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Old 11-22-2008, 01:27 PM   #91 (permalink)
aerohead
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Ford Probe

Quote:
Originally Posted by metroschultz View Post
Hey Phil,
How about weighing in on one that perhaps us poor people could buy from a junkyard and play with.
I was thinking of the Ford Probe.
I have no numbers but, from what I remember they were designed with aero in mind from the factory.
Also their sister car the Mazda MX6.
Both are relatively inexpensive if you were to buy a rolling assembly from a bone yard and add your own drivetrain.

I'm thinking take my Metro/Swift engine /trans and put in a stripped out Probe rolling chassis.

I would play the devil getting the weight out (and for the suspension I would not be able to remove weight), but what about the possabilities for aero on something like that?
Schultz
MetroSchultz,I dug through my rat's nest and found two road tests for the Probe,March,1988 and August,1992,both by CAR and DRIVER. The cars does have Cd0.32 ( same as Taurus) and I estimated a frontal area of about 20.1 ft sq..Curb weight:2,940/2,894 lbs respectively.EPA highway is 26 for both cars.Car and driver got 16mpg and 20 mpg respectively.The '92 model is a GT.The C and D guys drive with "spirit" (as I can attest to after being driven around Ann Arbor in a 911 Carrera by one of their road warriors),so the Probe would probably do better mpg in your hands.---------------------------- I found some tests on Escorts,but no mpg above say 35-mpg.

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