Someone has offered me a 98 Contour SVT with a 3.0 Engine Swap. Fully loaded and good shape. what are your thoughts, about same mileage as my focus.

If you're happy with your focus and it's reliable I'd probably stick with it. Gas mileage will be lower with the contour and its 5 years older. Plus you dont know what you'd be getting into, it could have some gremlins.

Someone has offered me a 98 Contour SVT with a 3.0 Engine Swap. Fully loaded and good shape. what are your thoughts, about same mileage as my focus.

I guess I'm more for the fuel economy, so I'd say stick with the Focus if you haven't found any problems with it... at least thats my opinion.

Yes, a sportier ride would be nice, but with $4 gas around here, I'd take the Focus any day...

Either way, although the Contour SVT is nice, If it were me, I'd either buy the Contour SVT (for the "Sunday driving") and still keep the Focus, or just keep the Focus and not bother.

The other thing to keep in mind, as mentioned and as you probably know, when your buying a used car, you could be buying someone else's problems too. And while this 98 Contour may be perfect from a technical stand point, because of its age (not saying rust or anything) but just of its age, things can go wrong with it. In my opinion, you know your Focus, and it doesn't seem like you hate it, so why get rid of it for something that could potentially open doors to problems and potentially cost you more in the long run. Yes, it is nice to have nice stuff, but when it comes to cars and other things we rely on, I like to have something that efficient (because I drive a lot) and dependable.

Nah. I know someone who had a regular Contour SVT, and he never got better than 20 mpg. Of course, back then it wasn't a big deal.

Stay friendly with them, some day you might want that transmission for a V6 swap- LOL

I had a chance to take a look at the car today, not hook up any testing tools. Has a CEL (as does my foci for o2, MIL FAILed) he said his is o2. Won't know without testing. No AC Compressor on countor. He does have receipts for everything he has done, it has a 0 motor currently with 84k on the motor and 190 on the body, and a dyno/tune sheet showing 295horse. 2 Spots of rust on the rear quarter panels (Surface). My foci has a small bit of rust on the hatch, and my body kit needs touched up or painted. It looked fairly clean, but without hooking up pressure tester and everything else I see all of your points. My Foci does need some love also, but not mechanically just suspension wise. and tires.

Anymore input on the matter? What I was looking at is the 4 doors, really hard to get my daughter in the back of my foci..

295 horses from a 3.0 swapped contour? is it turbo or is it running on pixie dust?

Supposidly all motor lol.. I was skeptical my self, by the dyno looked legit, and was a from a local accredited company here in the area.. the RPM/Torque crossed at 5500rpm

Post a picture of the sheet...I'm not buying 100HP/liter out of an all-motor Contour.

Dont buy a swapped car

Dont buy a swapped car

Especially one where the guy is so desperate to get rid of it he's showing you some fake ass dyno sheet to get you interested, that's just ridiculous and I'm glad for your sake you're asking for input here. Dude is straight up lying to you if he's claiming that engine is making 295 WHP naturally aspirated. And 190K miles on the car? Run away from it now.

Dont buy a swapped car

Why does he want to trade you his older Countour for a newer Focus (almost a 4 year difference)? Just curious. Unless, the trade isn't quite car-for-car.

Also, do you know who installed the motor and did the upgrades (if not done by the owner)? How well do you know the owner, too? These are questions you have to ask yourself as well, as you probably know.

The only way I would ever buy a used car of any sort is from a dealer, and only as a certified vehicle. I understand that money is an issue for some, but you are putting your child into a used vehicle of which you don't know it's full history. That would be a concern for me, at least.

Part of the reason I bought a new car is because I didn't want to have to worry about potential issues coming up, you know, months after I buy it. Although a new car costs a bit more up front and for 5 or so years, you'll probably sleep better knowing that even if things do go wrong, your warranty should cover at least something, and that's the peace of mind I was looking for. I don't mind making a $150 car payment each month. What I don't like is having surprises with car repair bills. At least with a car payment, you can predict about how much the car is going to cost you from month to month (not including things like accidents, acts of nature, etc), but most "normal" expenses.

Me personally, I wouldn't trade for the fact that as many have said, you're trading for more HP, essentially. If I were you, I'd probably opt to trade the Focus in at a dealer for a 4-door model.

But that's just my two cents on this subject of swapping out cars. Really, you have to make the decision. YOU have to ask yourself if it's worth your time, effort, and money. Yes, putting kids into a 2-door car sucks. I've done it. But there are other options as well.

And with 190k on the body, I'd probably start to wonder about the long-term strength of the body. I honestly wouldn't put my kids into a car of this type, no matter how rare it is. You can replace cars pretty easily, not people.