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Eric,
Search under my posts and you will find a thread on this topic. I'm gathering a database of experience with this issue, and plan to put it together in a formal letter to SaabUSA.
T.A.P. is a good independent shop here in Houston, but they definitely don't do warranty work. As long as the car is under warranty, Performance Saab is the first option. I would consider T.A.P. for upgrade work (they did my Stongard, would think of them for suspension, etc), but not for super Saab-specific stuff. They are a Volvo shop first and foremost. I very seriously doubt they would ever have heard of the MTF0063 business, and I'd probably rather have a dealer do the rather unconventional gearbox oil switch. TAP is my default for the '89 900, and I trust them to do good work there, but dealer unfortunately I think is your best option for a 9-3.
Performance is not great. They are better than Momentum was, but that's not saying much. One carry-over from Momentum is the service-meister head guy (can't recall his name right now). My dealings with him have never been good. He doesn't really seem to be up on things technically, and he's kind of a jerk. Seems more business oriented than service oriented, but maybe our personalities just clash. I prefer to deal with another service advisor named Jeff Christopher. He doesn't always inspire my confidence technically, but at least he's friendly & professional.
Other independent shops in Houston: have heard decent things about "Prestige Auto Service". Jack's, which is listed on Saabnet's mechanics list, is an absolute MUST AVOID, in my opinion. As Bill Walton would say, that place is "HORRIBLE". Never been impressed enough over the phone with Nilsson's to warrant a visit. T.A.P. is by far the best I've found. They're competent, honest, and generally helpful. But I'm afraid they're not perfect for Saab either - Houston just doesn't cater to the Saab crowd very well.
I've heard Beasley up in Austin is better to deal with as a service department, but I've never tried them. Only seen their sales side, and was not impressed.
Maybe we can tag-team Performance and get this problem taken care of. I really want the fluid replaced in my '01 as well. (By the way, new fluid was factory fill in '02 models only I believe. See link in my earlier thread).
Cheers,
'Roo
'01 9-3SE
posted by 128.42.178...
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