This is my 1997 Ford Probe GTS. It is our 3rd second generation probe between my brother and I, but is our first with the 2.5L V6 engine.

This is how it looked right after I bought it. The front tires were excessively worn inside due to faulty control arm bushings. The former owner had the tires replaced numerous times and somewhere along the way the tire store who mounted the tires put the wheels on the wrong sides so they were backwards. The brakes were in dire need of new rotors and pads, and the passenger side CV shaft needed to be replaced as well.

The engine is a stock Mazda KL-DE producing roughly 164 horsepower and 160 ft. lbs of torque. The exhaust system has a resonated test pipe and a Powertone muffler which may provide a mild power increase. It's 2496cc displacement meant that it was exempt to taxes placed on vehicles in Japan with engines 2.5 liters or larger.

The interior is "saddle" tan with sport leather seats. The driver's seat is powered with adjustable kidney and lumbar supports. There is also a power moon roof, which is a nice change from having midday sun in my face from a sun roof. The shifter is linked to an extremely short-geared 5-speed manual transaxle which allows the car to reach a redline-limited top speed of around 135 mph (A drastic change from my 2.73 geared mustang, capable of running at 80mph at 2000rpm).

The transaxle is mated to an Exedy clutch and Mazda MX-3 lightened flywheel installed by one of the car's previous owners. The car had also had a misfire on cylinder #4 for some time which destroyed two of the oxygen sensors in the exhaust. The cause of the misfire was a spark plug wire boot which had torn and allowing the wire to arc to the cylinder head.

Here is what it looked like a week after I bought it. I replaced the front tires, front brake rotors and pads, passenger CV half shaft, distributor cap & rotor, spark plug wires, and rear sway bar links. The front passenger fender and headlight still need to be realigned as they were the victims of a deer strike while being driven by the former owner.

I'm moving to Florida for school and wanted a car which had better gas mileage than my mustang, and more importantly air conditioning.