ford contour vs. honda civic

Hi everyone. I'm a poor college student who has been driving a 1987 Honda Civic for some time now. The car currently has 170,500 miles on it and, aside from the back seat becoming a swamp whenever it rains, it's in good condition.

My dilemma is that my sister is selling her 1999 Ford Contour (69,000 miles) for $4000 and I can't decide if it would be a good investment for me or not. Like I said, I'm a poor college student- $4000 is a heck of a lot of money for me, and if I buy this car and it dies in 3 years I'll only have about $1500 or so to invest in a replacement. Still, I'd love to own a nicer car and by buying it from my sister I'd know I'm not getting a lemon.

I guess my main questions are--
1. How many miles could I expect to get out of this Ford Contour vs how many miles could I get out of my Honda Civic if I keep it?
2. Is $4000 a reasonable price for a 1999 Ford Contour with 69,000 miles on it (I should probably mention that my sister recently paid for new brakes and repaired a slightly problematic starter)

I know that there is no real way of knowing if one of the two cars will die in a year or not, but no one in my family is knowledgable about cars, and any advice or opinions you guys have would be much apprectiated.

If nothing is wrong with the civic Y replace it.

you're going to give us more info on the contour, is it a V6 or 4 cylinder and i'm assuming its an automatic? is your civic 5-speed or auto? how has your civic been running lately?

Thank you both for your replies. The ford has a V6 engine (I'm 95% sure, but I can't check at the moment) and is quite nice- it is automatic, has a sunroof, and has all the features common to newer cars (CD player, power windows/locks, etc). As for the Honda, well, most of my complaints are pretty petty- no working air conditioning (not very pleasant this time of year), no CD player and a speaker that comes and goes, leaks badly whenever it rains leading to a nasty mildew smell that is only cleared up by a throrough lysoling, so uncomfortable for passengers that I'm automatically excluded from car pools, etc. In my opinion it is still running fine, but it could use some minor repairs- the horn is dying and it needs new tires. It also occassionally makes a strange squeeling noise in 1st or 2nd gear- I have no idea what this could be, but I've chosen to ignore it in hopes that it will go away on its own (it hasn't :rolleyes: ).

At the moment I'm leaning towards buying the ford. I think that I can talk my sister down to selling for $3500 (we are family after all), and for that price I think it would be a worthwhile investment- still, if anyone has an opinion on the matter I'd be interested in hearing it.

On a side note, I've been exploring the different forums and I'm really impressed by how knowledgable and friendly everyone is. I'll definately remember this site if I ever have a car question in the future :biggrin:

thats a really good price, its not the world's most reliable car, but its good enough and its a steal at that price. Low mileage for the year too.

At $4k, DEFINITELY take the Contour! Especially if you can get it for less. You should at least be able to get another 50k-70k miles on it. Besides which the V6 Contour is supposed to be very enjoyable to drive, with much better handling than you might expect. From what I've heard, it enjoys a good reputation in Europe as the Mondeo.