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Re: Justin VanAbrahams will be replying in 3....2....1... Posted by Justin VanAbrahams [Email]  (#32) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Justin VanAbrahams) on Fri, 15 May 2009 11:02:23
In Reply to: Justin VanAbrahams will be replying in 3....2....1..., Jonathan Scupin   [Profile/Gallery]
, Fri, 15 May 2009 08:42:24
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Sorry I'm late guys - did I miss anything? :)
My XR4Ti is a POS. Has a stupid leak somewhere in the intake tract somewhere that could either be new, or may have been there for a long time. I found it after I installed an intercooler and bumped the boost up. Now I hit 12psi and I get a whistling sound out of God knows where. Gets really loud at 15psi. Replaced couplers, replaced intake gaskets, changed clamps, plugged vacuum lines. Still screaming at me. I was outside until 2am last night trying to find it. I just wanna drive the thing! Bah.
Seriously - they're great cars. Highly underrated and suffer a lot of the same owner issues as Saabs... people buy XR4Tis for $500 and get upset with them when they're unreliable. An XR4Ti was only slightly less expensive than a 900T when it was new - maintenance requirements and costs are similar to a 900. What does help on the XR4Ti is that at least engine components are dirt cheap - I'm sure as a Turbocoupe owner you know about that stuff.
You may hear differently elsewhere, but IME the two weak spots of the XR at the transmissions and the cooling system. Just like with Saabs, automatic XRs just don't last, and the manual cars are only marginally better. Unlike Saabs, for about $300 in parts you install a T-5 from a Foxbody car and largely fix that issue. The cooling system is a crazy maze of metal & rubber pipes & hoses that crisscross all over the engine. People think a Saab's vacuum system is nuts - try to figure out the cooling system on the XR. The '85-'88 cars share the same cooling system, but it got a massive update in '89 that largely straightened it out. Unfortunately, '89 was the last year so most of the spare parts you can buy are for the earlier, messed up cars. Cruel irony.
Other than that, they have a ton going for them... There are not as good out of the box as a c900T from a performance perspective - power band isn't as good, brakes aren't as good, suspension is somewhat of a joke. Lacking any factory intercooler out-of-the-box tuning options are somewhat limited. But - again unlike a Saab - all of that stuff is pretty readily fixable and not huge money. Address that stuff, and you have a pretty amazing car. Superb chassis dynamics (especially for the time), superb aerodynamics, RWD, independent suspension, 300+hp readily achievable.
Mine is getting ready to crest 300,000 miles and has been a great ownership experience. If you're comfortable with the engine, there really isn't anything else special or weird about the car - if it goes and stops, $1000 is a reasonable price for it!
posted by 12.71.42...
, Sat, 16 May 2009 20:13:54, Fri, 15 May 2009 15:04:39, Fri, 15 May 2009 15:38:58, Fri, 15 May 2009 12:36:32, Fri, 15 May 2009 08:42:24, Fri, 15 May 2009 11:02:23 <-- Viewing This Message, Fri, 15 May 2009 12:35:17, Fri, 15 May 2009 15:02:32
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