 

Owned one (2000)- fantastic sounding engine (had that VTEC sound changeover when going from short to long intake runners) and super tight suspension. Would have kept longer if the SVT-specific parts didn’t become unobtainium and things were starting to fall apart after only about 7/8 years. Paint was starting to…

Hypereutectic are not brittle. I dragged race 4 late model challengers making hundreds of passes in each car w/o issue and at times with a great success. You do need to be aware if you are modding the engine for power the piston was not designed for it can be an issue.

I actually saw the US prototype of this car being tested in Mojave Desert. I think that’s the only time I saw a prototype car in the wild.

And yet the SVT ZX2 was left to die on the testing grounds...

Wife had a Mercury Mystique with a 5 speed. We liked it, sporty enough.