We've made no apologies for our unabashed appreciation of the Ford SVT Contour. A labor of love from the Ford Special Vehicle Team (the same folks who bring us the Mustang Cobra and F-150 Lightning), the SVT Contour is a must-drive for budget-minded sport-sedan shoppers. SVT's version of Ford's Contour comes fully loaded, packed with real enthusiast hardware, and is capable of zero-to-60 mph sprints in just seven-and-a-half seconds. With a power boost for 1999, bigger tires and expanded color availability, it's no wonder our editors awarded the SVT Contour a place on Edmund's "Most Wanted" list.
Our entire staff was anxious to sample the improved-for-1999 SVT Contour, even though changes from the 1998.5 model we drove last year are minor. That's because topping this year's list of upgrades is additional power from the SVT 2.5-liter Duratec V6, which now makes 200 horsepower at 6600 rpm (up from 195 at 6625) and 169 foot-pounds of torque at 5500 rpm (an increase from 165 at 5625). The added horsepower and torque comes from more aggressive use of the Extrude Hone Powerflow system of polishing internal engine passages for improved "breathing."
Tire size has also been increased, with SVT engineers choosing the new 215/50ZR-16 BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW performance radials over the old 205/55ZR-16 Goodyears. While we are quite happy with SVT's brand of controlled compliance when it comes to suspension tuning, the SVT Contour's shock valving was designed to work in conjunction with the bigger tires, with better handling numbers being claimed on both the slalom and skidpad. We know that SVT deemed the changes important enough to make. The question was, would the average driver be able to notice the differences?
With three staffers joining our Detroit editor to cover the Detroit Auto Show and the use of a 1999 SVT Contour for the entire media week, it looked as if a good many of us would be able to put SVT's improvements to the test. But the night before the show began, Detroit was hit by a foot of snow and blizzard-like weather that lasted nearly the whole week. Those were not exactly optimal conditions to be test-driving a car with as much sporting potential as the SVT Contour. Nonetheless, we were still able to log a fair amount of seat time and find enough dry pavement by week's end to make our test worthwhile.
To our surprise, the SVT Contour was able to get around town in the heavy snow, despite those fat tires. They exhibited a fair amount of grip in the wet, and ejected snow pack from their tread remarkably well. After a few days of Detroit-to-the-suburbs commutes, the SVT Contour was taken on a short road trip to Toledo, Ohio. It turns out that good steering feel with a compliant suspension comes in just as handy on an icy highway as it does on dry pavement. The sporty little front-driver proved surefooted and nimble, with its big brakes and standard ABS inspiring confidence. Only after our features editor reached her destination did the SVT Contour falter - and that was getting stuck in a snow-clogged driveway.
nce it was dug out and driven back to Detroit, the SVT Contour was finally treated to a nice stretch of clear pavement where it could be exercised. We were sure we felt that extra horsepower and torque during a few acceleration test runs, and it's quite possible that stout tire adhesion helped in that regard as well. The sweet-revving V6 was all-too-willing to reach redline quickly, and the muted burble from the exhaust made our $23,000 domestic sedan sound like an expensive, exotic sports machine.
A week with the 1999 SVT Contour made us certain that we'd like to spend more time with this car when the weather will allow us to enjoy better its performance potential. It also made us realize how practical a fun-to-drive sports sedan can be. Mother Nature aside, the SVT Contour looks good and performs a variety of functions well, and without extracting a huge financial toll for your enthusiast yearnings. This year, if red, black or silver paint with a dark blue interior doesn't suit you, new Tropic Green Clearcoat has been added, as well as a Prairie Tan interior, for even more color choices.
o, the SVT Contour is not perfect -- but a lot of that is because the Contour SE on which it is based has its own limitations. Five people are more than a full load for this small sedan. And Ford has refused to listen to owners who are frustrated by the Contour's difficult-to-operate stereo (with remarkably tiny buttons), as well as the car's revised cupholders that are as impractical as the ones they replaced.
But don't look for fixes. As we reported exclusively in Edmund's News section back on November 23, 1998, the end is near for America's version of the European Mondeo. That means the 4,000-unit run of SVT Contours will die shortly after 1999 Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique production is finished at Ford's Kansas City assembly plant later this year. So, if you've been thinking of a new SVT Contour, this may be your last chance to buy what is sure to become a collector's item for Ford fanatics.
nsiders say SVT may run off several hundred of the hot little sedans before the plant switches over to building a new Mondeo-based sport utility, and then sell them as 2000 model-year cars. But it is ironic that just as word-of-mouth sales momentum has made the SVT Contour a hot ticket at the fewer than 700 SVT-certified Ford dealers on the continent, the car is doomed by the demise of the mainstream Contour.
Oddly enough, the sport sedan is one of the few car segments that have held promise in the face of booming truck sales. In fact, most of Ford's major competitors now claim at least one strong-selling sports-sedan model in their 1999 lineups. So how can Ford expect to compete? The company is betting its upcoming LS sedans from Lincoln-Mercury (based on Ford's DEW-98 platform) have made sporty Taurus SHO and SVT Contour models obsolete. We just hope they make sure one is available with a manual transmission.
Our entire staff was anxious to sample the improved-for-1999 SVT Contour, even though changes from the 1998.5 model we drove last year are minor. That's because topping this year's list of upgrades is additional power from the SVT 2.5-liter Duratec V6, which now makes 200 horsepower at 6600 rpm (up from 195 at 6625) and 169 foot-pounds of torque at 5500 rpm (an increase from 165 at 5625). The added horsepower and torque comes from more aggressive use of the Extrude Hone Powerflow system of polishing internal engine passages for improved "breathing."
Tire size has also been increased, with SVT engineers choosing the new 215/50ZR-16 BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW performance radials over the old 205/55ZR-16 Goodyears. While we are quite happy with SVT's brand of controlled compliance when it comes to suspension tuning, the SVT Contour's shock valving was designed to work in conjunction with the bigger tires, with better handling numbers being claimed on both the slalom and skidpad. We know that SVT deemed the changes important enough to make. The question was, would the average driver be able to notice the differences?
With three staffers joining our Detroit editor to cover the Detroit Auto Show and the use of a 1999 SVT Contour for the entire media week, it looked as if a good many of us would be able to put SVT's improvements to the test. But the night before the show began, Detroit was hit by a foot of snow and blizzard-like weather that lasted nearly the whole week. Those were not exactly optimal conditions to be test-driving a car with as much sporting potential as the SVT Contour. Nonetheless, we were still able to log a fair amount of seat time and find enough dry pavement by week's end to make our test worthwhile.
To our surprise, the SVT Contour was able to get around town in the heavy snow, despite those fat tires. They exhibited a fair amount of grip in the wet, and ejected snow pack from their tread remarkably well. After a few days of Detroit-to-the-suburbs commutes, the SVT Contour was taken on a short road trip to Toledo, Ohio. It turns out that good steering feel with a compliant suspension comes in just as handy on an icy highway as it does on dry pavement. The sporty little front-driver proved surefooted and nimble, with its big brakes and standard ABS inspiring confidence. Only after our features editor reached her destination did the SVT Contour falter - and that was getting stuck in a snow-clogged driveway.
nce it was dug out and driven back to Detroit, the SVT Contour was finally treated to a nice stretch of clear pavement where it could be exercised. We were sure we felt that extra horsepower and torque during a few acceleration test runs, and it's quite possible that stout tire adhesion helped in that regard as well. The sweet-revving V6 was all-too-willing to reach redline quickly, and the muted burble from the exhaust made our $23,000 domestic sedan sound like an expensive, exotic sports machine.
A week with the 1999 SVT Contour made us certain that we'd like to spend more time with this car when the weather will allow us to enjoy better its performance potential. It also made us realize how practical a fun-to-drive sports sedan can be. Mother Nature aside, the SVT Contour looks good and performs a variety of functions well, and without extracting a huge financial toll for your enthusiast yearnings. This year, if red, black or silver paint with a dark blue interior doesn't suit you, new Tropic Green Clearcoat has been added, as well as a Prairie Tan interior, for even more color choices.
o, the SVT Contour is not perfect -- but a lot of that is because the Contour SE on which it is based has its own limitations. Five people are more than a full load for this small sedan. And Ford has refused to listen to owners who are frustrated by the Contour's difficult-to-operate stereo (with remarkably tiny buttons), as well as the car's revised cupholders that are as impractical as the ones they replaced.
But don't look for fixes. As we reported exclusively in Edmund's News section back on November 23, 1998, the end is near for America's version of the European Mondeo. That means the 4,000-unit run of SVT Contours will die shortly after 1999 Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique production is finished at Ford's Kansas City assembly plant later this year. So, if you've been thinking of a new SVT Contour, this may be your last chance to buy what is sure to become a collector's item for Ford fanatics.
nsiders say SVT may run off several hundred of the hot little sedans before the plant switches over to building a new Mondeo-based sport utility, and then sell them as 2000 model-year cars. But it is ironic that just as word-of-mouth sales momentum has made the SVT Contour a hot ticket at the fewer than 700 SVT-certified Ford dealers on the continent, the car is doomed by the demise of the mainstream Contour.
Oddly enough, the sport sedan is one of the few car segments that have held promise in the face of booming truck sales. In fact, most of Ford's major competitors now claim at least one strong-selling sports-sedan model in their 1999 lineups. So how can Ford expect to compete? The company is betting its upcoming LS sedans from Lincoln-Mercury (based on Ford's DEW-98 platform) have made sporty Taurus SHO and SVT Contour models obsolete. We just hope they make sure one is available with a manual transmission.
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