As soon as I turned the corner I saw this car parked on the left hand side and its low chin immediately caught my eye: an SVT Contour! I just had to stop and grab a picture of it as these little gems have been quite rare for a while now. After all, only 11,445 were built over three years of production. I can’t pinpoint a year for this car, but the Toreador Red was available 1998.5 through the end of production in 2000.
To me these cars were designed in a fashion similar to the 90’s and early 2000’s (pre-Bangle) BMW M3 and M5: tastefully understated and built for enthusiasts. And they had the performance to back up the looks. They certainly aren’t rocket ships today, they are supposed to be an absolute joy in the corners, showing little understeer and sometimes going into oversteer with proper application of the 2.5L Duratec V6. The 5 speed manual (only transmission available on this model) really helped draw out the power too. Some called them the poor-man’s 3 Series, some called them the true successor to the original Taurus SHO.
The huge tail light bar dates this car pretty well, and it’s too bad that it has a distracting aftermarket spoiler. In addition to a rear velance with some mesh, the dual pipes give you a clue to this being something a bit more special. A really great sound is supposed to come out of those, especially above 4000RPM. The original Taurus SHO and this SVT Contour showed us that Ford could really produce excitement in the highly competitive sports sedan arena. It’s just too bad they never acted on that potential.
Very nice car, I wouldn´t mind to own one for a year or two. Our equivalent in Europe would be the Mondeo ST200, with the V6 Duratec 205 hp engine; I don´t know if the engine is exactly the same than the SVT´s.
Not very sucessful here; I wonder people decided to buy a BMW 320d E46 for the same price…incidentally, the Mondi ST200 was available in sedan, hatchback and wagon bodies.
Until recently, a guy down the street here had an ST200 wagon exactly like that. Now he owns a dark gray ST200 sedan.
His daily driver/commercial vehicle is a Ford Transit Custom panel van. A Ford fan for sure.
I actually saw one of these just this week! It was about in the same condition, but in black. That’s 2 that survived!
Make that 3.
Jason Shafer sent me pictures of this one that he found at an auto auction in Columbia, Mo. last month. This one looks to be in outstanding shape, and astonishingly (according to the auction sticker on the windshield), it appears to have 338,000 miles. I’ve never seen any Contour that’s achieved that kind of longevity.
And add a few more. There’s one that sold recently on an online auction site with 37,000 miles on it for $5500. A lot of car for the money if you ask me! Another one with around 135,000 miles or so sold on the same site a couple of years ago for under $4000. These were both in pretty good condition overall, but any that I have seen over the past few years were looking really tired like this one and occasionally with poor modifications from aisle 7 at the auto parts store.
I’ve always wondered if the Mondeo was panned for its tight back seat, as its American cousins were upon introduction. I recall that Ford ended up scooping out the front seat backs a bit in the second or third year of production, to allow more kneeroom.
It’s a shame how the Contour/Mystique never sold all that well in the US. For all its sophistication, coming on the heels of the price-leader Tempo/Topaz didn’t help its cause. And while the measurements may or may not say otherwise, the Contour/Mystique always seemed a little smaller than the Camry/Accord, and the Taurus/Sable a bit larger (particularly the latter, after its 1996 redesign). It’s like Ford bracketed the size of the competition’s class leaders, and did so at its peril.
Still, if Ford’s Merkur venture had succeeded, one wonders how these SVTs would’ve fared as a premium Euro offering (perhaps with a unique body), but Merkur is a whole ‘nother tale of woe.
The Mondeo lack of rear seat space was panned in Europe, too, but as rivals such as the Renault Laguna, Opel Vectra or Peugeot 405 weren´t a lot better, that shortcoming wasn´t too evident. My father had a 1.8 (115 hp) hatchback, and certainly it wasn´t the nicest car to ride in the back seat.
It had a lot of good things, the chassis in particular. Ride and handling were bordering on the brilliant. But definitely it was European- sized, and if its rivals in the US market were the Stratus, Accord and Camry, complaints about interior space were understandable.
That lack of back seat room was panned in Australia too. One writer likened it to a four-door 2+2. It never sold well here among the general populace, though one car-nut friend did have a Mondeo wagon. Customers for a mid-size sedan were more likely to go Japanese and get something roomier.
Wow! I owned an SVT for 10 years and can say it was the best all-around car I’ve ever had. The SVT was an absolute delight to drive, and in many ways I wish I still had it.
Unfortunately, mine became rather needy after a while, and ultimately I couldn’t justify keeping it. This was a fate that befell many Contours, which suddenly disappeared from the roads at about the 10-year mark. I sold mine in 2000 — it was 12 years old and had about 120,000 miles on it. I don’t think I’ve seen an SVT since.
The one in the picture here appears to be a 1998.5, because it has the dark-colored interior (which is actually a very dark purple). The ’99s (at least the red ones) had a beige leather interior instead. If I remember correctly, the spoiler did not come standard on the SVTs in ’98, but they were a popular aftermarket (or dealer-installed) addition, and eventually they did become standard in either 1999 or 2000.
We had a ’96 Mystique with the V6, what a great driving car it was. We had it for 10 years and close to 200,000 kms. I always wondered how the SVT actually performed but manuals are not allowed in our house for anything Mrs Tman has to drive.
The spoiler looks just like the one on our Mystique and I am pretty sure it was a Ford part installed by the dealer. The high mounted third brake light is on the lower trailing edge and in our case they had not bothered to disconnect the standard one at the bottom of the backlight. This resulted in red glare bouncing off the spoiler at night; easily fixed by pulling the wire.
The Contour/Mystique seemed to develop a reputation of unusually fragility as it aged. I recall a time about 10 years ago when the cheapest older used sedans on my local Craigslist seemed to always be these (not SVTs, of course).
What a shame that Ford’s best and worst ended up in the same car.
We got them as the Mondeo ST24, with this nose but with the (Euro) Madonna-bra tailights, the awful spoiler and bodykit in the photo, and some diabolical “special” wheels whose hooked spokes made them look 12 inches high, but worse, way too like a swastika for comfort. Having driven one with gusto a number of times, I can confirm that everything said here is true. Syrupy engine (slight lack of low torque but sounding operatic and happy at 7,000 to compensate), beautiful steering feel, super-slick 5-speed, excellent sporty seats, and performance equal to a BMW 325i of the time. (Can’t confirm the oversteer as it wasn’t mine, had too much grip even to understeer much, and I’m not that good anyway). I can’t immediately recall driving a nicer FWD chassis since.
They were half the price of a BMW 325 then, but were half as much again as a 2 litre four Mondeo – which itself developed very few friends here – and so, unhelped by the $2 Shop glue-on bodykit, the rear boob lights and the Nazi wheels, they sold bugger-all of them and I don’t reckon I’ve seen one for many years. Quite a find.
‘The huge tail light bar dates this car pretty well’
I think the upcoming VW T Cross rear light treatment looks quite a bit like this! Love the car’s attitude, businesslike, mean.
I agree that the full length tail lights have made a bit of a come back in some areas, most notably on every Dodge car currently in production. Difference is, as noted by XR7Matt, there is absolutely no functionality on the Contour. At least it has some elements to break it up and isn’t a giant horizontal stripe of lights like we saw on the front of the original Mercury Sable.
I didn’t know they made so few of them. I worked ta a Ford dealership from ’95-’98, so I got to drive a couple of these. The salesmen loved tormenting these poor cars. One of them would drive it into the shop where the exhaust would reverberate at 5000-6000 rpm or so. “It almost sounds like a V-8!!!” Not.
Looks like the feature car would be pretty nice repainted and if the fender was replaced. The SVT accessories look to be intact and all there. Might be worth saving.
When I worked at Towson Ford (yes, the same job and same dealership that my Uncle Paul had as a teenager) in 2002 there was a black SVT Contour sitting in the back lot with trade-ins going to auction but it never left. Then one day it moved to the service lot and somebody there was putting work into it. I definitely dreamed about that car and could only live them through a Mystique SE V6 5 Speed we had in the used car lot. No idea what every happened to the SVT.
“Worth saving” is a flexible term. In terms of financial return, it will never happen. It’s a car you put money into because you love it. If I had Jay Leno money I would save a black one but probably transplant the tan interior as I’m not a big fan of the midnight blue.
The huge taillights is the best styling feature! What sucks about them is in typical Nasser era Ford’s beancounting fashion, the trunklid portion doesn’t light up at all.
A true successor to the original SHO I completely agree with, the SHO and 80s SVO Mustang were basically was basically the proto-SVT. If not for debuting in 1989 rather than 1993 when SVT was established the Taurus probably would have worn the badge as well. Having driven both, the Contour took what was great about it (high winding V6/5-speed) and actually evolved it into a better suited platform for it. it’s just like how the Duster 340 improved upon the RoadRunner concept.
I drove one of these for a day, believe it or not, as a service loaner from a Nissan dealer (which had an affiliated Ford dealer). I can’t remember how I ended up with it; it may have been the service manager’s company car and they gave it to me because I could drive a stick and they were out of everything else.
I still remember how shockingly good it was; having known absolutely nothing about it.
Funnily, enough as I hunted for a parking space today a Mk1 Mondeo caught my eye and I realised how rare they´ve got. My boss had the ST version, with the V6 and dark metallic blue paint in wagon form. I drove it a few times and it felt so solid; I particularly liked the view down the bonnet – you could see the bonnet which was maybe less common an experience as cars´ bonnets and screens merged with cab forward look. It´s received wisdom that V6 Mondeos are a waste of money and time. I´d like to challenge that and say these were fine cars with a bit of poke and free of the baggage the usual suspects come laden with. I can remember how it was to drive that car 19 years later whereas I can say nothing about the 6 cylinder BMWs I have tried, or the V6 Audi A4 either (circa 1997).
I found one of these Fords near my apartment and you have inspired me to photograph it. The multicolored Nissans in the background are interesting indeed.
Some years ago I bought a nice 98 Contour with the 2.5 V6 and five-speed manual transmission. It was one of the most enjoyable cars I have owned. SVT Contours would pop up on the Internet after I made my purchase and I wondered if I was too hasty in making the purchase I did.
There are now less of them on the road as the engines were not durable for the long haul judging by how many I’ve seen at auto wreckers over the years.
I drove a slightly later Mondeo a few times last year four banger 5 speed and it was ok good handling reasonable comfort, not a lot of go at low revs but fror a car with 460,000kms racked up it was good.
You have to admire 460,000km!