My dad had a 1998 Contour 2.5 he bought new. It didn't have many issues until it was totalled. The car never broke down at all. At around 70K it gave a CEL for the DPFE sensor (I think), but other than that it had no problems to speak of. All it got was oil changes and tire rotations I believe. The ATF might have been changed once, but I doubt it. At about 75K miles the car was rear ended by a Jeep Cherokee going 40 MPH. The Jeep driver's insurance co. initially repaired the car, but it had all kinds of problems after that. The wreck damaged a ton of wiring that the shop didn't bother to fix, and the rear suspension made a clunking noise all the time. Finally the insurance co. totalled the car. It was a great car, but the wreck really messed it up.
I have heard that the automatic transmissions in these cars are weak, but the one in my dad's car never had any problems at all.
The Contour was a lot of fun to drive, even with the auto. It handled really well and was pretty quick.