'94 Ford Probe [pics]

[shane24v]

Ile add to this with a few pics of my turboed 24v. Thier was only a few around at the time to be turboed and it was fun. I regret selling it but i got bored of the whole body kit thing and just wanted a standered one but ive never got round to it





I regret the spoiler but i was young and foolish lol. Dam looking through these pics makes me want another.

[shane24v]

Mx6 under the ford body

[dugong]

Hrrm. I like the execution of that, but the individual bits don't do much for me. I think he's achieved what he set out to do though - get people looking at Probes favourably. That sleepy eye headlight kit makes me cringe though. It just looks like the electrics are knackered (although 18 months of Volvo 480 ownership might just have left me paranoid).

Ford shot themselves in the foot with the Probe. It wasn't a bad car in its own right and even looked good. The forced marketing associations with the Capri killed UK sales outright, though. Had they made a rear wheel drive V6 successor to that car the phone would have been ringing off the hook. Instead people got a FWD reshelled MX6.

They've never really lost that semi tragic image. A guy at work has one and is forever having to defend it when people take the mick. Think about this though - it has a 5 x 114.3 PCD (so a lot of wheel choice out there) and the top models used Mazda's KL-ZE V6. The Probe's existence allowed Ford to homolgate that engine for racing use in the Mk1 Mondeo, too.

The Corrado was never a sales success in its day (something to do with ludicrous pricing and the fact that people regarded it as a direct Scirocco replacement when really it was pitched as a cheaper 944 alternative) but became a cult classic. The Probe arguably handled better than the V6 Calibra but the latter car is remembered for its styling rather than anything else.

No - one talks about the MX-6 (or the smaller MX-3) so it's a case of both siblings getting stonewalled.

The Canadian car at the top is much closer to what a tweaked Probe should look like, rather than a Ripspeed ram raid.

Summary : Would. Buy, treat with subtlety and I reckon you'd have a fair shot at the 'Love For The Unloved' award at RRG 2013.

[shane24v]

I had both 2.0 and 24v everything under the skin was mazda you could even fit 3000gt brakes to it with no effort and a turbo conversion was easy i never even needed a different ecu for my turbo it just ran beutifully it was 100% reliable and cheap to repair

[popuptoaster]

A sierra based coupe would have done the job for Ford better than the Probe did, but with the sierra near the end of its life I guess ford were not interested in that platform any longer.

Shame as much like the Capri it could have run the full spectrum from basic 1600 right up to 2.9 V6 maybe even with the 24v or the YB in RWD or AWD.

They had all the parts.

[Mike D]

I cant comment specifically on a Probe, as I haven't owned one - I did however have an MX6, and it was one of the best cars I've owned. The V6 is a fantastic unit, it's refined, torquey and sounds lovely, not too bad on fuel either, and it was one of the best handling cars I've driven, fwd or rwd... Parts are fairly cheap, and I reckon prices are as low as they'll ever be

[79cord]

I like the looks & ideas of the upper spec. ones done properly. Tail doesn't look as strangely long as Mx-6.
But memory will always be distorted by seeing a basic US one in this spec:
With Burgundy interior.
Ignore the owners additions!

[luckyseven]

Yeah, U.S. ones looked like they'd been left too long on the radiator and gone all melty! Proper fugly. The Turbo alloy wheels were horrid too. Stock 24v alloys were 8x16 as standard though IIRC, which was pretty manly for the day.

If you think American Probes were bad compared to UK ones, check out the Dodge Stealth vs Mitsi GTO/3000GT models Ahhhh! My eyes!

[detroiter]

The Probe was a relative failure here in the US in part because they tried to use it replace the Fox-body Mustang. Ford was even talking about calling it a Mustang. That went over about as well as you might expect. Funny though, the Ford Cougar was what resulted when they binned the next generation Probe halfway through development.

Another thing to point out is that it wasn't that cheap and more people went for a Prelude which was around the same price but had arguably a better chassis, was better on gas, and unarguably had a nicer interior. Plus, VTEC, which counted for a lot even if most owners didn't understand how that worked.

In its defense, we in the States never got the KLZE V6 in the 93-97 MY, we got the KLDE at a deficit of 30 or so horsepower. It was still an improvement over the previous generation's V6 offering, the pushrod 3.0 Vulcan, as featured in the Taurus/Sable, Ranger, Aerostar, and Tempo/Topaz.

[79cord]

Nov 20, 2012 5:06:55 GMT luckyseven said:

If you think American Probes were bad compared to UK ones, check out the Dodge Stealth vs Mitsi GTO/3000GT models Ahhhh! My eyes!

Ironically I like the looks of Stealth over GTO - slightly simpler detailing.

Weren't all Probe built in the US. Making it surprising they fitted better top-spec engines for export. That more basic spec. stayed at home is not so surprising.
Prelude so much smaller inside & a coupe (with more limited luggage access), it seems hard to compare them.

[shane24v]

The probe had the same engines and power no matter were you bought it the higher power klze engine was fitted to jspec import mx6s the uk mx6 was the same car as the probe just different bodys

[Jizmondo Scrotmondo]

They are a bit dull looking standard and the name is terrible. I think they're ok to drive though. Weren't they basically the same as a Mazda MX-6?

[joem83]

That actually looks nice, in fact it's the only nice one I have seen.
Think the main problem with Probe's is they tend to attract certain owners with a dubious taste in stick on parts.
It may sounds harsh but just look www.google.co.uk/search?q=modified+ford+probe&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=7GqxUJ3gKcHJ0AWhhIH4Dg&biw=1366&bih=622&sei=8WqxUIeKKsva0QXajYD4AQ

[CIH]

Even the poor old MX6 doesn't escape the attention of the stick-on brigade. Also, it's almost offensively dull as standard...

[accord83]

The Probe wasn't helped by having a name which conjured up visions of a proctologists rubber clad digit.

[mclellanmac]

That is a sexy probe (the origional one at the top of the thread) for me the only problem (apart from the Cheeseman connection) was the name, i guess Ford though the name Probe would bring about all kinds of ideas of Space, and rockets and so on, where as all i think is something that stuck in a bottom, perhaps thats just me, But i cant run the rist of farting Fire!

[EmDee]

Nov 20, 2012 7:50:20 GMT 79cord said:

Nov 20, 2012 5:06:55 GMT luckyseven said:

If you think American Probes were bad compared to UK ones, check out the Dodge Stealth vs Mitsi GTO/3000GT models Ahhhh! My eyes!

I like the looks of Stealth over GTO

+1

Stealth > GTO

[thetechden]

A mate had a probe a fair few years ago and got plenty of stick for it, that was until he chucked some big brakes on it, a questionable imported Japanese turbo kit and some enkei? 17x9 maybe wider, 3 spokes on it and showed everybody who was boss! Awesome in a straight line, not so brilliant on the twisty bits but altogether a memorable car for me.

[joem83]

Found a nice, simple MX6:

[luckyseven]

Nov 27, 2012 16:36:02 GMT EmDee said:

Nov 20, 2012 7:50:20 GMT 79cord said:

I like the looks of Stealth over GTO

+1

Stealth > GTO

Seriously, guys!? Dang, good job we're all different innit ;D





errrrr...not getting it meself