The story of how the Ford Probe existed at all is automotive legend: Ford had intended to kill off the Fox platform Mustang in favor of a Mazda-engineered, front-wheel-drive sport coupe by the mid-to-late 1980s. Fans of the Mustang rained hell down upon Dearborn, and there was a late change-of-heart by the company. The Mustang got a warm-over and the front-wheel-drive sport coupe appeared as the 1989 Probe, named after a series of concept cars from the early 1980s. They weren’t as popular as Ford wanted them to be, and by 1997 the model was done. The Probe has it’s fans, as strange as it sounds, and they are a dedicated group that tune up and trick out their Probes. But we only know of two Probes that feature all-wheel-drive. One is a mix-up of Ford bodywork and Audi running gear, and then there is this example, which features bits and pieces from a Mazda 626 to make the rear wheels work. Anything that involves four-wheel donuts is perfectly acceptable to us!
Snooore..weeeebebe..snooore..weeeebebe. Slow car day. 🙂
Creative and skilled enough to accomplish, then to spin donuts in a gravel lot totally disrespecting his own work doesn’t add up…
On the flip side, why would one build an AWD Probe unless to run it on gravel or other loose surfaces?
Probes weren’t bad cars when judged on their own merits, but judged as a Mustang replacement they didn’t make much sense. I had an ’89 Probe GT, and it was a fun car to drive at its limits. But the car’s “personality” was totally different compared to a Fox body 5.0 Mustang. The Mustang is pure Detroit; the Probe would have been more at home in Macross.