re ford probe opinions centered around the gt in article apr sco com nathanp sco com nathan writes jeremy g mereness zonker cmu edu says can anyone offer any opinions of the ford probe ala how they do in the long run repair records reliability mileage etc i am fixing to buy a car in the next few months aiming toward something a little bigger than a typical small car and with a little more power i am considering the mx probe accord corolla and the sx i bought a probe gt with the pep a last july now at miles after debating over the sentra se r nx mx mr stealth prelude and celica the car design is different than earlier years so it s too early to see its reliability so far for what it s worth my comments my dislikes shutting door with windows up from inside rarely makes good wind seal some other owners on the ford probe world std com mailing list have commented about this problem but i haven t seen it happen on my month old probe gt i think this may be something that ford has corrected since the initial batch of cars also someone said that ford has issued a service bulletin to inform dealers about how to correct this problem so you may be able to get your dealer to fix it headlights have stuck up a few times weather air conditioning broke miles pressure cycling switch condensation around rear washer fluid container doesn t drain completely haven t seen any of these problems nor have i seen these mentioned on the mailing list so these might just be having bad luck with these crammed engine little hope for do it yourselfers typical definitely parts somewhat more expensive than normal ford parts underside plastic doesn t like sharp driveways and speedbumps typical assembly gripes tape on radiator screw fell out of dash seat seams not stitched properly hopefully just a fluke no problems like these either i haven t been able to find any obvious places where they screwed up ford only gives key with the car c mon ford spend an extra few pennies hmmm i got two keys with my car something tells me you got stiffed by your dealer on this actually if you count the credit card key that came in the owner s binder i got keys but since the credit card key doesn t have any teeth cut in it yet i guess i won t count it rear hatch has no padding on corners when up i m waiting for the day when i bash my head on the corner horn buttons behind air bag in spokes and not in center personal preference the latter is probably because of the air bag it s pretty much takes up all the space where you d expect to find the horn speaking of the horn i was surprised to find that the probe comes with one of those nice merican sounding horns instead of the japanese sounding kind the previous probes had japanese horns tires fling dirt mud onto side of car yeah not very badly but enough to be annoying sometimes my likes engine design valves sounds smoothness power mileage torque definitely handling very good for fwd understeer only at limits transmission the speed is a must usable instrumentation lovely readable analog everywhere very little torque steer at full power much better than the sho i drive stability at mph high gearing though low cowl good visibility in front heated outside mirrors nice in fog never tested in freezing weather abs air bag see above rear seats fold down i have few rear seat passengers so a trunk not important no shake rattle noises when going over bumps potholes still tires vr goodyear eagles left hoping for k i agree strongly with all of the above especially about the engine the interior is very very nice too very pleasing to the eye and ergonomically sound i drive it to and from work each day on relatively smooth roads and most noticable thing is that the probe s suspension doesn t like potholes when you test drive one find a potholed road somewhere around town and see if the jarring you get is tolerable yes this car s stiff suspension isn t for everyone i personally like it but if you find it a little harsh but otherwise like the car i d strongly suggest looking into the mx if you have passengers by all means bring them along too they ll find that they have no room in the back and you ll find that the car rides differently if that s better is up to you the problem with the back seat is that there s no leg room plenty of head room though shorter people fit back there without any complaints so long as the seat they are sitting behind is pulled forward a bit to give them a place to put their feet also there s a lot of glass around you which i wasn t expecting the temperature inside the car gets pretty hot in the summer my back seat passengers now very few complain about the lack of ventilation you may want to consider that when combined with the heat the power moonroof can greatly improve the ventilation throughout the car i really enjoy the moonroof by the way but then i ve always been a sucker for open air driving no leakage problems or anything like that yet i ve heard that the exhaust system has trouble but mine works fine i haven t heard about this one i know that some of the very early probes and maybe had problems with prematurely rusting mufflers which ford will replace at no charge but i haven t heard about anything like this concerning the probes i haven t had any real trouble with this car outside of a cv joint boot that was leaking but the dealer took care of that promptly and even gave me a free rental car for the day and a half that i was without my car i was quite happy with the way they handled especially considering that i was expecting the worst from them from what i ve heard it sounds like ford mazda had some qc problems with the probe and probably mx when they first went into production but i think these problems have mostly been corrected at this point that s almost always to be expected with a completely new car like this though hope this helps chuck chuck kesler internet chuck eos ncsu edu unix systems programmer us mail box ncsu campus engineering computer operations raleigh nc usa north carolina state university phone
