Allow me to impart some humor via experiences with my beloved first car.

Gotta love the starter location, one time a friend spilled some of his drink between the seats (while the car was not on thankfully). Since the ignition is located in the middle of the seats in what is essentially a piece of plastic shaped like a wide funnel you can only guess where all the liquid went. Normally this would seem a terrible catastrophe of epic proportions, not in a Saab 900. Hmm.. no.. the funny part is the corn syrup concoction actually made the key a bit easier to turn than it had been before and it started up just fine. The several ounces of liquid had appeared to have sluiced off somewhere into the bowels under the center console somewhere. It had probably dislodged some of the lint, dirt, dust and random grime already in the ignition switch that had been causing a problem of bent keys before this spill.

Mine also had a lovely steering rack quirk my dad had dubbed the 'Armstrong' steering system. This is because it would steer beautifully most of the time but would suddenly turn into a nightmarish battle of wits with the car's steering system at other times. It was like having an arm wrestling match with the steering wheel just to get it to turn and nearly always at the perfect time to cause the most issue. Often when I was trying to parallel park or merging into slow moving but annoyingly hostile freeway traffic nope no ninja merges for me.

It's the quirks I miss, it's like the Saab never wanted driving to be all easygoing all the time or else you wouldn't feel like you'd earned that commute to work without any problems. Especially not unless you'd suffered through at least one minor quirk or inexplicit mechanical problem that month. Oh yes how I miss the bosom of my quirky Swedish mistress.

phunktion

Phishy

laughing_guitarist

My 9-3 SE hatch has been a nice, reliable vehicle. Power and mileage is great, but the handling isn't great.

brandegee

JantheMan

Also, I thought of you today when saw a sweet A6 (wagon!) in my lot today. Oregon plates, y'know.

lascauxcaveman

Uncle Trash

Uncle Trash

02chuck

Daga

grrrr

WWJBD, if he had to buy his own car? A silver Saab 900 Turbo, naturally.

[commanderbond.net]

The Kid

+ Watch video

chrisLa

DΞLUXE

Turboner

JackMaz

Turboner

Al Navarro

petersterncan

But in terms driving dynics, it's way better than a regular Honda, Toyota... and especially... Ford Escort.

But the maintenance only horrible if you get the car fixed at the dealer. Having an independent mechanic who has the Saab-specific diag equipment is a necessity.

In my case, my mechanic owns a 1999 9-3SE... so he's familiar with these cars.

You also have to be proactive with the care and do some research to avoid problems. For example... use cheap oil and wait too long between oil changes and that oil pickup screen will get clogged with sludge which will kill the engine in no time.

And when you buy a used Saab, even if the mileage is low, pay your mechanic to drop the oil pan to make sure there's no sludge.

petersterncan

tbennett017

stuntpuppy

lascauxcaveman

Remember Saab's old tag?
"Saab. The well-built Swede."

NovaloadMissesPolar

elwood

I want your transmission, (if it's not the one you were doing 5K drops with.) Message me with the details by clicking my avatar.

Thanks.

@EndlessMike:
There have been quite a few for sale in the Seattle area these last 5 years while I have been shopping for one. They've all felt really heavy and slow compared to my 9000CSE, so I haven't pulled the tigger on any of them yet.

lascauxcaveman

JantheMan

PaulE

PaulE

dfwguy

elwood

oldskoolparts

slantsick- Original Miles Survivor, Ran When Parked, Best Offer

stuntpuppy

My dream 99...
[littlepixel.info]

LittlepixelTM

@stuntpuppy: But this way you can swap the clutch in 15 minutes!

TurboBrick

DannyBN

Package

I was hatin', I just thought it was quite different.

racerx

rkwadd

My experience with the Saab is like so: run away. As fast as you can. The interior is an odd mix of high quality plastics and really cheap cloth. The chassis is horribly flexy. And the electronics... sigh the electronics. The engine is pretty damn stout though - that much I will give it. The steering feel's pretty nice - i.e. when it is not desperately trying to twist its way out of your hands - very much like a temperamental cat I might say. It does however get great gas mileage for the power it is capable of... and I have on many occasions moved entire apartments in one trip

The e30 on the other hand - not so good at moving apartments, but better at everything else. This also is possibly the reason the Saab and its engine stay divorced :)

laughing_guitarist

verbing weirds

Every piece of electronics on that car started breaking down eventually. Then the rust started creeping up the doors. I actually drove down to southern Missouri with my pops and picked up a clean set of doors for it. But before I got around to installing them, the engine overheated due to a faulty thermostat. While getting an emissions test. It failed miserably. Picked up a junkyard engine to drop into it but then a clean Volvo wagon presented itself and I couldn't resist. Car went to the junkyard.

I still have the spare engine/tranny + the doors in the garage.

petedmeatv

Also, it's worth to note that Volvo competes directly with the likes from BMW, Audi and Mercedes.

tomi-ii

ahh, love the old 900's. Reminds me of my old 1986 900 SPG. That was an awesome, solid car. I wanted to hear the satisfying "clunk" sound of that hood closing. That thing was a tank.

Shouldn't have let that one go!

Looked like this minus the louvers:

[memimage.cardomain.net]

mehugtree

layabout

arowsell

Aatos

Also: the ignition placement is freaking genius. Older saabs have beautifully laid out interiors - pretty much every car company in the business today needs to take cues from the old Saabs in terms of ergonomics.

kleinlowe

2 friends had them, one blew the engine up (literally and figuratively) at least 3 times. killed it finally by throwing a piston rod through the engine (dented the hood. no idea how he managed it.)

the other got ran into a mail box.

then they both decided that 9000 turbos were the way to go.

not much left after that. they were fun though; a girl i dated for a few years after high-school had a 9000 aero, which was a torque monster.

fun to drive, but definately not my cup o tea.

/saab: hate them or love them, nothing in-between.
/hate

cyanics

+ Watch video

UDMan

ranwhenparked

stuntpuppy

grzydj

Mark Arnold

macecalrissian

Indiana Bento and the lost Temple of Citroens

JantheMan

EndlessMike

stuntpuppy

racerx

elwood