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Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 12:10:56 GMT
From: 'nuther Bob  <norealaddynopsamphonydomain.com>
Subject: Re: should a buy a saab


On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 21:32:03 -0400, "Kenneth S." <nimrodnopsams.com> wrote: >You oblige me to say this, Mr. Hinz. You have a long history of being >emotionally involved with Saabs, and of personally attacking anyone who >is not sufficiently enthusiastic to suit you. Speaking of emotionally involved, I keep hearing you post about high Saab costs Kenneth. However, on an objective basis, I find that parts for my Saab cost about the same as my Japanese cars, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. For example, an exhaust system for my Nissan (cat back) was $385 from the dealer. A stock replacement from a Saab dealer is less. In fact, you can buy a complete _stainless_ sport exhaust for $400 from Saab and forget about future replacement since they last just about forever. Another example is the DI cassette. My Nissan has individual coils which cost $75 each. The Saab ignition cassette is $400 at the dealer, but I bought one from eeuroparts for $237 wit free shipping. (I can't find anyone who discounts Nissan parts enough to cover the cost of shipping them). Four Nissan coils would be $300, the Saab is $237. I bought factory front floor mats from a retail dealer. $80 for the Saab, $85 for my Nissan. Saab anti-freeze is $9.95, Nissan is $14.99. Factory alloys are about $400 form both dealers. Shocks, brake parts, suspension parts, all seem comparable. BTW - when I went to the Nissan dealer to buy a radiator for my Nissan, the dealer said "a factory radiator is $550 - even we don't buy them. Try this aftermarket radiator shop instead". I believe a radiator for an NG900 in under $400. Labor is labor - you pay the going rate. Saab rates are comparable to other "near luxury" make such as Infiniti or Lexus. It's interesting to note that my Nissan dealer charges $10 more/hour for Infiniti, but they have to make up for the higher quality and cost of service somehow. When it comes to warranty service, my Saab dealer was outstanding. They even suggested work at times and once had me bring my car back because "even though it's good, we think our expert can do a little better". Saab often covers known issues after the warranty has expired, Nissan will not do that. (Want to hear about a $500-1000 problem with every 6-cyl '93-'96 Nissan V6 that Nissan refuses to pay for ?) When Saab finds issues like this, the cover them, even out of warranty. Saab covers everything, and I mean everything, in the bumper to bumper warranty including batteries and mufflers - other makes don't do that. Saab issues TSB's for every little glitch so you can be clued in to what issues there are. They do "customer satisfaction campaigns" for problems that are found - other makes don't do that. Here's a nice Mazda warranty issue for you: I know of a guy who took his Miata in at 20K for excessive tire wear problems. Mazda looked at his car and saw a "performance" muffler installed. They said that is was obvious from that that he drove his car hard and his warranty claims were void. He pursued it up to the Factory division level and they refused to budge. Saab, OTOH, encourages performance mods and even sells ECU updates, their own high performance exhausts, and other goodies. I already related a Nissan "problem" experience where they ducked out of covering thousands of defective cars above, so here's a Toyota experience for you: I had a fire in my heater in my Toyota while it was *under warranty*. It was a design problem with the intake allowing debris (leaves, pine needles) into the system and exposed wiring. Toyota refused to fix it, claiming the debris was my fault. In fact, they actually had a lawyer draw up a statement to me so as to make sure they did not become liable for the repairs to thousands of cars. Contrast that to Saab covering anything and everything. So, the world quite as you draw it. Saabs are not cheap to maintain, but neither are other cars. Saab customer service in and out of the warranty is terrific. Bob

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