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Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 12:09:59 -0300
From: J Dexter <webmannnopsamdress.org>
Subject: "1,800" '89 9000 CS Turbo


Salutations: >I am trying hard to avoid a GM/Opel SAAB. We currently have a 1,800 '89 >9000 CS with weird turbo sputter - but which appears to have the "same >egg in a crate" passenger compartment that saved us way back when - but >I fear I will have to bite the bullet eventually and buy a '96 CS. Sorry - the line should have read $1,800(cdn funds) '89 9000 CS Turbo - I like my SAAB's cheap and sassy :) .. I guess why I'm not hopeful about the GM/Opel/now Lotus SAAB is that I liked the aircraft heritage in the machine.. In fact, I held off the 9000 because it didn't have a key in the floor console - although if I keep my current car and fix it up - it might have one added with a red starter button in the steering column. While I have a great GMC Motorhome with a 403 Olds V8 front wheel drive (190 real hp and 340ft/lbs of torque!) - http://www.dexterdyne.org/102.HTM I have found that, generally (in Nova Scotia Canada at least) - GM build and particularly service standards have dropped pretty badly over the past 15 or so years. This is based, I think, in no small part on the basic GM business model that you will be replacing you're GM product with another GM product in 3-5 years and all that is really at issue is the the trade in value at the dealer. Basically, I don't mind cutting corners on my '79 Z1R KZ1000 Rickmann. If something goes really wrong - my wife gets the house, the dream holiday to Alaska, the horse farm in the country and all the kids go to private school.. However, anything that carries precious cargo (like my wife and kids) needs to be in absolutely top shape and able to jost with an SUV. I think that the engineers have lowered the quality of the body and cage a bit and relied too much on AirBag technology to make their crash worthiness nut. For example, I still have actual bumpers on my '89 - when I was last at the SAAB dealer here, I could dimple the rear quarter panel on the 9-3 with my index finger. Moreover, while you can pretty much expect that anything GM makes will continue to start and run (if only poorly towards the end) right up to the drive to the scrap yard - they do not usually build things that handle very well or are nearly a comfortable as my string of SAAB's have always been. Yes, the management and marketing folks at SAAB just could not manage to sell cars (in North America at least) - this may had more to do with the dealer network than anything.. Here is Canada, SAAB's were almost always sold at Jag dealers and usually as something you bought your wife when you got an XK.. Finally, as my latest SAAB (the $1,800 one) is showing virtually no corrosion or metal fatigue anywhere (well except where the previous owner bent his lower door hinge) - it will be HUGELY less expensive for me to maintain and restore this machine than it would be to buy any new car (GM or otherwise) over the next five years. Again - my two cents... Great News Group by the way.. your pal J Dexter http://www.dexterdyne.com/ All tunes, no ads, no news, no weather, no phone in, All the Time..

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