Originally Posted By: Whimsey
Just asking, what "data" do you expect from somebody answering a question about a 21+ year old car?
Well we can start with the link that I already posted in an earlier comment on this thread.
Here it is again for your convenience.
Ford Contour quality evaluation
The evaluation of the reported reliability information is the data set that I alluded to. In the case if my referenced data, it is 751 owner reports.
In this case for a Ford Contour, it's pretty terrible. That's why I recommended two reasonable alternatives that are great transportation appliances from the same market segment and same approximate year of manufacture.
Please note, I
didn't say to the OP 'your car choice stinks' and leave it at that.
Another reasonable place to look is Consumer Reports, although some people frown on their evaluation of their dataset.
The thing to be cognizant of here is that both of the sources I referenced are based on self reported databases from vehicle owners.
It is not that the data isn't valuable, it is that typical self report data comes from motivated users, both positive and negative.
I'm neither a troll nor an auto technician.
I simply stated that their are better choices out there, I provided a link to data to demonstrate my claim, I offered a few reasonable alternatives, and I cautioned the OP to not to take anecdotal info as the complete picture.
I thought that is what a place like BITOG is for.
Seems pretty reasonable to me, but maybe I'm missing something......
Looking forward to your response!