Faults:

Paint job is starting to crack. The front of the car gets hit by a lot of debris from the road e.g. stones, sticks, etc..

Tires wear quickly and can be costly to replace.

The Brakes are beginning to go. I have a feeling I will be buying new ones soon.

Oil in the spark plugs.

Rear struts have gone.

Makes funny noice when turning a corner in first gear.

Drivers seat broke and had to be fixed.

Quite costly to maintain, but not as much as other sports cars.

Consumes a lot of fuel, but that could be down to my "enthusiastic driving". ;-)

P.S. Oh is that the cup holder!!! I thought it was for loose change.

General Comments:

Brilliant car for the money.

Have not driven anything more entertaining. It handles as if were on rails and I love pushing it through corners and watch as others disappear in the rear-view mirror.

Very quick acceleration through 1st and 2nd, then sort of levels out in the mid range, until you reach 35000 revs in 5th gear and then it starts building up speed. Have had it up to max of 220mph frightened of going any faster.

Definitely "Ford'arrie" stunning car to look at and turns heads, a pleasant break from the norm.

Faults:

Distributor packed up; £400 replacement.

Immobiliser packed up; £150 repair.

General Comments:

Ford are aware of the problem and refuse to acknowledge it, therefore eliminating their cost of a recall, and cashing in on people's misfortune at over £500 a time.

My Probe has now packed up again, and has been left in my drive until I can swallow my pride and pay for it again.

I am completely perplexed at how a large company like Ford can treat their customers with such contempt. I now refuse to buy another Ford, and would urge others to follow suit.

Faults:

None whilst I was driving it.

General Comments:

This is the worst car I have driven and looked at.

It was a friends 2.0 liter 16V model, and comparing this 115 HP engine to my 150 HP 2.0 liter 16V Calibra is a non- starter.

The probe is a very cheap looking coupe, with all the cornering ability of a Transit van.

The engine does not feel has if it has any power in it, and when I saw it has a 0-60 of 11 seconds and a top speed of 118 miles per hour, I just laughed.

Faults:

Rear calipers seized (common fault, due to the handbrake pivot sticking. A well documented problem at FPOCUK*).

Distributor and immobilisor failure. (One burns the other out - common fault, but well documented at FPOCUK*).

Bearings in the top of the front shock absorbers are starting to knock when turning the steering at low speeds. Again, well documented at FPOCUK*).

* FPOCUK is the Ford Probe Owners Club UK.

General Comments:

This car is good value, looks great, and handles well. Overall, I am very pleased with it.

There are common faults with most cars. However, the Probe is quite rare, and this means that very few people know what to do when it goes wrong.

One important point to make though:

This car is almost totally a Mazda MX6 / 626. The bodywork is Ford, but all the oily bits are Mazda. This means that a Mazda dealer will have much more experience with the mechanics than the Ford dealer. Ford haven't a clue when it comes to anything about this car.

I have found the Ford Probe Owners Club UK to save me hundreds, if not thousands of pounds in repair bills, just by being aware of what goes wrong, why, and also the best places to get spares for this rare car. They have a very busy on-line forum, and it is the friendliest forum I've ever come across. Those guys will give an answer to every question you can throw at them!