1995 Ford Probe 24v from UK and Ireland - Comments

Paintwork in very bad condition-dealer sorted free of charge.

Draining of battery.

Drive shaft sheared.

Both front gators.

Engine blown.

Clutch failure.

Cam belt snapped.

ABS failure.

Exhaust.

Problems with power steering.

Tailgate lifters will not support weight of tailgate.

Interior plastics falling apart.

Oil pressure dial not working.

Problems with new engine stalling for no reason, revving itself up and down or racing at idle.

Problems selecting first gear.

Short circuit on brake lights.

Noisy window motor on drivers side.

Interior bulbs keep blowing.

Front passenger bumper light keeps shaking itself loose.

Central locking plays up - barrel will jam, only one door will open (and usually not the door that the key is in!!).

Steering lock will jam on if weather is cold.

Radio kept eating tapes, then refused to release tape.

Ford amplifier problems when fitted with Sony CD player.

Shafted air con.

I bought the car for my better half in Oct 05 as an engagement present, and to replace her battered Nissan Micra which she parked in a ditch - on its roof!!

The car is amazing to look at, and a giggle to drive.

If you can find a good one, the they are a good second hand buy, but all that follows is bad news...

The engine, a two-and-a-half litre V6, sound amazingly impressive - until you look at the power figure.

164bhp.

That's it!

164 ponies to shift all that weight, its pathetic.

We once managed a loud and screaming 130mph, with the whole car shaking itself to bits.

Acceleration from 50-70mph is good, but 0-60mph is pathetic.

We were once beaten away from the lights by a 2.0litre diesel Mercades!

I once raced her on my Aprilia RS125 and slaughtered the car.

Enough about performance. Lets look at the interior. Looks nice and comfy, nicely shaped leather seats, moulded dash and door panels. Looks very pretty. But if you're more than two feet tall, forget it. Theres no room for your legs in the front, no room at all in the back, rendering them COMPLETELY useless. You will be constantly be banging your right elbow on the door, and the window switches are quite awkward to use. The seats, although looking pretty, are pants, you go round a bend, and you slide straight into the next seat, and adjusting them is nigh on impossible.

The plastics used are cheap and tatty, and is a rather nasty Grey colour.

If you hit even the tiniest pebble in the road, the glove box door will slam down on your passenger's legs unless it is locked, and the lock on it itself is useless. It can be opened with a longish fingernail!

Now the drive.

The ride is harsh, and the understeer is abysmal. The handling is OK in the dry, but the slightes bit of moisture, forget it.

Try to pull away quickly, and you will be rewarded with major wheel spin, extreme torque-steer and the front of the car bouncing like mad, shaking all of your teeth out, and probably making you whack your head on the roof or door frame in the process.

Park up less than ten feet away from something, you will have to climb out of the sunroof as the doors are far too big.

The gear change is long and sloppy, with the clutch biting very high (this is a problem on a NEW clutch).

And finally, if you want to go on a long trip, take plenty of petrol money and make sure that there are plenty of fill stations along the way. Whoever got more than 25mpg out of one of these should be awarded a Nobel prize.

Overall, it is a very pretty looking car, decent value for money and is actually quite practical for a single person or a couple. Insurance isn't as high as you would expect (my better half is 20, and she got insured with one years no claims for just over 1k)

The boot is massive, but if you have to have someone hold it up for you, whats the point? we looked at over ten Probes, and all of them had the same problem with the tailgate risers. And don't bother going to Ford to get replacements. If they actually bother with you in the first place, you will pay a HUGE price for them, wait a month of Sundays for them to arrive, and the pack up six months down the line again.

It is quite a good car, but it has a lot of flaws. If you can find a good one, you'll be laughing. It is well equipped, with electric everything, cruise, leather, air con (albeit knackered) and all the other usual mod cons.

We have just traded the car in for a Cosworth Scorpio, so watch this space for a review of that!

Just out of curiosity, why did you buy the car if it had all of these problems? I mean, surely you test drove it???

It sounds to me like your Probe was shot from some hard driving and seriously poor maintenance.

Yes, 165BHP from a 2.5L engine is pretty low, but that's because it's not turbocharged. You wouldn't complain about 80BHP from a 1.2L would you?

As for weight, the 24V is about 1.25 tonnes, which is much lighter than many other coupes. Take the 210BHP Peugeot 406 coupe for example - it weighs nearly 1.8 tonnes, and my Probe will easily beat this friends 406, even if at top speed, it's supposedly 10 mph slower.

Seeing as this is an anonymous post, I'll say that I've had my probe up to 135 mph on the M5, being hounded from behind by an Audi RS6.

Regarding reliability, these cars are actally made almost entirely from Mazda parts. The fuel economy is alright, managing 35-40 MPG on the motorway at 80mph.

Cabin interior is a bit hard and plasticy, but then again, in 1994, even BMW's were like this so stop complaining.

The seats are fantastically comfy with more adjustment than you can shake a stick at. I have bolster, lumbar, seat angle, seat height controls as well as plenty of legroom for my 36" legs. I'm a bit cramped for headroom - meaning that I lie back a bit more than I would like, but if you're 6'6" like me, the fact that I even fit in this car is a bonus.

In terms of handling, your suspension was clearly damaged else it appears you have no idea how to recognise simple tracking and alignment problems. Don't believe me, believe the british motoring press: Both Top Gear and Autocar rated the probe as one of the best-driving coupes of it's time.

With 217nm of torque, this car is full of grunt over a large power band of nearly 3000 revs. The book figures (from Autocar, an independent magasine) on the 24V probe are: 0-60 79sec and top speed of 134MPH. I have personally set quarter-miles at Santa-pod reaceway in my probe of 16s.

Beaten by an Aprilia 125? I'm not surprised. Aprilia 125's can get to 60 in about 6 seconds, which is faster than almost anything with 4 wheels. Don't forget that 125's have trouble hitting 100mph (snigger) and sound like a strained lawn-strimmer too.

It would appear that you bought yourself a real dodgy probe, i`ve had my `94 24 v for almost a month-and i`ve experienced none of the faults that you descibe, i find it a pleasure to drive-performance is good with plenty of power when needed, interior build quality is good-seats are comfy and supportive, all in all i`ve got myself a great car, i think that you should`ve given the car a better look over before parting with your cash-maybe had an independant inspection done.

I think I should go into the second hand car business, with people like you around-i`d make a fortune from selling any dodgy car I could my hands on-there`s one born every minute. The probe is a great car-if you take your time when buying and do your homework!

I've just come back to look at my reveiw on the Probe, and I would just like to say a few things.

The car was in good condition at the dealer, and it was only after spending three weeks looking at Probes that we settled for this one. The car had loads of paper work, and the reasons for the problems are now known to me.

The previous owner, a nice lady, had left the car standing on her driveway, without even starting the vehicle, for 7 months. The car was inspected by the RAC, as well as myself, and my father in law. The car was test driven with no problems. The car was simply just a bad egg.

I have to say that I miss the style, but I am sticking to my point about the performance. 165bhp is nothing, my Scorpio was not turbocharged and that produced 212bhp. A 2-litre 306 GTi produces 164bhp, which was around at the same time as the Probe.

When I raced it on my Aprilia, the bike was restricted to 12bhp, with no powervalve, and I weigh 15 stone.

I'm not saying that the car is bad, I loved that car, the only reason that I got rid was because of the cars age and the trouble that we had had with the car. I just cannot forgive that the performance was so much of a downer. I understand that the car was designed for America's long straight roads, but even my mate's 1.6 Focus could run rings round it on a fast A or B-road. The car just did not meet my expectations. My Scorpio is faster, handles better and is built to a better quality. And this is not a sports car, it was simply a better thought out car. Just a shame that it looks terrible.

My probe (24v 1995 only 1 previous owner) has not only lived upto my expectations, it has been a really reliable car that still turns heads, I suppose people seem to forget that car manufacturing has come along way since 1995!!

It is with great regret that I am selling mine due to having another car forced onto me by my employer, you know where to look on your pc to buy one!! in my opinion my probe oozed individuality and curiosity. I wipe away the tear in my eye and say goodbye! I loved it!

Sorry, but if your mates 1.6 focus ran rings round it then you really did had a duff probe. Especially if you couldnt get above 25 mpg, I would say your O2 sensors were knackerd for a start! Wheels needed sorting (aligned) if it was vibrating at speed... need I go on?

I'm not surprised your Aprilla beat it; it does 0-60 it 6.1 seconds, whereas the Probe is 8.5. Do the maths; what do you expect? It not to beat it ;#

I had a 1995 16-valve 5-speed with 156K on it and some upgrades. Any way, I had it for over a year and raced it, hard shifting at like 7000 in every gear, all I ever did was the oil changes and I never had one thing go wrong with it. So I don't know what the other owners did to your car, but I would buy another one without thinking about it. I loved the car.

I just looked at a purple 1995 ford probe and I absolutely loved it!! But on the other hand my parents don't think it's a safe car, the seller is only asking a $1700 and I think it's the perfect first car for me. What do you think I should do???