1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
First off, I love my saab. I have a 1995 900s (not turbocharged) and there is no doubt these cars have way more personality than your standard asian appliance.
That being said, I'm in my mid 20s and recently out of college. My first car out of college was an accord that I paid 300 bucks for... had 150k miles on it or something. For two years, I didn't change the oil or check the trans fluid, etc... and at the end of that period, the trans died. I learned too late that the engine had an oil leak (when moving, oddly enough) and the shop I took it to noted there was literally no oil in the pan. I have no idea how long the car ran like that, but we had planned on giving it away at that point. We could buy something else then.
I bought my saab with 130k on it. I would say it had been maintained at average attention. I didn't have skads of maintenance records, but the car seemed to be in excellent shape (probably the cleanest engine bay I'd ever seen in a 10 year old car). On account of age, I immediately dropped a thousand bucks into it for a slew of small things (brake fluid, steering fluid, motor mounts, air pump... don't ask, ect).
This year was a better year because I've begun doing everything myself. But, the truth is (and I am less biased than most of these saab lovers), these cars do not have 90's chevy s-10 style parts (ie $30 for a water pump). The parts come from different places and none of them are cheap (in comparison to mass produced american cars and whatnot). You also can't just walk into an autozone and walk out five minutes later with an a/c compressor. Now, it appears they aren't as bad as you can get (cf mercedes parts or bmw stuff), but you are far out of the mass produced category. There aren't warehouses and warehouses of aftermarket stuff for saabs just laying around (there are for some vehicles, I'm sure you know).
If you can do most of the work yourself, then it is well worth it. You can ask far, far more from these cars in terms of performance than you'll ever dream of asking a stock rice burner. You will drive something unique with lots of character. If you have to go to a dealer everytime you get a CEL, you had better have a good job or buy a lesser performance but lesser expensive piece of japanese engineering. I think they are a wonderful middle step between a mundane camry and a bmw m3. If that is what you're looking for, then look no further.
posted by 67.126.206...
, Fri, 2 Jun 2006 16:26:46, Sat, 3 Jun 2006 10:57:02
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
