Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2001 07:26:44 -0400 From: "Kenneth S." <nimrodnopsams.com> Subject: Re: ANY Reliability Problems with 9.3 series???
Four Weis wrote: > > "Kenneth S." wrote: > > > nospam wrote: > > > > > > "Just Bob" <uctraingnopsamanet.com> wrote in message > > > news:rn7ertoq5s5j4a8isco2us6qq1bl5r14cfnopsamcom... > > > > > > > Saabs are reliable, but no European car approaches the Japanese model > > > > of "never did anything to it but changed the oil, tires, and brakes". > > > > > > Though my 900S has only 60K miles (so far so good), I also have a 1990 > > > Nissan Sentra which has 172K miles and is still going strong. You are right, > > > it only needed tires, brakes, oil changes, and on top of all that, it makes > > > 40 miles per gallon > > > > I have two cars, a 1996 900SE that I bought in January of this year and > > a 1990 Mazda Miata that I bought more than 3 years ago. The Saab has > > cost me far, far more in repairs in the nine months that I have owned it > > than the Miata has cost me in more than three years of ownership. > > > > I'm going to stick with the Saab, in hopes that I've reached the end of > > the repairs to it. However, I wouldn't buy one again, and I wouldn't > > advise anyone else to do so. > > I have several cars, a 1990 Saab 900S and a 2000 Camry V-6 - both manual > transmissions. I had a 1986 Saab 900 that rusted away and I replaced it with the > Camry, based on the reputation for reliability. The Camry certainly has plenty of > power, bells, and whistles - but it has no soul. I found the 1990 900S a few > months later and bought it because I wanted a driver's car. I know it is not as > reliable or inexpensive to maintain as the Camry, but it much more fun to drive. I > have the Camry for the family trips, with its SWS (spouse warning system - "Slow > down on these curves, you're not in the Saab" ) and CD player. When I am driving > by myself, I take the Saab :-) > > I sort of agree with the purchase advice on a Saab. I wouldn't buy a NG Saab either > and I wouldn't advise anyone else to do so either. I would advise you to get a > Classic Saab for a few thousand dollars and have fun. In my view, it's a mistake to think that cars with "soul" have to be unreliable. The Miata is tremendous fun to drive, and in three years of ownership the only repair I have had to have done was the replacement of the backup light switch. Its handling is far superior to the Saab, although it's not as fast. Right now, the only problem that I know of in the Saab is a leak in the air conditioning, and I'm running around with dye in the system in hopes that the dealer can find and fix the leak. So when, on a recent hot day, I was going to a social occasion where the Saab would have been more appropriate, I used the Miata instead -- putting up the top and turning on the air conditioning, which is very effective, and has caused me no problems during the time I have owned the car. I don't know whether the GM takeover has improved Saab reliability. Perhaps the latest Saab models are reliable, and the problems have been solved. However, I DO know that the British automobile industry ceased to exist, in part because of a belief that customers would accept unreliability if their cars had "soul." Jaguar is a perfect case in point.
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