BUYING: Probe
Despite its Mazda underpinnings, the Probe is very much a classic Ford. Here’s what you need to know.
What you need to know if you’re on the hunt for Ford’s ’90s coupe.
Seven years after Ford axed the Capri, it was back with another coupé for UK car buyers — the Probe.
Introduced in 1994, the Probe was Ford’s answer to the likes of the Honda Prelude and Vauxhall’s hugely popular Calibra. The Mazda MX-6 was another rival, although somewhat ironically, as a tie-up between Ford and the Japanese company meant that the two cars had plenty in common.
Developed by Ford America, the Probe that we saw was actually the second-generation model — the original and rather ungainly version having never made it to UK shores — and beneath its far from offensive styling it had much of the Mazda’s underpinnings, including its chassis.
Customers got to choose from the four-cylinder, 16-valve, 128 bhp 2-litre, taken from the
Mazda 626, or a 2.5-litre, quad-camshaft, 163 bhp V6, which was borrowed from the MX-6 and 626 GT. Neither was amazingly powerful but they made the Probe swift enough, the V6 able to go from 0-60 mph in a reasonable 8.5 seconds and its slippery shape helping it to a top speed of over 130 mph.
To give it more of a sportier drive than its American counterpart, Ford UK also revised the suspension and damper settings. A tauter, sharper drive was the desired outcome, but the work did little to impress the motoring press, who criticised the Probe for its unrefined ride.
The model line-up was straightforward enough — the 2-litre version being the ‘16V’ and the V6-engined car being known as the ‘24V’ — and aside from two cylinders they were easily differentiated by the biggerengined car having five-spoke alloy wheels, compared to the 16-valve’s three-spokes. In June 1995 the 2-litre version received a sunroof as standard, while for the 1997 model year leather trim was standardised for the base model, stereos were upgraded and there were new wheel designs.
As decent as it was though, the Probe never captured the imagination of UK buyers and high prices didn’t help its popularity. Today — over 20 years after production ended in 1997 — and the Probe is enjoying an enthusiastic following. And why not? It might not be everyone’s idea of a classic Ford but it’s everything that an old Ford traditionally was until values went stupid — good, cheap, fun.
“THE PROBE WAS FORD’S ANSWER TO VAUXHALL’S HUGELY POPULAR CALIBRA”