Welcome back to Shitbox Showdown! Today’s contestants are a pair of well-used sporty liftback coupes – a category of cars that doesn’t even exist anymore, and I miss them. Even better, they’re both stickshifts, and they both run! Don’t get too excited until you see them, though. And before I show them to you, we need to finish up yesterday’s kei battle:
Well, that’s a surprise. From the comments, I expected the Life to win it, and that’s the one I’d rather have. But the little Acty pickup found enough silent fans to give it the win.
I’ve expressed my fondness for small sporty front-wheel-drive coupes before, and lamented their disappearance from the market more than once. But every time I find one for sale, their absence from new car lots stings a little more. Used examples are still around, of course, but usually they’re overpriced, or completely hammered. Since a lot of our showdowns have been on the high-priced side recently, I thought it would be fun to aim low for a change, and see what I could find for under a grand. I’m pleasantly surprised, and I think you all will be too. Let’s take a look.
1990 Ford Probe – $950
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Shoreline, WA
Odometer reading: 260,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep!
This is a car I know quite well. I owned an ’89 Probe for a couple of years when my wife and I first moved to Oregon, a non-turbo manual like this one. It was a great car to drive, very reliable, surprisingly comfy, and it managed about 35 mpg on the highway. I even drove it to Los Angeles and back once. In fact, the only reason I sold it was that I found a dirt-cheap Miata, and you don’t pass up a dirt-cheap Miata. But our parking situation was limited, so I reluctantly put the Probe up for sale. To my surprise, a buyer flew in from Florida, because it was exactly like the car he had in high school and he just had to have it, and drove it all the way back.
The Probe, of course, was supposed to be the next Ford Mustang, but after AutoWeek infamously spilled those particular beans in 1987 and the Mustang faithful bombarded Ford with letters of protest, Ford relented and the Mustang continued its Fox-body bloodline. The Probe is a mechanical twin to Mazda’s MX-6 coupe, itself a derivative of the 626 sedan. As such, it’s powered by a 2.2 liter Mazda engine driving the front wheels, both cardinal sins among Mustang traditionalists. But honestly, I’ve driven more than one four-cylinder Fox-body Mustang, and the base-model Probe is a better car in every way.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of information to go on when it comes to this particular Probe. All we know is that it has 260,000 miles on it, fewer miles on the engine, and that it runs and drives well. But that last part is the important part – a running $950 car that’s actually a pretty nice car to drive? Hell, I’d be tempted to pick this one up for myself, if I had a place to park it.
It’s straight, it’s rust-free, and it isn’t sinking into the mud in someone’s side yard. I have no idea if the registration is current, because the license plate is covered up, and we only get the four exterior photos and none of the inside or under the hood, but again, $950. You can forgive a lot for that price.
1996 Acura Integra – $995
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8 liter dual overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: San Marcos, CA
Odometer reading: 300,000 miles
Runs/drives? Indeed it does!
For only $45 more, if you’re down in the San Diego region, you could pick up this absolutely beat-to-hell Acura Integra, Honda’s defining sporty coupe of the ’90s that is ironically far more of a legend than an Acura Legend. Once the darling of the tuner crowd, many of these cars met untimely demises through stupid modifications, or stupid driving, or both. This one escaped the modifications, and it only has one sign of stupid driving, but it has seen some things, it looks like.
It’s the best color Acura ever put on one of these, that wonderful deep emerald green, but it’s missing nearly all its clearcoat, and someone did something terrible to the left rear corner. The damage looks superficial, and was partially pounded out, but best to check that the rear hatch opens and closes properly. Remarkably, it still wears its original steel wheels and plastic hubcaps. The hubcaps aren’t a surprise – Honda hubcaps are held on by retaining rings on the lug nuts so they don’t fall off – but the fact that no one has swapped them for aftermarket wheels is.
This ad is as terse as the one for the Probe, but at least we get an interior shot. It looks as tired inside as it does outside, but it’s all there. Clean, low-mileage examples of Integras this age have sold for some really idiotic prices in recent years, but personally, I like this one better. It has lived a full life and it has the scars to show for it, and it wears them with dignity.
Come to think of it, we had an Integra for a while as well. It wasn’t a bad little car, but it had some electrical shenanigans from a previous owner that caused problems, we paid too much for it from a fly-by-night ripoff artist used car lot, and it was an automatic. Actually, I like this Integra better than that one, too.
My cheap old beater days are probably behind me now, but cars like these remain near and dear to my heart. It’s nice to see you can still find something that is at least serviceable in theory for less than a thousand dollars. Either of these cars would be worth a look, in my mind. Which one is the better deal? You tell me.
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Probe all the way (I winced when I typed this). Can’t tell what the interior looks like, but the tires look decent. Honestly, you could probably get a $500 Maaco paint job on it. From there, you could really go nuts if you wanted; new vinyl striping on the rubrails, appropriate Ford alloys from a salvage yard, whatever. In the end, you’d have a great looking and very enjoyable ride for around $2k that you could roll to work or to Radwood with equal prowess.
As with the others, I’m going with the Probe because the Integra is just too rough. Those Integras were fun little cars that, when in less wrecked shape, had a solid feel that the Probe couldn’t match (neither this or the next gen Probe). However, the photos make that Integra look like all the body panels are tweaked, so I bet it rattles like a bag of bolts.
If there was a Probe for that price and in that condition around here, someone would have to pull me away. Probe all the way.
I had that same Integra, but with a grey interior and mine had more structural Integra-ty. Same color, same no-spoiler base model. This car will never be as nice as the one I had, so I’ll choose the Probe.
its crazy to think you could buy a “premium” japanese car with steelies!!
Probe for me, I always liked the GT!
if it’s rusting in California, it’s in baaaaaaaaaaad shape, so I voted for the Probe hoping it has the cool digital dash 😛
Would have gone for the Integra…but that thing was hit hard in the rear quarter panel. Who knows what damage is hiding behind the sheetmetal. Just from that one photo, I can see it was tweaked enough for there to be a considerable gap between that quarter panel and the trunk lid.
For the money the Probe.
If it gives up the ghost take the plates and leave it there.
Lube me up and give me the probe.
Woah there fella.
Sir, this is a family site. Unless Torch is around and then it’s a gamble what you’re going to see and hear..
I would consider buying one of these to use as an expendable track car. Anything not required to make the car go would be removed and, if in decent condition, sold. These vehicles are similar as far as performance, so the decider is how many parts are useful to resell. I would like to see photos of the interior of the Probe, but it looks better cared for so I think it may have more useful parts to sell than the Acura. I guess I’ll take the Probe? This is another showdown where “both” is a good answer, though. Both would be fun cars to beat the hell out of and sell for scrap when they break.
Ford made the right choice. I bought a new 1990 Mustang GT ‘vert. I would not have bought a FWD 4-cyl Mustang back then. If Ford had proceeded with the Prustang, I would have had to wear a mullet and drive a Trans AM. My palms are sweaty and chills just ran down my spine typing that. Fortunately, fate sometimes gives you a break. There but for the grace of God…
And to think, this was pre-internet, so registering one’s disapproval took actual effort. I can only imagine all the angry, bold line writing in all those letters, either very carefully formed or wildly all over the place.
Deer Ford:
MONGO ANGREY!
I’m going for the Probe, the Integra is bashed to hell. But I would pay good money for a minty Integra, although I am more of a fan of the second generation, give me one of those with a blue interior.
I always pick solely on sentiment. And I remember being a kid in the mid-90s and seeing the Integra commercials on tv and just falling in love with it. Smashed up Integra, ftw!
Ahhh the Probe. Still my favorite sighting when playing the “anal” game on road-trips. You tack “anal” onto the cars you see (“anal-probe”, “anal-Caravan” etc). It was much more fun when cars had actual names instead of lame alpha-numeric part numbers. Ford SUVs provided good material as well – Explorer, Excursion, etc.
Add Quest, Prowler, Voyager, Aspire, Fusion, Focus, Avenger, Laser, Flex, and the winner: Ram to the list.
And as a one time Integra owner and a twice RSX Type-S owner, get the Acura and fix the body.
I’ll always remember driving up around D.C. back in the day and coming upon a Red Ford Probe with big Redskin’s logo decal in the rear window and custom plates reading
4-SKINS
Well, okay then ..
Back when these cars came out I was a stupid teenaged street racing punk that made fun of both of them. This is making it extremely hard for me to vote “for” either of them lest that stupid teenaged street racing punk from my past develops time travel solely to come forward to kick 40something me’s ass.
But, in the end, I voted Probe.
So awhile back I was traveling down route 17 out near the cabbage fields. I encountered a bright light, like the headlights of an 18-wheeler bearing down on me. Next thing you know I wake up near the creek, naked. I can’t say for sure what happened but a few of old man Henry’s cows went missing that night too. Imma say no to the Probe, so Integra it is.
Like others, I figured the Integra would get all the votes…until I saw the other angle pics in the piece. Yikes.
Probe all the way. Though I’d probably spend twice the asking price trying to acquire a set of the original multi-spoke wheels. So attractive and I believe shared with the first-gen Taurus, its styling stable-mate.
I love a good Integra but that thing is cooked. Probe all the way.
I think the only people voting Integra didn’t actually read or look at the pics. I knew by the prices and the fact an Integra was going against a Probe that it had to be a ROUGH Integra, then I saw it was manual and still running, and was ready to click the button very firmly! Then I saw that rear quarter, and immediately decided to get Probed instead.
My vote went to the Integra.
Not because it’s in better shape, but because you can better maintain/upfit it with the vast catalogue of Honda/Acura parts over the years. Other than the bodypanels, you could steal parts from any similar period Civic to keep it running forever.
Probe. That integra may have escaped the tuner crowd but damn that thing is rough.
And a 4 cylinder in a none SVO Fox Body is a sin against humanity.
I voted Probe. I’ve always liked that version with its vast – VAST – expanse of windows.
Plus, manual transmission AND pop up headlights? Easy choice…
I came across one in a parking lot last week, and it’s striking how much greenhouse there is compared to modern cars, esp. considering it’s a sport coupe. It was parked a couple of spots down from a current-gen Camaro and wow what a difference. The view from the rear was jaw-dropping.
Was ready to vote for the Integra based on the headline, but its condition changed that. Not that I’d be in much of a rush to buy the Probe either.
Probe for those old school wheels alone!
I was unbelievably ready to go down and vote for the Integra. And then, I saw the second picture. I think I have to take the non-bashed in Probe here.