It’s almost a cliché to make fun of the Ford Probe, just by virtue of its odd name and the fact it was a performance Ford that didn’t say “Mustang” anywhere on it. The Probe also shares a lot of components with the Mazda MX-6, but it’s too much of a Ford to be a Mazda, and too much of a Mazda to be a true Ford. The best word to describe the Probe would be perplexing. The model was around for two generations with three trim levels, the first starting in 1989 and the second ending in 1997.
If you take away the bizarre nomenclature and the fact that it’s neither a Ford nor a Mazda, there’s a competent if limited sport coupe underneath. If you’ve ever been in the market for a Probe, or just don’t really have any idea what you’re looking at when you see one driving around, Probes come in a few distinct varieties, not all of which deserve to bear the moniker of one of Ford’s most confusing cars.
3. Probe GL
Possibly the worst Ford Probe was the first one. For the 1989 model year, the base Probe trim level was dubbed “GL” and it was somewhat well-equipped on the inside (for 1989), bearing an AM/FM radio, bucket seats, and an optional CD player if you were really fancy.
However, given the fact it was ostensibly a sportscar, you’d expect it to deliver in the power department. That is not the case with the poor initial Probe. It was equipped with a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine that Ford described as “high-torque,” and while 130 lb-ft of torque doesn’t sound terrible for over 30 years ago, it only made a sad 110 horsepower. For comparison, the Ford Taurus from the same year — a car that would not at all be considered sporty — made exactly the same amount of torque and only slightly less horsepower.
The Probe looked promising in that it was a sports coupe from a company that seemingly knew how to make fun cars, but the base GL trim just didn’t cut it.
2. Probe LX
Early on in the Probe’s life, Ford offered a 3.0-liter “Vulcan” V6 as an optional powerplant on the LX trim. Although the engine was not the most powerful option the Probe ever got, it was the most decidedly Ford-engineered. At 140 horsepower, it offered a substantial bump over the base trim and 160 ft-lbs of torque wasn’t too shabby, either.
Help from Mazda in engineering the car certainly wasn’t a bad thing, as Mazda was (and is) one of the most respected names in the industry when it comes to well-engineered and thoughtfully laid-out cars. But the addition of the Vulcan gives the Probe a sense of a uniquely Ford identity and absolves at least a few fears that it’s just a weird Mazda with a Ford badge on it. A five-speed manual transmission was standard, as well as power windows, power locks, and air conditioning. Plus, it was the only trim level that was available with a digital instrument cluster.
1. Probe GT
The first generation Probe GT was available with a turbocharger, you may think that’d be a good thing, given the heyday of 1980s turbo sport coupes. You would, as unfortunate as it is, be wrong. The Probe GT from the early years of the model had all the power benefits of a turbo, but none of the handling or comfort characteristics of a higher-end GT car.
For the first few model years of Probe GT, the turbo was loud and annoying and contributed too much unpredictable torque steering into the equation. Granted, torque-steer isn’t inherently dangerous and is just the nature of a lot of front-wheel drive cars, but you don’t want your sporty coupe performing (and sounding) like a trash truck.
The turbo was done away with for the 1993 model year GT and the powerplant was replaced with a 2.5-liter V6 that was derived from a Mazda design. That engine, thankfully, was reported to be smooth and uncomplicated. It produced a much-needed 164 horsepower that aided in wafting the Probe GT to 60 mph in a respectable (for 1993) seven seconds.
