1979-1993 & 94 Conv [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
My own SAAB experience has been bitterswet. Never owned a new one, but have been the recipient of two vintage 5 sp models, both a joy to drive. I get it that a car nearly 20 years old is going to have some problem areas, some more severe and sooner than others. Doing the work to "get it right" has been both a joy and a pain. This much i do know about operating costs. I bought my first '82 n/a in 1995 when it had just over 180k miles on it. I bought it because it was a great price, and I liked the ride and how it handled. I'd been driving a Dodge van for a number of years, so I suppose anything rode better by comparison. Actually, that's not true. A friend at the time owned a Nissan Sentra which I drove frequently. Some things I liked about it, some I didn't, but it always felt unusual to drive, almost like I had no control of the car. An associate owned a LeBaron ragtop, and I hated driving that car. It felt worse than my van! By comparison, the SAAB felt just like a car should feel when driving, and that's pretty much what sold me.
I knew nothing about SAAB prior to then. The only experience I had was in the early 70's when my mother's friend would often drive us kids around in one of the early SAAB hatchbacks. I didn't like that car, mostly because of the way it smelled. A combination of spilled milk shakes, ketchup smears and dog. I much prefered the family Pontiac Bonneville. I loved the smell in that car - a combination of new car interior, coffee, cigarettes, car interior care products and my father's Hi Karate aftershave.
So back to my first vintage SAAB. For nearly three years I did not a thing as far as maintenence goes. It asked for nothing and I gave it nothing! Oh sure, it needed a new clutch plate, but I simply drove around that problem. And yes, the idle in the am wasn't the best, but who is when you first get up! But once it was warmed up, it ran great, the gas milage was quite good, and considering how much driving I did in and around L.A., I'd say that was remarkable how it held up. Then things started happening all at once. The clutch had to be taken care of. My first home repair. Then the front wheel bearings, followed by both the brake and clutch master cylinders, and a cracked exhaust manifold (my fault). The last thing was the heater valve. A very noisy gear box developed as well. At that point I bought the second one (same year, with 100k less miles), removed all the parts from the old one that I had repaired and or replaced, swapped the complete interior and finally said goodbye to that trusty steed of a car. All told, I probably spent no more than $500 maintaining and repairing that first car. $1000 if labour were charged. Not bad for 5 years.
With this new old car, I'm way ahead of the game when it comes to knowing the inner workings. I know what to look out for, and that's half the fight right there!
Keep SAABing!
, Tue, 3 Jul 2001 12:05:45
, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 22:03:26, Tue, 3 Jul 2001 01:08:37, Tue, 3 Jul 2001 00:40:26, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 17:22:54, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 14:31:01, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 14:44:50, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 14:59:30, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 17:12:45, Mon, 2 Jul 2001 14:45:49
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