The Japanese have come of age with these two cars- both are sportier versions of humble family cars (Civic and 626).
Taken from R&T’s 1987 December issue, lets see if they come good. First it’s the CRX:
New read about the MX-6:
Vintage Road Tests: Honda CRX Si, Mazda MX-6
– Posted on March 3, 2016
Looking at that MX-6 really helps to show how well Ford did differentiating the Probe. You wouldn’t know they were related without looking under the hood.
I much prefer the Probe, other than the name, but I can see why some would like the understated MX-6.
+1
These cars really benefitted from about $20 worth of parts from a hardware store. Crank the boost from the stock 6psi to almost 12psi did wonders for the acceleration. The torque steer was crazy and the chime at 12psi fuel cut was mildly funny after recovering from whip lash.
I always thought a 1st Gen MX6 would go nicely with my 2nd Gen Probe GT.
I can just imagine the torque steer, my Probe GT was a handful stock! But I was young, it was fun, and it was so much better behaved overall than my previous Mustang GT. I wanted to play with the turbo but it was my daily driver and I was a poor college student so I never dared.
This is not mine, but mine looked just like this:
They certainly didn’t look related. I was 8 years old when the Probe appeared and it immediately became my favorite non-exotic/classic car–the styling just really worked for me. As an adult, I actually prefer the MX-6’s understated but handsome looks. I still find the Probe’s styling attractive, but it hasn’t stood the test of time as well.
I had a 1991 Mazda MX-6. I drove or for nine years. I loved it, it was my first new car.
It’s close to being a toss-up as to which is more attractive: this generation of MX-6 or the one that followed it.
BTW, I was excited when Ford announced a new car line in the late 80s (tthe Probe), but I always thought that the 1st generation Probe looked like a potato with wheels. The GT model, in Ford’s defense, somehow looked less “potatoy (?)” than the GL and LX models/trims.