(first posted 11/26/2015) The second-generation Ford Probe seemed to have the unfortunate stigma of being an underdog, with tough competition and lower resale values than other cars in its segment. Some of my Spanish-speaking friends went so far as to call it the “Pobre”. Sleeping peacefully with its headlamp-doors/eyelids closed, this one seemed at peace with all of that. By contrast, the first-gen cars, despite being saddled with this unfortunate moniker from the get-go, seemed to get the respect of the automotive press.
I was a high school freshman when the inaugural 1989 Probes made their debut, and I remember reading much ado being made about their futuristic styling and technological sophistication. All the positive press seemed to successfully divert attention away from the fact that this FWD, partially Mazda-engineered car was almost called a Mustang, to the disdain of many fans of that iconic nameplate. The first Probe proved to be popular – outselling the second-gen model by a ratio of almost 2:1 despite being on the market for only four model years instead of five.
Fast-forward to model year ’93, and the 2nd-gen cars made their debut. The GT was even named Motor Trend’s Car Of The Year. I was by then a college freshman, and I spent almost as much time reading car magazines as studying. My first impressions were that while the new car looked lower and lighter, some of the distinctive touches I had liked about the first cars were gone – like the sideview mirrors that appeared to peel off from a character line that started at the leading edge of the front fenders, a smoother-looking greenhouse, and full-width taillamps on all models. I liked the front end and lower beltline of the new ’93s, but I found the chopped, slightly-concave rear panel somewhat unattractive and thought stylists could have done better. My circle of friends at the time also seemed to prefer the related Mazda MX-6, which was built at the same Flat Rock, Michigan factory with basically the same mechanicals.
Fast-forward (again) to the fall of ’97, and the Probe had completed its final model year of production. I was also set to graduate from college that December. Uncharacteristic of my truly thrifty parents, they offered to take my worn, ’88 Mustang LX 2.3L in trade toward their purchase of a newer used car for me. What?? Who are you people?? Truth be told, they were probably ecstatic I had ended up going back to college after a yearlong hiatus and actually finished my degree. (That’s me behind my old Mustang.)
My younger brother, Peter (whom I have referenced before), was by then a high school senior, and didn’t react to the news of my gift with jealousy. In quite the opposite response some might expect from a sibling, on his own, he started hitting the used car sections of some of the more reputable, local new car dealerships, including Galeana in south Fort Myers, Florida. Peter had a very good idea of what I’d like, so he picked out three domestically-branded sporty coupes, from which I selected the teal-colored beauty you see above. It was a ’94 base model with the standard 2.0L four-cylinder, a five-speed manual transmission, and a gray cloth interior with tweed inserts in the seats.
Let’s just address the elephant in the room right away… My Probe was a chick car. Like, totally. But at the time, I saw it as sort of a bigger, fixed-roof Miata with all the added utility of a back seat (which folded flat) and a hatchback with excellent access to a cavernous cargo area in which to haul my stuff. It was light on options – it had crank-windows and manual locks. Its only factory options were a rear window defroster and A/C (I also had an aftermarket CD player installed) but, my gosh, was that thing fun to drive. It zipped around and handled in ways my wheezy, 4-cylinder Mustang could only have dreamed of. The shifter was crisp and light, the power steering had just enough road feel, and it also had a certain mystique that came with driving a genuinely modern sporty coupe.
I had always wanted a car with pop-up headlights, and this one made the coolest whirring sound when I activated them with the stalk-mounted control. The seats were properly bolstered and looked good. The interior, though attractively styled, was a sea of hard, gray plastic. This was one area in which my Mustang bested my Probe. My Mustang’s Regatta Blue interior was a much nicer place to spend time behind the wheel, but it also lacked airbags. I did appreciate the Probe’s lower, sportier driving position. In retrospect, I probably did love my Mustang more when I owned it just for being what it was, but at the time, my Probe felt like a very cool car and a substantial step up in the automotive food-chain. I waited probably four whole months after driving it off the lot before smoking cigarettes in it. (I’ve been clean now for over ten years.)
To this day, the sight of one of the second-generation Probes makes me smile and think about my twenties in the Nineties. At the time, my Probe seemed like a modern-day equivalent of the Ford Capri II of the 70’s (a car I had always wanted) – being just this side of exotic, functional, and seemingly greater than the sum of its parts. Never mind that these Probes were never as popular as the evergreen Toyota Celica or the 2nd-gen Mitsubishi Eclipse (the latter being absolutely everywhere). The Probe gave Ford shoppers a reason to return to its dealerships for an entry-level sporty, sweet-handling, fuel-efficient car that could actually keep up with traffic. Let’s forgive its name – it was just the ticket for one newly-minted college graduate.
The maroon GT was as photographed by the author in Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois in February/March 2011. Exterior shots of the author and his cars were taken 1998; Interior shot taken 2003.
Related reading from Perry Shoar: Curbside Classic: 1990 Ford Probe GT – Under Pressure.
My wife’s sister had two Probes – first a white ’89 that she kept for about 4 years and then traded for a blue one very similar to yours. She was quite happy with both of them, though I don’t know what possessed her to trade the second one for a Saturn. I also rode in an MX-6 once and really liked it – I wouldn’t have minded taking either that or a Probe for a spin. Still, I’m glad that Ford made the wise decision to leave the Mustang alone.
lookin good in the green shirt Dennis. looks like there’s a saab c900 parked in front of the probe
I was trading in my 91 Mitsubishi Galant in 2000 I was tired of fixing it. I test drove a 96 probe. It was really girly. It had the chameleon paint that went from pinkish purple to blue.
Four cylinder with an automatic. It seemed so slow. And the check engine light came on so I went back to the lot with it. If it had been a 5 speed and no light came on I might have gotten it. It was a great design and a nice enough car I considered looking for another one. I ended up buying a ford ranger
TJ, I do remember that chameleon purple color you’re talking about! I remember these Probes had an unusually high percentage of “jellybean” colors on their options palette. I did like the teal color of my car – it seemed to fit the car’s cheerful character.
My sister and her husband had one of the first generation models, probably about the last of the American branded cars they ever owned (broken only by my BIL’s current Cherokee, which was one hell of a shock to me when they bought it). They seemed to like it, although there was never any massive enthusiasm for it. When trade-in time came, the second generation model wasn’t even considered – as well as anything with an American badge on the hood.
Hey, when you’re liberal yuppie DINK’s from Buck’s County, PA; it just won’t do to be seen in an American-branded car.
My first new car was a 93 Probe, just like yours with just a few more options ( wheels, power windows/locks ). Got 199,000 miles out of it, all on the original brakes and clutch! Only thing I ever replaced besides wear items is one spark plug wire.
Twenty years later I bought another Probe, this time a GT, and I race it LeMons.
Your yellow GT looks really nice for a LeMons racer! My Probe was mostly trouble-free. Only major repairs I had (and I owned mine from 58K miles to 124K miles) were a new clutch and replacing both CV joints – the latter $700 repair covered by extended warranty, just before it ran out. Whew! Where my Mustang had started to nickle-and-dime me to death (given its advanced miles), my Probe was refreshingly trouble-free.
Seeing that photo of Joseph and his FoxStang made me think that Flint had really gone all out to remake itself, complete with Spanish colonial architecture and palm trees…….then I scrolled down!
Another great read. Probes of any vintage are high on the endangered species list around here.
Hahaha!! Mark, that reminds me of a scene from “Roger & Me” when the Flint tourism lady said, “You can’t make Palm Beach out of the Bowery. To make Palm Beach, you gotta go to Palm Beach.” I don’t think Galeana is stil in business… at least under that name. Thanks, regarding the article.
My second car was a Grey Green 97 Ford Probe 2.0l 5 speed. Fun car with a very weird set of options. It had the upgraded the sports suspension and wheels, AC and the upgraded factory sound system but no power windows or locks. In high school it seemed like a very cool car and way better than my first car, a 1991 Crown Victoria.
Ended up driving it for 7 years and never had too many issues.
I seem to recall seeing a test of the gen 2 Probe in a British car magazine … do any CC’ers know if they sold well over there or were exported to other countries? I wonder if it was perceived as an American car over there … though seemingly bigger than say a Celica or Prelude (and thus more like a traditional Yank-tank) to me they were just rebadged Mazdas and thus had no American feel, which I assume is why the RWD Mustang lived on.
I think I remember CAR magazine testing a Probe GT. With the magazine’s HEAVY anti-American stance, they weren’t very impressed, with most of the criticism pointed at the styling. The Vauxhall Calibra and Mazda MX-6 were preferred by the magazine and most potential buyers.
I also thought the styling got a little….strange from the trailing edge of the doors to the rear panel.
I almost bought a 1st gen, that was a sweet little car. It was a 91 LX with V6 and automatic transmission. It also had a real “crazy-looking” digital instrument cluster. White with a red velour interior, but best of all….FRAMELESS door glass.
I also looked at a 2nd generation car, but didn’t buy that one because the upholstery looked super greasy/grimey. I figured if it looked this beat on the inside, it was probably pretty beat under the hood.
BTW, I don’t get all the….hostility aimed at this car because of it’s name. To me, naming something that looks like the world’s biggest fish bowl, Pacer, it at the least ironic.
I also really liked the frameless door glass on my car. And about the name, my initial connotation was of space travel. But once other contexts were pointed out, they were hard to ignore. Like “Pacer” and “Citation” (names gracing two models that flopped, twice), I doubt “Probe” will ever, ever be recycled.
We had them for a while, they were sold through the Ford dealerships, alongside the Euro-Fords. Extremely rare though, just like the Ford Cougar.
Here’s a 1995 Ford Probe GT 2.0 16v.
The “Ford” Cougar was even blander. No.. marketing made no mention of its American origins….. more of a Capri replacement.
Clarkson did like its 24V v6.
Sorry my friend the gt was a 6 cylinder 2.5 I beleave you probably had the base or posaby the se.
There was no pretense of any Ford imput on these when they appeared down under they were rebadged Mazdas and that at the time was seen as a good thing given Fords quality disasters of the time EA Falcon and Crapi, I’m looking at you.
Sold in Austria too, for those who could not quite stretch to something German. Second owners were even more impoverished than the first and you tended to see them in the wrong side of town in a neglected state. They are virtually extinct now.
If you really must… https://www.willhaben.at/iad/gebrauchtwagen/auto/ford-probe-24-v-120694198/
Always enjoyed the cousin Mercury Cougar. However, the Mercury dealers didn’t understand on how to market the sports coupe just like the Mercury Capri which I also liked. So many lost opportunities!!!
That interior shot highlights Ford’s profound lack of giving a f*** about the second-gen Probe, particularly the absolute zero effort towards incorporating the ’93-spec door panel character line (which was red on GTs, and spanned across the dashboard) into the ’94-above dual airbag-equipped dashboard.
We still had tons of unsold ’96 and ’97 Probe SEs on the lot when I briefly sold Fords in the summer of 1998.
The door panel / dash thing bothered me, too. One of the sales handicaps, IIRC, was that the base 4-cyl. Probe cost within a few hundred dollars of the base, 6-cyl. (redesigned) Mustang. Must have been a hard sell on the new-car lots.
You nailed it. Mustang buyers came in looking for Mustangs, regardless of whether they wanted a base V6 (which were generally horrid cars, especially with an automatic) or a GT. I can’t recall a single prospect ever telling me they wanted to look at a Probe.
Occasionally, the tower would attempt to move a buyer who couldn’t get bought on a Mustang (usually due to being upside-down in their trade) over to an overaged Probe, which had some serious cash on the hood. I don’t remember that ever working, though.
Nicely written article, BTW.
Consistent with the female-car meme, my mom had a Gen 2 Probe as a lease car for two years, SE with I4/5 Speed. It was a decent car, handled well and good space inside for a coupe. Interior was extremely cheap.
The platform was basically sound though – Ford would have been better off using this as the Tempo/Topaz replacement instead of pouring all that money into the CDW (although I suspect Ford’s notorious NIH mentality came into play here).
CDW? What’s that? I can only think of the rental car term Collision Damage Waiver (haha).
I always liked this sporty car by Ford. At that time, my older sister was in the market for her first new car. When I suggested the Ford Probe, she said: “there is no way I would drive a car called the “Probe”! (Years later, I think that had something to do with a reference to doctor’s visits, but I was younger then, and didn’t get it). She ended up buying a 1996 Toyota Celica coupe.
Well written CC, Joseph!
I would have liked a Ford Probe, 1st generation though. I too feel the second generation looked too feminine.
I test drove a 2nd generation Probe and one thing I did not like at all: the steering wheel was way to high in relation to the seat. It became obvious to me that this car was a coupe whittled out out of a sedan: Mazda 626. I understand the firewall could not be lowered, but why not lowering the dashboard and steering wheel a bit? I know, development cost.
When I tested the car I was already too old to appreciate the harsh, I mean sporty, suspension tuning. But it was a real scoot!
Oh, and I associated the name Probe with a space probe and thus advanced technology.
Thanks, Wolfgang. I had a cool screensaver for my computer once that was taken from a European ad, where the car “blasted off” from Earth and landed on the moon. I remember my car had a lever to the left of the steering wheel to adjust for angle.
Yes, tilt. Tilt has to be done right, BMW style: a long part of the steering column must tilt and the instruments must come along. That results in a true height adjustment.
In my old Ford Windstar only a short part of the column tilted and the instruments were fixed. It really changed the angle of the wheel too much when you lower it.
In my current Pontiac Vibe the tilt range was not nearly enough to result in a comfortable position. I raised the front of the seat with shims under the bolts to get my thighs close enough to the wheel.
Tilt has to be done right to be more than a check box on the spec list.
We had a 91. Put 97,000 trouble free miles on it. Drove it another 30,000 miles with the oil light mysteriously flickering on and off, although a mechanical gauge showed no pressure problems at all. The car rusted out, and was sold to a person who had three of them, to add to his parts car collection. If they sold it as a 2 door station wagon (Fixing the high lift over for the hatch, and a wagon back would fix the hatch intruding into backseat headroom.) It would make the ultimate cross country 2 person camping/ funhog car. I would happily buy one to replace my Focus wagon. It would have tons more space and be better looking as well as being more comfortable in the back seat….once you some how got in and weren’t in a hurry to get out.
The reason for my late reply is that in the first gen cars the tilt wheel didn’t tilt just the wheel. When you released the latch the whole instrument cluster and steering column moved together. I loved that it was so easy to get right, so many cars I’ve driven since I sort of split the difference between comfort and obscuring an instrument or two.
I remember that ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snrkvFBlErY
I guess they were looking for a better angle on the word Probe “Hey, why not make it a space Probe?” though you can also imagine someone replying “Why not call it Capri?”
That line always stood out like a sore thumb to me, I didn’t realize it actually served a purpose at some point
Nice article Joseph, very few of these left on the roads here which is a shame as it’s a striking and (to my mind) harmonious design – a fun period for Ford design, certainly here in Europe (where this was the 1st gen Probe: we didn’t get its predecessor)
I echo your feelings of it as a Capri successor too – it takes the same lightweight lithe approach to the affordable sports/coupe as the (European) Capri did and is similarly successful at it… in spite of the unfortunate name.
…
Could I gently suggest for future articles however that the dictionary is your friend? (see below)
Dictionary wouldn’t have helped – I’ve simply been misusing that word all these years! Haha! Let’s substitute “disdain”, and thanks for pointing that out in a nice way.
We’ve all been there. After reading the Encyclopedia of American Cars (by the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide), I somehow got it in my head that “middlecade” was a word meaning the middle part of a decade. No, I was just somehow misreading mid-decade repeatedly (they said it a LOT) and created a new word in my head.
Now that you know what behest means, Joseph, you can start saying “at the behest” which I have always found to be a very impressive-sounding phrase.
Thanks, William. Really, ain’t no thang. If if I’ve misused five words out of three-thousand, I’m not second-guessing my vocabulary skills. 😉
I loved these Probes. I think they are much more masculine and aggressive than the first-generation Probes, which we didn’t get here in Australia. These second-gens always impressed me with their exterior and interior styling and V6. And yet as a high schooler I was adamant I would buy a Taurus instead. I guess I am too much of a sedan man!
I remember when the ’93 Probe GT arrived it had a stylish red stripe that wrapped door to door across the dash. The next year the passenger side airbag arrived and the stripe disappeared.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_images/1/1106/4221/2764610001_large.jpg
I remember I’d always mix up the front ends of these with the C5 Corvettes. I mentally said “oh wait, that’s just a Probe” a lot in 96-97
I agree about the detail styling of these cars — the basic shape is pretty nice, but there are a lot of bits that make me wish someone had done another draft or two. The GT nose also seems to fit the proportions better than the four-cylinder version did.
I also had mixed feelings about the engine lineup. The 2.5-liter Mazda K-series V-6 is really sweet, but the four also fell into the “could do better” category. (It had what, 118 hp?) I suppose if the four had been more powerful, it would have deterred more people from buying the V-6, but still.
I liked the 2nd gen Probe better than the first. I must be an outlier, I rather liked the styling of the 2nd gen.
But, if I were to purchase an early 1990’s sports coupe, I think I would have plunked my money down on one of the Diamond Star cars. Far superior in most measurements and the turbo AWD models were real rocket ships. Even though I had my choice of hot Toyotas at the dealership, any time we got a Diamond Star in, I had to take it for a spin.
I remember the DSMs were *on fire*, back then, especially the Mitsu Eclipse. Even now, I like the style of the early 2nd gen Eclipses. Buddy of mine had an Eagle Talon and while I liked that car, I thought the Eclipse was cleaner-looking. (I’m just back from Shenango Valley, BTW – Valley View sign is still there!)
My wife’s first car was a 2nd-gen Eagle Talon TSi. Considering she is not a car person *at all*, I’m thinking her Dad probably had something to do with that choice! It was gone well before I met her, but I’ve always been a little jealous that her first car was quicker and better-handling than anything I’ve ever owned…
Hey, have to agree with you! To me, the 2nd generation’s styling was a much better design, aestheticly and just in general! Loved my brand new 94 GT v6, 2nd generation Rio Red car! Got so many compliments on the design, the perfect red color! My friend had the 1st generation, and side by side, there was no comparison! Imo, the 1st Gen looked so clunky.
It was a fun car to drive, with the v6, it handled well! I kept this car immaculate, beautiful color, had the metal moon roof replaced with glass, never had any issues. Got dual chrome exhaust tips, looked great! From being under trees alot, it faded. Had a friend at body shop, got great cost for new paint job, it looked incredible!
I didn’t want to sell it, but eventually needed more room for my child.
The only thing I didn’t like about it was the name, definitely a poor choice.
I almost bought the mx6 because of it, but got more bang for the buck with this one. Had a better stereo installed..nothing like cranking up the tunes with the moon roof open…on an open country road! Miss my 94 2nd GT V6, with a couple of custom things. Hey if you want to see some really nice looking regular and custom m check out my pinterest board, Ford Probe GT | Ford Probe Custom under my name, Donna Weber. If this thread is still working, can post some pics! Great article!
I think I would have been one of those folks that would have bought a 2nd Gen Probe willingly over the Mustang. I remember thinking the 1994-1998(and the 99-04) Mustang was ugly when they were being made and I still think that they are ugly today. The irony is that while you never really see the 2nd Gen Probe out on roads nowadays due to low sales when they were new, you also really never see many 94-98 Mustangs ether despite them selling a butt ton of them when new. This was due to most being sold with the head gasket eating 3.8l V6(I worked at a Ford dealer when going to school and there always was at least 4 or 5 of them waiting to get new head gaskets and heads)
The QC was so horrible on them that even on the more reliable V8 version the cars simply seemed to fall apart.
The Probe seemed to give reliable service to its owner even if some of them were equipped with somewhat ho-hum engines.
I also liked the Mazda version (the MX-6) as I think its look with the non retractable headlights was more cleaner.
Oh by the way those 1990’s pics were pretty cool looking and I got a bit nostalgic(it has been 20 years since high school)
Leon, it’s funny that you mention 90’s nostalgia, because since I wrote this post (and probably combined with memories the holidays bring), I’ve been feeling that decade in full force! I wouldn’t want to repeat it, but a lot of great stuff from that time of my life.
I did really like the new-for ’94 Mustangs, though. All things considered, if I could have found a decent used one at a price I felt my parents could swing, I might have pounced on it. My brother had found a ’94 Mustang at a used car lot, but if I remember correctly, it was murdered-out (all black) with stupid rims and high miles. I lost no sleep over passing on that one.
I loved the first-gen Probe when it came out, so much so that for Christmas in ’89 my parents gave me a sweatshirt with a brochure image of the Probe printed onto the front. I thought the design was starting to show its age just a bit by ’92 though, and the ’93 GT looked like a breath of fresh air, Visually smaller, more aggressive (if less distinctive), and with the promise of power from that 2.5 V6. The interior looked good too, until that character line fell victim to the air bag. I remember the magazines all had good reviews too, and figured maybe Ford was on a roll with sporty coupes. Its MX-6 counterpart was sleeker, but rarely seen and I liked the Probe better in GT trim.
Sadly the market moved on, and there was no third-gen car. So I never even really got to consider one, as I was 17 when the car went out of production and my parents were *certainly* not in the position to buy me a new car as my first. During my brief and ill-fated plan to get something smaller and more fuel-efficient than my Malibu as a car to take to college in ’99, I would have liked to try out a used Probe, but even then there were none to be had while I was in the market.
Nice! Chris, the only couple of visual details on the first Probes I wasn’t crazy about were the high-ish cowl and the hood-blisters for shock-tower clearance. But I agree with you that the ’93s had a welcome freshness about their design.
I always considered the ’99 Mercury Cougar (introduced mid-year ’98) to be the Probe’s successor. I liked those cars on their own merits (if not as proper Cougars) and would have wanted one if they were just a few years older when I was looking for a used car.
Hello it September 28 2017 I have a 97 probe base I want to share with you.
Had me a ’95 white GT w/ a 5-speed stick. Terrific, and terrific-looking car. I went so far as to buy aftermarket alloys that closely resembled the rims on Speed Racer’s Mach 5. I stopped short of adding the Mach 5’s red decals, but those alloys looked right at home on that GT! At one point a French girlfriend asked, with a certain disdain, why I drove such a “fast” car. My wits didn’t fail me as I replied, without missing a beat, “for safety!” Wasn’t a lot she could say to such a “sensible” priority. Not that I told a lie–I did like having a car that could pass a semi quickly, which a fun downshift always made easy. I’m driving a lovely ’17 Mazda 6 w/ a stick these days, and life is good.
We had them in NZ in small numbers but I remember them in OZ not common there either the last one I saw belonged to the young guy who drove the forklift loading my truck he was trying to sell it, with little success the thick layer of dust from having it at his job may not have helped but it was a tidy car $2500 may been asking too much
I bought a new 91 LX, V6, Auto, Black. Drove it for 18 years. Loved driving that car. Didn’t have any serious problems with it. Rust finally reared its head, around the windshield. Pretty decent life for a Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota car that was a daily driver. Especially loved stuffing it thru cloverleafs as fast as it would roll. Early on I looked into a turbo kit or swapping in a Taurus SHO engine. It was a handful to drive in snow storms. Should have bought winter wheel and tires for it, especially for how long I owned it. The V6 eventually ended up being a real oil burner. Burned about a quart every 100-150 miles. Never checked it out. It was not leaking any oil and other than a puff at start up there wasn’t any steady plume of smoke or smell of burning oil. Valve seals or rings? I had lots of low mile used oil available to burn from the rest of the fleet. Throw on a new filter every 3000 miles and use up the drain oil. Sold it to a friend for $300. He and his daughter put a lot more miles on it and then traded it off. He tried some “miracle” products that would “fix” the oil burning issues. None worked, one did appear to work but its effectiveness wore out after 300-400 miles and it was back to burning.
Considering how many generic aero cars on offer in the 90’s, these still stood out.
It’s a modern Panhard.
Congrats on being smoke free. I’m working on being smoke free, myself. A 40+ year battle.
I always thought that these Probes were gorgeous. Just enough tension in the sheet metal. A fit, sexy bod in lycra. As far as the interior, according to my old car brochure collection, the first year of this gen Probe had a snazzy red stipe that ran around the dash and onto the door panels. Did this version of the Probe have the instrument panel gages move with the titling of the wheel or am I thinking about another version?
Thank you, Blake. It was the first-generation Probe that had the tilting instrument panel. I thought that was a great feature. I also lamented that my ’94 didn’t have the red stripe on the dashboard as originally designed, but I guess the aesthetics could be sacrificed for the added safety of the extra airbag.
This was the time when the sporty coupe market was dominated by the Honda Prelude and Toyota Celica’s. And then the Diamond Star triplets. I liked the second gen Probe looks better than the first. I liked the roof/window design. But there seemed to be a lot of compromises on the styling. A friend had a first gen was quite a while. The reliability and gas mileage of these “asian” cars was so much better than what Detroit was building at the time. I remember a joke about a car accident report “Celebrity rear ended by Probe. I thought it was the Rock Hudson story”. Decent car, horrible name.
One feature I really like on the 1st Gen was the whole dash cluster layout. Moving up and down with the tilt wheel and the other feature was the turn signal switch and wiper controls were mounted on the moving dash cluster. Always at your finger tips and not having a rats nest of wiring running up thru the steering column to short, break or ground out.
Made great looking Pro Stock machines.