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hey i was thinking how fords svt was just hype. not the mustang and lightning but one of my favorite cars the ford contor svt. 5spd leather seats dual exhaust and of corse it's supercharged. but as i realized its nothing when it first came out it was about 200hp, and when it died out it was about 210-220hp. it's cool but then when my neighor showed me his engine in a mercury mystic which is the same car but he had a v-6 in his, it had 170 hp. i mean who buys a car with a super charged engine and only gets about 30 hp more then a base v-6 and pay way more. plus the ford focus svt rates at only 170 and the focus replaced the contour/escort. i mean dang when u put everything into perspective their engines are crap when it comes to numbers

 
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Well its not just the numbers, its drivability and refinement. The SVT needs a lot of revving to attain those numbers, if you can acehive your full horsepower or torque figure below 3000rpm the car becomes much more refined.

We've got a '99 Millenia over here with a supercharged Miller Cycle engine that doesn't put out a lot more than a lot of modern V6s of similar displacement, but the thing is exceedingly drivable.

Plus, if you're a gearhead and you've got a stock supercharged car, higher output is just a set of pulleys away

Personally, I liked their Taurus SHO (not SVT..) the older style, with the squarish rear end, theres one that parks by me and so help me God, it's only redeeming feature is that it has a really sweet exhaust note. That and I think the engine was made by Yamaha for Ford...

 
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yea the taurous sho had a yamaha engine, but there mostly defective i mean i read somewhere where basicly the cams in the engine are defective and they had to get the cames welded in or something to that nature. but anyway yea i see your point of pullies away to get more hp, but most people don't. just like the pontiac grand prix sc. i wonder if there is any after market support for thoes things cuz i know it should be putting out more hp then what the 240 that it does.

 
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K, not sure where you are getting your info from detroittosag, but the contour svt was never supercharged, i should know, i had one. THe engine went through a process called Extrude Hone which makes everything inside it smoother for better flow. It had the same 2.5 v6 in the mercury mystique and regular contour, but tweaked, with the dual exhaust, stiffer suspension stickier tires, the svt body kit, and thats about it. Great car, but too many problems, thats why i bought a honda.

 
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my bad i always thought they were infact a webside i think said it. if i'm wrong i'm sorry. but hey for the svt badge i would want a lil better numbers from both cars

 
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it was a good car, it ran mid 15s stock, but yeah, my lx sedan runs 15s and it has no vtec, with a lot of moddes though, but still.

 
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AHAHAHAHA you got owned.

 
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dont belive everything yuo read!! RESEARCH!

 
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so i dont get why you said it was hype? if you compare it to everythign out there now, of course it seems better now. This was 200hp out of a 2.5L v6 in the late 90s. Back in the late 90s, RL's 3.5L V6 pumped out 210hp, Accords pumped out 200hp with the 3liter v6, camry v6s put out 194hp, maximas with the vq 3L v6 put out 190hp, the passat cranked out 190hp with 2.8l v6.

As you can see, the SVT contour had the most hp for the displacement. Engines with .5 liters more barely produced more power or at times less power than the SVT contour. Also the contour was on the lighter side of cars in its class. So in terms of performace, it was probably the most sporty thing you could find in that class range at the time. of course this sportiness is no match for todays pocket rockets, evos and sti's.

 
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you brought a honda for reliability? wait till gearbox hears this!

 
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svt contours are the shiznit. My friend bought one for 5k last summer, and i would trade him for my civic anyday.

 
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I was coming here to say that the svt contour was never supercharged, but I read all of the replies and see that someone already corrected him.

 
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Would you guys buy a new SVT focus? Id imagine the insurance on those would be high....the power isnt all that great (My friend has one) but they handle REALLY good.
I think there are plenty of better options for the price... all imo

 
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i would never buy a focus. ever.

 
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.....oooooo where's gearbox??? flame away man...

 
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Your sig is hilarious.

 
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My friend has a boosted svt contour and that thing can fly. I have seen only one car beat it and it was an 03 cobra, and it barely won. There good cars not one I would take though.

 
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i have a friend with a zx3 focu and he has a jr s/c headers exhaust alky injection kit. but he has a compression problem right now. he is losing about 30psi in one cyl. but with that in mind he ran a 15.000. also remember that its not a svt or anything. its pretty fun little car. he has the full euro body kit for it. imported straight from europe. i am not a ford man by any means. in fact i would never own one besides a lightning or a new cobra s/c.

 
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sorry but i've had 2 contours, and both were pieces of crap, nothing but problems, and i work for Ford Motor Company, and i won't buy another small Ford. We know how to build large vehicles well and trucks, but asians dominate the small car market. My 95 contour had a glove box full of recalls, the day i drove it home, the tranny fell. Went through 3 starters, replaced my front struts twice under warranty, and the car had a crazy alignment problem, kept chewing up my one tire. Never again. My 02 lx sedan will run high 15s all day, and get 40 mpg doing it with no probs, while watching movies in it with my 2 pioneer screens, lol...

 
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My winter beater is a '95 Contour and I have never had any problems with it. It's been in the family since '98.

 
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they dont make them anymore so you cant get them new nah you can get a saleen focus if they still make them that come plumbed for nitrous..hey they even throw in an empty bottle now to all of you who say you will never drive a focus, i will drive a focus rs anyday

 
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^^
your right about the saleen focus. they are pretty sick little cars as well. i saw one about a year ago and was tripping. i thought the guy was fronting until i went and did some research. they come set up for nitrous but not completely hooked up. supposedly pretty quick too

 
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well i get the point earlier about no sc in the contours. but another point was someone said something about i can't compare todays numbers and back in '98 when they were around. well ok if thats the case the focux had only 170 hp and it went down... what i'm saying is let it be worth the SVT badge. i don't want to buy a impalla SS if the base model is like 30 ponies less... or a ford lightning when a standard F-150 is almost the same.. i want some differences other than the seats that will say SS or SVT or whatever.

 
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i agree wit ou on the impala and focus..but dont sleep on the lightnings more or less they have the same motor as the cobra....yeah they are aerodynamics are bricklike but i have seen many daily driven pushing 400hp to the wheels with minor mods and 500hp to the wheels with a blower upgrade....but give me an rx7 any day